Today is the 318th day of 2014 and the 54th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1851, the first American edition of Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" was published.

In 1889, New York World reporter Nellie Bly set out to travel around the world in less than 80 days, inspired by Jules Verne. It took her 72 days.

In 1910, the first airplane takeoff from the deck of a ship occurred near Hampton Roads, Virginia.

In 1995, a budget impasse in Congress led to a partial government shutdown.

In 2008, the first G-20 economic summit began in Washington, D.C.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Fulton (1765-1815), inventor; Claude Monet (1840-1926), painter; Aaron Copland (1900-1990), composer; Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957), politician; Ed White (1930-1967), astronaut; Wendy Carlos (1939- ), composer; P.J. O'Rourke (1947- ), journalist/author; Prince Charles (1948- ), Prince of Wales; Condoleezza Rice (1954- ), former secretary of state; Yanni (1954- ), musician; Curt Schilling (1966- ), baseball player; Betsy Brandt (1976- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is not the actual average price of its component stocks, but a weighted average that compensates for the effects of stock splits and other adjustments.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1970, a plane carrying 37 Marshall University football players, as well as the team's coach, doctors, athletic director and 25 team boosters, crashed outside an airport near Huntington, West Virginia, killing all on board.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going." -- P.J. O'Rourke

TODAY'S NUMBER: $87.3 million -- highest amount paid for an original Claude Monet painting. "Le Bassin aux Nympheas" was sold at a Christie's auction in London on June 24, 2008.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Nov. 14).

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).