Data points

David Letterman: "I feel like an ugly date!"

"It's not based on any particular data point. We just wanted to choose a really large number."
-- Treasury spokes-woman on the $700B bailout figure

On this day in 1687, the Parthenon was destroyed, in a war between the Venetians and the Turks. The Venetians sent a mortar through a gable window, igniting a Turkish store of gunpowder.
In either 1775 or 1783, John Chapman, later known as Johnny Appleseed, was born. He did not wear shoes.
in 1898, George Gershwin was born.
in 1957, “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.
In 1969, the Beatles released “Abbey Road.”
In 2001, Enron president Ken Lay urged his employees to buy Enron stock. He had been selling his own for a year, for a gain of $146 million. Enron would file for bankruptcy on December 2.