Today is: September 21

Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1

September is:

Children's Books Month Children's Eye Health and Safety Month National Childhood Injury Prevention Month National Honey Month National Piano Month National Rice Month National School Success Month National Sewing Month National Sickle Cell Month National Youth Pastors Appreciation Month Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Southern Gospel Music Month

Celebrate September 21

Biosphere Day - This day recognizes the fragility of our biosphere. List 5 things that you can do to to help out life on earth, and do at least one this day. Sponsor: Foundation for Environmental Conservation, Geneva, Switzerland.

Idaho Spud Day - This day has been celebrated since 1930. On this day in Shelly, Idaho you will find a number of activities such as the World Spud Picking Championships, a tug of war in mashed potatoes, and plenty of potatoes. Sponsor: Idaho Spud Day Committee. (My sources are not clear on the date of these events - it would seem to me that this may actually be celebrated on the 3rd weekend of September).

International Flower Day - Bring bouquets of autumnal flowers into your home, business, school or other places you frequent. Sponsor: All My Events.

National Rich Villain Day - Celebrated on the birthday of the man who played the role of J. R. Ewing on the TV series 'Dallas.' Say something nice to a rich villain you know. Give them something to think about. Larry Hageman was born on this day in 1931, in Fort Worth, Texas. Sponsor: The Life of the Party.

Saint Matthew Feast Day - A tax collector before he became a disciple of Jesus, Saint Matthew is patron saint of accountants, bankers, bookkeepers, tax collectors, custom officers, and security guards.

Watticism Day - In 1983, Secretary of the Interior, James Watt slandered minorities in a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when he said that his committee had "a black, a woman, 2 Jews, and a cripple."

World Gratitude Day - Founded in 1965, this day is a day to unite all people by simultaneously sharing a positive emotion, that of graditude. Sponsor: Institute of Peace.

Born on this Day

• 1372: Frederik I van Hohenzollern, monarch of Brandenburg (1417-40)
  
  

• 1415: Frederick, III as Holy Roman Emperor, IV as King of Germany (1440-1493), V as ArchDuke of Austria
  
  

• 1452: Girolamo Savonarola, Florentine monk, preacher, reformer. A Dominican from 1474, he was famous for his religious zeal. For 14 years he led in the reformation of Florence, before attacks on Alexander VI led to his excommunication. In 1498, he was convicted of heresy, hanged and burned.
  
  

• 1645: Louis Joliet, French-Canadian explorer of the Mississippi River
  
  

• 1527: Composer Matthaus Ludecus
  
  

• 1706: Composer Jacob Wilhelm Lustig
  
  

• 1728: Composer Louis Emmanuel Eadin
  
  

• 1756: John Loudon McAdam, created macadam road surface (asphalt)
  
  

• 1788: First Lady Margaret Taylor (Smith) (wife of 12th U.S. President, Zachary Taylor)
  
  

• 1866: Author and historian H.G. Wells (The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds)
  
  

• 1866: Charles Jean Henri Nicolle, bacteriologist, discovered that typhus fever is transmitted by body louse
  
  

• 1874: Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham, England. Holst's instrument was the trombone, though he also played keyboards. One of his best works, a concerto for two violins, is seldom played because one of the parts was made simple enough for one his students to play.
  
  

• 1895: Juan de la Cierva, aeronautical engineer who invented the autogyro
  
  

• 1902: British publisher Sir Allen Lane, who first introduced the low-priced paperback book
  
  

• 1912: Cartoon animator Chuck Jones
  
  

• 1918: Actor Rand Brooks
  
  

• 1931: Actor Larry Hagman
  
  

• 1934: Poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen
  
  

• 1935: Actor-comedian Henry Gibson
  
  

• 1944: Author-comedian Fannie Flagg
  
  

• 1947: Author Stephen King
  
  

• 1947: Musician Don Felder (The Eagles)
  
  

• 1950: Actor-comedian Bill Murray
  
  

• 1954: Rock musician Philthy Animal (ex-Motorhead)
  
  

• 1958: Movie producer-writer Ethan Coen ("Fargo")
  
  

• 1959: Actor-comedian Dave Coulier
  
  

• 1960: Actor David James Elliott ("JAG")
  
  

• 1961: Actress Nancy Travis ("Almost Perfect")
  
  

• 1962: Actor Rob Morrow
  
  

• 1967: Country singer Faith Hill
  
  

• 1967: Rock musician Tyler Stewart (Barenaked Ladies)
  
  

• 1968: Actress-talk show host Ricki Lake
  
  

• 1968: Rapper Trugoy the Dove (De La Soul)
  
  

• 1971: Actor Alfonso Ribeiro ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "In the House")
  
  

• 1983: Actor Joseph Mazzello ("Jurassic Park")
  
  

Events in History on this day
  

• 0019: Death of Vergil
  
  

• 0454: In Italy, Aetius, the supreme army commander, is murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.
  
  

• 1327: Edward II of England is murdered by order of his wife.    History Focus for Today
  
  

• 1397: Beheading of Richard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey
  
  

• 1520: Death of Selim, Sultan of Turkey
  
  

• 1520: Suliman "the Lawgiver" ("the Magnificent") becomes Sultan
  
  

• 1522: Martin Luther first published his German translation of the New Testament. His translation of the entire Bible was completed in 1534.
  
  

• 1529: Turks under Suleiman I lay siege to Vienna
  
  

• 1549: Death of Marguerite d'Anguoleme, Queen of Navarre
  
  

• 1558: Death of Charles V, King of Spain
  
  

• 1589: The Duke of Mayenne of France is defeated by Henry IV of England at the Battle of Arques.
  
  

• 1576: Death of Jerome Cardanus, mathematician
  
  

• 1673: James Needham returns to Virginia after exploring the land to the west, which would become Tennessee.
  
  

• 1745: A Scottish Jacobite army of the Pretender Prince Charles Edward Stuart commanded by Lord George Murray routs the Royalist army of General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans.
  
  

• 1784: America's first daily paper, "The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser" was published in Philadelphia.
  
  

• 1792: The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy. In 1931, Britain went off the gold standard.
  
  

• 1893: The first successful American-made, gasoline-operated motor car appeared on the streets of Springfield, Mass. It was designed and built by Charles and Frank Duryea.
  
  

• 1897: The New York "Sun" ran its famous editorial that answered a question from eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: "Is there a Santa Claus?" Francis P. Church wrote, in part: "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, ahd you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy."
  
  

• 1899: A painting of a dog listening to a record player was purchased by the Gramophone Company, parent of RCA Victor, for use as a trademark.
  
  

• 1904: Exiled Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies of a "broken heart".
  
  

• 1915: Stonehenge is sold by auction for 6,600 pounds sterling ($11,500) to a Mr. Chubb, who buys it as a present for his wife. He presents it to the nation three years later.
  
  

• 1929: Fighting between China and the Soviet Union breaks out along the Manchurian border.
  
  

• 1937: "The Hobbit," by J.R.R. Tolkien, was first published.
  
  

• 1937: Women's airspeed record set at 292 mph by American pilot Jacqueline Cochran.
  
  

• 1938: A hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming more than 600 lives.
  
  

• 1941: The German Army cuts off the Crimean Peninsula from the rest of the Soviet Union.
  
  

• 1942: British forces attack the Japanese in Burma. Detachment 101 harried the Japanese in Burma and provided close support for regular Allied forces
  
  

• 1944: U.S. troops of the 7th Army, invading Southern France, Cross the Meuse River.
  
  

• 1949: The People's Republic of China was proclaimed by its Communist leaders.
  
  

• 1957: "Perry Mason," starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS TV. It continued for 9 years becoming the longest running lawyer series ever to appear on TV.
  
  

• 1964: Malta gained independence from Britain.
  
  

• 1977: President Carter defended budget director Bert Lance as he announced Lance's resignation. Lance had been accused of a series of illegal acts in banking.
  
  

• 1978: Two Soviet astronauts set a space endurance record after 96 days in space.
  
  

• 1982: National Football League players began a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever.
  
  

• 1986: Delegates to the 35-nation East-West security conference in Stockholm, Sweden, agreed on information-sharing measures designed to reduce the risk of accidental war in Europe.
  
  

• 1987: A US helicopter gunship disabled an Iranian vessel, the "Iran Ajr," that was caught laying mines in the Persian Gulf; four Iranian crewmen were killed, 26 wounded and detained. NFL players went on strike, mainly over the issue of free agency.
  
  

• 1988: The Soviet women's gymnastics team won the gold medal at the Seoul Summer Olympics, with Romania placing second and East Germany, third.
  
  

• 1989: Hurricane "Hugo," packing winds of up to 135 miles-an-hour, crashed into Charleston, South Carolina.
  
  

• 1990: During a meeting of the Supreme Soviet, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev scolded legislators for dragging its feet on an economic rescue plan, and asked for sweeping new emergency powers to stabilize the economy.
  
  

• 1989: Twenty-one students in Alton, Texas, died when their school bus, involved in a collision with a truck, careened into a water-filled pit.
  
  

• 1989: General Colin Powell was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  
  

• 1991: An 18-hour hostage drama ended in Sandy, Utah, as Richard L. Worthington, who had killed a nurse and seized control of a hospital maternity ward, finally freed his nine captives, including a baby who was born during the hostage situation.
  
  

• 1992: President Bush addressed the UN General Assembly, offering US support to strengthen international peacekeeping.
  
  

• 1992: Former defense secretaries Melvin Laird and James R. Schlesinger told a congressional committee the Pentagon had known American airmen were alive in Laos at the end of the Vietnam War and were not returned.
  
  

• 1993: Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced he was ousting the hard-line, Communist-dominated Congress that had long opposed his reforms. The police drama "NYPD Blue" premiered on ABC TV.
  
  

• 1994: Prosecutors from Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties announced that child molestation charges would not be filed against singer Michael Jackson; however, the case would remain open until 1999.
  

• 1995: House Republicans unveiled partial details of their plan for Medicare aimed at achieving $270 billion in savings over seven years.
  
  

• 1996: John F. Kennedy Junior married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, Georgia.
  
  

• 1996: The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.
  
  

• 1996: President Clinton and Republican rival Bob Dole agreed to face off in two debates without Ross Perot.
  
  

• 1997: Saying their persistent demands for a special investigation had been vindicated, senior Republicans insisted Attorney General Janet Reno seek appointment of an independent counsel to look into White House fund-raising activities, a day after the Justice Department revealed it had begun a preliminary review
  
  

• 1998: Hurricane Georges roared through Puerto Rico and the northeast Caribbean.
  
  

• 1998: Olympic gold medal track star Florence Griffith Joyner was found dead at her home in Mission Viejo, California; she was 38.
  
  

• 1998: President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony was publicly broadcast; in it, Clinton tussled with prosecutors over "the truth of my relationship" with Monica Lewinsky.
  

• 1999: A powerful earthquake struck Taiwan, killing at least 2400 people.
  

• 1999:  The House Banking Committee opened an inquiry into allegations of a huge money-laundering scheme involving the Russian mob and the Bank of New York.
  

History Focus for Today

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