ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 338th day of 2018 and the 74th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1639, Jeremiah Horrocks observed the first recorded transit of Venus, which occurs when Venus passes directly between the sun and the Earth.

In 1881, the first edition of the Los Angeles Times was published.

In 1945, the Senate formally approved United States participation in the United Nations by a vote of 65-7.

In 1991, Pan American World Airways (commonly known as Pan Am), went bankrupt and ceased operations.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush ordered 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), essayist/historian; Samuel Butler (1835-1902), author; Lillian Russell (1861-1922), actress; Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), poet; Francisco Franco (1892-1975), Spanish dictator; Wink Martindale (1933- ), game show host; Jeff Bridges (1949- ), actor; Marisa Tomei (1964- ), actress; Fred Armisen (1966- ), actor/comedian; Jay-Z (1969- ), rapper/entrepreneur; Tyra Banks (1973- ) model/TV personality; Joe Thomas (1984- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia, evacuated in January 1991 due to increasing violence in the Somali civil war, has never been reopened.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Golden State Warriors star Latrell Sprewell was suspended by the NBA for one year after choking the team's coach, P.J. Carlesimo, during a practice on Dec. 1, 1997.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income." -- Samuel Butler, "The Way of All Flesh"

TODYA'S NUMBER: 2,454 -- days American journalist Terry Anderson was held hostage in Lebanon. Anderson was abducted on March 16, 1985, and was the last American hostage to be released, on this day in 1991.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Nov. 29) and new moon (Dec. 7).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 337th day of 2018 and the 73rd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st U.S. state.

In 1967, a team headed by cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard carried out the world's first human-to-human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1984, a leak at a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killed more than 3,000 people within hours.

In 1999, NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander as it entered the planet's atmosphere.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), author; Andy Williams (1927-2012), singer; Ozzy Osbourne (1948- ), musician; Daryl Hannah (1960- ), actress; Julianne Moore (1960- ), actress; Andrew Stanton (1965- ), writer/director/animator; Katarina Witt (1965- ), figure skater; Brendan Fraser (1968- ), actor; Sean Parker (1979- ), entrepreneur; Andy Grammer (1983- ), singer-songwriter; Amanda Seyfried (1985- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The successful 2007-2008 Mars mission was given the name "Phoenix" because it "rose from the ashes" of two unsuccessful earlier missions to Mars: the lost 1999 Mars Polar Lander and the canceled 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 13-7. It remains the last professional football game in which the winning team did not complete a single pass.

TODAY'S QUOTE: " I don't like work -- no man does -- but I like what is in the work -- the chance to find yourself. Your own reality -- for yourself not for others -- what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means." -- Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 102.49 million -- first-generation Sony PlayStation units sold worldwide between 1994 and 2007. The 32-bit game console debuted in Japan on this day in 1994.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Nov. 29) and new moon (Dec. 7).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 336th day of 2018 and the 72nd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1823, President James Monroe announced a policy aimed at preventing further European colonization of the Americas, later known as the Monroe Doctrine.

In 1927, Ford Motor Co. introduced the new Model A.

In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan, becoming the first female leader of an Islamic nation.

In 2001, the energy trading company Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In 2015, terrorists shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 in San Bernardino, California.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Georges Seurat (1859-1891), painter; Maria Callas (1923-1977), opera singer; Gianni Versace (1946-1997), fashion designer; Stone Phillips (1954- ), journalist; Ann Patchett (1963- ), author; Lucy Liu (1968- ), actress; Britney Spears (1981- ), singer; Aaron Rodgers (1983- ), football player; Charlie Puth (1991- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1942, a team led by Enrico Fermi engineered the first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction under the stands of the University of Chicago's Stagg Field.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers missed 22 free throws in a single game, setting an NBA record that stood until Jan. 20, 2016, when the Detroit Pistons' Andre Drummond missed 23.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will break you in half. It’s everything in between we live for." -- Ann Patchett, "This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 112 -- days Barney Clark, the recipient of the first artificial heart, lived after it was implanted on this day in 1982.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Nov. 29) and new moon (Dec. 7).