DAY IN HISTORY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Today is the 272nd day of 2022 and the eighth day of autumn.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1789, the U.S. Congress established a regular army, maintaining several hundred troops.

In 1916, The New York Times reported that John D. Rockefeller, the head of Standard Oil, was almost certainly a billionaire, the world’s first.

In 1966, the Chevrolet Camaro debuted for sale in U.S. dealerships.

In 1988, NASA launched STS-26, the 26th Space Shuttle mission and the first since the Challenger disaster of Jan. 28, 1986.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), writer; Caravaggio (1571-1610), painter; Enrico Fermi (19011954), nuclear physicist; Greer Garson (1904-1996), actress; Gene Autry (19071998), singer/actor; Jerry Lee Lewis (1935- ), singersongwriter; Madeline Kahn (1942-1999), actress; Ian Mcshane (1942- ), actor; Lech Walesa (1943- ), labor leader/politician; Bryant Gumbel (1948- ), TV journalist; Ann Bancroft (1955- ), author/ explorer; Russell Peters (1970- ), actor/comedian; Zachary Levi (1980- ), actor; Kevin Durant (1988- ), basketball player.

TODAY’S FACT: Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” is widely considered to be the first modern novel. It was initially published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1951, NBC broadcast a college football game between Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh. It was the first live sporting event to be televised nationwide.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “For neither good nor evil can last forever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand.” — Miguel de Cervantes, “Don Quixote”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 777.68 — points lost by the Dow Jones Industrial Average on this day in 2008, following the bankruptcies of the financial services companies Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (Sept. 25) and first quarter moon (Oct. 2).