The Almanac
Today is Monday, Sept. 26, the 270th day of 2016 with 96 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 Libra. They include frontier nurseryman Johnny
Appleseed Chapman in 1774; German researcher Ivan Pavlov in 1849; poet
T.S. Eliot in 1888; German philosopher Martin Heidegger in 1889; actor
George Raft in 1895; Pope Paul VI in 1897; composer George Gershwin in
1898; bandleader Ted Weems in 1901; fitness expert Jack LaLanne in
1914; actor Julie London in 1926; country singer Marty Robbins in 1925;
former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 1932 (age 84); actor
Donna Douglas in 1932; film producer Jerry Weintraub in 1937; actor
Kent McCord in 1942 (age 74); country singer Lynn Anderson in 1947 (age
69); actor Mary Beth Hurt in 1948 (age 68); singer Olivia Newton-John
in 1948 (age 68); author Jane Smiley in 1949 (age 67); actor Linda
Hamilton in 1956 (age 60); actor Melissa Sue Anderson in 1962 (age 54);
actor Jim Caviezel in 1968 (age 48); tennis star Serena Williams in
1981 (age 35). On this date in history: In 1777, British troops
oc'cup'ied Philadelphia. In 1950, U.N. troops took the South Korean
capital of Seoul from North Korean forces. In 1960, the first televised
presidential debate aired from a Chicago TV studio. It featured
candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. In 1983, the yacht
Australia II won the America's Cup from the United States, ending the
longest winning streak in sports -- 132 years. In 1984, China and
Britain initialed an accord to return Hong Kong to Chinese control when
Britain's lease expired in 1997. In 1990, the Motion Picture
Association of America, under pressure from filmmakers, adopted the
NC-17 rating -- no children under 17 allowed -- to replace the X rating
exploited by the porn industry. In 1991, four men and four women
entered the huge, airtight greenhouse Biosphere II in Arizona. They
remained inside for two years, emerging on this date in 1993. In 1996,
the space shuttle Atlantis landed, returning astronaut Shannon Lucid to
Earth. At the time, her six-month tour aboard the Mir space station was
the longest stay in space for an American. In 2005, U.S. Army Pfc.
Lynndie England, photographed in widely distributed pictures with
inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted of conspiracy and
prisoner abuse. She was sentenced to three years in prison and paroled
in March 2007. In 2007, ending a walkout that lasted less than two
days, the United Auto Workers union and General Motors reached a deal
in which GM agreed to create a $38.5 billion trust to administer health
benefits for retirees. In 2009, Typhoon Ketsana swept across the
Philippines, killing about 500 people and causing the country's worst
flooding in almost half a century. The storm then slammed into
Southeast Asia and killed163 people in Vietnam. In 2011, the U.S. Army
announced a plan to reduce its number of soldiers by nearly 50,000
during a five-year span. Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the service
personnel chief, said the reductions would bring the total to 520,400
active-duty soldiers by Sept. 30, 2016. In 2013, Bud Selig, Major
League Baseball's commissioner for 21 years, announced that he would
retire after the 2014 season. A thought for the day: A good hockey
player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the
puck is going to be. -- Wayne Gretzky .
