ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC
Today is the 268th day of 2023 and the third day of autumn.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.
In 1789, Congress proposed 12 constitutional amendments and sent them to the states for ratification; the 10 that were ratified would eventually be known as the Bill of Rights.
In 1957, U.S. Army troops stood guard as Black students were admitted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, racially intergrating the school for the first time.
In 2005, the Irish Republican Army officially disarmed.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Faulkner (1897-1962), author; Walter "Red" Smith (1905-1982), sportswriter; Phil Rizzuto (1917-2007), baseball player/broadcaster; Barbara Walters (1929-2022), TV journalist; Shel Silverstein (1930-1999), author/songwriter; Michael Douglas (1944- ), actor; Mark Hamill (1951- ), actor; Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), actor; Heather Locklear (1961- ), actress; Scottie Pippen (1965- ), basketball player; Will Smith (1968- ), actor/rapper; Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969- ), actress; T.I. (1980- ), rapper; Donald Glover (1983- ), actor.
TODAY'S FACT: Of the 165 nominations to the Supreme Court since 1789, 12 were rejected by the Senate.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1882, Providence and Worcester competed in Major League Baseball's first doubleheader.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "Sometimes I think it ain't none of us pure crazy and ain't none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It's like it ain't so much what a fellow does, but it's the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it." -- William Faulkner, "As I Lay Dying"
TODAY'S NUMBER: $813 million -- estimated total cost of the Mars Observer mission, launched on this day in 1992. The probe failed 11 months later, three days prior to its orbital insertion around Mars.
TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 22) and full moon (Sept. 29).