ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 278th day of 2024 and the 13th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1535, the complete English translation of the Bible was printed for the first time.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

In 1958, trans-Atlantic passenger jet service began with commercial flights between New York and London.

In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the United States.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893), 19th U.S. president; Edward Stratemeyer (1862-1930), children's author; Buster Keaton (1895-1966), comedian/filmmaker; Charlton Heston (1923-2008), actor; Jackie Collins (1937-2015), author; Anne Rice (1941-2021), author; Tony La Russa (1944- ), baseball manager; Susan Sarandon (1946- ), actress; Christoph Waltz (1956- ), actor; Liev Schreiber (1967- ), actor; Alicia Silverstone (1976- ), actress; Derrick Rose (1988- ), basketball player; Dakota Johnson (1989- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The longest regularly scheduled nonstop passenger flights in the world are Singapore Airlines Flights 23 and 24, which operate between Changi Airport in Singapore and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York with scheduled lengths often in excess of 18 hours.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2021, Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. became the second African American driver (and first in the modern era) to win a race in NASCAR's premier division.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness." -- Rutherford B. Hayes

TODAY'S NUMBER: 184 -- weight (in pounds) of Sputnik, according to Soviet news agency TASS on the day of its launch.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Oct. 2) and first quarter moon (Oct. 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 277th day of 2024 and the 12th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving.

In 1952, the United Kingdom conducted a successful test of an atomic bomb off the coast of Australia, becoming the world's third nuclear power.

In 1990, East and West Germany were reunified.

In 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, a bailout of the U.S. financial system.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), author; Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993), cartoonist; Gore Vidal (1925-2012), author; Chubby Checker (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Al Sharpton (1954- ), minister/activist; Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990), musician; Fred Couples (1959- ), golfer; Clive Owen (1964- ), actor; Gwen Stefani (1969- ), singer-songwriter; Lena Headey (1973- ), actress; Talib Kweli (1975- ), rapper; Tessa Thompson (1983- ), actress; Alicia Vikander (1988- ), actress; Noah Schnapp (2004- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1789, President George Washington announced that Nov. 26 of that year would be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer," the first in U.S. history.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1951, New York Giants player Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World," a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to clinch the National League pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I've seen enough things to know that if you just keep on going, if you turn the corner, the sun will be shining." -- Al Sharpton

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1 trillion -- amount of public and private funds that eastern Germany received from western Germany in the five years following reunification.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Oct. 2) and first quarter moon (Oct. 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 276th day of 2024 and the 11th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1835, the Texas Revolution began as American settlers battled Mexican troops near the Guadalupe River.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first Black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2002, the first two "Beltway sniper" attacks left one person dead in Montgomery County, Maryland.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Nat Turner (1800-1831), rebellion leader; Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), political/spiritual leader; Cordell Hull (1871-1955), statesman; Groucho Marx (1890-1977), comedian/actor; Bud Abbott (1895-1974), comedian/actor; Graham Greene (1904-1991), novelist; Rex Reed (1938- ), movie critic; Steve Sabol (1942-2012), director/producer; Don McLean (1945- ), singer-songwriter; Sting (1951- ), singer-songwriter; Kelly Ripa (1970- ), actress/TV personality; Brittany Howard (1988- ), singer-songwriter/guitarist.

TODAY'S FACT: After reading Leo Tolstoy's "Letter to a Hindu," Mohandas Gandhi began a regular correspondence with the novelist that lasted from October 1909 until Tolstoy's death in November 1910.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2005, the Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-14 in Mexico City. It was the first regular-season NFL game to take place outside the United States.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There is a point of no return, unremarked at the time, in most lives." -- Graham Greene, "The Comedians"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 17,897 -- number of original "Peanuts" comic strips (featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy) published between the strip's debut on this day in 1950 and the last Sunday strip (published one day after creator Charles Schulz's death) in 2000.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Oct. 2).