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).

Today is the 339th day of 2012 and the 74th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1783, George Washington bid farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City.

In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt terminated the Works Progress Administration.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops to Somalia.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), essayist/historian; Samuel Butler (1835-1902), novelist; Lillian Russell (1861-1922), actress; Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), poet; Francisco Franco (1892-1975), Spanish dictator; Jeff Bridges (1949- ), actor; Marisa Tomei (1964- ), actress; Jay-Z (1969- ), rapper/entrepreneur; Tyra Banks (1973- ) model/TV personality.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Golden State Warriors basketball player Latrell Sprewell was suspended by the NBA for one year after choking the team's coach, P.J. Carlesimo, during a practice on Dec. 1, 1997.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States still does not have an embassy in Somalia.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore." -- Samuel Butler

TODYA'S NUMBER: 6,600 -- writers, including Saul Bellow, John Cheever, Studs Terkel and Richard Wright, who received financial support from the Federal Writers Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 28) and last quarter moon (Dec. 6).

Today is the 338th day of 2012 and the 73rd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st U.S. state.

In 1984, a leak at a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killed more than 3,000 people within hours.

In 1999, NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander, just as it was scheduled to land on the planet's surface.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), novelist; Andy Williams (1927-2012), singer; Ozzy Osbourne (1948- ), musician; Julianne Moore (1960- ), actress; Andrew Stanton (1965- ), writer/animator; Brendan Fraser (1968- ), actor; Sean Parker (1979- ), entrepreneur; Amanda Seyfried (1985- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 13-7 in a game that still stands as the last time a professional football team won without completing a single pass.

TODAY'S FACT: The successful 2007-2008 Mars Phoenix mission was so named because it "rose from the ashes" of two unsuccessful earlier missions to Mars: the lost 1999 Mars Polar Lander and the canceled 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense." -- Joseph Conrad

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- Illinois governors since the 1920s who have been charged with crimes that took place during or after their time in office, including George H. Ryan (1999-2003) and Rod Blagojevich (2003-2009).

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 28) and last quarter moon (Dec. 6).