ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 362nd day of 2024 and the seventh day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1831, the HMS Beagle, with naturalist Charles Darwin aboard, set sail from Great Britain.

In 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

In 2002, North Korea announced it would resume developing nuclear weapons-grade plutonium and ordered International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to leave the country.

In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated after a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), astronomer; Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), biologist/chemist; Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), actress/singer; John Amos (1939-2024), actor; Cokie Roberts (1943-2019), journalist; Bill Self (1962- ), basketball coach; Sarah Vowell (1969- ), social commentator; Savannah Guthrie (1971- ), TV journalist; Masi Oka (1974- ), actor; Emilie de Ravin (1981- ), actress; Timothee Chalamet (1995- ), actor; Nick Chubb (1995- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: About 70% of France's electricity is nuclear-generated.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1892, Biddle College (later named Johnson C. Smith University) defeated Livingstone College in the first football game between historically Black colleges.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Freedom of expression truly exists only when a society’s most repugnant nitwits are allowed to spew their nonsense in public." -- Sarah Vowell, "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3,300 -- approximate number of people buried at Westminster Abbey, many of them in unmarked graves. Charles Darwin is among the famous scientists buried there.

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 361st day of 2024 and the sixth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1776, after staging a surprise attack, George Washington and the Continental Army scored a major upset victory over the British in the Battle of Trenton.

In 1908, boxer Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns, becoming the first African American heavyweight champion.

In 1966, the pan-African holiday Kwanzaa, founded by professor Maulana Karenga, was celebrated for the first time.

In 2004, a powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a massive tsunami that claimed the lives of at least 226,000 in Southeast Asia and east Africa.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Gray (1716-1771), poet; Charles Babbage (1791-1871), mathematician/inventor; Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Chinese leader; Richard Widmark (1914-2008), actor; Steve Allen (1921-2000), entertainer; Alan King (1927-2004), actor/comedian; John Walsh (1945- ), TV personality/activist; David Sedaris (1956- ), writer; Lars Ulrich (1963- ), musician; Jared Leto (1971- ), actor/musician; Chris Daughtry (1979- ), singer-songwriter; Kit Harington (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Despite its impact in the Colonies, the Battle of Trenton was fought by relatively small numbers on both sides -- an estimated 2,400 Continental Army soldiers defeated the 1,500-strong British/Hessian garrison.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1919, Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Notewise, whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like." -- David Sedaris

TODAY'S NUMBER: 27,960 -- length (in miles) of China's high-speed rail system, the longest network of its kind in the world. The 175-mile section connecting Beijing to Shijiazhuang opened on this day in 2012.

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 360th day of 2024 and the fifth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1868, President Andrew Johnson unconditionally pardoned all those who had participated in the Southern rebellion that came to be known as the Civil War.

In 1974, 25-year-old Marshall Fields crashed his car through a White House gate and threatened to detonate a bomb; he surrendered after a four-hour standoff.

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee launched the first World Wide Web server.

In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved the next day.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Clara Barton (1821-1912), American Red Cross founder; Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), actor; Cab Calloway (1907-1994), bandleader/singer; Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), sculptor/artist; Anwar Sadat (1918-1981), Egyptian president; Rod Serling (1924-1975), screenwriter/producer; Jimmy Buffett (1946-2023), singer-songwriter; Sissy Spacek (1949- ), actress; Karl Rove (1950- ), political strategist; Annie Lennox (1954- ), singer-songwriter; Rickey Henderson (1958- ), baseball player; Justin Trudeau (1971- ), prime minister of Canada.

TODAY'S FACT: Americans spent $276.8 billion shopping online during the holiday season in 2023.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, former New York Yankees player and manager Billy Martin died in an automobile accident.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Economy, prudence, and a simple life are the sure masters of need, and will often accomplish that which, their opposites, with a fortune at hand, will fail to do." -- Clara Barton

TODAY'S NUMBER: 50 million -- units sold of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," making it the bestselling physical single of all time, according to Guinness World Records. The song debuted on Crosby's weekly radio program, "Kraft Music Hall," on this day in 1941.

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