CALENDAR - collected by p a pearson

Originally named as the seventh month in the ancient Roman calendar, September retained its name and its number of 30 days through the Julian and Gregorian calendar changes, despite one attempt by the Roman Emperor named Caligula, who wanted to rename the month Germanicus after his father (one of the most beloved generals of the Roman Empire).

For over 500 years, September marked the return of the Roman armies, and highlighted the Ludi Romani, a religious festival of games in ancient Rome honoring Jupiter, king of the gods, the god of sky and thunder, and deity of the Roman state. Celebrations began with a solemn procession, and proceeded to include days of chariot races and riding exhibitions, boxing, dancing, and youth competitions. The Ludi Romani was also the festival which first introduced drama to Rome

In other areas of world culture which adopted the Roman name of September, the season was traditionally believed a time of plenty, when the crops were harvested and preparations for winter storing began. Called Autumn Month by the Dutch, Harvest Month by the Swiss, Barley Month by the Saxons, the Month of Plenty by the Irish, the Month of Reaping by the Welsh, Wood Month by the Franks, and Full Corn Moon by some Native American tribes, its most dominant feature came to be known as the Harvest Moon.

In the northern hemisphere, the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the Autumn equinox. Because of the seasonal tilt of the earth, for several days around the equinox, the moon rises closer to sunset, and gives an optical illusion of being bigger than other full moons, with a reddish glow caused by the lingering sunlight through the atmosphere. Throughout history, this occurence has inspired a sense of awe and wonder, but also provides an extension of natural light for farmers and hunters to complete their tasks. Harvest Moon festivals are still celebrated in many areas of the world, and continues to inspire emotional sentiments through poetry and song. Although it is generally a September phenomena, it can occur as late as 13 October.

OBSERVANCES

Apple Month
Be Kind to Editors & Writers Month
Chicken Month
Children's Good Manners Month
Classical Music Month
Fall Hat Month
Health Month
Hispanic Heritage Month
Jazz Month
Little League Month
Self Awareness Month
School Success Month
Self-Improvement Month
Sewing Month
Southern Gospel Music Month
Tiger Month
Women of Achievement Month

STATEHOOD DAYS
09/09	California	1850

09/15	Agatha Christie
09/10	Arnold Palmer
09/16	B. B. King
09/25	Christopher Reeve
09/28	Confucius
09/11	D. H. Lawrence
09/19	David McCallum
09/28	Ed Sullivan
09/21	Fannie Flagg
09/03	Ferdinand Porsche
09/05	Freddie Mercury
09/07	Grandma Moses
09/06	Jeff Foxworthy
09/24	Jim Henson
09/09	Leo Tolstoy
09/01	Lily Tomlin
09/17	Mae West
09/13	Milton Snavely Hershey
09/23	Ray Charles
09/08	Sid Caesar
09/30	Truman Capote
09/20	Upton Sinclair
09/30	William Wrigley Jr

Labor Day
6 September 2021

Similar to medieval guilds, which provided common associations for craftsmen to advance their skills, the concept of modern unions developed during the Industrial Revolution as a means for workers to maintain and improve the conditions of their employment. Often directly conflicting with powerful and wealthy business owners, the idea of united workers was considered illegal for many years in most countries, with severe penalties (including execution) for attempting to organize unions.

While unions existed for specific types of work prior to the Civil War, it was during the economic boom following the war that the first National Labor Union in the United States was established in 1866, replaced by the Knights of Labor in 1869. Promoting the ideas of safe working conditions, fair wage, shorter working hours, and independence from company-owned living conditions, unions began to acquire political power, and believed the best influence for drawing attention to the movement was to organize strikes.

Through the organization of a Toronto parade in April of 1872 intended to show labor solidarity, not only did the Canadian labor movement become the first in the industrial world to strike for shorter working hours, but also influenced new legislation (the Trade Union Act) legalizing and protecting union activities. Labor parades honoring this movement became an annual Canadian celebration.

It was leading members of the Central Labor Union of New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, influenced by activities in Canada, who brought the the idea of a day dedicated to laborers to the United States. The first unofficial Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on 5 September 1882 when union workers in New York City took an unpaid day off and marched around Union Square. The following year the union held its second holiday on the same date, but during its third year, the idea of a "workingmen's holiday" celebration was encouraged among similar organizations across the nation to show their solidarity by permanently recognizing the holiday as the first Monday in September.

In the midst of an economic depression and changing industry, divisions between business and labor became more divided as union organizers actively pursued rights for the workers. On 4 May 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago, a rally in support of striking workers became violent when a bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. Internationally known as the Haymarket affair, the incident and its subsequent legal proceedings deeply polarized attitudes separating business and the working class.

Less than ten years later, in May of 1894, a wildcat strike over wages by the employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois gained support of the American Railway Union to eventually involve over 250,000 workers in 27 states. This nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads often involved violent hostilities, including destruction of property and multiple injuries and deaths, which resulted in a demand for federal intervention. An injunction issued barring union leaders from supporting the strike and demanding the strikers cease their activities was ignored. President Grover Cleveland then sent federal troops to Chicago to join with the Illinois Militia and US Marshalls to end the protests. While the arrival of troops eventually led to the end of the Pullman Strike, the actions of Cleveland left many involved in the labor movement very dissatisfied with his administration.

During these years, increasing emphasis on official recognition of laborers began with a few municipal ordinances, but by 1890, nine states had created the Labor Day holiday through legislative enactment. In the aftermath of the emotional Pullman Strike, 23 other states adopted the holiday in honor of workers. In an effort of election-year reconciliation to avoid further labor unrest, within six days after the end of the strike, legislation passed unanimously through Congress and was signed into law by President Cleveland making the first Monday in September of each year a Federal holiday to honor the nation's workforce. The observance of Labor Day was outlined to include a parade showing "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" followed a day of festivities for workers and their families.

In 1909, the American Federation of Labor named the Sunday preceding Labor Day as Labor Sunday, dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

Quoting AFL leader Samuel Gompers, Labor Day was "the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it."

One of the largest modern traditions of Labor Day in the US is the annual telethon of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a 21�-hour, star-studded variety show hosted by Jerry Lewis, to fund research and patient support programs for the various diseases grouped as muscular dystrophy . Celebrating over 42 years of production, the benefit has $1.5 billion for its cause.

Emma M. Nutt Day

When telephone companies began hiring operators, they originally chose teenage boys for the job, but soon resolved women had more pleasant voices, and much more patience. To be an operator, a woman had to be unmarried, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-six. She had to look prim and proper, and have arms long enough to reach the top of the tall telephone switchboard. She agreed to work long shifts for low pay Before the advent of automatic exchanges, it was impossible to make any call without the assistance of an operator. For many years they were the heart of the telephone system (and their individual communities), managing switchboards containing up to 200 phone lines, and listening in through clunky metal headsets. The telephone operators were pioneers in communication history, proving women could handle a tough job with skill and confidence, and opened doors for women who wanted to work outside the home. On this day in 1878, Emma Nutt began her job with the Boston Telephone Despatch, and takes her place in history as the first woman telephone operator.

The Liberty Bell

In late 1751, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London was commissioned by the Assembly in Philadelphia to build a bell weighing nearly one ton, with specific instructions it be delivered before the scaffolding around the Pennsylvania State House (in which it was to be hung) was struck at the end of the following summer. In September 1752, the bell is recorded by the foundry as having come ashore in good order. The bell cracked in March 1753, and was to be returned to England by the same ship, but the Master of the vessel was unable to take it on board. The bell was recast twice by John Pass and John Stow (whose surnames appear inscribed on the bell), their second casting hung in the steeple of the State House in June 1753. The Liberty Bell's most famous ringing, on 8 July 1776, summoned citizens for the reading of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress. Previously, it had been rung to announce the opening of the First Continental Congress, in 1774, and the Battle of Lexington and Concord, in 1775. In October 1777, as the British attempted to seize Philadelphia, the bell was moved north, to what is now known as Allentown, and hidden under a church floor until 1778, when it was returned. The bell was not officially known as the "Liberty Bell" until 1837, when it became a symbol of the abolitionist movement. The Whitechapel Foundry's connection with the Liberty Bell was reestablished in 1976, the year of the US Bicentennial when commissioned to produce the Bicentennial Bell, which now resides in Philadelphia.

In History:

0312BC Origin of Greek Era-Start of Indiction of Constantinople

1532 Lady Anne Boleyn is created Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England

1661 1st Yacht race, England's King Charles vs his brother James

1666 Great London Fire begins in Pudding Lane; 80% of London is subsequently destroyed

1715 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years; the longest of any major European monarch

1772 Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa forms in California

1836 Narcissa Whitman, one of the 1st white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, WA

1862 1st federal tax on tobacco

1875 Murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband

1894 Labor Day declared a US national holiday by Congress

1897 Boston subway opens as the 1st underground metro in North America

1914 St Petersburg, Russia changes its name to Petrograd

1922 New York City law requires all "pool" rooms to change name to "billards"

1948 UN's World Health Organization forms

1949 1st network detective series, Private Eyes, premieres

1951 US, Australia, and New Zealand sign ANZUS treaty

1939 World World II began, at 5:30AM when German troops invade Poland

1977 Lead in paint is declared illegal

1979 LA Court orders Clayton Moore to stop wearing Lone Ranger mask

1985 US-French expedition locates wreckage of Titanic off Newfoundland

"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific."
~ Lily Tomlin (born 1939)

V-J Day

Early in the day of 15 August 1945, the Japanese government advised the Allies of the surrender by sending a cable to President Harry Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington. At noon Japan standard time, Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese people via radio. The formal Japanese signing of the surrender terms took place on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. At that time Truman declared this day to be VJ-Day, which ended the Pacific conflict and brought WWII to an official close.

The last of the Japanese-American internment camps,
the Tule Lake Center in California, closed 6 months later.

On 14 August 1945, the crowds strolling Times Square became a sea of people during an unexpected celebration as President Truman announced the war with Japan was over. A successful photojournalist named Alfred Eisenstaedt in the employ of Life magazine, was in the process of capturing the enthusiastic crowds and retold he'd noticed a sailor running along the street grabbing and kissing every woman he could find. According to Eisenstaedt, he saw a flash of white being grabbed, and was able to capture the kiss. The photograph was published the following week in a Life lead story of national celebration.
Because the identities of the models were not received at the time, there have been many over the years claiming to be one or the other person, which included a journey through the court system determining whether or not Life had illegally published the photo without first having permission from those being photographed. Modern forensics continually disclaimed the claimants until 2008, when a Navy veteran named Glenn McDuffie was officially recognised as the Kissing Sailor. Positive identification of the nurse is still, and may always be, unknown.
Eisenstaedt maintained tight control of the photograph's copyright, and following his death, the right to the photograph went to the Getty Museum's Life archive. V-J Day in Times Square is considered one of the most popular photographs of the 20th Century, inspiring 7 decades of international hommage through film and television scenes, to a life-size sculpture by John Seward Johnson II titled "Unconditional Surrender" commemorating the 60th anniversary of V-J Day in 2005.

Pop Top Day
The earliest kind of metal beverage can, first sold in 1935, was made out of steel (similar to a tin can) and had no pull tab, opened by using can opener (aka church key). The first aluminium can introduced in 1958 also required the church key to open it. In 1959, a tool and die maker named Ermal Fraze from Dayton OH, found himself at a picnic with beer, but no way to open the cans on a car bumper. Deciding there had to be a better way, he invented the familiar pull-tab version, which had a ring attached at the rivet for pulling, and which would come off completely to be tossed aside. He received the patent for his pull-top can design in 1963, and sold his invention to Alcoa and Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Stay tabs (also called ecology tabs) were introduced by the Falls City Brewing Company of Louisville, KY in 1975, partly to prevent the injuries caused by removable tabs, and replaced pull tabs by the early 1980s.
In History:

"Here comes 40. I'm feeling my age and I've ordered the Ferrari. I'm going to get the whole mid-life crisis package." ~ Keanu Reeves (born 1964)

The Lost Days
This day in 1752, and the following 11, never existed, according to the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar that is used today nearly everywhere in the world. During the era of the 16th century scientific revolution, the current form of time-keeping (known as the Julian Calendar) was determined to have serious flaws, requiring a 10 day correction. After much controversy over whether the change should be over a period of time, or all at once, it was updated to the Gregorian Calendar (decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, for whom the calendar was named) on 24 February 1582.
This change was accepted by all Catholic-based nations (such as Spain and Portugal), while the British Empire (including the

eastern part of what is now the United States) did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752; by which time it was necessary to correct by eleven days (2 September being followed by 14 September). A few years later, during Parlimentary elections, dissatisfaction with the calendar reforms was one of a number of issues, and the campaign slogan "Give us our Eleven Days" appeared.
Because the Gregorian calendar was not accepted in Russia until after the October Revolution in 1917, the change took place in Alaska after its US purchase from Russia, when Friday, 6 October 1867, was followed again by Friday, 18 October. The the day of the week was repeated on successive days, because the International Date Line was shifted from east of to west of Alaska along with the change to the Gregorian calendar. The last country of Eastern Europe to adopt the Gregorian calendar was Greece in 1923.

Remembering Ferdinand Porsche
Born in 1875 Maffersdorf, Bohemia (now Liberec, Czech Republic); Austro-Hungarian automotive engineer best known for the creation of the Porsche, the Volkswagon Beetle, and the Mercedes-Benz line of automobiles; named by the International Motorsports Hall of Fame as the Car Engineer of the (20th) Century

In History:

0301 San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus

1189 England's King Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) crowned in Westminster

1777 Cooch's Bridge Skirmish of American Revolutionary war in New Castle County, DE where the US Flag was flown in battle for the 1st time

1783 American Revolutionary War ends when the US and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Paris

1838 Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a Free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglas boards a train in Maryland on his way to freedom

1895 1st professional football game, played in Latrobe, PA

1921 1st US bowling league was established

1939 World War II declared, when England and France declare war on Germany

1944 Anne Frank (Diary of Anne Frank), is sent to Auschwitz

1958 In Greece, police start shaving the hair of youths called "Teddy Boys" to the skin

1964 Wilderness Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson

1967 Nguyen Van Thieu is elected President of South Vietnam

1978 Pope John Paul I officially installed as 264th Supreme Pontiff

1995 E-Bay founded

2007 Peace talks in Finland aimed at ending sectarian violence in Iraq end successfully, resulting in the "Helsinki Agreement"

"I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself."
~ Ferdinand Porsche (born 1875)

Peter Rabbit's Birthday
On this day in 1893, Beatrix Potter sat down to write a picture letter to Noel Moore, the 5-year old son of her ex-governess, all about a naughty rabbit called Peter. Noel was ill in bed and so Beatrix wrote to him: "My dear Noel, I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits..." Some years later, Beatrix thought of publishing the story as a book. Rejected by six publishers, she arranged to print the book privately when Frederick Warne agreed to publish it. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published in 1902, costing one shilling (the equivalent of just 5p today,) and became one of the most famous stories ever written.
Newspaper Carrier Day
In 1833, Benjamin Day, publisher of the New York Sun, decided he could sell more newspapers by breaking from tradition and publishing stories that focused on working-class people and their interests, rather than politics. He made this reading material affordable to common people by dropping the standard price from 5¢ to 1¢, a move so popular (and profitable), the Sun is credited as being the first penny press newspaper.
Recognized as a tabloid-style format, a new public arose, drawn by stories involving gossip, adventure, sports, and crime, the idea of the penny press quickly spread to newspapers across the country, in turn, slowly changing the course of the publishing industry, and rekindled an interest in the field of journalism..
On this day in 1833, Day hired a 10 year old boy named Barney Flaherty, whose primary job function was to haul newspapers to the street, shout out the headlines, and entice people to buy. The project was such a success, the New York Herald was begun in 1835, and the New York Tribune in 1841.
Remembering Paul Harvey
Born on this day in 1918 Tulsa, OK, Paul Harvey was an American radio broadcaster best known for his individualistic style announcing news and daily commentary.
In History:

"Not all that we call progress is progress." ~ Paul Harvey (born 1918)

Fathers Day Downunder 2021
Fathers' Day in New Zealand, is celebrated on the first Sunday of September and it is not a public holiday. Fathers' Day was first observed at St Matthew's Church, Auckland on 14 July 1929 and first appeared in commercial advertising the following year. By 1935 much of Australia moved to mark the day to the beginning of September, and New Zealand followed this in 1937.
Housekeepers Day
There are many types of housekeepers in the world. There is the Industrial Housekeeper, responsible for the cleaning of public premises, and a Hotel Housekeeper, for cleaning the rooms of a hotel or motel. Maintaining the interior of a residence is the Servant Housekeeper. Household housekeeping consists of the physical maintenance and cleaning of a house. House work can be divided into two categories, indoor and outdoor, covering a wide range of duties, from cooking and laundry, to lawn care and snow removal. It is specific work required to be done as a duty, or for a specific fee, to maintain a residence. While not considered a highly-esteemed work, modern economists support housework as a vital part of the economy and society. This annual day of gratitude is set aside to honor those who do the work, and possibly get a few things done yourself.

Housekeeping can also refer to an expense item for the purposes of accounting, deletion of unneeded temporary computer files, metabolic genes, a novel, and/or two films of the same name.
The Unusual Disney Dog
Pluto the Pup first joined the Disney troupe in the 1930 animation, The Chain Gang, starring Mickey Mouse as a prison escapee. Although Pluto was unnamed in the cast, his stellar performance as one of the bloodhounds used to track Mickey down gave rise to his continuing career as Mickey's pet dog the following year. An unusual Disney character, he has been able to remain a dog using only body language to express himself through over 48 cartoons and films, and appearing in several episodes of Mickey Mouse television programs. Over the decades, he appeared in the Disney comic strip, achieved his own line of comic books, and was a favorite choice for product endorsements. Still teaming with Mickey, Pluto is considered one of the most popular cartoon characters of all time.
Remembering Freddie Mercury
Born Farrokh Bulsara in 1946 Zanzibar, East Africa to Parsi parents from British India; best known as the lead singer of the rock band Queen, considered one of the greatest performers in the history of popular music
In History:

"Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure show you a good time!"
~ Freddie Mercury (born 1946)

United States Labor Day 2021
Rosh Hashanah 2021
A Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the Jewish new year for people, animals, and legal contracts, observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. 2021 date sunset, Sunset, 6 September � nightfall, 8 September
Star Trek, an American Story
On this day in 1966, a major media franchise of the future debuted on NBC as Star Trek. Inspired by America's newly developing space ventures, Gene Roddenberry pitched his idea as a classic adventure drama, a "Wagon Train to the stars". It was set in the 23rd century after humanity developed faster-than-light space travel following a post-apocalyptic period in the mid-21st century and united with galactic neighbors to form the United Federation of Planets. The Star Trek stories depicted the adventures of human and alien beings who serve in the Federation's Starfleet. It was Roddenberry's goal to tell sophisticated stories using futuristic situations as analogies to current problems on Earth, and rectifying them through humanism and optimism. Issues depicted in the various series include war and peace, authoritarianism, imperialism, class warfare, racism, human rights, sexism and feminism, and the role of technology. Roddenberry explicitly intended the show to have a political agenda, creating of human diversity and contemporary political circumstances, fully accomplished by his multi-ethnic crew. Star Trek showed mankind what it might develop into, if only it would learn from the lessons of the past, most specifically by ending violence. In its 1st two seasons it was nominated for Emmy Awards as Best Dramatic Series. After three seasons, however, the show was canceled. The series subsequently became popular in reruns and one of the biggest cult phenomena of modern times developed, complete with high profile fan conventions, who became known as Trekkies. Star Trek is the setting of 6 television series, in addition to 10 feature films (with an 11th in pre-production), dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and other fan stories, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. The fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry took his dreams where few men have gone before.
Fight Procrastination Day
Go Brazil Day
In History:

"Now, it's true I married my wife for her looks... but not the ones
she's been givin' me lately." ~ Jeff Foxworthy (born 1958)

Rain Nor Snow Day
Originally named the Pennsylvania Terminal, it was

renamed to in 1918, then again in 1982 after Farley, who was the 53rd Postmaster General, and chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1933 as one of President Franklin Roosevelt's closest political advisors. Located across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden, the building bears the inscription: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. This inscription was chosen to be placed there by one of the architects who designed the building, paraphrasing an excerpt from the works of Herodotus (c440BC) which describes the expedition of the Greeks against the Persians, who operated a system of mounted postal couriers, and the sentence describes the fidelity with which their work was done. Although it is believed to describe the United States Postal Service, the USPS actually has no official creed or motto.

Remembering Grandma Moses
Born Anna Mary Robertson in 1860 Greenwich, NY; widow of Thomas Salmon Moses; American folk artist of international acclaim who began painting at age 76; working from memories of her own life, she is best remembered for her unique skill at portraying American rural life through simple images and vivid colors, producing over 3600 paintings over the last 25 years of her life

In History:

3114BC Presumed origin of Mayan "long count" calendar system

1251BC Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes, Greece

0070 Roman army under General Titus occupies and plunders Jerusalem

1864 Atlanta, GA, is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman

1876 In Northfield, MN, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank but are surrounded by an angry mob and are nearly killed

1911 French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum

1915 Former cartoonist Johnny Gruelle is given a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll

1921 1st Miss America Pageant

1927 1st fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Taylor Farnsworth

1936 Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) begins operation

1940 Sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany, the Blitz, began with the bombing of London for 57 consecutive nights

1953 Nikita Khrushchev becomes head of the Soviet Central Committee

1963 Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members

1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus records first episode

1970 Anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, PA, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and Donald Sutherland

1977 Panama Canal treaties, calling for the US to turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington

1979 Chrysler Corporation asks the US government for USD $1 billion to avoid bankruptcy

1979 Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut

1996 In Las Vegas, NV, actor and recording artist Tupac Shakur is shot several times after attending a boxing match, he dies 6 days later

1998 Google is founded

2005 Apple Computer introduced the iPod nano, a revolutionary full-featured iPod that holds 1,000 songs yet is thinner than a standard #2 pencil and less than half the size of competitive players

2005 1st presidential election was held in Egypt

2006 Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage confirmed he was the source of a leak that had disclosed the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame

2008 In one of the largest banking interventions in US history, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are placed into conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency

"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." ~ Grandma Moses (born 1860)

International Literacy Day
The United Nations General Assembly declared that the period from 2003 to 2012 would be known as the United Nations Literacy Decade, and decided that UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) should take a coordinating role in activities undertaken at the international level within the framework of the Decade. This challenging task requires UNESCO to promote the creation of a literate environment under the slogan of Literacy as Freedom. International Literacy Day continues to be celebrated each year on 8 September with the aim to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. The 2013 theme is "Promising pathways to a literate world".
Fiestas de Santa Fe
Fiestas de Santa Fe has been held since 1712 to celebrate the retaking of the city by Don Diego de Vargas after the Pueblo Revolt in 1692. The 1712 proclamation establishing the first Fiesta de Santa Fe specified a mass, vespers, and a sermon, thus setting the religious tone still characterizing modern fiestas. Known as the nation's oldest community celebration, this annual event extends throughout the streets of Santa Fe beginning the week after Labor Day, and is highlighted by a Nightlight Parade, the Burning of Zozobra, a Carnival, Crowning of a Santa Fe Fiesta Queen, the Grand Baile (Fiesta Ball), Mass of Thanksgiving with a Candlelight Procession and a continuous flow of other events and traditions.
In History:

"The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot.
The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius." ~ Sid Caesar (born 1922)

Teddy Bear Day

President Theodore Roosevelt was an avid and accomplished hunter, and during a business trip to Mississippi in 1902, included a four-day bear hunt. During the entire time, he failed to shoot a single bear. Other members of the party managed to capture a small bear cub, and tied it to a tree so the President could shoot and claim it as his own. But Roosevelt believed that would be "unsportsmanlike" behavior, and refused.

Not long after, the tale of "Teddy's Bear" became nationally popular through coverage by the media, particularly the era's political cartoonists. A Brooklyn shopkeeper by the name of Morris Mitchom asked his wife to stitch a jointed bear to resemble Berryman's drawing and then showcased her creation in their shop window along with a sign that read "Teddy's Bear." The bear sold so quickly they couldn't make bears fast enough to meet demand. He wrote to President Roosevelt asking for permission to name his popular bear "Teddy" and the president is said to have agreed in a hand-written reply. * A Teddybear is also a shot of vodka and Bailey's Irish Cream. *

Bonza Bottler Day
An excuse to celebrate every time the day and date are the same number. Originated by the late Elaine Fremont, who believed there weren't already enough holidays, came up with this new one, and even had it registered in Washington D.C. as a recognized holiday. The name came from a student in Australia where bonza and bottler are both Aussie slang for excellent. The mascot is the groundhog since 2-2 is Groundhog Day in the US. She did include in the description of the holiday when she registered it, that this party be alcohol-free. Elaine Freemont died in a 1997 interstate collision at the age of 44.

California Admission Day
California became the 31st state in 1850

Wonderful Weirdos Day

Remembering Leo Tolstoy
Born (O.S. 28 August) Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy in 1828 Yasnaya Polyana, Russia; Russian author best known for his epic masterpieces of War and Peace and Anna Karenina; an essayist and social reformer whose views on nonviolent resistence influenced 20th Century leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Rev. Martin Luther King

In History:

1000 Battle of Swold somewhere in the Baltic Sea between Norway and other Scandinavians

1087 William the Conqueror dies near Rouen, France

1543 Mary Stuart, at 9-months old, is officially crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling

1739 Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in British mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, SC

1776 Continental Congress renames the "United Colonies" to the "United States"

1839 John Herschel takes the 1st glass plate photograph

1850 Compromise of 1850 strips Texas of a 3rd of its claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) in return for the US federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt

1893 Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther, in the White House

1908 Orville Wright makes 1st 1-hr airplane flight, Fort Myer, VA

1926 NBC (National Broadcasting Company) created by the Radio Corporation of America

1950 1st use of TV laugh track (Hank McCune)

1954 16-year old Marilyn Bell becomes the 1st person to swim across Lake Ontario, from Youngstown, NY to Toronto, Ontario (20 hours, 59 minutes)

1956 Elvis Presley appears on national TV for 1st time on the Ed Sullivan Show

1957 President Dwight D Eisenhower signed into law the 1st civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction

1965 US Department of Housing and Urban Development is established

1966 John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an avante-garde art exposition

1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson

1971 1,000 convicts seize Attica, NY prison

1976 Leader of the Chinese revolution Chairman Mao Tse-tung dies at the age of 82

1987 Larry Bird (Celtics), begins NBA free throw streak of 59

1995 Sony's PlayStation game console was released in the US

2008 Al Franken wins a primary election for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to challenge incumbent Senator Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate election

2008 Apple Inc unveils the revamped iPod line-up including the redesigned, 4th-generation iPod Nano

2009 Derek Jeter hits a 7th-inning single that gave him 2,721 in a Yankees uniform, tying a mark held by Gehrig for more than 70 years

2009 Apple Corps Ltd releases remastered Beatles CD collection and "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game

"Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself."
~ Leo Tolstoy (born 1828)

The Popeye Picnic 2021
In 1932, King Features signed an agreement with Fleischer Studios to produce a series of animated Popeye cartoons, which developed to include other charcters (Olive Oyl, Bluto, Sweet Pea, and J. Wellington Wimpy) over a variety of plot lines which generally led to Popeye eating spinach to boost his energy when things just weren't going right. Spinach consumption increased 33% in the US between 1931 and 1936, giving the product endorsement by Popeye the Sailor credit for saving the spinach industry during the Great Depression. Three statues honor Popeye in the US: one in Crystal City, Texas, in recognition of his positive effects on the spinach industry, and a second in Alma, Arkansas, which is known as The Spinach Capital of the World. The third is located in Chester, Illinois, hometown of creator E. C. Segar, where the annual Popeye Picnic is a 3-day celebration on the weekend after Labor Day which includes a parade and fireworks, a marathon, amateur wrestling matches, a carnival, concerts, museum tours, and films, attracting Popeye fans from around the world.
Remembering Rin Tin Tin
The first of the line of Rin Tin Tin was a shell-shocked pup found by American serviceman Lee Duncan in a bombed-out dog kennel in Lorraine, France, less than two months before the end of World War I. The dog returned at war's end with Duncan to his home in Los Angeles, where he learned tricks, and spotted performing at a dog show by film producer who said he could make him a star. Rin Tin Tin's big break came in 1922 when he stepped in for a wolf in The Man From Hell's River, and was a huge success. His first starring role, 1923's Where The North Begins, was followed by 28 more film roles during the next 10 years. Between 1930 and 1955, Rin Tin Tin was heard in three different radio series, and did his own sound effects until his death in 1932, when Rin Tin Tin, Jr. took over. Following his death in Los Angeles, his owner arranged to have him returned to his country of birth for burial in the Cimeti�re des Chiens, the renowned pet cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Asni�res-sur-Seine. Rin Tin Tin was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Rin Tin Tin, Jr. appeared in several short films in the 1930s, including a 12-part serial. Rin Tin Tin III starred in 1947's The Return of Rin Tin Tin. The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, an ABC television series that ran from 1954 to 1959, featured Rin Tin Tin IV as the lead dog, although much of the work actually was performed by Rin Tin Tin II and several other dogs. The actual bloodline has continued in Texas through breeding of his offspring at El Rancho Rin Tin Tin in Latexo. The current Rin Tin Tin is 10th in the line.
Battle of Britain Day
World Suicide Prevention Day
In History:

"I have a tip that can take 5 strokes off anyone's golf game. It's called an eraser."
~ Arnold Palmer (born 1929)

Patriot Day


	On the morning of 11 September 2001, more than 3,000 innocent people lost their lives in terrorists attacks within the boundaries of the United States. By a joint resolution approved 18 December 2001 (Public Law 107-89), Congress has designated 11 September of each year as "Patriot Day"�to honor the heroism, compassion, and generousity of the American spirit shown that day that forever changed the way Americans live.

World Wildlife Day
The World Wildlife Fund leads international efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats. Founded on this day in 1961, the Fund directs its conservation efforts toward three global goals: saving endangered species, protecting endangered habitats and addressing global threats such as toxic pollution, over-fishing and climate change. Working in more than 100 countries around the globe to conserve the diversity of life on earth, and with nearly 5 million members worldwide, WWF is the world's largest privately financed conservation organization.
World First Aid Day
Recognized by the United Nations
Remembering D. H. Lawrence
Born David Herbert Richards Lawrence in 1885 Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England; controversial English author who wrote on the most intimate of human interactions in the changing world of the late 19th Century; most notably remembered for his novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover
In History:

"Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar."
~ D. H. Lawrence (born 1885)

Grandparent's Day 2021
Grandparent's Day has traditionally been used to honor both grandparents and their relationships with their grandchildren. First recognized in West Virginia in 1973, and introduced to the US Senate that same year to make Grandparent's Day a national holiday, it was in 1978 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed this day be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day. A concept by Marian McQuade, resulting from her lifelong devotion to the elderly, her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes, and to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide.
"If I knew it was going to be this much fun,
I would have become a grandparent first." ~Willard Scott

Defenders Day

Defenders Day commemorates the successful defense of Baltimore during the War of 1812, and was a Maryland state holiday throughout the rest of the 19th century, and into the early 20th century. The largest celebration was held on the hundred year anniversary in 1914, which included fireworks reenacting of the shelling of Fort McHenry. Interest began to wane through the Great Depression and World War II, and discontinued until 1986, when a Boy Scout troop hosted a Defender's Day Celebration that included reenactments of the entire Battle. The event was an enormous success, and once again became an annual celebration. Though Defender's Day is no longer a state holiday in Maryland, the tradition of celebration after 1995 was renewed in the National Park Service's Ft. McHenry Star-Spangled Banner Weekend event each September.

* * * * * * Following the burning of Washington, a British forces moved north to Baltimore and began an advance on the city. The defensive preparations around Baltimore had been underway for some time in 1814, due to the leadership of a Revolutionary War veteran, who had been planning for a British attack

for months, and organized both civilians and militiamen to dig a system of earthen defenses. When British ground forces were halted, and the powerful fleet lay useless because of the tremendous amount of blockage which had been dropped into the channel, it was decided that a bombardment would be made on the city's Fort McHenry as a diversion to scatter the American Defenders. Despite a long bombardment into the early hours of the 14th, there was little chance of British success on the ground, and to the backdrop of lightning and the flashes of bombs bursting over Ft. McHenry, the British ground troops stole away. Baltimore was saved. It was during this conflict, the Battle of Baltimore, that inspired Maryland lawyer Francis Scott Key to compose his epic poem, that would become The Star-Spangled Banner * * * * * *

Chocolate Milkshake Day
In History:

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.
~ Jesse Owens (born 1913)

Chocolate Day
Milton Snavely Hershey, born on this day in 1857 Derry Church, PA, is famous for founding the Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania. After several unsuccessful ventures in the candy industry, he founded the successful Lancaster Carmel Company in 1883. Following a visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition and the purchase of a European vendor's manufacturing equipment, and added the production of chocolate to his candy line. Hershey eventually determined chocolate had more promise, sold the carmel company, and invested in undeveloped land where he founded the Hershey Chocolate Company. Offering employment, housing, and education to the neighboring communities, Hershey founded the town of Hershey Pennsylvania. In 1909, funded the opening of an orphanage (now named the Milton Hershey School), and by 1918 had formed the Hershey Trust to benefit the school, and today also controls Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, which includes endowments to the Hershey Medical Center.
Defy Superstition Day
In History:

"Give them quality. That's the best kind of advertising." ~ Milton S. Hershey (born 1857)

The Boston Light
The Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor. It was first lit on this day in 1716, and

was the 1st lighthouse built in the US. A tonnage tax of 1 penny per ton on most vessels moving in or out of Boston Harbor paid for maintaining the light. In 1751 the lighthouse was badly damaged by fire so that only the walls remained. In 1774 the British took over the island. In July of 1775, American troops burned the wooden parts of the lighthouse. When the British began to repair it under a marine guard, 300 men were sent by General Washington to destroy the repair work. Although they were intercepted by the British during their retreat, a direct hit on one of the English boats caused the British to withdraw. By 1776, when a number of British ships remained in the harbor, American soldiers landed on Long Island, Boston Harbor, and at Nantasket Hill and opened fire. Before sailing away, the British sent a boat ashore at Boston Light and left a time charge which blew up the lighthouse. In 1783, the Massachusetts Legislature authorized the building of a new lighthouse on the site of the old, which was ceded to the new Federal Government in 1790. In 1856, the height of the tower was raised and it was listed as a 2nd-order station. Over the years the Keepers of the Lighthouse have served as pilots and rescue workers for incoming vessels, and involved themselves in scientific endeavors for improvement (such as developing an effective foghorn). The light was extinguished during World War II as a security measure, but was again placed in operation 2 July 1945. The current lighthouse, designated as a National Historic Landmark, is the 2nd oldest working lighthouse in the US, and is the only lighthouse to still be actively staffed by the United States Coast Guard.

Cream-filled Donut Day

In History:

1716 1st lighthouse in US lit (Boston Harbor)

1752 Gregorian calendar adopted by Britain and American colonies 11 days disappear

1807 Aaron Burr acquitted of a misdemeanor charge

1812 Napoleon occupies Moscow

1886 Typewriter ribbon patented

1901 President William McKinley dies 8 days after an assassination attempt

1938 Graf Zeppelin II, world's largest airship, makes maiden flight

1948 Groundbreaking ceremony for the UN world headquarters

1948 Milton Berle starts his TV career on Texaco Star Theater

1956 1st prefrontal lobotomy performed, Washington, DC

1960 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded

1964 Walt Disney awarded the Medal of Freedom at the White House

1969 1st birth date drawn in the US Vietnam War draft lottery

1975 Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton canonized as 1st US-born saint

1979 Theodore Coombs completes 5,193 mile roller skate from Los Angeles to New York City to Kansas

1984 1st MTV awards-Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd host

1984 Joe Kittinger becomes the 1st person to fly a hot air balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean

1987 ITV Schools was brodcast on Channel 4 for the very 1st time

1994 Major League Baseball season is canceled due to strike

2001 Nintendo GameCube is released in Japan

2004 Ontario Superior Court permits the 1st divorce of a same-sex couple in Canada (and perhaps the 1st in the world), declaring that the portion of Canada's Divorce Act that excludes same-sex marriages from the act's effects is unconstitutional

2007 Restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass are officially removed in the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI

2008 Associated Press reports an annual national estimate of at least 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging being dumped into the nation's water systems by hospitals and long-term care homes, prompting legislative hearings and EPA investigations

2008 NY Yankees Derek Jeter hits a solo homer in the 5th inning against Tampa Bay for his 1,269th hit at the ballpark, tying Lou Gehrig for the most career hits at Yankee Stadium (last season before moving to a new stadium)

2008 Scientists have unearthed a camel jawbone in the Syrian desert they think may be a previously unknown tiny species of the animal dating back a million years (found last month near the village of Khowm in the Palmyra region, about 150 miles northeast of Damascus)

2008 Trained assistance dog, a German shepherd named Buddy, saves his owner's life by calling 911 when the man had a seizure

"When I started in films, it never really occurred to me
that I could make a career out of acting" ~ Sam Neill (born 1947)

The John Bull
The John Bull was built in England for the New Jersey Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A). It was dismantled and shipped across the Atlantic in crates, then reconstructed by a C&A engineer, who did so without any drawings or instructions to assemble the locomotive. It ran for the first time on this day in 1831. In November, the president of the C&A repaid some political debts by inviting several members of the New Jersey legislature and some local dignitaries, including Napoleon's nephew Prince Murat, for rides over a short test track. The prince's wife made a point of hurrying onto the train so she could be declared the 1st woman to ride a steam-powered train in America. The C&A gave this locomotive the name of Stevens 1 (after the C&A president), although its regular crew began calling it the old John Bull, a reference to the cartoon personification of England, and this name became more widely used. After several years serving the use of moving railroad cars around the railroad yard, the John Bull was retired in 1866.
By 1871, the C&A had merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which recognized the potential publicity to be gained by exhibiting such an old engine. Restoring it for exhibition at the National Railway Appliance Exhibition in 1883 Chicago, the following year, the Smithsonian Institution purchased John Bull from the PRR as the Institution's first large engine purchase. The Smithsonian has been responsible for its continued maintenance, and has released it for many railroad exhibitions over the decades. For the 150th anniversary of its arrival in the US, the Smithsonian instigated repairs that allowed the locomotive operated under steam in 1981, outside Washington DC. On this exhibition, the locomotive became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world. The original John Bull is currently housed and displayed at the National Museum of American History in Washington.
Marriage Fidelity Day
An Alaska observance since 2004 encouraging Alaskans to remember and observe their vows of marriage.
International Day of Democracy
Recognized by the United Nations
Chicken Lovers Day
Remembering Agatha Christie
Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller in 1890 Torquay, Devon, England; award-winning British crime novelist and playwright considered one of the greatest authors of all time; best remembered for her series mysteries of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and for her stage plays such as Witness for the Prosecution and The Mousetrap
In History:

"I married an archaeologist because the older I grow, the more he appreciates me."
~ Agatha Christie (born 1890)

Draft Day
Selective Training and Service Act was signed into law on this date in 1940 by President Franklin

Roosevelt. Unique because it was the first peacetime draft in the nation's history, it required registration by all men between the ages of 21 and 30. At the onset of US involvement in WWII, the age range changed to men 18-65. After the war, the age range for registration dropped to 18-26. Because the need for military manpower subsided during the 1950s, men were still required to register, but few were actually called for active duty until the mid-1960s, when escalation in Vietnam made the draft an extremely controversial matter. In 1968, Richard Nixon campaigned on a promise to end the draft, but meeting opposition from the Department of Defense, the draft continued until 1973. Following Nixon's resignation in August of 1974, it was on this day the following month President Gerald Ford offered conditional amnesty to all Vietnam era draft evaders and military deserters who agreed to work for up to two years in public service jobs. He also provided for a review. of cases for those already convicted or punished for desertion or draft evasion. This conditional amnesty was to effect an estimated 15,000 draft

evaders, and 13,000 deserters. While President Ford stated he was not condoning these serious offenses, it was meant to be "an act of mercy to bind the nation's wounds and to heal the scars" left by the emotionally extreme divisions caused by the 16-year Vietnam War. He denied the amnesty plan was in any way linked to his unconditional pardon of former President Nixon a week earlier. Although the draft ended in 1973, and the registration requirement was suspended in 1975, it was reinstated in 1980 to include males between the ages of 18 and 25 should a national emergency arise.

16 de Septiembre: El Grito de Independencia
Influenced by the concepts of liberty, equality and democracy proposed by the French philosophers Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and by the war of Independence of the United States, it was this day in 1810 when a group of rebels determined to gain Mexican independence from Spanish rule. Celebrated by Mexicans all over the world.

National Stepfamily Day
Honoring B B King
Born Riley King in 1925 Itta Bena, MS; American blues musician world-renowned for his stylistic singing and guitar-playing skills, who continues as a major influence in electric blues music
In History:

"The best record is always the next one. I'm never done." ~ B. B. King (born 1925)

National POW/MIA Recognition Day 2021

Families of American missing suffer from "not knowing." It is emotionally difficult and painful, and many POW/MIA families, have had to endure such suffering for decades. Since the mid-1990's, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) has developed a worldwide research program, gathering information leading to the fullest possible accounting of U.S. servicemen and selected civilians still missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. This day of rememberance is set aside for those still missing, who serve in defense of this nation, and the promises made to bring them home, honor their sacrifices and keep faith with their fellow warriors and families. Observed each year on the third Friday of September.

Constitution Day
Creation of a day celebrating citizenship was encouraged through several publications owned by William Randolph Hearst in 1939, and Congress designated the third Sunday in May as "I am an American Day" in 1940. But it was a woman named Olga Weber from Louisville, Ohio who began petitioning local officials in 1952, then state officials, and later proceeded to Congress in order to have 17 September recognized nationally as "Citizenship Day", which was signed into law in 1957. In 2004, a provision was added changing the name of "Citizenship Day" to "Constitution Day", and mandating all school districts receiving federal funding must use that day to instruct students on the history and the meanings of the US Constitution.

* * * * * * The US Constitution was drafted on this date in 1787 by 55 delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The document outlined the three main branches of the government (legislative, executive, and judicial), as well as reserving rights for the individual state governments. It received ratification by the required 9 states in June of 1788, and the US government under the Constitution officially began the following March. The Constitution has since been amended 27 times, the 1st 10 amendments being known as the Bill of Rights, added in 1791 to protect the rights of individual citizens. It is the oldest federal constitution of any existing nation, and considered one of the greatest expressions of statesmanship ever written. The original document is on display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC. * * * * * *

Time's Up Day
No guaranteed tomorrows, get it done today! (also known as End Procrastination Day)

Remembering Gabriel Heatter

Gabriel Heatter, born in 1890 Brooklyn (NY), was a popular and influential radio commentator during the 1930s-1940s, known for trying to find uplifting stories, and his ability to keep the audience informed without resorting to sensationalism. His opening catch phrase "There's good news tonight!"

In History:

1630 Boston, Massachusetts, is founded

1776 Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain

1787 US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention; becomes a country

1814 Francis Scott Key finishes his The Star-Spangled Banner poem

1859 Joshua A Norton declares himself Emperor Norton I of the United States

1908 Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes; killing Selfridge, who becomes the 1st airplane fatality

1911 1st transcontinental airplane flight, New York City-Pasadena in 82 hrs 4 min

1916 World War I: Manfred von Richthofen ("The Red Baron"), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, won his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France

1920 National Football League organized in Canton, OH

1934 1st 33 1/3 rpm recording released (Beethoven's 5th)

1937 1st NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3

1952 "I am an American Day" and "Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"

1956 Television was 1st broadcast in Australia

1957 2 male attorneys "stand in" as actress Sophia Loren and producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico

1962 US space officials announce selection of 9 new astronauts

1967 Jim Morrison and The Doors defy CBS censors on The Ed Sullivan Show when they sang certain lyrics from the song, Light My Fire when asked not to

1972 M*A*S*H premieres

1976 1st Space Shuttle, Enterprise, was unveiled by NASA

1978 Camp David Accords were signed by Israel and Egypt

1983 Vanessa Williams becomes the 1st black Miss America

1984 Reggie Jackson becomes the 13th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Anaheim Stadium

1986 Senate confirms William Rehnquist as 16th chief justice

1991 1st version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet

2001 New York Stock Exchange opened for the first time since the September 11 attacks; the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest point drop in its history, closing down 684.81 points to 8920.70

2004 Virgin Group announces that it will create the world's first commercial space-flight company, to be called Virgin Galactic, using SpaceShipOne technology licensed from Mojave Aerospace Ventures

2006 Recent expeditions by Conservation International and the government of Indonesia revealed a "Lost World" of nearly 60 new species near Bird's Head Seascape of the Coral Triangle; includes a "walking shark", 20 new corals, 8 shrimp species, and 24 new fish species including one that can "flash" colors

2006 After 11 years of broadcasting, the WB and UPN networks close down permanently

2007 AOL, once the largest ISP in the US, officially announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business

"If I found a cure for a huge disease, while I was hobbling up onstage to accept the Nobel Prize they'd be playing the theme song from Three's Company."
~John Ritter (born 1948)

Software Freedom Day 2021
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a set of basic human rights, which often does not include the importance of the human right to technology, which more and more becomes a criteria to our basic freedoms, such as in business transactions, our voting systems, education, and communication. Since 2004, Software Freedom Day (SFD) has been a worldwide celebration of the virtues of free/open-source software, encouraging its use for the benefit of the public. Sponsored by Software Freedom International, SFD is observed annually on the third Saturday in September.
The Arrival of Anne Hutchinson
Considered an icon in American history as a "courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration", Anne Marbury Hutchinson was born in England, the eldest daughter of a clergyman and Puritan reformer. At age 21, she married a prosperous cloth merchant named William Hutchinson, and together considered themselves part of the Puritan movement. They migrated to America with hopes of finding religious freedom, but after their arrival in Massachusetts on this day in 1634 soon discovered the Puritan movement which she embraced turned out to be rigid and patriarchal to the extreme.
     Hutchinson spoke her mind freely within the context of a culture unaccustomed to outspoken women, and her particular "heresy" was to maintain that it was a blessing and not a curse to be a woman. Doing so created considerable tension not only with the Massachusetts Bay Colony's government, but also with Puritans clergy. She had a strong personal concern for women's lack of rights and racial prejudice against the Native Americans, applying her personal interpretation of the principles of the Bible to those social concerns. She openly challenged some of the moral and legal codes of the Puritans, and began conducting informal Bible studies and discussion groups in her home, inviting her friends and neighbors, who felt free to question religious beliefs and to decry racial prejudice.
     Her opponents at first claimed the meetings were unauthorized religious gatherings that might confuse the faithful, then they gradually expressed their opposition in more personal terms, stating Hutchinson was a modern "Jezebel" infecting women with perverse and abominable ideas regarding their dignity and rights. She came to be considered a threat to the community. She was 46 at the time, and advanced in her 15th pregnancy, when she was brought to civil trial in 1637, where she stood for several days before a board of male interrogators. Accusing her of encouraging dissent against the fathers of the commonwealth, charging by attending her gatherings women were being tempted to neglect their own families, it was voted to banish her from the colony "as being a woman not fit for our society." She was put under house arrest to await her religious trial where, in 1638, she was accused of blasphemy and excommunicated from the Puritan Church.
     Leaving the colony in 1638, she and her family relocated to a Rhode Island colony led by Roger Williams (a Baptist pastor). They later moved to New York, where she and all but one of her children were killed by a group of Indians in August of 1643.
     In 1987, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis pardoned Anne Hutchinson, revoking the order of banishment by Governor Winthrop 350 years earlier. In front of the State House in Boston, Massachusetts, a statue stands of Anne Hutchinson with her daughter Susannah, sole survivor of the attack by Siwanoy Native Americans who killed her mother and siblings in 1643. Susannah Hutchinson was spared because of her red hair, which the Siwanoy had never seen; she was taken hostage, named "Autumn Leaf" and raised among them until ransomed back years later.
National Women's Friendship Day 2016
Mushroom Picking Day
In History:

"There seems to be a law that governs all our actions so I never make plans."
~ Greta Garbo (born 1905)

National Women's Friendship Day 2021

In 1999, Kappa Delta Sorority created National Women's Friendship Day for all women to acknowledge the importance of friendship among women. Celebrated in a variety of ways across the country by individuals, women's groups, retail businesses, and others, it is the intent of this day to encourage women to take the time to show their appreciation for, and develop and nurture, their friendships with other women. Twenty-eight states now have governor's proclamations that endorse National Women's Friendship Day, and participating events include fund-raisers, fashion shows, and clothing and food drives for local communities. Recognized on the third Sunday in September (always between the 15th and the 21st).

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

It all began by a few friends in 1995, who privately continued to enjoy this day amongst themselves, until the idea was snagged by humor columnist Dave Barry (Talk Like A Pirate spokesperson) in 2002. Why enjoy Talk Like A Pirate Day? Talking like a pirate is fun. It's really that simple. It gives your conversation a swagger, an elán, denied to landlocked lubbers, and is a whimsical alternative to all the serious things that can make life so depressing.

Every now and then, some visionary individuals come along with a concept that is so original and so revolutionary that your immediate reaction is: ``Those individuals should be on medication.'' Today I want to tell you about two such people, John Baur and Mark Summers, who have come up with a concept that is going to make you kick yourself for not thinking of it first: Talk Like a Pirate Day. As the name suggests, this is a day on which everybody would talk like a pirate. Is that a great idea, or what? There are so many practical benefits that I can't even begin to list them all."

-Dave Barry, "Arrrrr! Talk like a pirate -- or prepare to be boarded", 9/8/2002 The Miami Herald

Celebrated dozens of ways, costume parties, pirate film festivals, surfing pirate websites, taking a virtual tour of pirate museums, reading the history of real pirates during the 16th century, learn about modern pirates, and feasting on meat using only knives, sopping up sauce with your fingers, and downing a goblet of rum.

Homemade Pudding Day

In History:

1692 Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials

1796 George Washington's farewell address as president

1846 Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope

1900 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid commit their first robbery together

1928 Mickey Mouse's screen debut (Steamboat Willie at Colony Theater New York City)

1934 Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Junior

1952 US bars Charlie Chaplin from reentering the country after a trip to England

1959 Nikita Krushchev is denied access to Disneyland

1970 Grateful Dead at Fillmore East

1981 Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunite for a free concert in New York City's Central Park

1983 Final episode of the TV series, M*A*S*H

1985 Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center

1985 Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music

1994 ER pilot episode of the hit medical drama airs in the US on NBC

2006 CW launches their network in the US

"We should learn to live and love our neighbors as ourselves
for the sake of peace and progress." ~ David McCallum (born 1933)

Harvest Moon 2021
The 2021 Harvest Moon occurs on Sep 20, 2021 at 11:54am EST

The Campaign of Belva Lockwood

The National Equal Rights Party is associated with several independent political parties since the 1830s, including the Locofocos, the Anti-Rent party, the People's Party, the Cosmo-Political Party, and the National Radical Reformers, before it competed against the Democratic, Republican, Prohibition, Greenback, and Anti-Monopoly parties involved in the 1885 Presidential campaign. Unhappy with contemporary attitudes to women's suffrage, the National Equal Rights Party held its national convention in San Francisco, CA, and on this day in 1884 nominated nominated Belva Ann Lockwood, an attorney in Washington, DC, for President, with another woman, party chairman Marietta Stow for Vice-President.
     Their Party platform platform not only called for women to be given the right to vote, but also advocated for civil service reform, Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants, protection of public lands, and temperance. Although Lockwood was not the first woman to run for President (Victoria Woodhull in 1872, with Frederick Douglass as Vice President), her campaign was the first with two female candidates.
     Lockwood was one of the pioneers who broke the barriers to women practicing law. She was the second woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia, and the first admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. A limited budget funded the campaign, most of which was gained through Lockwood's lectures, but she acquired national visibility. Despite the fact the dominant candidates from the Democratic and the Republican parties (Grover Cleveland and James Blaine) refused to debate her, Belva Lockwood garnered 4,149 votes (in the six states that allowed her name on ballots),
     After Cleveland was announced the winner, she commented most men hang on to "old ideas, developed in the days of chivalry," but that "equality of rights and privileges is but simple justice." She made one more attempt in 1888. The right to vote was not given to women in the United States until the Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920.

The Festival du Film

The world's first major film festival began in 1932 Venice. Because of the influences by the rising fascist governments of Italy and Germany in the selection of films, the French Minister of National Education decided, with the support of the British and Americans, to create another international festival in Cannes, France. The first Festival International de Cannes was set to be held in 1939 from September 1-30, however the German attack on Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by the onset of WWII, ended the first festival before it started. The festival was relaunched after the War in 1946, financed by the French Foreign Affairs Ministry and the City of Cannes, and had a considerable success. By 1951, it had moved its run from September to May. In 1955 the Golden Palm award was created. In 1959 the March� du Film (Film Market) was founded, giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry. Known today as Festival de Cannes, it has become an important showcase for European films, and is considered the most prestigious international platform for film commerce. The 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival will be held 16 to 22 May 2012.

Birth Of the Sun Day

Remembering Upton Sinclair
Born Upton Sinclair Jr. in 1878 Baltimore, MD; Pulitzer Prize winning American author known for his ability to portray the social and economic struggles of the early 20th Century; his first novel in 1906, The Jungle, exposed conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, and was influential in the changing of food-handling laws

In History:

1519 Ferdinand Magellan sets sail with 270 men to circumnavigate the globe

1596 Diego de Montemayor founded the city of Monterrey in New Spain

1633 Galileo Galilei is tried before the Inquisition for teaching the Earth orbits the Sun

1637 Peter Minuit andt Swedish immigrants to Delaware sail from Sweden

1789 New Jersey becomes 1st state to ratify Bill of Rights

1830 1st national black convention meets (Philadelphia, PA)

1848 American Association for the Advancement of Science was created

1860 1st British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII)

1877 Chase National Bank opens in New York City (later merges into Chase Manhattan)

1881 Chester A Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President

1884 Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for President and Vice-President

1893 Charles Duryea drives the 1st automobile in the US, in Springfield, MA

1945 German rocket engineers begin work in US

1946 1st Cannes Film Festival is held

1958 Martin Luther King Jr stabbed by a deranged black woman in New York City

1962 James Meredith is blocked from entering University of Mississippi as its 1st black

1967 RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland

1968 Mickey Mantle hits final career homer #536

1969 John Lennon leaves The Beatles but does not make a public announcement

1973 Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in a famous tennis match

1976 Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women

1977 1st wave of Southeast Asian "boat people" arrive in San Francisco

1979 Lee Iacocca is elected president of the Chrysler Corporation

1982 National Football League players begin a 57-day strike

1987 Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown

1988 Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs becomes the 1st player to get 200 hits in six consecutive seasons

1990 Both Germanys ratify reunification

1999 TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premieres

2001 President George W Bush declares "war on terror"

2004 CBS News apologized for a "mistake in judgment" in its story questioning President Bush's National Guard service

2008 Richard Burke, retired high school counselor and golf coach from Flint, MI, found a 4.68-carat white diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, AR

"The private control of credit is the modern form of slavery." ~ Upton Sinclair (born 1878)

International Day of Peace
Originally declared the third Tuesday of September, this day was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly to coincide with its opening session every September, officially proclaimed and observed as International Day of Peace, devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples. It was in 2001 that the Assembly voted unanimously to fix observance of the Day on 21 September as a day of global non-violence and ceasefire. The theme chosen for the 2013 observance of the International day of Peace is "Education for Peace". Defined by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "It is not enough to teach children how to read, write and count. Education has to cultivate mutual respect for others and the world in which we live, and help people forge more just, inclusive and peaceful societies."
Biosphere Day
The biosphere is the part of a planet's outer shell (including air, land, surface rocks and water) and is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships. This day was established in 1991 by the Foundation for Environmental Conservation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland, with the viewpoint and emphasis for global awareness of the environment.
In History:

"Remember if people talk behind your back, it only means you're two steps ahead!"
~ Fannie Flagg (born 1944)

Autumn Equinox - First Day of Autumn 2021
An equinox is one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the equator and orbit of the Earth intersect, and the lengths of the day and night everywhere on Earth are equal at 12 hours. In reality, the actual equinox is a single moment in time and does not take the whole day, although the crossing of the Sun over the equator is slow enough that the equinox day will have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime, and within an accuracy of a few minutes, the day before and after as well. As this day signals the beginning of spring for the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Autumnal Equinox north of the Equator, and is synonymous with not only the completion of the harvest, but also the end of summer. The first day of Autumn 2021 occurs on Sept 22 19:21 UT (13:21 MT).
Elephant Appreciation Day
Elephant Appreciation Day was declared beginning in 1996 by Mission Media to celebrate the Elephant because it is the largest land mammal of our era, unique among mammals for its trunk, has been man's benefactor in numerous ways throughout history, and most undeservedly threatened with extinction. Although the elephant is entertaining and gentle, the species contributes to ecosystem development and maintenance, and generally deserves to be appreciated and upheld as an example of courage, strength, self-reliance, patience, persistence, and general high quality of being. Celebrated annually on 22 September.
Car Free Day
Carfree days were organized as early as during the oil crisis of the 1970s, and were continued in many European cities during the early 1990s. An international carfree day began in Europe in 1999, and is organized by the World Carfree Network. The effort promotes alternatives to car dependence and automobile-based planning at the international level, working to reduce the human impact on the natural environment while improving the quality of life for all. The WCN is also a clearinghouse of information from around the world on how to revitalize our towns and cities to create a sustainable future, including resources for architects, planners, teachers/professors, students, decision-makers and engaged citizens. Recognized annually on this day in Europe and in cities throughout the world.
National Centenarians Day
Dear Diary Day
In History:

"I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it." ~ Tommy Lasorda (born 1927)

Remembering Ray Charles
Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson, born on this day in 1930 Albany, Georgia. Totally blind by the age of seven, he attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, where he learned how to read Braille, as well as to write music and play various musical instruments. After he left school, Charles began working as a musician with several bands that played in various styles including jazz and country music, eventually moved to Seattle in 1947 at the age of seventeen. He soon started recording, first for the label Swingtime Records before signing with Atlantic Records in 1952. An appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959 is when he achieved mainstream success, and settling in with ABC Records, his music merged with pop as a #1 Billboard artist. He died at age 73 on 10 June 2004 of liver disease at his home in Beverly Hills.
Piano Player Day
Celebrate Bisexuality Day
Observed annually since 1999, this date is designated as Celebrate Bisexuality Day and recognized by members of the bisexual community and their allies worldwide.
In History:

"I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great." ~ Ray Charles (born 1930)

Little League Day
The "little leagues" include both baseball and softball and are divided into six divisions based on the ages of the children playing. Another division of Little League is the "Challenger Division" which is designed for children with disabilities. One of the aims of Little League, other than simply to have fun, is to teach children about teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play. Their watchwords are Character, Courage, Loyalty. Little League was founded by Carl Stotz in 1939 as a three-team league in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. There are now millions of Little League players in scores of local Little Leagues around the world.
World Heart Day
A healthy heart is vital for living life to the full, regardless of age or gender. Controlling the major cardiovascular risk factors, by choosing a healthy diet, being physically active, and by not smoking can prevent heart attacks and strokes and may help the heart to age more slowly. This year's World Heart Day, under the theme "How Young is Your Heart?", encourages people around the world to adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle to help maintain a young heart for life. World Heart Day, organized by the World Heart Federation and co-sponsored by the World Health Organisation, UNESCO and Sport for Development and Peace, is the WHF's most important advocacy event and aims to increase public awareness and promote preventive measures to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke. Begun in 1999 with the vision that all WHF members could collectively help to curb the global pandemic of cardiovascular disease, which claims some 17 million lives worldwide annually, World Heart Day is now celebrated by members and non-members alike in more than 100 countries around the world.
Family Health and Fitness Day
A national health and fitness event for families, with the purpose to promote family involvement in physical activity, one of the goals of the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health.
Remembering Jim Henson
Born James Maury Henson in 1936 Greenville, MS; award-winning American puppeteer best known for the creation of The Muppet Show and Sesame Street, including Muppet movies, as well as advanced puppets for projects Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Return of the Jedi The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Return of the Jedi.
In History:

"When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people
who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world
a little better for having been there." ~ Jim Henson (born 1936)

Remembering Christopher Reeve

Christopher Reeve, born on this day in 1952 New York City, was an American actor, director, producer, and writer, renowned for his film portrayal of Superman. In 1995, Reeve was rendered a quadriplegic during an equestrian competition and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. Despite enormous personal struggles, Reeve became a spokesman for the disabled, and a vocal supporter of stem cell research. With the help of a 2001 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention non-compete grant, the Reeves and his wife christened opening of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, a federal government facility located in New Jersey, devoted to teaching paralyzed people to live more independently. Reeve also chaired the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which funds research on paralysis and works to improve the lives of the disabled. Reeve also lobbied against the US government's limited funding on the controversial human embryonic stem cell research, and made an appearance at the Democratic National Convention in 2002. He died on 10 October 2004 after suffering cardiac arrest, and left behind a legacy of strength, courage, and the indestructible spirit of a true Super Man.

Comic Book Day

In History:

1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon era

1492 Crewman on the Pinta sights "land" a few weeks early

1513 Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean

1639 1st printing press in America

1690 1st newspaper to appear in the Americas, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, is published for the 1st and only time

1789 Congress passes 12 amendments to the Constitution; 10 ratified (Bill of Rights)

1804 Teton Sioux demand one of the boats from the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a toll for moving further upriver

1890 Yosemite National Park established in California

1906 Leonardo Torres Quevedo successfully demonstrates the invention of the Telekino by guiding a boat from the shore, considered the birth of the Remote control

1911 Ground is broken for Fenway Park in Boston, MA

1912 Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is founded in New York City

1919 President Wilson becomes seriously ill and collapses after a speech

1926 Henry Ford announces the 8 hour, 5-day work week

1929 Jimmy Doolittle performs the 1st blind flight proving full Instrument flying is possible

1934 Lou Gehrig plays in his 1500th consecutive game

1957 Central High School in Little Rock, AK is integrated through the use of US Army troops

1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became 1st woman Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

1997 Andy Green becomes the 1st man to break the speed of sound on land

1988 Monty Python member Michael Palin sets out from London's Reform Club to start his BBC documentary Around the World in 80 Days

2003 Electronic paper capable of playing videos has been invented at the Philips Research laboratory in Eindhoven, the Netherlands; ink can be rearranged electronically fast enough to show video movies

2006 New Orleans Saints return to the Superdome for the 1st time since Hurricane Katrina

2007 Halo 3 was released, grossing $170 million USD in its 1st 24 hours; a media record

2008 Washington Mutual Inc was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in the largest failure ever of a US bank, after which JPMorgan Chase & Co Inc came to its rescue by buying the thrift's banking assets

2008 Paul McCartney performs a "Friendship First" concert in Tel Aviv, letting the audience sing the chorus alone to "Give Peace a Chance" and dedicating the song to his fellow Beatle, John Lennon, who was killed in New York in 1980

2008 United Nations announced the organization had received an additional $16 billion in pledges to fight a host of global ills like hunger and malaria, calling it an important signal that the world financial crisis would not impair aid efforts; new pledges emerged from a special series of meetings attended by 96 nations

2008 Shenzhou 7, the 3rd manned Chinese spaceflight, is successfully launched with three taikonauts on board

2008 Team USA defeats Team Europe to win the 37th Ryder Cup Matches held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, KY

"Don't give up. Don't lose hope. Don't sell out." ~ Christopher Reeve (born 1952)

National Police Memorial Day 2021 (New Zealand)
Chosen for the feast day of Archangel Michael - the patron saint of Police - National Police Memorial Day is recognized across the Commonweath, including Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Pacific islands, on the last Sunday in September to honor police officers who have been killed or died on duty. It also pays tribute to police staff - serving and retired, sworn and non-sworn - who have died in the past year.
Good Neighbor Day 2021
A day to practice being a good neighbor by helping elderly, newcomers, handicapped, your neighborhood, your school, your whole community anyway you can: help with errands, invite someone to dinner, visit someone lonely, write to someone far away. Being patient, courteous and helpful, even when others are not, creates a happy atmosphere and a peaceful life. This is the foundation behind the idea of National Good Neighbor Day, started in 1971 with Congressional correspondence, and has been proclaimed by three United States Presidents. The Good Neighbor Day Foundation, a non-profit, non-sectarian, non-political, was formed to ensure the continuity and visibility of National Good Neighbor Day. Recognized annually on the fourth Sunday in September.
European Day of Languages
The European Day of Languages, a day for celebrating linguistic diversity, was first celebrated during the European Year of Languages in 2001. The Year was so successful in involving millions of people across 45 countries in activities to celebrate linguistic diversity and the benefits of being able to speak another language, at its end, Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to declare a European Day of Languages to be celebrated on 26 September each year. The general objectives of the European Day of Languages are alerting the public to the importance of language learning and diversifying the range of languages learned in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding; and encouraging lifelong language learning in and out of school, whether for study purposes, for professional needs, for purposes of mobility or for pleasure and exchanges.
Acorn Squash Day
In History:

"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
~ St. Francis of Assisi (born 1181)

This is Tonight
An American late-night talk show, now in its 60th season, The Tonight Show is the longest-running entertainment program in US television history. Originally a local New York program called Broadway Open House, its format can be traced to the Tonight show hosted by Steve Allen, which premiered on this day in 1953. Instrumental in creating the concept of the television talk show, Allen pioneered the 'man on the street' interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV. Known as the father of TV talk shows, Allen's popularity led him to his own primetime Sunday series, leading him to share Tonight hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs. After Steve Allen departed Tonight in 1957, NBC changed the format, transforming it into a news program that was not very popular. By July 1957, the program became a talk/variety show again with Jack Paar as the new host. No other host generated the degree of obsessive fascination in the press or the public that Paar did, and it was during Paar's stint as host that The Tonight Show became the entertainment juggernaut that it remained for the next five decades. Paar left the show in March of 1962, and Johnny Carson was chosen as his successor, but could not take over as host until October. The interim months between Paar and Carson were taken by a series of guest hosts, including Groucho Marx who introduced Carson as the new host on 1 October. Carson took the show through 30 years before he retired in 1992. He was replaced by current host Jay Leno. Unlike hosts before him, Leno has been a "full-time" host, maintaining a five-day-a-week schedule and only rarely utilizing guest hosts during the 15-plus years of his tenure. On the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere in 2004, NBC announced that Jay Leno will be succeeded by Conan O'Brien, who became the next Tonight Show host 1 June 2009. Program placements and poor ratings later erupted into controversy, as O'Brien left the show after 6 months, and Leno returned on 1 March 2010. On 3 April 2013, NBC announced Jimmy Fallon would become the new host as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon which will premiere 24 February 2014, the day after the closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
"This is Tonight, and I can't think of too much to tell you about it except I want to give you the bad news first: this program is going to go on forever" ~Steve Allen
World Tourism Day
Recognized by the United Nations
Answering Machine Day
In History:

"There is only one secret. To love what you are doing." ~ Jayne Meadows (born 1920)

Right to Know Day
While the first recorded legislation ensuring the right of public access to government information was with Sweden's Freedom of the Press Act in 1766, it was not until the latter half of the 20th

Century that nations around the world began to acknowledge this freedom to be an integral part of the democratic process. As Information and Communication Technologies advanced, creating a global resource of unlimited potential, advocates around the world began to endorse the United Nations resolution that "Freedom of access to information is a fundamental human right and a touchstone for all other freedoms."
The International Right-to-Know Day was first established by Eastern European openness advocates who first met in Sofia, Bulgaria on this day in 2002, which encouraged the rights of citizens everywhere to openly know about their governments, its elected officials, and the laws under which they are governed, as well as have access to information of public interest and concern. Over 86 countries have now joined the global Freedom of Information Advocates Network, which actively works toward encouraging governments to enact laws assuring the freedom of information, utilizing the personnel and equipment necessary to maintain updated information, and ensuring the public has the tools available necessary to access that information.

Fish Tank Floorshow Night
Entertain around the aquarium

Drink a Beer Day

Remembering Ed Sullivan
Born Edward Vincent Sullivan in 1901 New York City; American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the emcee of a popular TV variety show called The Ed Sullivan Show

Remembering Confucius
Born in 551BC Shandong Province; Chinese philosopher known for emphasizing personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity

In History:

1066 William the Conqueror invades England: the Norman Conquest begins

1542 Navigator Juan Rodr&icute;guez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives as what is now San Diego, CA

1779 Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay

1781 American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown, VA

1787 US Constitution is voted on by Congress to be sent to the state legislatures for approval

1820 Tomato is publicly proven safe when Robert Johnson eats a bushel of tomatoes in Salem, MA

1829 Walker's Appeal, racial antislavery pamphlet, published in Boston

1850 Flogging in US Navy and on merchant vessels abolished

1858 Donati's comet becomes the 1st to be photographed

1867 US takes control of Midway Island

1871 Brazil passes law freeing future children of slavery

1889 1st General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter

1919 Fastest major league game (51 mins), Giants beat Phillies 6-1

1924 2 US Army planes landed in Seattle, WA, having completed the 1st round-the-world flight in 175 days

1944 1st TV musical comedy (The Boys from Boise)

1964 Warren Commission concludes there was no conspiracy surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy and gunman Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone

1971 UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act banning the medicinal use of cannabis

2004 President George W Bush's hometown newspaper, the Crawford, TX, Lone Star Iconoclast, endorses Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry

2005 US Treasury unveiled the new $10 bill, which features splashes of red, yellow, and orange

2008 3 Chinese astronauts returned safely to earth in their space capsule after spending nearly 3 days in low earth orbit and completing the nation's 1st spacewalk Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia sets a new world record in the marathon of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 59 seconds at the Berlin Marathon

2008 World's largest jigsaw puzzle put together in only 5 hours by 15,000 people in Ravensburg, Germany; 1,141,800 pieces forming a 6,500-square foot puzzle that nearly covered the town square

2008 Mathematicians at UCLA announce the discovery of a 13 million-digit prime number, the 46th known Mersenne prime, on a network of 75 computers running Windows XP, making them eligible for a $100,000 prize being offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for finding the 1st Mersenne prime with more than 10 million digits

2008 Privately financed company Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) successfully launched a rocket (Falcon I) of its own design into orbit; SpaceX has a commercial orbital transportation services contract (Cots) which encourages private-sector alternatives to the space shuttle; company is developing a larger rocket, the Falcon 9, to provide cargo services to the International Space Station for NASA after the shuttle program winds down in 2010

2008 Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, simultaneously played 19 young opponents in Harlem at a festival sponsored by the Harlem Children's Zone

"To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous."
~ Confucius (born c551BC)

Women's Health and Fitness Day 2021
The National House of Prayer
The Washington National Cathedral is the Episcopal Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul located in Washington DC, and is designated "National House of Prayer" of the United States. It has played an important role in uniting Americans through both religious and secular services, including state funerals for three American Presidents, the Presidential prayer service the day after a presidential inauguration, and a memorial service for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. It was from Washington National Cathedral's Canterbury Pulpit that the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final Sunday sermon; a memorial service for Dr. King was held at the Cathedral later the same week. The cathedral was built by the privately-funded Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation under a Congressional charter, signed by President Benjamin Harrison in 1893, to promote the causes of religion, education, and charity. the first stone of the Cathedral was placed on 29 September 1907 in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt, and lasted for 83 years; the last finial was placed in the presence of President George H. W. Bush on the anniversary date in 1990. Its final design shows a mix of influences from the various Gothic architectural styles of the Middle Ages, and is considered one of the three most beautiful buildings in the United States.
Office Olympics Day
In History:

"In my day, most people thought dance hall girls actually danced."
~ Gene Autry (born 1907)

International Translation Day

Chosen for the feast day of St Jerome, patron saint of translators and interpreters for his 1st Century translation of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, International Translation Day has been used by translators and interpreters around the world to promote the translation profession. As global trade and the rise of the Internet have encouraged worldwide communication, effective translations become extremely important in marketing, literature, and politics. There are also scientific and technical translators, media translators, terminologists, conference interpreters, community interpreters, court interpreters, and sign-language interpreters, all of whom play an important role in global communication.

Chewing Gum Day

Born on this day in 1861 Philadelphia, PA, William Wrigley Jr. was an American chewing gum industrialist, who played an instrumental role in the history of Catalina Island, once owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball, and major property owner in Arizona. His legendary name has been affixed to the Wrigley Building, Wrigley Field (Chicago), Wrigley Field (Los Angeles), USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, Wrigley Square, and the Wrigley Memorial in the Wrigley Botanical Gardens on Catalina Island.

Remembering Truman Capote
Born Truman Streckfus Persons in 1924 New Orleans, LA; American writer with distinctive physical and personal style, best known for Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood

In History:

1452 1st book published, Johann Guttenberg's Bible

1659 Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked (according to Defoe)

1777 Congress flees to York, PA, as British forces advance

1791 The Magic Flute, the last opera composed by Mozart, premiered in Vienna

1846 Anesthetic ether used for 1st time (Dr William Morton extracts a tooth)

1882 1st commercial hydroelectric power plant in the world (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, WI

1901 Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner

1927 Babe Ruth becomes the 1st baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season

1935 Hoover Dam is dedicated

1938 League of Nations outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations"

1939 1st televised college football game shown on experimental station W2XBS in New York as Fordham University defeated Waynesburg College, 34-7 in Triboro Stadium on Randalls Island

1946 International military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes

1947 World Series is televised for the 1st time (NY Yankees vs Brooklyn Dodgers)

1954 US Navy commissioned the 1st atomic-powered vessel, the submarine Nautilus

1955 Hollywood actor James Dean is killed when his sports car is involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle

1960 The Flintstones premiered on ABC

1960 The Howdy Doody Show airs on NBC for the last time

1962 Last episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar broadcast on CBS Radio, marking the end of the Golden Age of Radio

1962 James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying segregation

1962 Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the United Farm Workers

1965 National Foundation for the Arts and the Humanities was established

1975 Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache makes 1st flight

1982 Cheers premieres

1988 IBM announces shipment of 3 millionth PS/2 personal computer

2004 1st images of live giant squid in its natural habitat taken 600 miles south of Tokyo

2008 Estimated 500 people turned out to view what they believed to be an apparition of the Virgin Mary seen on a 2nd-floor window of a Mercy Medical Center office building in Springfield, MA

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor." ~ Truman Capote (born 1924)

SOURCES

The Canadian Encyclopedia
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures&Params=A218

Cannes Film Festival
http://www.festival-cannes.com

Defenders Day at North Point
http://www.battlenorthpoint.org

Disney Archives
http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/today.html

Elephant Appreciation Day
http://www.himandus.net/elefunteria/eday/eday_main.html

European Day of Languages
http://www.ecml.at/edl/default.asp

freedominfo.org
http://freedominfo.org

Freedom of Information Advocates Network
http://foiadvocates.net/

Good Neighbor Day
http://www.natgoodneighborday.org

Hershey Chocolates
http://www.hersheys.com/discover/milton/milton.asp

History of Phone Operators
http://www.answering-services-phone-messaging.com/history_of_phone_operators.html

International Day of Peace
http://www.upf.org/united-nations/peace-day

International Federation of Translators
http://fit-ift.org.dedi303.nur4.host-h.net/index.php?frontend_action=display_compound_text_content&item_id=3609

Little League
http://www.littleleague.org

MDA Telethon
http://www.mdausa.org/telethon

National Grandparents Day
http://www.grandparents-day.com

National POW/MIA Recognition Day
http://www.pow-miafamilies.org/

National Women's Friendship Day
http://nwfd.kappadelta.org

Patriot Day Proclamation
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030904-7.html

The Popeye Picnic
http://www.popeyepicnic.com

The Pullman Strike
http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/pullman/index.html

Ray Charles Official Site
http://www.raycharles.com

Rustycans.com
http://www.rustycans.com

Santa Fe Fiesta Council
http://www.santafefiesta.org

September 11 News
http://www.september11news.com/FDNYFireman.htm

Software Freedom Day Wiki
http://www.softwarefreedomday.org

Talk Like A Pirate
http://www.talklikeapirate.com

UNESCO
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=41141&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

US Department of Labor
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

White Chapel Foundry
http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/liberty.htm

World Car Free Day
http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd

World Heart Day
http://www.worldheartday.org

World Wildlife Fund
http://www.worldwildlife.org

Wrigley
http://www.wrigley.com

� Dwarf Designs 1998-2021
LAST UPDATED: 10/31/20