The Almanac
Today is Tuesday, Sept. 8, the 252nd day of 2016 with 114 to follow.
The moon is waning. 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 Virgo. They include England's King Richard I,
Richard the Lion-Hearted, in 1157; Czech composer Antonin Dvorak in
1841; country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers, The Singing Brakeman, in
1897; actor Frank Cady in 1915; comedian Sid Caesar in 1922; political
activist Lyndon LaRouche in 1922 (age 94): British actor Peter Sellers
in 1925; country music singer Patsy Cline in 1932; former U.S. Sen. Sam
Nunn, D-Ga., in 1938 (age 78); musician Ron Pigpen McKernan (Grateful
Dead), in 1945; writer Ann Beattie in 1947 (age 69); English rock
musician Dave Stewart in 1952 (age 64); actor Heather Thomas in 1957
(age 59); singer Aimee Mann in 1960 (age 56); actor David Arquette in
1971 (age 45); actor Martin Freeman in 1971 (age 45); actor Jonathan
Taylor Thomas in 1981 (age 35); singer Pink in 1979 (age 37); singer
Wiz Khalifa in 1987 (age 29). On this date in history: In 1565, the
first permanent European settlement in what is now the continental
United States was founded on the site of the present St. Augustine,
Fla. In 1900, more than 6,000 people were killed when a hurricane and
tidal wave struck Galveston, Texas. In 1935, an assassin shot U.S. Sen.
Huey P. Long, D-La., at the Capitol in Baton Rouge, La. Long died two
days later. In 1966, Star Trek premiered on NBC-TV. In 1974, U.S.
President Gerald Ford granted former President Richard Nixon, who had
resigned a month earlier in the wake of the Watergate scandal, a full
pardon for any offenses he may have committed during his years in
office. In 1994, a USAir Boeing 737 (Flight 427) suddenly rolled to the
left, spiraled out of control and fell 6,000 feet in a crash near
Pittsburgh that killed 132 people. A problem with the plane's rudder
control system was eventually cited as the probable cause of the
disaster. In 2005, more than 1,000 people attended the Washington
funeral of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died
of thyroid cancer just before his 81st birthday. In 2010, an ABC
News/Washington Post poll indicated that 49 percent of Americans had an
unfavorable view of Muslims. In 2012, in his weekly radio address --
three days before the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the
United States -- U.S. President Barack Obama said: As Americans, we
refuse to live in fear. Today, a new tower rises above the New York
skyline. And our country is stronger, safer and more respected in the
world. In 2013, Australian voters chose the Liberal/National coalition
headed by opposition leader Tony Abbott over the Labor Party and Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd. Abbott was sworn in as PM on Sept. 18. In 2014,
the Baltimore Ravens terminated star running back Ray Rice's contract
and the NFL suspended him indefinitely after the release of a video
that showed him punching his future wife in the face in a hotel
elevator in Atlantic City. A thought for the day: The thing that is
really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and
beginning the work of becoming yourself. -- Anna Quindlen .