Today is the 315th day of 2015 and the 50th 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: "People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov"

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

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Nov. 11).

Today is the 314th day of 2015 and the 49th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, the Continental Congress created the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1969, "Sesame Street" premiered on PBS.

In 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm over Lake Superior, killing all 29 on board.

In 1977, a human was conceived through in-vitro fertilization for the first time.

In 2001, China was approved for membership in the World Trade Organization.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Martin Luther (1483-1546), leader of the Protestant Reformation; William Hogarth (1697-1764), painter/engraver; Claude Rains (1889-1967), actor; Richard Burton (1925-1984), actor; Ennio Morricone (1928- ), composer; Tim Rice (1944- ), lyricist; Les Miles (1953- ), football coach; Sinbad (1956- ), actor/comedian; Neil Gaiman (1960- ), author; Tracy Morgan (1968- ), actor/comedian; Ellen Pompeo (1969- ), actress; Walton Goggins (1971- ), actor; Brittany Murphy (1977-2009), actress; Miranda Lambert (1983- ), singer.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2014, the U.S.-China trade deficit was $343.1 billion, an increase of 13 percent over the 2013 deficit of $318.7 billion.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1990, the NBA's Phoenix Suns scored a record 107 first-half points in their 173-143 win over the Denver Nuggets.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor." -- Neil Gaiman, "The Sandman"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 21 -- consecutive weeks Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" spent on the pop charts, reaching No. 2 at its highest point.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Nov. 3) and new moon (Nov. 11).

Today is the 313th day of 2015 and the 48th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt visited the Panama Canal, becoming the first sitting president to make an official trip outside of the United States.

In 1938, the Nazis launched a national pogrom, later dubbed "Kristallnacht," against Jewish people in Germany and Austria.

In 1965, a massive blackout left much of the northeastern United States and Ontario, Canada, without power.

In 1989, the wall separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany was opened.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), astronomer; Elijah P. Lovejoy (1802-1837), abolitionist; Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000), actress; Spiro Agnew (1918-1996), U.S. vice president; Anne Sexton (1928-1974), poet; Carl Sagan (1934-1996), astronomer/writer; Chris Jericho (1970- ), professional wrestler/actor; Susan Tedeschi (1970- ), singer-songwriter; Eric Dane (1972- ), actor; Nick Lachey (1973- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The 1965 power grid blackout left an area of 80,000 square miles, and at least 30 million people, without power.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1961, the Professional Golfers Association of America eliminated its rule limiting membership to Caucasians.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic." -- Carl Sagan

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1.03 billion -- amount 37 brokerage houses were ordered by a U.S. federal judge to pay on this day in 1998 in compensation to NASDAQ investors as punishment for price-fixing.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Nov. 3) and new moon (Nov. 11).