The Almanac
Today is Friday, Sept. 16, the 260th day of 2016 with 106 to follow.
The moon is full. 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 Henry V in
1386; historian Francis Parkman in 1823; railroad magnate James Jerome
J.J. Hill in 1838; department store founder James Cash Penney in 1875;
artist Jean Arp in 1886; British car designer Walter Bentley in 1888;
children's author/creator of Curious George H.A. Rey in 1898;
entertainer Allen Funt in 1914; writer Laurence J. Peter in 1919; actor
Lauren Bacall in 1924; blues musician B.B. King in 1925; actor Peter
Falk in 1927; actor Jack Kelly in 1927; actor Anne Francis in 1930;
basketball Hall of Fame member Elgin Baylor in 1934 (age 82); actor
Susan Ruttan in 1948 (age 68); musician Kenney Jones (Small Faces,
Faces) in 1948 (age 68); actor Ed Begley Jr. in 1949 (age 67); actor
Mickey Rourke in 1952 (age 64); baseball Hall of Fame member Robin
Yount in 1955 (age 61); magician David Copperfield in 1956 (age 60);
actor/poker player Jennifer Tilly in 1958 (age 58); comedian Molly
Shannon in 1964 (age 52); singer/actor Marc Anthony in 1968 (age 48);
comedian Amy Poehler in 1971 (age 45); Jonas Brothers band member Nick
Jonas in 1992 (age 24). On this date in history: In 1620, the Mayflower
left Plymouth, England, with 102 passengers, bound for America. In
1810, Mexico began its war of independence against Spain. In 1974, U.S.
President Gerald Ford offered conditional amnesty to Vietnam draft
evaders. He said they could return to the United States if they
performed up to two years of public service. In 1977, celebrated
soprano Maria Callas died in Paris at the age of 53. In 1982 Lebanese
Christian militiamen entered two Palestinian refugee camps in West
Beirut, Lebanon, and began what became known as the Sabra and Shatila
massacre. Hundreds of people were killed in the three-day rampage. In
1986, fire and fumes in the Kinross mine killed 177 people in South
Africa's worst gold mine disaster. In 1994, a U.S. federal court jury
in Anchorage, Alaska, ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion to the fishermen
and natives whose lives were affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in
1989. There had never been a larger award in a pollution case. In 1999,
Congress doubled the U.S. presidential salary, from $200,000 a year to
$400,000, effective in 2001. In 2007, former NFL running back/actor
O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with robbery, assault, burglary
and conspiracy in a Las Vegas armed robbery. He was sentenced to up to
33 years in prison. In 2008, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, who oversaw
the surge of troops into Iraq, was chosen to become commander of the
U.S. Central Command that covered all of the Middle East. He was
succeeded in Iraq by U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno. In 2009, the U.S.
House voted to officially rebuke Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for yelling,
You lie! at U.S. President Barack Obama during a speech on healthcare
reform. In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau reported the percentage of
Americans living below the poverty line in 2009 reached a 15-year high
of 14.3 percent -- about 43.67 million people -- up from 39.8 million,
or 13.2 percent, a year earlier. The poverty level represented $10,830
in pretax cash income for a single adult and $22,050 for a family of
four. In 2011, a vintage P-51 Mustang fighter plane crashed into a
crowd of onlookers at the National Championship Air Races and Air Show
in Reno, Nev., killing 11 people, including the 74-year-old pilot,
Jimmy Leeward, and injuring about 75 others. In 2012, the Oc'cup'y Wall
Street protest marked its first anniversary with a noisy outburst in
New York's Lower Manhattan. In 2013, a gunman identified as Aaron
Alexis of Texas killed 12 people and wounded four at the Washington
Navy Yard before he was shot to death by a U.S. Park Police officer.
The FBI later said Alexis had written that he was under the control of
ultra low-frequency electromagnetic waves and to be perfectly honest
that is what has driven me to this. In 2014, NASA awarded contracts
totaling $6.8 billion for Boeing and SpaceX to build space taxis that
can carry astronauts to the International Space Station starting in
2017. A thought for the day: Labels are for filing. Labels are for
clothing. Labels are not for people. -- Martina Navratilova .
