ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 336th day of 2024 and the 71st day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1913, the Ford Motor Company began operation of its first assembly line.

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking a new era in the civil rights movement.

In 1969, the United States instituted its first draft lottery since World War II.

In 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that the United States had been in an official recession since December 2007.

In 2013, China launched Yutu, its first lunar rover.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Marie Tussaud (1761-1850), museum founder; Rex Stout (1886-1975), author; Mary Martin (1913-1990), actress; Lou Rawls (1933-2006), singer-songwriter; Lee Trevino (1939- ), golfer; Richard Pryor (1940-2005), actor/comedian; Bette Midler (1945- ), singer/actress; Sarah Silverman (1970- ), actress/comedian; Riz Ahmed (1982- ), actor; Janelle Monae (1985- ), singer/rapper/actress; DeSean Jackson (1986- ), football player; Zoe Kravitz (1988- ), actress/singer.

TODAY'S FACT: At the time of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, over 70% of bus riders in the city were African American.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1924, Brooklyn pitcher Dazzy Vance (28 wins, 2.16 ERA, 262 strikeouts) won the National League MVP award over Rogers Hornsby of St. Louis, who had batted .424 for the season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted." -- Rex Stout, "Champagne for One"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1.86 million -- men inducted into the U.S. armed forces between 1965 and 1973 through the Selective Service System.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Nov. 30) and first quarter moon (Dec. 8).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 335th day of 2024 and the 70th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1782, provisional articles of peace were signed in Paris between Britain and the United States, under which Britain recognized U.S. independence.

In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill, a major gun-control measure.

In 1999, Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. completed their merger, creating the largest publicly held oil company in the world at that time.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), clergyman/satirist; Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910), writer; Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British politician; Dick Clark (1929-2012), TV personality/producer; Bill Walsh (1931-2007), football coach; Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989), political activist; Ridley Scott (1937- ), filmmaker; Mandy Patinkin (1952- ), singer/actor; Billy Idol (1955- ), singer-songwriter; Bo Jackson (1962- ), football and baseball player; Ben Stiller (1965- ), actor; Chrissy Teigen (1985- ), TV personality; Magnus Carlsen (1990- ), chess grandmaster.

TODAY'S FACT: Mark Twain published a number of pieces in newspapers and periodicals under a variety of pen names, including Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab, John Snooks and Josh.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1991, the U.S. women's soccer team defeated Norway 2-1 to win the first Women's World Cup.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?" -- Winston Churchill

TODAY'S NUMBER: 34 million -- certified American units sold of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," making it the bestselling solo album of all time, according to Business Insider. The album was released on this day in 1982.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Nov. 30).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 334th day of 2024 and the 69th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1929, Richard Byrd, Bernt Balchen, Harold June and Ashley McKinley became the first men to fly over the South Pole.

In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson formed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

In 1972, the first commercially successful video game, Pong, was released in California.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), author; C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), scholar/author; Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1908-1972), civil rights leader/politician; Vin Scully (1927-2022), sportscaster; Garry Shandling (1949-2016), actor/comedian; Joel Coen (1954- ), filmmaker; Howie Mandel (1955- ), actor/TV personality; Don Cheadle (1964- ), actor; Mariano Rivera (1969- ), baseball player; Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020), actor; Anna Faris (1976- ), actress; Lucas Black (1982- ), actor; Russell Wilson (1988- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: One of the first video games was created in 1958 by William Higinbotham, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven lab. The game, Tennis for Two, was very similar to Pong.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, legendary Grambling State University Tigers football coach Eddie Robinson coached his last game, a 30-7 loss to the Southern University Jaguars. Robinson had coached the Tigers for 55 seasons.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." -- Louisa May Alcott, "Little Women"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 8,327 -- feet below sea level at the lowest point in Antarctica's Bentley Subglacial Trench.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Nov. 22) and new moon (Nov. 30).