Today is the 351st day of 2016 and the 86th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1773, Tea Act protesters dumped hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor, an act that came to be known as the "Boston Tea Party."

In 1835, a huge fire destroyed nearly 700 buildings in New York City.

In 1944, German forces began a 90-minute artillery barrage against the Allied front, signaling the onset of the Battle of the Bulge.

In 2000, President George W. Bush selected Colin Powell as the first African-American secretary of state.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jane Austen (1775-1817), author; Noel Coward (1899-1973), playwright; Margaret Mead (1901-1978), anthropologist; Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), writer; Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), author; Lesley Stahl (1941- ), journalist; Steven Bochco (1943- ), screenwriter/producer; Shane Black (1961- ), actor/screenwriter/director; William "The Refrigerator" Perry (1962- ), football player; Benjamin Bratt (1963- ), actor; Krysten Ritter (1981- ), actress; Theo James (1984- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Margaret Mead was named "Mother of the World" by Time magazine in 1969.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1973, Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson became the first player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future." -- Arthur C. Clarke, "3001: The Final Odyssey"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $2.8 billion -- worldwide box-office gross of James Cameron's "Avatar," which began its wide international release on this day in 2009. It remains the highest-grossing film of all time (not adjusted for inflation).

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 13) and last quarter moon (Dec. 20).

Today is the 350th day of 2016 and the 85th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1791, the Bill of Rights took effect after ratification by Virginia.

In 1939, the film "Gone With the Wind" premiered in Atlanta.

In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, considered the architect of the Nazis' "final solution," was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

In 1970, the Soviet probe Venera 7 landed on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to complete a soft landing on another planet.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced his intention to grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China, severing ties with Taiwan, on Jan. 1, 1979.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), engineer/architect; Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959), playwright; J. Paul Getty (1892-1976), oil tycoon/philanthropist; Betty Smith (1896-1972), author; Tim Conway (1933- ), actor/comedian; Dave Clark (1942- ), musician; Don Johnson (1949- ), actor; Julie Taymor (1952- ), director; Rodney Harrison (1972- ), football player; Adam Brody (1979- ), actor; Charlie Cox (1982- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2001, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy was reopened after being closed for more than a decade for stabilization and reconstruction efforts. The tower's characteristic lean was left intact.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1982, Bill Parcells became the coach of the NFL's New York Giants.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime." -- Maxwell Anderson, "Valley Forge"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $17 million -- ransom demanded of billionaire J. Paul Getty by the kidnappers of his 16-year-old grandson in 1973, which Getty refused to pay. Getty secured his grandson's release months later by agreeing to pay no more than $2.2 million, the maximum amount that would be tax deductible. Getty's grandson was recovered on this day in 1973, 159 days after he was abducted.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 13) and last quarter moon (Dec. 20).

Today is the 349th day of 2016 and the 84th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1799, George Washington died at Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia.

In 1819, Alabama was admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.

In 1911, explorer Roald Amundsen and his party became the first humans to reach the South Pole.

In 2001, after Hurricane Michelle devastated Cuba, a commercial shipment of food left the United States for the island nation for the first time since 1962.

In 2012, a 20-year-old gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before taking his own life.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Doolittle (1896-1993), military aviator; Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), politician; Shirley Jackson (1916-1965), author; Don Hewitt (1922-2009), TV producer; Lee Remick (1935-1991), actress; Patty Duke (1946-2016), actress; Bill Buckner (1949- ), baseball player; Michael Moloney (1963- ), interior designer; Vanessa Hudgens (1988- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Historians have estimated that physicians drained five to seven pints of blood from President George Washington in the day prior to his death, in an attempt to cure him.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, after losing the first 17 games of the season, the Miami Heat defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 89-88 for the franchise's first win.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited." -- Margaret Chase Smith

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- points known as the South Pole: the ceremonial pole, the geographical pole and the magnetic pole.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 13) and last quarter moon (Dec. 20).