The Almanac
Today is Friday, Sept. 30, the 274th day of 2016 with 92 to follow. The
moon is new. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Venus. Evening
stars are Mercury, Neptune and Saturn. Those born on this date are
under the sign of Libra. They include Persian poet Rumi in 1207;
chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in 1861; German physicist Hans
Geiger, co-inventor of the Geiger counter, in 1882; film director Lewis
Milestone ( All Quiet on the Western Front ) in 1895; singer Kenny
Baker in 1912; drummer Buddy Rich in 1917; novelist Truman Capote in
1924; baseball Hall of Fame member Robin Roberts in 1926; actor Deborah
Kerr in 1921; actor Angie Dickinson in 1931 (age 85); Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Elie Wiesel in 1928; singer Johnny Mathis in 1935 (age 81);
singer Frankie Lymon in 1942; singer Marilyn McCoo in 1943 (age 73);
actor Len Cariou in 1939 (age 77); actor Victoria Tennant in 1950 (age
66); rock singer Marc Bolan in 1947; actor Jack Wild in 1952; actor
Fran Drescher in 1957 (age 59); actor Eric Stoltz in 1961 (age 55);
actor Crystal Bernard in 1961 (age 55); actor Jenna Elfman in 1971 (age
45); tennis star Martina Hingis in 1980 (age 36). On this date in
history: In 1630, John Billington, one of the first pilgrims to land in
America, was hanged for murder -- the first European criminal executed
in the American colonies. In 1846, a dentist in Charleston, Mass.,
extracted a tooth with the aid of an anesthetic -- ether. It was the
first time an anesthetic had been used. In 1927, Babe Ruth set a Major
League Baseball record with his 60th home run of the season. The mark
would stand for 34 years. In 1938, Germany, France, Britain and Italy
met in Munich, Germany, for a conference after which British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain predicted peace for our time. World War II
began less than one year later. In 1946, verdicts were handed down in
the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. Twelve Nazi leaders were sentenced to
death by hanging. In 1954, the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear
submarine, was commissioned by the U.S. Navy, under the command of
Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson. In 1955, movie idol James Dean died in a
car crash at age 24. In 1962, James H. Meredith, an African-American,
was escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S.
marshals, setting off a riot in which two men died before violence was
quelled by more than 3,000 soldiers. Meredith enrolled the next day. In
1992, the United States returned most of the Subic Bay Naval Base to
the Philippine government after more than a century of use. In 2008,
thousands of worshipers making their way through a narrow passage to a
Hindu temple in India for a religious festival broke into a stampede
when a wall collapsed. Police put the death toll at 224 with more than
100 people injured. In 2011, a missile from an American drone aircraft
strike over Yemen killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. -born Islamic cleric
linked to several high-profile terrorist incidents in the United States
and subject of a two-year manhunt. In 2014, U.S. Secret Service chief
Julia Pierson told a U.S. House committee there would be a full review
of the agency in the wake of an incident in which a man jumped a fence,
got past security officers and entered the White House. Pierson
resigned the day after her House appearance. A thought for the day: Be
more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your
character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what
others think you are. -- John Wooden .
