ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 346th day of 2024 and the 81st day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1816, Indiana was admitted as the 19th U.S. state.

In 1941, the United States declared war on Germany and Italy, hours after those nations had declared war on the U.S.

In 1946, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established.

In 1972, the lunar module for Apollo 17, the final manned mission of the Apollo space program, touched down on the moon.

In 2008, investment banker Bernie Madoff was arrested for perpetrating one of the largest Ponzi-scheme frauds in U.S. history.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), composer; Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947), New York City mayor; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), novelist/dissident; Rita Moreno (1931- ), actress; John Kerry (1943- ), U.S. politician/diplomat; Teri Garr (1944-2024), actress; Mo'Nique (1967- ), actress; Mos Def (1973- ), actor/rapper; Hailee Steinfeld (1996- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Apollo 17 set records for the longest lunar surface exploration and the most lunar material collected.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, Muhammad Ali fought in his final boxing match, losing a unanimous decision to Trevor Berbick.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag." -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, "The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $17.3 billion -- total (in principal) lost by clients in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. $48 billion more was lost in fictitious profits.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 8) and full moon (Dec. 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 345th day of 2024 and the 80th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1817, Mississippi was admitted as the 20th U.S. state.

In 1869, Wyoming became the first U.S. state or territory to grant women the right to vote.

In 1884, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published.

In 1898, the Spanish-American War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.

In 1967, 26-year-old singer-songwriter Otis Redding died in a plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879), journalist/abolitionist; Cesar Franck (1822-1890), composer; Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), poet; Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), librarian; Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996), actress; Susan Dey (1952- ), actress; Michael Clarke Duncan (1957-2012), actor; Kenneth Branagh (1960- ), actor/director; Bobby Flay (1964- ), celebrity chef; Greg Giraldo (1965-2010), comedian; Meg White (1974- ), drummer; Raven-Symone (1985- ), actress; Joe Burrow (1996- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: President Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, on this day in 1906.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1935, Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago won the first Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, which was renamed the Heisman Trophy, in 1936.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." -- Emily Dickinson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4 -- American presidents who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 8) and full moon (Dec. 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 344th day of 2024 and the 79th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1793, Noah Webster published New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva.

In 1872, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became the first serving U.S. governor of African American descent when he was named acting governor of Louisiana.

In 1968, engineer Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the first computer system to use hypertext links and a mouse.

In 1979, the World Health Organization certified that smallpox had been eradicated.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Emmett Kelly (1898-1979), clown; Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937), author; Kirk Douglas (1916-2020), actor; Redd Foxx (1922-1991), comedian; Judi Dench (1934- ), actress; Deacon Jones (1938-2013), football player; Beau Bridges (1941- ), actor; Dick Butkus (1942-2023), football player; John Malkovich (1953- ), actor; Donny Osmond (1957- ), singer; Kurt Angle (1968- ), wrestler/actor; Lori Greiner (1969- ), entrepreneur/TV personality; Hikaru Nakamura (1987- ), chess player.

TODAY'S FACT: After Pinkney Benton Stewart Pinchback was appointed acting governor of Louisiana, it would be more than 100 years before the first elected African American governor, Douglas Wilder of Virginia, took office, in 1990.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1934, the New York Giants exchanged their cleats for sneakers during the third quarter, then outmaneuvered the Chicago Bears on a frozen field to turn a 13-3 deficit into a 30-13 victory.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The most evocative thing to me is probably when a writer and a group of performers can collectively put together something compelling that asks the really simple question: 'How do we live?'" -- John Malkovich

TODAY'S NUMBER: 7 -- number of classic children's books about Babar the elephant written and illustrated by Jean de Brunhoff. He died of tuberculosis at age 37, and his son Laurent continued the series.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 8) and full moon (Dec. 15).