Today is the 331st day of 2012 and the 66th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the United States observed a day of Thanksgiving declared by George Washington in celebration of the new Constitution.

In 1992, it was announced that the Queen of England would begin paying income taxes, the first time a British monarch would do so since the 1930s.

In 2000, nearly three weeks after Election Day, Florida's presidential election results were certified in favor of George W. Bush.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919), physician/feminist; Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000), cartoonist; Tina Turner (1939- ), singer/actress; Shawn Kemp (1969- ), basketball player; Peter Facinelli (1973- ), actor; Natasha Bedingfield (1981- ), singer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, Bob Richards became the first pole vaulter to win a second Olympic gold medal and set an Olympic record in the process.

TODAY'S FACT: To preserve the length of the holiday shopping season, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation on this day in 1941 that decreed Thanksgiving would always fall on the fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving had been celebrated on the last Thursday of November, which in some years was the fifth, since 1863.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington

TODAY'S NUMBER: 537 -- number of votes by which George W. Bush secured victory in Florida in 2000.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter (Nov. 20) and full moon (Nov. 28).

Today is the 330th day of 2012 and the 65th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1895, Oscar Hammerstein I opened the Olympia, the second theater in what is now known as Broadway, or New York City's Theater District. The Empire Theatre, which opened in 1893, was the first.

In 1947, studio executives agreed to blacklist the "Hollywood 10," who were cited for contempt of Congress the previous day for not cooperating with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Homeland Security Department, naming Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as its first secretary.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), financier/philanthropist; Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), composer/music critic; Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999), baseball player; Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006), Chilean president; Ben Stein (1944- ), actor/game show host; Amy Grant (1960- ), musician; John F. Kennedy Jr. (1960-1999), presidential son and publisher; Jill Hennessy (1968- ), actress; Christina Applegate (1971- ), actress; Barbara and Jenna Bush (1981- ), presidential daughters.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, Sugar Ray Leonard recovered the WBC welterweight boxing title when his opponent, Roberto Duran, said "no mas, no mas" ("no more, no more"), in the eighth round.

TODAY'S FACT: Augusto Pinochet came to power in 1973 in a violent coup that deposed Salvador Allende, the first elected Socialist president of Chile.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself." -- Andrew Carnegie

TODAY'S NUMBER: 58,575 -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees, making it the largest organization overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter (Nov. 20) and full moon (Nov. 28).

Today is the 329th day of 2012 and the 64th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1639, Jeremiah Horrocks observed the first recorded transit of Venus, which occurs when Venus passes directly between the sun and the Earth and is visible as a small black disc on the sun.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published his theory of natural selection in "On the Origin of Species."

In 1963, John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was fatally shot by Jack Ruby on live national television.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), 12th U.S. president; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), painter; Scott Joplin (1868-1917), musician; Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), author; William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008), columnist; Oscar Robertson (1938- ), basketball player; Pete Best (1941- ), drummer; Spider Robinson (1948- ), writer; Russell Watson (1966- ), singer; Katherine Heigl (1978- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1960, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors set a record that still stands by grabbing 55 rebounds in one game. The Warriors lost the game to the Boston Celtics, 132-129.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1903, a moth with a 10-inch tongue was discovered in Madagascar, 41 years after Charles Darwin hypothesized its existence.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry." -- William F. Buckley Jr.

TODAY'S NUMBER: 224.7 -- length, in days, of Venus' year.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter (Nov. 20) and full moon (Nov. 28).