UNIVERSAL UCLICK ALMANAC

Today is the 340th day of 2013 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 1877, the first edition of the Washington Post was published.

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; Nick Park (1958- ), director/animator; Judd Apatow (1967- ), filmmaker Jens Pulver (1974- ), mixed martial artist; Johnny Manziel (1992- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The world's first pediatric heart transplant (which was also the first human-to-human heart transplant in the United States) was performed at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on this day in 1967.

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 QUOTE: "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree." -- Joyce Kilmer, "Trees and Other Poems"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 898 -- steps to the top of the Washington Monument when it was completed on this day in 1884. (The bottom step was later converted to a wheelchair ramp, bringing the total to 897.)

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 2) and first quarter moon (Dec. 9).

UNIVERSAL UCLICK ALMANAC

Today is the 339th day of 2013 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., E.D. Dixon, Rosa Parks and other activists launched an organized bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.

In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged, forming the AFL-CIO.

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-songwriter; Joan Didion (1934- ), author; Jose Carreras (1946- ), opera singer; Margaret Cho (1968- ), actress/comedian; Amy Acker (1976- ), actress; Keri Hilson (1982- ), singer-songwriter; Frankie Muniz (1985- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The 21st Amendment expressly gave each state the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol, which meant that many states continued to enforce prohibition laws even after 1933. Mississippi was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1908, numbers were used on football uniforms for the first time, at the University of Pittsburgh.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess." -- Martin Van Buren

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1.52 billion -- worldwide box office gross of "Marvel's The Avengers" (2012), Disney's highest-grossing film of all time.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 2) and first quarter moon (Dec. 9).

UNIVERSAL UCLICK ALMANAC

Today is the 338th day of 2013 and the 74th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1881, the first edition of the Los Angeles Times was published.

In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt terminated the Works Progress Administration.

In 1945, the Senate formally approved United States participation in the United Nations by a vote of 65-7.

In 1991, Pan American World Airways (commonly known as Pan Am), went bankrupt and ceased operations.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush ordered 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), essayist/historian; Samuel Butler (1835-1902), novelist; Lillian Russell (1861-1922), actress; Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), poet; Francisco Franco (1892-1975), Spanish dictator; Wink Martindale (1934- ), game show host; Jeff Bridges (1949- ), actor; Marisa Tomei (1964- ), actress; Fred Armisen (1966- ), actor/comedian; Jay-Z (1969- ), rapper/entrepreneur; Tyra Banks (1973- ) model/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States still does not have an embassy in Somalia.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Golden State Warriors star Latrell Sprewell was suspended by the NBA for one year after choking the team's coach, P.J. Carlesimo, during a practice on Dec. 1, 1997.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them." -- Samuel Butler

TODYA'S NUMBER: 2,454 -- days American journalist Terry Anderson was held hostage in Lebanon. Anderson was abducted on March 16, 1985, and was the last American hostage to be released, on this day in 1991.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 2) and first quarter moon (Dec. 9).