Today is the 275th day of 2012 and the 10th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1800, France acquired the Louisiana Territory from Spain as part of a clandestine treaty.

In 1949, Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong raised the flag of the People's Republic of China for the first time at a ceremony in Beijing.

In 1971, Walt Disney World opened to the public in Orlando, Fla.

In 1989, Danish activists Axel and Eigil Axgil were wed in a ceremony establishing the world's first legally recognized same-sex union.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Walter Matthau (1920-2000), actor; Jimmy Carter (1924- ), 39th U.S. president; William Rehnquist (1924-2005), United States chief justice; Tom Bosley (1927-2010), actor; Julie Andrews (1935- ), actress; Rod Carew (1945- ), baseball player; Tim O'Brien (1946- ), writer; Esai Morales (1962- ), actor; Mark McGwire (1963- ), baseball player; Zach Galifianakis (1969- ), actor/comedian.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1961, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking the single-season record that had been held by Babe Ruth since 1927.

TODAY'S FACT: 86 percent of American women and 81 percent of American men will marry at least once before age 40.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good." -- Jimmy Carter

TODAY'S NUMBER: $3.50 -- adult ticket price at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom the day it opened in 1971. The lowest one-day ticket price (age 10 and up) in 2012 was $89.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Sept. 29) and last quarter (Oct. 8).

Today is the 274th day of 2012 and the ninth day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1938, France and Britain reached an agreement with Hitler's Germany to allow German troops to occupy half of the Czech region of Sudetenland.

In 1949, the Berlin Airlift, which delivered fuel and food to West Berliners in avoidance of a Soviet blockade, ended.

In 2005, a Danish newspaper published controversial cartoons about the Islamic prophet Muhammad, sparking protests and riots around the world.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Deborah Kerr (1921-2007), actress; Truman Capote (1924-1984), writer; Elie Wiesel (1928- ), writer/activist; Angie Dickinson (1931- ), actress; Johnny Mathis (1935- ), singer; Fran Drescher (1957- ), actress; Eric Stoltz (1961- ), actor; Jenna Elfman (1971- ), actress; Marion Cotillard (1975- ), actress; Martina Hingis (1980- ), tennis player; T-Pain (1985- ), singer/rapper.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1927, Babe Ruth broke his own record for home runs in a season by hitting his 60th, setting a record that stood for 34 years.

TODAY'S FACT: When Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt set two world records at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, the city gave him a portrait of himself painted on a 12-foot high chunk of the Berlin Wall that weighed nearly 3 tons.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil." -- Truman Capote

TODAY'S NUMBER: 209 -- total weeks Martina Hingis was the top-ranked women's tennis player, beginning in 1997.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Sept. 29) and last quarter (Oct. 8).

Today is the 273rd day of 2012 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 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as chief justice of the United States.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), writer; Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), nuclear physicist; Greer Garson (1904-1996), actress; Gene Autry (1907-1998), singer/actor; Jerry Lee Lewis (1935- ), singer/musician; Madeline Kahn (1942-1999), actress; Ian McShane (1942- ), actor; Lech Walesa (1943- ), labor leader/politician; Zachary Levi (1980- ), actor; Kevin Durant (1988- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1954, during the World Series, the New York Giants' Willie Mays caught Cleveland Indian Vic Wertz's near-home run in what is regarded as one of the greatest catches in baseball history.

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 QUOTE: "He who puts out his hand to stop the wheel of history will have his fingers crushed." -- Lech Walesa

TODAY'S NUMBER: $69 billion -- net worth of Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, the world's richest man, in March 2012.

TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (Sept. 29).