Today is the 340th day of 2012 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. and other activists launched an organized bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.
In 1994, Newt Gingrich of Georgia was selected to become the first Republican Speaker of the House in four decades.
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), governor/senator; Otto Preminger (1906-1986), film director; Little Richard (1932- ), singer; Joan Didion (1934- ), author; Jose Carreras (1946- ), opera singer; Nick Stahl (1979- ), actor.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1908, numbers were used on football uniforms for the first time, at the University of Pittsburgh.
TODAY'S FACT: During Prohibition, Bill McCoy was known for his quality bootlegged "moonshine," giving the phrase "the real McCoy" its origin.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing -- it was all started by a mouse." -- Walt Disney
TODAY'S NUMBER: $623.4 million -- domestic box office gross of "The Avengers" (2012) as of November 2012. The movie is Disney's highest-grossing film of all time.
TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 28) and last quarter moon (Dec. 6).