ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 296th day of 2017 and the 32nd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1915, more than 25,000 women marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City to advocate voting rights for women.

In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time in New York City.

In 1983, a suicide truck bombing in Beirut killed 241 U.S. military personnel.

In 2001, Apple announced the first iPod, which cost $399 and offered five gigabytes of storage.

In 2002, armed Chechen separatists took more than 700 people hostage at a theater in Moscow.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Gertrude Ederle (1905-2003), swimmer; Johnny Carson (1925-2005), TV personality/comedian; Juan "Chi-Chi" Rodriguez (1935- ), golfer; Pele (1940- ), soccer player; Michael Crichton (1942-2008), writer; Ang Lee (1954- ), filmmaker; Dwight Yoakam (1956- ), singer-songwriter; Nancy Grace (1959- ), journalist/TV host; Sam Raimi (1959- ), director; "Weird Al" Yankovic (1959- ), singer/satirist; Ryan Reynolds (1976- ), actor; Emilia Clarke (1986- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Sales of the new board game Twister skyrocketed in May of 1966 after Johnny Carson played the game with Eva Gabor on “The Tonight Show.”

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1993, right fielder Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6 and earn the Blue Jays' second consecutive World Series title.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Science is the most exciting and sustained enterprise of discovery in the history of our species. It is the great adventure of our time." -- Michael Crichton

TODAY'S NUMBER: 51 -- members of the United Nations when it first convened in 1946.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Oct. 19) and first quarter moon (Oct. 27).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 295th day of 2017 and the 31st day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1883, the original Metropolitan Opera House opened in New York City with a performance of Charles Gounod's "Faust."

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced a naval and air "quarantine" of Cuba in a televised speech, after the discovery of Soviet missiles there.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Franz Liszt (1811-1886), composer; Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), actress; Curly Howard (1903-1952), actor/comedian; Timothy Leary (1920-1996), psychologist/author; Christopher Lloyd (1938- ), actor; Annette Funicello (1942-2013), actress/singer; Deepak Chopra (1947- ), physician/author; Jeff Goldblum (1952- ), actor; Bob Odenkirk (1962- ), actor/comedian; Spike Jonze (1969- ), filmmaker; Ichiro Suzuki (1973- ), baseball player; Jesse Tyler Ferguson (1975- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2005, Tropical Storm Alpha was the first Atlantic storm to be designated with a Greek letter, after the annual list of 21 names had been exhausted.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2012, Lance Armstrong was formally stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from competitive cycling after a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency investigation revealed he had used performance-enhancing drugs.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are dealing with the best-educated generation in history. ... The problem is that no one is giving them anything fresh. They've got a brain dressed up with nowhere to go." -- Timothy Leary

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,358 -- career hits for Ichiro Suzuki of the Miami Marlins (combining 1,278 hits as a pro in Japan and 3,080 hits in Major League Baseball), the professional baseball record.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Oct. 19) and first quarter moon (Oct. 27).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 294th day of 2017 and the 30th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1879, Thomas Edison successfully tested an electric lightbulb.

In 1892, the original "Pledge of Allegiance" was recited by an estimated 12 million schoolchildren across the United States in honor of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to the New World.

In 1959, the Guggenheim Museum opened in New York City.

In 1967, more than 35,000 anti-war protesters stormed the Pentagon, resulting in nearly 700 arrests.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), poet/essayist; Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), inventor/arms manufacturer; Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), jazz musician; Celia Cruz (1925-2003), singer; Whitey Ford (1928- ), baseball player; Ursula K. Le Guin (1929- ), author; Judy Sheindlin (1942- ), judge/TV personality; Benjamin Netanyahu (1949- ), Israeli politician; Carrie Fisher (1956-2016), actress/writer; Ken Watanabe (1959- ), actor; Kim Kardashian (1980- ), model/socialite.

TODAY'S FACT: While there are no posthumous nominations for the Nobel Prizes, they can be awarded posthumously if the winner dies before the Dec. 10 ceremony.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1975, Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a home run that glanced off the foul pole at Fenway Park in Boston, giving the Red Sox a 12th-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 6 of the World Series.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "How seldom, friend! a good great man inherits / Honor or wealth, with all his worth and pains! / It sounds like stories from the land of spirits / If any man obtain that which he merits, / Or any merit that which he obtains." -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Great Good Man"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 13.5 -- hours Thomas Edison's first prototype electric incandescent lightbulb lasted before burning out.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Oct. 19) and first quarter moon (Oct. 27).