Today is the 284th day of 2012 and the 19th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy (then known as the U.S. Naval School) opened in Annapolis, Md.

In 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned the vice presidency after being charged with tax evasion.

In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to give President George W. Bush authority to use military force in Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), composer; Helen Hayes (1900-1993), actress; Thelonious Monk (1917-1982), jazz pianist/composer; Harold Pinter (1930-2008), director/playwright; Ben Vereen (1946- ), actor/singer/dancer; David Lee Roth (1955- ), musician; Bradley Whitford (1959- ), actor; Daniel Pearl (1963-2002), journalist; Brett Favre (1969- ), football player; Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1974- ), race car driver; Aimee Teegarden (1989- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, the Green Bay Packers played so badly in a 17-7 loss to the Chicago Cardinals that coach Curly Lambeau legendarily fined his team and released two players as "an apology to the people who paid good money to see it."

TODAY'S FACT: The U.S. Naval Academy's rowing crew teams won gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1920 and 1952.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There can be no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false." -- Harold Pinter

TODAY'S NUMBER: 112,158 -- shareholders in the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in 2011. It is the only publicly owned NFL franchise.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter (Oct. 8) and new moon (Oct. 15).

Today is the 283rd day of 2012 and the 18th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1635, religious dissident Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1888, the public was first allowed inside the Washington Monument.

In 1967, guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed for attempting to lead revolutionaries in Bolivia.

In 2006, North Korea claimed it had performed its first nuclear test.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Lennon (1940-1980), musician; Trent Lott (1941- ), politician; Jackson Browne (1948- ), singer/songwriter; Tony Shalhoub (1953- ), actor; Scott Bakula (1954- ), actor; Mike Singletary (1958- ), football player; Guillermo del Toro (1964- ), director; Annika Sorenstam (1970- ), golfer; Scotty McCreery (1993- ), singer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1915, Woodrow Wilson became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game.

TODAY'S FACT: The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues presented a lifetime presidential pass for attending games to Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, but he wasn't a baseball fan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To err is human, to forgive is divine ... but this does not make it desirable to make as many errors as possible." -- Roger Williams

TODAY'S NUMBER: 36,491 -- marble bricks used to build the Washington Monument.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter (Oct. 8) and new moon (Oct. 15).

Today is the 282nd day of 2012 and the 17th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire leveled three square miles, leaving 100,000 homeless and more than 300 dead.

In 1945, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would share its knowledge of the atomic bomb exclusively with Britain and Canada.

In 2005, an earthquake on the border of India and Pakistan killed more than 75,000 people and left 3 million homeless.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Frank Herbert (1920-1986), author; Paul Hogan (1939- ), actor; Jesse Jackson (1941- ), civil rights leader; Chevy Chase (1943- ), comedian/actor; R.L. Stine (1943- ), children's author; Sigourney Weaver (1949- ), actress; Matt Damon (1970- ), actor; Nick Cannon (1980- ), actor/TV personality; Bruno Mars (1985- ), singer; Angus T. Jones (1993- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, New York Yankee Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect World Series game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

TODAY'S FACT: On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, a fire in Peshtigo, Wis., (about 250 miles outside of Chicago) destroyed the town and claimed more than 1,200 lives.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change." -- Jesse Jackson

TODAY'S NUMBER: $20 billion -- estimated cost of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs, through August 1945.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Oct. 8).