Today is the 342nd day of 2012 and the 77th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution.

In 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bringing the United States into World War II.

In 2002, Iraq denied that it had weapons of mass destruction in a United Nations declaration.

In 2011, former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for multiple felonies, including the attempted sale of the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Willa Cather (1873-1947) novelist; Eli Wallach (1915- ), actor; Ellen Burstyn (1932- ), actress; Harry Chapin (1942-1981), singer/songwriter; Johnny Bench (1947- ), baseball player; Tom Waits (1949- ), singer/songwriter; Larry Bird (1956- ), basketball player; Terrell Owens (1973- ), football player; Emily Browning (1988- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, home-run record holder Barry Bonds pleaded not guilty to lying to investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.

TODAY'S FACT: Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Senate voted for a war resolution 82-0. The House of Representatives approved the resolution 388-1.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old to the young." -- Willa Cather

TODAY'S NUMBER: 73 -- record number of home runs hit during a Major League Baseball season, held by Barry Bonds since 2001.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 6) and new moon (Dec. 13).

Today is the 341st day of 2012 and the 76th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

In 1790, the U.S. Congress moved from New York City to Philadelphia.

In 1957, two months after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the United States attempted to launch its first satellite, but the Vanguard rocket exploded on the launch pad.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), poet; Ira Gershwin (1896-1983), lyricist; Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995), photojournalist; Baby Face Nelson (1908-1934), criminal; Dave Brubeck (1920-2012), jazz pianist; Craig Newmark (1952- ), founder of craigslist.com; Tom Hulce (1953- ), actor; Steven Wright (1955- ), comedian; Andrew Cuomo (1957- ), New York governor; Judd Apatow (1967- ), filmmaker.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2003, after a loss to Navy, Army became the first Division I college football team in history to finish the season 0-13.

TODAY'S FACT: Even before the 2010 earthquake, Haiti was one of the least developed and least stable countries in the Western Hemisphere. The United Nations' Human Development Index ranked Haiti 145th (out of 169 nations) in 2010.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

TODAY'S NUMBER: 898 -- steps to the top of the Washington Monument when it was dedicated. Since a wheelchair ramp was added, there are 896.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Dec. 6).

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).