ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 365th day of 2021 and the 11th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed a bill admitting West Virginia into the United States.

In 1879, Thomas Edison staged the first public demonstration of the electric lightbulb.

In 1999, the United States handed over complete control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

In 2020, the Word Health Organization validated the COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henri Matisse (1869-1954), artist; Elizabeth Arden (1878-1966), businesswoman; George C. Marshall (1880-1959), U.S. military commander/diplomat; Anthony Hopkins (1937- ), actor; John Denver (1943-1997), singer-songwriter; Ben Kingsley (1943- ), actor; Diane von Furstenberg (1946- ), fashion designer; Donna Summer (1948-2012), singer; Bebe Neuwirth (1958- ), actress; Val Kilmer (1959- ), actor; Lance Reddick (1962- ), actor; Nicholas Sparks (1965- ), writer; Gabby Douglas (1995- ), gymnast.

TODAY'S FACT: West Virginia, a new state created from Virginia counties that chose not to secede from the Union, was originally named Kanawha, after the Kanawha River.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers defeated Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game, 21-17, in subzero weather. The game became known as the "Ice Bowl." Green Bay went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale." -- Nicholas Sparks, "The Choice"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3,987 -- length in miles of the border between Canada and the lower 48 states.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 26) and new moon (Jan. 2).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 364th day of 2021 and the 10th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1853, the United States completed the Gadsden Purchase, establishing the border with Mexico.

In 1916, a group of Russian aristocrats carried out the murder of Rasputin, private adviser to the ruling Romanov family.

In 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially established.

In 2006, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), writer; Bo Diddley (1928-2008), singer-songwriter; Sandy Koufax (1935- ), baseball player; Davy Jones (1945-2012), singer; Patti Smith (1946- ) singer-songwriter; Meredith Vieira (1953- ), TV journalist; Tracey Ullman (1959- ), actress/comedian; Sean Hannity (1961- ), TV host; Tiger Woods (1975- ), golfer; Laila Ali (1977- ), boxer; Tyrese Gibson (1978- ), singer/actor; Eliza Dushku (1980- ), actress; LeBron James (1984- ), basketball player; Ellie Goulding (1986- ), singer/songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: Though historically known as "The Mad Monk," infamous Russian mystic Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin had left Verkhoture Monastery and returned to his home village by age 19, well before completing his training.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1908, a special commission tasked with discovering the origins of baseball ruled that Abner Doubleday had invented the sport in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. The finding has since been debunked.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I was never a child. I was always a menopausal woman within a child's body." -- Tracey Ullman

TODAY'S NUMBER: 30 -- record-setting number of tropical and subtropical storms in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 26) and new moon (Jan. 2).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 363rd day of 2021 and the ninth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1170, Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered.

In 1890, U.S. Army troops massacred an estimated 300 Lakota Indian men, women and children near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.

In 1940, Germany dropped hundreds of incendiary bombs on London.

In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Charles Goodyear (1800-1860), inventor; Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), 17th U.S. president; William Gladstone (1809-1898), British prime minister; Mary Tyler Moore (1936-2017), actress; Jon Voight (1938- ), actor; Ted Danson (1947- ), actor; Patricia Clarkson (1959- ), actress; Sean Payton (1963- ), football coach; Lilly Wachowski (1967- ), filmmaker; Jude Law (1972- ), actor; Theo Epstein (1973- ), baseball executive; Mekhi Phifer (1974- ), actor; Danny McBride (1976- ), actor/comedian; Alison Brie (1982- ), actress; Eric Berry (1988- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: OSHA imposed the largest fine in agency history on Oct. 30, 2009, assessing $87 million in penalties against oil company BP. A 2005 explosion at the company's refinery in Texas killed 15 workers.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1978, Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes punched a Clemson player who had just intercepted a pass during the Gator Bowl. Ohio State went on to lose 17-15, and Hayes was fired the next day.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I love kids, outings, camping, sports, Legoland, all the Daddy stuff. I love it. I wish I could just do that, but I have to work, too." -- Mekhi Phifer

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- years that Thomas Becket spent in exile (1164-1170) for refusing to acquiesce to new laws set by Henry II.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 26) and new moon (Jan. 2).