ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 196th day of 2018 and the 25th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1799, French Lieutenant Pierre-Francois Bouchard found the Rosetta Stone in Rosetta, Egypt.

In 1903, Ford Motor Co. took its first order, a Model A automobile for a dentist in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced his intent to visit China in search of a "normalization of relations."

In 2002, "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty to having fought as a soldier with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In 2006, the social media platform Twitter was launched.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), painter; Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), author/poet; St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), founder of charitable religious order; Clive Cussler (1931- ), archaeologist/author; Linda Ronstadt (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Arianna Huffington (1950- ), internet publisher; Jesse Ventura (1951- ), wrestler/former governor; Forest Whitaker (1961- ), actor; Adam Savage (1967- ), designer/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: The Nintendo Entertainment System debuted in Japan on this day in 1983.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team became the first professional sports franchise to record its 10,000th loss.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Of course you will say that I ought to be practical and ought to try and paint the way they want me to paint. Well, I will tell you a secret. I have tried and I have tried very hard, but I can't do it. I just can't do it! And that is why I am just a little crazy." -- Rembrandt van Rijn

TODAY'S NUMBER: $850 -- price of the first automobile sold by Ford Motor Co.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (July 12) and first quarter moon (July 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 195th day of 2018 and the 24th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille in Paris.

In 1881, infamous outlaw Billy the Kid was shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett near Fort Sumner in New Mexico.

In 1965, NASA's Mariner 4 began its flyby of Mars, taking the first close-up photos of the planet.

In 2015, NASA's New Horizons probe became the first spacecraft to explore Pluto.

In 2016, a truck was driven into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, killing 86 people.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), painter; Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), singer-songwriter/musician; Gerald Ford (1913-2006), 38th U.S. president; Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007), screenwriter/director; Harry Dean Stanton (1926-2017), actor; Jane Lynch (1960- ), actress; Matthew Fox (1966- ), actor; Brian Selznick (1966- ), writer/illustrator; Darrelle Revis (1985- ), football player; Conor McGregor (1988- ), mixed martial artist.

TODAY'S FACT: NASA's New Horizons probe is currently more than 3.5 billion miles from Earth, traveling at 32,000 mph on its way to its next fly-by target, Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, which it will fly past on Jan. 1, 2019.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1999, the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 79-61 to win the first WNBA All-Star Game.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine." -- Woody Guthrie

TODAY'S NUMBER: $192.7 million -- total price fetched for four paintings by Gustav Klimt at a Christie's auction in 2006.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (July 12) and first quarter moon (July 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 194th day of 2018 and the 23rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, draft riots began in New York City. An estimated 1,000 people were killed or wounded.

In 1973, Alexander Butterfield, deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon, revealed the existence of the "Nixon Tapes" to a senatorial committee investigating the Watergate scandal.

In 1977, a 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area, leaving some 9 million people in darkness and resulting in looting and disorder.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Clare (1793-1864), poet; John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912), businessman; Bob Crane (1928-1978), actor; Jack Kemp (1935-2009), football player/politician; Patrick Stewart (1940- ), actor; Robert Forster (1941- ), actor; Harrison Ford (1942- ), actor; Cheech Marin (1946- ), actor/comedian; Cameron Crowe (1957- ), filmmaker; Tom Kenny (1962- ), actor/comedian; Ken Jeong (1969- ), actor/comedian.

TODAY'S FACT: Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison all proposed that Congress pass some form of mandatory military conscription or registration, but none of the proposals succeeded.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1930, France defeated Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeated Belgium 3-0 in the first World Cup soccer matches, held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I just don't understand the need to name something 'the best' or more better than something else. Saying one thing is better than another, one performance is better than another performance -- there can't be a contest in this area. I don't understand that. -- Harrison Ford

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1.9 billion -- estimated global audience (in 150 countries) that watched the Live Aid concerts, broadcast on this day in 1985 to raise money for African famine relief.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (July 12) and first quarter moon (July 19).