FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021

Today is the 190th day of 2021 and the 20th day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1850, President Zachary Taylor died in office of a stomach-related illness at the age of 65.

In 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing full citizenship and equal protection to African Americans.

In 1943, Allied forces launched an airborne and amphibious invasion of Sicily.

In 1981, the Nintendo video game “Donkey Kong” was released.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), author; Matthew Lewis (1775-1818), author; Elias Howe (1819-1867), sewing machine inventor; Donald Rumsfeld (1932- ), former defense secretary; Brian Dennehy (1938-2020), actor; Richard Roundtree (1942- ), actor; Dean Koontz (1945- ), author; Chris Cooper (1951- ), actor; John Tesh (1952- ), composer/musician; Lindsey Graham (1955- ), politician; Tom Hanks (1956- ), actor; Courtney Love (1964- ), singer-songwriter; Jack White (1975- ), musician/ singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: In an attempt to inspire efforts and encourage enlistment, Gen. George Washington had the newly adopted Declaration of Independence read aloud to his troops in the Continental Army in New York City on this day in 1776.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1877, the inaugural Wimbledon tennis championship took place in London.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “How strange it is, that a fool or a knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty!” -- Ann Radcliffe, “The Mysteries of Udolpho”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 1,720 -- height (in feet) of the wave surge that hit Lituya Bay in the Gulf of Alaska on this day in 1958. The “megatsunami,” the largest in recorded history, was caused by an 8.3-magnitude earthquake on the Fairweather Fault along the Alaskan coast.

TODAY’S MOON: New moon (July 9).

SATURDAY, JULY 10, 2021

Today is the 191st day of 2021 and the 21st day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1821, the United States took possession of Florida, which it had purchased from Spain.

In 1890, Wyoming was admitted as the 44th state.

In 1940, Nazi forces began an air attack on southern Britain that would last 114 days and become known as the Battle of Britain.

In 1962, AT&T (in conjunction with NASA) launched the first privately owned satellite, Telstar 1.

In 1991, Boris Yeltsin took office as the first popularly elected president in Russia’s history.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: John Calvin (1509-1564), theologian/reformer; Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), physicist/engineer; Marcel Proust (1871-1922), author/critic; Carl Orff (1895-1982), composer; David Brinkley (1920- 2003), TV journalist; Alice Munro (1931- ), author; Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), tennis player; Arlo Guthrie (1947- ), singer-songwriter; Urban Meyer (1964- ), football coach; Sofia Vergara (1972- ), actress; Chiwetel Ejiofor (1977- ), actor; Jessica Simpson (1980- ), actress/singer.

TODAY’S FACT: The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, which battled the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, counted 11 American pilots among its 2,900 members.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1999, the U.S. soccer team defeated China 5-4 to win the Women’s World Cup in Pasadena, California.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” -- Arthur Ashe

TODAY’S NUMBER: 134 -- temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) reached on this day in 1913 in Death Valley, California, the hottest peak temperature on U.S. record.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (July 9) and first quarter moon (July 17).