ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 341st day of 2024 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; Nick Park (1958- ), director/animator; Judd Apatow (1967- ), filmmaker; Craig Brewer (1971- ), filmmaker; Giannis Antetokounmpo (1994- ), basketball player.

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 the Navy Midshipmen, the Army Black Knights became the first Division I college football team in history to finish the season 0-13.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot." -- Steven Wright

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 new moon (Nov. 30) and first quarter moon (Dec. 8).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 340th day of 2024 and the 75th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1933, the era of alcohol prohibition ended as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment.

In 1955, Martin Luther King Jr., E.D. Dixon, Rosa Parks and other activists launched an organized bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged, forming the AFL-CIO.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), eighth U.S. president; George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876), U.S. Army officer; Walt Disney (1901-1966), cartoonist/filmmaker; Strom Thurmond (1902-2003), politician; Otto Preminger (1905-1986), film director; Little Richard (1932-2020), singer-songwriter; Joan Didion (1934-2021), author; Jose Carreras (1946- ), opera singer; Margaret Cho (1968- ), actress/comedian; Keri Hilson (1982- ), singer-songwriter; Frankie Muniz (1985- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The 21st Amendment expressly gave each state the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol, which meant that many states continued to enforce prohibition laws even after 1933. Mississippi was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2017, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics as punishment for a doping scandal at the 2014 Games.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image." -- Joan Didion, "The White Album"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 18 -- total minutes of screen time for Aurora, the main character in Disney's 1959 animated film, "Sleeping Beauty."

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 339th day of 2024 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. It was reestablished in October 2019.

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: "Artists can have greater access to reality; they can see patterns and details and connections that other people, distracted by the blur of life, might miss. Just sharing that truth can be a very powerful thing." -- Jay-Z, "Decoded"

TODAY'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 new moon (Nov. 30) and first quarter moon (Dec. 8).