UPI Almanac for Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016

Today is Saturday, Oct. 8, the 282nd day of 2016 with 84 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Mercury. Evening stars are Venus, Saturn, Mars, Neptune and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include musician Dick Burnett in 1883; World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker in 1890; Argentine dictator Juan Peron in 1895; science fiction writer Frank Herbert in 1920; gossip columnist Rona Barrett in 1936 (age 80); tennis Hall of Fame member Fred Stolle in 1938 (age 78); the Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, in 1941 (age 75); "Goosebumps" author R.L. Stine in 1943 (age 73); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Johnny Ramone in 1948 and C.J. Ramone in 1965 (age 51); political commentator Steve Coll in 1958 (age 58); Olympic gold medal swimmer Matt Biondi in 1965 (age 51); actors Paul Hogan in 1939, Chevy Chase in 1943 (age 73), Sigourney Weaver in 1949 (age 67), Darrell Hammond in 1955 (age 61); Stephanie Zimbalist in 1956 (age 60), Matt Damon in 1970 (age 46) and Nick Cannon in 1980 (age 36); singer Bruno Mars in 1985 (age 31); actors Molly Quin in 1993 (age 23) and Bella Thorne in 1997 (age 19).

On this date in history:

In 1871, a massive Chicago fire destroyed more than 17,000 buildings, killed more than 300 people and left 100,000 homeless.

In 1912, Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire, starting the First Balkan War. "Irreconcilable differences between the great powers...now loom up as the most serious menace in the Balkan situation."

In 1918, Sgt. Alvin York of Tennessee became a World War I hero by single-handedly capturing a hill in the Argonne Forest of France, killing 20 enemy soldiers and capturing 132 others.

In 1956, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game in a World Series, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0 in Game 5.

In 1969, the Days of Rage demonstrations, organized by the Weather Underground, kick off in Chicago. Diana - The Making of a Terrorist, is UPI's Pulitzer winning profile of Diana Oughton, a member of the Weather Underground.

In 1982, Poland bans all labor unions, including Solidarity.

In 1982, Cats opens on Broadway, delighting fans from around the world for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.

In 1991, a U.S. federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska, approved a $1 billion settlement against Exxon for the Valdez oil spill.

In 1993, the U.S. Justice Department, in its report on the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, concluded the cult had caused the fire that destroyed the compound and killed at least 75 people.

In 1997, three years after the death of longtime North Korean ruler Kim Il Sung, his son, Kim Jong Il, officially inherited his father's title of general secretary of the Communist Party.

In 2003, about $19 billion in peach-colored, redesigned $20 bills made their official debut across the United States.

In 2004, for the first time the Nobel Peace Prize went to an African woman, Dr. Wangari Maathai, an environmental activist from Kenya.

In 2005, tens of thousands of people were killed by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan. Most of the victims were in the Kashmir region, others in India. The death toll in what became known as the Kashmir earthquake was eventually set at about 79,000, with more than 100,000 people injured and the number of displaced estimated in the millions.

In 2011, the head of the U.S. Energy Department's loan program, Jonathan Silver, resigned amid a fiscal firestorm over Solyndra, a solar energy company that filed for bankruptcy after receiving a $535 million federal loan guarantee.

In 2013, Indiana officials announced a winning $1 million lottery ticket was unclaimed during the required six-month period to do so. The money was retained by the state to be used for firefighter and teacher pensions and other funds.

A thought for the day: "Putting is a fascinating, aggravating, wonderful, terrible and almost incomprehensible part of the game of golf." -- Arnold Palmer