Today is the 21st day of 2015 and the 32nd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1793, King Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine in Paris.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate to lead the Confederacy during the Civil War.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that for the first time, the largest minority group in the United States was Hispanics (who may be of any race).

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ethan Allen (1738-1789), writer/military leader; Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863), Confederate army general; Christian Dior (1905-1957), fashion designer; Telly Savalas (1922-1994), actor; Wolfman Jack (1938-1995), disc jockey; Jack Nicklaus (1940- ), golfer; Placido Domingo (1941- ), opera singer; Eric Holder (1951- ), attorney general; Paul Allen (1953- ), co-founder of Microsoft; Geena Davis (1956- ), actress; Jam Master Jay (1965-2002), rapper; Ken Leung (1970- ), actor; Cat Power (1972- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The guillotine was used for executions in France as recently as 1977. The death penalty was abolished there in 1981.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1979, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl XIII to become the first NFL team to win three Super Bowls.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The time for war has not yet come, but it will come, and that soon; and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." -- Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 37.6 million -- Americans who primarily speak Spanish at home (more than 10 percent of the population), according to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Jan. 20) and first quarter moon (Jan. 26).

Today is the 20th day of 2015 and the 31st day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1841, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British.

In 1885, LaMarcus Thompson patented the first roller coaster.

In 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union was founded.

In 1981, the Iran hostage crisis ended as 52 American captives were released in Tehran, just after President Jimmy Carter left office.

In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Burns (1896-1996), actor/comedian; Federico Fellini (1920-1993), director; DeForest Kelley (1920-1999), actor; Slim Whitman (1923-2013), singer-songwriter; Patricia Neal (1926-2010), actress; Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930- ), astronaut; David Lynch (1946- ), director; Paul Stanley (1952- ), singer-songwriter; Bill Maher (1956- ), comedian/TV host; Rainn Wilson (1966- ), actor; Questlove (1971- ), musician.

TODAY'S FACT: Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time on this day in 1986.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1892, the first official basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts. The two nine-man teams used a soccer ball and peach baskets.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old." -- George Burns

TODAY'S NUMBER: 444 -- days the hostages were held in the U.S. embassy in Iran.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Jan. 20).

Today is the 19th day of 2015 and the 30th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1915, two German zeppelins dropped bombs on the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in England.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected as India's first woman prime minister.

In 1977, snow fell in Miami for the only time in recorded history.

In 2006, NASA launched the New Horizons space probe to study the dwarf planet Pluto.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), Confederate general; Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), author/poet; Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), artist; Jean Stapleton (1923-2013), actress; Tippi Hedren (1930- ), actress; Janis Joplin (1943-1970), singer-songwriter; Dolly Parton (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Paula Deen (1947- ), chef/author; Robert Palmer (1949-2003), singer-songwriter; Katey Sagal (1954- ), actress; Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012), painter; Junior Seau (1969-2012), football player; Drea de Matteo (1972- ), actress; Frank Caliendo (1974- ), comedian; Logan Lerman (1992- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Robert E. Lee's U.S. citizenship was posthumously reinstated by an act of Congress in 1975.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, President Jimmy Carter proposed during a televised interview that the Olympic Games should be moved from Moscow unless Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan within a month.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." -- Edgar Allan Poe

TODAY'S NUMBER: 71.7 -- percentage of U.S. households that tuned in to watch "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," the episode of "I Love Lucy" in which the titular character gave birth. Star Lucille Ball actually gave birth to her son, Desi Arnaz Jr., on the same day the episode aired, on this day in 1953.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan. 13) and new moon (Jan. 20).