The Almanac
Today is Sunday, Sept. 4, the 248th day of 2016 with 118 to follow. The
moon is waxing. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are
Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune. Those born on this date are
under the sign of Virgo. They include French novelist/politician
Francois Rene de Chateaubriand in 1768; architect Daniel Burnham in
1846; engineer/inventor Lewis Latimer in 1848; French composer Darius
Milhaud in 1892; bandleader Jan Savitt in 1907; novelist/essayist
Richard Wright in 1908; radio news commentator Paul Harvey in 1918;
actor Dick York in 1928; dancer/actor Mitzi Gaynor in 1931 (age 85);
golf Hall of Fame member Raymond Floyd in 1942 (age 74); golf Hall of
Fame member Tom Watson in 1949 (age 67); actor Judith Ivey in 1951 (age
65); comedian Damon Wayans in 1960 (age 56); actor Ione Skye in 1970
(age 46); singer Beyonce Knowles in 1981 (age 35). On this date in
history: In 1609, navigator Henry Hudson discovered the island of
Manhattan. In 1954, the first voyage through the fabled Northwest
Passage was completed by icebreakers from the U.S. Navy and Coast
Guard. In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National
Guard to prevent nine African-American students from entering Central
High School in Little Rock. In 1972, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz became the
first athlete to win seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games. The
record stood until American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight golds at
the Beijing Olympics in 2008. In 1991, South African President F.W. de
Klerk proposed a new constitution. It provided for universal voting
rights and opened Parliament to all races. In 2002, U.S. President
George W. Bush said he would seek congressional approval for any
military move on Iraq. He also promised to consult with allies, some of
whom were opposed to his regime change plan. In 2006, Steve Irwin,
Australia's internationally renowned Crocodile Hunter TV star, was
killed by a stingray barb to the heart while he was filming underwater.
In 2010, a U.S. District judge in San Francisco struck down
California's voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriages, saying it was
unconstitutional. In 2012, the Democratic National Convention opened in
Charlotte, N.C. In 2013, during a visit in Sweden en route to a G20
summit in Russia, U.S. President Barack Obama said he and Swedish Prime
Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt discussed the appalling violence being
inflicted on the Syrian people by the [Bashar al-Assad] regime,
including the horrific chemical weapons attacks two weeks ago. In 2014,
caustic comedienne Joan Rivers, whose cutting barbs were often aimed at
celebrities, including herself, died at the age of 81 at a hospital in
New York City. Her daughter, Melissa, said, My mother's greatest joy in
life was to make people laugh. A thought for the day: The mark of great
sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are
their worst. -- Martina Navratilova .
