ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC
Today is the 273rd day of 2020 and the eighth day of autumn.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the U.S. Department of War established a regular army, maintaining several hundred troops.
In 1916, The New York Times reported that John D. Rockefeller, the head of Standard Oil, was almost certainly a billionaire, the world's first.
In 1966, the Chevrolet Camaro debuted for sale in U.S. dealerships.
In 1988, NASA launched STS-26, the 26th Space Shuttle mission and the first since the Challenger disaster of Jan. 28, 1986.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), writer; Caravaggio (1571-1610), painter; Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), nuclear physicist; Greer Garson (1904-1996), actress; Gene Autry (1907-1998), singer/actor; Jerry Lee Lewis (1935- ), singer-songwriter; Madeline Kahn (1942-1999), actress; Ian McShane (1942- ), actor; Lech Walesa (1943- ), labor leader/politician; Bryant Gumbel (1948- ), TV journalist; Ann Bancroft (1955- ), author/explorer; Russell Peters (1970- ), actor/comedian; Zachary Levi (1980- ), actor; Kevin Durant (1988- ), basketball player.
TODAY'S FACT: Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote" is widely considered to be the first modern novel. It was initially published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1951, NBC broadcast a college football game between Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh. It was the first live sporting event to be televised nationwide.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "For neither good nor evil can last forever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand." -- Miguel de Cervantes, "Don Quixote"
TODAY'S NUMBER: 777.68 -- points lost by the Dow Jones Industrial Average on this day in 2008, following the bankruptcies of the financial services companies Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual. It was the largest single-day point drop in history.
TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 23) and full moon (Oct. 1).