Today is the 339th day of 2014 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, Alabama.

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 1978, longtime Cincinnati Reds star Pete Rose signed a 4-year, $3.2 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, becoming Major League Baseball's highest-paid player at the time.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Character -- the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life -- is the source from which self-respect springs." -- Joan Didion, "On Self-Respect"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1.27 billion -- worldwide box office gross of Disney's "Frozen" (2013), the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Nov. 29) and full moon (Dec. 6).

Today is the 338th day of 2014 and the 74th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1639, Jeremiah Horrocks observed the first recorded transit of Venus, which occurs when Venus passes directly between the sun and the Earth.

In 1881, the first edition of the Los Angeles Times was published.

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), author; 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 evacuated its embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia, in January 1991, due to increasing violence in the Somali Civil War. The embassy has never been reopened.

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: "Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on." -- 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 first quarter moon (Nov. 29) and full moon (Dec. 6).

Today is the 337th day of 2014 and the 73rd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st U.S. state.

In 1967, a team headed by cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard carried out the world's first human-to-human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1984, a leak at a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killed more than 3,000 people within hours.

In 1999, NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander as it entered the planet's atmosphere.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), author; Andy Williams (1927-2012), singer; Ozzy Osbourne (1948- ), musician; Daryl Hannah (1960- ), actress; Julianne Moore (1960- ), actress; Andrew Stanton (1965- ), writer/director/animator; Katarina Witt (1965- ), figure skater; Brendan Fraser (1968- ), actor; Sean Parker (1979- ), entrepreneur; Amanda Seyfried (1985- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The successful 2007-2008 Mars mission was given the name "Phoenix" because it "rose from the ashes" of two unsuccessful earlier missions to Mars: the lost 1999 Mars Polar Lander and the canceled 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 13-7. It remains the last professional football game in which the winning team did not complete a single pass.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I don't like work -- no man does -- but I like what is in the work -- the chance to find yourself. Your own reality -- for yourself, not for others -- what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means." -- Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- Illinois governors since the 1920s who have been charged with crimes that took place during or after their time in office, including George H. Ryan (1999-2003) and Rod Blagojevich (2003-2009).

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Nov. 29) and full moon (Dec. 6).