OCTOBER 10TH

Today is Friday, Oct. 10, the 284th day of 2008.
There are 82 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Oct. 10, 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy was established in Annapolis, Md.

On this date:

• In 1758, French fur trader, early St. Louis settler and "father of Oklahoma" Jean Pierre Chouteau was born in New Orleans.
• In 1813, composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in Le Roncole, Italy.
• In 1908, the Chicago Cubs won Game 1 of the World Series with a 10-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Bennett Park.
• In 1911, revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen launched their overthrow of China's Manchu dynasty.
• In 1935, George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway.
• In 1938, Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
• In 1958, the private-eye series "77 Sunset Strip" premiered on ABC-TV.
• In 1967, the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the placing of weapons of mass destruction on the moon or elsewhere in space, entered into force.
• In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion and resigned from office.
• In 1978, President Carter signed a bill authorizing the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Ten years ago:

• Former Defense Secretary and presidential adviser Clark M. Clifford died at age 91.

Five years ago:

• Iranian writer and activist Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh announced during his syndicated radio show that he was addicted to painkillers and was checking into a rehab center.

One year ago:

• A 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in a Cleveland high school, wounding two teachers and two classmates before killing himself.
• The United Auto Workers tentatively agreed on a contract with Chrysler. (UAW members ratified the accord but with significant dissent in the ranks.)
• A Russian spacecraft blasted off for the international space station, carrying Malaysia's first astronaut (Sheikh Muszaphar) and Peggy Whitson, an American who became the first woman to command the orbital outpost.
• German Gerhard Ertl won the 2007 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Today's Birthdays:

• Playwright Harold Pinter is 78.
• Former Illinois Sen. Adlai Stevenson III is 78.
• Actor Peter Coyote is 67.
• Entertainer Ben Vereen is 62.
• Singer John Prine is 62.
• Actor Charles Dance is 62.
• Rock singer-musician Cyril Neville (The Neville Brothers) is 60.
• Actress Jessica Harper is 59.
• Singer-musician Midge Ure is 55.
• Rock singer David Lee Roth is 54.
• Country singer Tanya Tucker is 50.
• Actress Julia Sweeney is 49.
• Actor Bradley Whitford is 49.
• Musician Martin Kemp is 47.
• Rock musician Jim Glennie (James) is 45.
• Actress Rebecca Pidgeon is 43.
• Rock musician Mike Malinin (Goo Goo Dolls) is 41.
• Football quarterback Brett Favre is 39.
• Actress Wendi McLendon-Covey is 39.
• Actor Mario Lopez is 35.
• Actress Jodi Lyn O'Keefe is 30.
• Singer Mya is 29.
• Singer Cherie is 24.
• Actress Aimee Teegarden is 19.

Thought for Today:

"There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up."
Rex Stout, American writer (1886-1975).

"Let's all be careful out there!"