Today is the 317th day of 2014 and the 53rd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation in Alabama was illegal.

In 1970, the Bhola cyclone in Bangladesh killed an estimated 500,000 people.

In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

In 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order allowing military tribunals for suspected terrorists.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), writer; Louis Brandeis (1856-1941), U.S. Supreme Court justice; Buck O'Neil (1911-2006), baseball player; Jack Elam (1920-2003), actor; Garry Marshall (1934- ), filmmaker; Joe Mantegna (1947- ), actor; Whoopi Goldberg (1955- ), actress/talk show host; Jimmy Kimmel (1967- ), comedian/TV host; Steve Zahn (1967- ), actor; Gerard Butler (1969- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba was established in 1903, when a stipulation in the Cuban-American Treaty designated the Guantanamo Bay area to be perpetually leased to the United States.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1985, Lynette Woodard made her debut as the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend." -- Robert Louis Stevenson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 7,048 -- Broadway performances of Disney's "The Lion King" since its debut on this day in 1997, making the musical the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history (as of Oct. 26, 2014).

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 6) and last quarter moon (Nov. 14).

Today is the 316th day of 2014 and the 52nd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1969, journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story of the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam over The Associated Press wire service.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter ordered a halt to oil imports from Iran due to an ongoing hostage crisis.

In 1997, Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed a bill allowing banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies to merge and provide one another's services for the first time since the start of the Great Depression.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), activist; Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), sculptor; Harry A. Blackmun (1908-1999), U.S. Supreme Court justice; Grace Kelly (1929-1982), actress/Princess of Monaco; Booker T. Jones (1944- ), musician; Al Michaels (1944- ), sportscaster; Neil Young (1945- ), singer-songwriter; Megan Mullally (1958- ), actress; Nadia Comaneci (1961- ), gymnast; Ryan Gosling (1980- ), actor; Anne Hathaway (1982- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Grace Kelly's movies were banned in Monaco by order of her husband, Prince Rainier.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1993, Royce Gracie, a 178-pound jiujitsu black belt from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, defeated 216-pound kickboxer Gerard Gordeau to win the first Ultimate Fighting Championship.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another." -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

TODAY'S NUMBER: 20 -- cases of dynamite used by the Oregon Highway Division in an attempt to remove a sperm whale carcass from a beach in Florence, Ore., on this day in 1970. The explosion sent whale parts flying over 800 feet away.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 6) and last quarter moon (Nov. 14).

Today is the 315th day of 2014 and the 51st day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1620, religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact.

In 1889, Washington was admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.

In 1918, the Allies and Germany signed an armistice that ended the fighting in World War I.

In 1992, the Church of England and the Anglican Church voted to allow women to become priests.

In 2004, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in Paris.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Renwick Jr. (1818-1895), architect; Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), author; George Patton (1885-1945), U.S. general; Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), author; Jonathan Winters (1925-2013), actor/comedian; Stanley Tucci (1960- ), actor; Demi Moore (1962- ), actress; Calista Flockhart (1964- ), actress; Leonardo DiCaprio (1974- ), actor; Victor Cruz (1986- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, dedicated on this day in 1921, has been guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment since midnight on July 2, 1937.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first Major League Baseball player to win Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same year.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "Crime and Punishment"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 41 -- pilgrims who signed the Mayflower Compact.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 6) and last quarter moon (Nov. 14).