ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 219th day of 2019 and the 48th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established.

In 1942, the U.S. 1st Marines Division landed on the island of Guadalcanal, marking the first major American offensive of World War II.

In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in response to reported Vietnamese attacks.

In 1998, U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ralph Bunche (1904-1971), activist/Nobel laureate; Tobin Bell (1942- ), actor; Garrison Keillor (1942- ), writer/entertainer; Wayne Knight (1955- ), actor; David Duchovny (1960- ), actor; Harold Perrineau (1963- ), actor; Jimmy Wales (1966- ), Wikipedia co-founder; Michael Shannon (1974- ), actor; Charlize Theron (1975- ), actress; Sidney Crosby (1987- ), hockey player; Mike Trout (1991- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1947, Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of five crashed into a reef at Raroia, near Tahiti, aboard their balsa wood raft, Kon-Tiki. The 4,300-mile, 101-day voyage from Peru was undertaken to prove that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian Islands.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 756th career home run, surpassing the record set by Hank Aaron.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The world and its peoples being as they are, there is no easy or quick or infallible approach to a secure peace. It is only by patient, persistent, undismayed effort, by trial and error, that peace can be won." -- Ralph Bunche

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,368 -- height (in feet) of the wire suspended between the World Trade Center towers and walked by French high-wire artist Philippe Petit on this day in 1974. Petit walked back and forth, sat and even danced on the 200-foot-long wire for 45 minutes before surrendering to police.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Aug. 7).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 218th day of 2019 and the 47th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, the "Great Debate" over the future of the U.S. Constitution began at the Constitutional Convention.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

In 1945, the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed some voting qualifications thought to disenfranchise black voters.

In 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), poet; Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), biologist/pharmacologist; Lucille Ball (1911-1989), actress/comedian; Robert Mitchum (1917-1997), actor; Andy Warhol (1928-1987), artist/filmmaker; Michelle Yeoh (1962- ), actress; David Robinson (1965- ), basketball player; Mike Greenberg (1967- ), sportscaster; M. Night Shyamalan (1970- ), filmmaker; Vera Farmiga (1973- ), actress; Max Kellerman (1973- ), sportscaster.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1991, CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first website and webpage, which offered information about the World Wide Web project.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1963, Philadelphia's NBA team changed its name from the Nationals to the 76ers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Break, break, break, / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! / And I would that my tongue could utter / The thoughts that arise in me." -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Break, Break, Break"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,862 -- ring count of Prometheus, a bristlecone pine tree cut down for research purposes on this day in 1964 by U.S. Forest Service personnel in eastern Nevada. Scientists believe the tree may have been more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest non-clonal organism ever discovered.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (July 31) and first quarter moon (Aug. 7).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 217th day of 2019 and the 46th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal was installed on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.

In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan began to fire 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers for violating his order to return to work.

In 2010, a cave-in at the San Jose Mine near Copiapo, Chile, trapped 33 miners 2,300 feet underground.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), author/poet; Joseph Merrick aka "The Elephant Man" (1862-1890); John Huston (1906-1987), actor/director; Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), astronaut; Herb Brooks (1937-2003), hockey coach; Loni Anderson (1945- ), actress; David Baldacci (1960- ), novelist; Patrick Ewing (1962- ), basketball player; Adam Yauch (1964-2012), rapper; James Gunn (1970- ), filmmaker; Lolo Jones (1982- ), Olympic athlete.

TODAY'S FACT: Norma Jeane Baker began using the name Marilyn Monroe in 1946, but did not legally change her name until 1956.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1979, Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies hit his 2,427th career single, breaking Honus Wagner's National League record. Rose would finish his career with 3,215 singles, a major-league record that still stands.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Great minds that are healthy are never considered geniuses, while this sublime qualification is lavished on brains that are often inferior but are slightly touched by madness." -- Guy de Maupassant, "The Englishman of Etretat"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 91 -- minutes legendary magician Harry Houdini spent underwater in a sealed coffin before emerging unharmed, on this day in 1926. The event was Houdini's last public escape.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (July 31) and first quarter moon (Aug. 7).