Today is Tuesday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2019 with 84 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include Argentine dictator Juan Peron in 1895; gossip columnist Rona Barrett in 1936 (age 83); tennis Hall of Fame member Fred Stolle in 1938 (age 81); actor Paul Hogan in 1939; the Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, in 1941 (age 78); author R.L. Stine in 1943 (age 76); actor Chevy Chase in 1943 (age 76); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Johnny Ramone in 1948; actor Sigourney Weaver in 1949 (age 70); actor Darrell Hammond in 1955 (age 64); actor Stephanie Zimbalist in 1956 (age 63); political commentator Steve Coll in 1958 (age 61); businessman Reed Hastings in 1960 (age 59); Olympic gold medal swimmer Matt Biondi in 1965 (age 54); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member C.J. Ramone in 1965 (age 54); actor Emily Procter in 1968 (age 51); actor Karyn Parsons in 1969 (age 50); actor Matt Damon in 1970 (age 49); actor Anne-Marie Duff in 1970 (age 49); London Mayor Sadiq Khan in 1970 (age 49); television personality Nick Cannon in 1980 (age 39); wrestler Mike "The Miz" Mizanin in 1980 (age 39); singer Bruno Mars in 1985 (age 34); actor Molly Quinn in 1993 (age 26); actor Angus Jones in 1993 (age 26); actor Bella Thorne in 1997 (age 22).
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 declared 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 as part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 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. Larsen told United Press he was "so keyed up about the whole thing I almost fell down."
In 1969, the Days of Rage demonstrations, organized by the Weather Underground, kicked 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, Cats opened 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 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 2014, the first person in the United States diagnosed with Ebola during an outbreak that year dies. Thomas Eric Duncan caught the disease while traveling to West Africa.
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 2018, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees became the NFL's career passing leader with a record 71,940 passing yards during a win over Washington.
A thought for the day: "If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert." -- Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion