ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 342nd day of 2018 and the 78th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1941, the United States declared war on Japan and officially entered World War II.

In 1980, John Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building.

In 1991, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Eli Whitney (1765-1825), inventor; James Thurber (1894-1961), humorist; Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990), entertainer; David Carradine (1936-2009), actor; Jim Morrison (1943-1971), singer-songwriter; Kim Basinger (1953- ), actress; Ann Coulter (1961- ), political commentator; Teri Hatcher (1964- ), actress; Kevin Harvick (1975- ), race car driver; Ryan Newman (1977- ), race car driver; Ian Somerhalder (1978- ), actor; Nicki Minaj (1982- ), rapper; Dwight Howard (1985- ), basketball player; Josh Donaldson (1985- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: SpaceX became the first private company in the world to successfully launch, place in orbit and recover a spacecraft on this day in 2010.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1940, the Chicago Bears routed the Washington Redskins in the NFL championship game, 73-0. It remains the largest margin of victory in NFL history.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why." -- James Thurber, "The Shore and the Sea"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 500,000 -- pounds of cotton exported by the United States in 1793, before Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin. By 1810, the U.S. was exporting 93 million pounds of cotton annually.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 7) and first quarter moon (Dec. 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 341st day of 2018 and the 77th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing 2,403 American soldiers and civilians.

In 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the online file-sharing service Napster.

In 2002, Iraq denied that it had weapons of mass destruction in a United Nations declaration.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Willa Cather (1873-1947), author; Eli Wallach (1915-2014), actor; Ted Knight (1923-1986), actor; Ellen Burstyn (1932- ), actress; Harry Chapin (1942-1981), singer-songwriter; Johnny Bench (1947- ), baseball player; Tom Waits (1949- ), singer-songwriter; Larry Bird (1956- ), basketball player; Jeffrey Wright (1965- ), actor; Patrice O'Neal (1969-2011), actor/comedian; Sara Bareilles (1979- ), singer-songwriter; Emily Browning (1988- ), actress; Nicholas Hoult (1989- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Senate voted for a war resolution 82-0. The House of Representatives approved the resolution 388-1.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, home-run record holder Barry Bonds pleaded not guilty to lying to investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Some memories are realities and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again." -- Willa Cather, "My Antonia"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 64 -- servicemen lost by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the attack on Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Dec. 7).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 340th day of 2018 and the 76th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1492, Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

In 1790, the U.S. Congress moved from New York City to Philadelphia.

In 1877, the first edition of The Washington Post was published.

In 1957, two months after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the United States attempted to launch its first satellite, but the Vanguard rocket exploded on the launch pad.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), poet; Ira Gershwin (1896-1983), lyricist; Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995), photojournalist; Baby Face Nelson (1908-1934), criminal; Dave Brubeck (1920-2012), jazz pianist; Steven Wright (1955- ), comedian; Andrew Cuomo (1957- ), New York governor; Nick Park (1958- ), director/animator; Judd Apatow (1967- ), filmmaker.

TODAY'S FACT: The world's first pediatric heart transplant (which was also the first human-to-human heart transplant in the United States) was performed at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, on this day in 1967.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2003, after a loss to Navy, Army became the first Division I college football team in history to finish the season 0-13.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "And the only reason a road is good, as every wanderer knows, / Is just because of the homes, the homes, the homes to which it goes." -- Joyce Kilmer, "Roofs"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 898 -- steps to the top of the Washington Monument when it was completed on this day in 1884. (The bottom step was later converted to a wheelchair ramp, bringing the total to 897.)

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