Today is Monday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2009. There are 94 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On Sept. 28, 1909, satirical cartoonist Al Capp, the creator of “Li’l Abner,” was born in New Haven, Conn.
On this date
In 351, Roman Emperor Constantius II defeated the usurper Magnentius in the Battle of Mursa, the bloodiest battle of the 4th century.
In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.
In 1542, Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.
In 1573, Caravaggio was born. The revolutionary Italian painter’s completely new style, which he developed before Velázquez and Rembrandt, had a formative influence on Baroque painting. In contrast to the mannerism style, he developed his own objective and naturalistic style with reduced perspectives, extreme lighting effects and natural observations. This led him to become Italy’s greatest naturalist around 1600. He died on July 18, 1610.
In 1781, American forces in the Revolutionary War, backed by a French fleet, began their successful siege of Yorktown, Va.
In 1787, the Congress of the Confederation voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.
In 1829, American black abolitionist David Walker publishes his radical antislavery pamphlet, David Walker’s Appeal, which urges slaves to take up arms for their freedom.
In 1850, flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.
In 1864, the First International, a revolutionary workers’ group, meets for the first time in London, with political theorist Karl Marx in attendance.
In 1901, Ed Sullivan, who entertained millions of Americans with his long-running Sunday night variety show, was born.
In 1911, using the pretext of infringement of Italian interests in the Turkish provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica (Libya), the Italian government issued an ultimatum to Turkey and declared war the next day.
In 1912, the publication of William Christopher Handy’s “Memphis Blues” changed the course of American popular song. Handy introduced an African-American folk tradition, the blues, into mainstream music. By the 1960s, the blues sound had significantly influenced the development of jazz and rock and roll, quintessential American musical forms.
In 1920, in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal, eight members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team were indicted by a grand jury on charges that they had thrown the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in return for a bribe.
In 1924, two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
In 1939, during World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty calling for the partitioning of Poland, which the two countries had invaded.
In 1941, choosing not to sit out the season’s final doubleheader to protect his .400 batting average, Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams gets six hits in eight at bats to finish the season with a .406 average.
In 1951, quarterback Norm Van Brocklin of the Los Angeles Rams sets the National Football League record for passing yardage in a single game when he throws for 554 yards.
In 1960, in Boston’s Fenway Park, 42-year-old Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams hits his 521st home run in the final swing of his career.
In 1967, Walter E. Washington was sworn in as the first mayor-commissioner of the District of Columbia. (He’d been appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.)
In 1972, Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.
In 1974, first lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, following discovery of a cancerous lump in her breast.
In 1989, deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.
In 1991, jazz musician Miles Davis died at age 65.
In 1994, the “Estonia” sank. In the worst post-war shipping accident, the Estonian ferry sank off the South coast of Finland and took a toll of 852 lives. The official claims agency recorded construction deficits as the official cause of the catastrophe. In August 1999, the Meyer shipyard, which built the “Estonia”, claimed they had proof that the accident was caused by a bomb attack, but this theory was rejected by the claims agency.
In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord to transfer much of the West Bank to the control of its Arab residents.
In 1999, ten years ago, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether a state can give visitation rights to grandparents when, after a divorce or some other family split, the children’s parents say no. (The court later ruled that Washington state went too far in allowing grandparents and others to seek court-ordered visits against parents’ wishes, but it stopped short of giving parents absolute veto power over who gets to visit their children.)
In 2000, capping a 12-year battle, the government approved use of the abortion pill RU-486.
In 2000, Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel’s hard-line opposition, sparked new Israeli-Palestinian clashes by touring the Temple Mount.
In 2000, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau died at age 80.
In 2004, five years ago, an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.0 rocked central California.
In 2004, kidnappers in Iraq released two female Italian aid workers, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, and five other hostages.
In 2004, award-winning fashion designer Geoffrey Beene died in New York at age 77.
In 2005, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a charge of conspiring to violate political fundraising laws. (The charge was later thrown out. DeLay is awaiting trial on money laundering and conspiracy charges.)
In 2005, the U.S. Treasury unveiled the new $10 bill, which features splashes of red, yellow and orange.
In 2008, one year ago, President George W. Bush urged Congress to pass a $700 billion rescue plan for beleaguered financial companies, saying in a written statement, “Without this rescue plan, the costs to the American economy could be disastrous.”
In 2008, Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 7 returned to Earth after completing their country’s first-ever spacewalk mission.
In 2008, Austrian 16-year-olds voted for the first time in parliamentary elections under a law adopted in 2007.
Today’s Birthdays
Actor William Windom is 86. Actor Arnold Stang is 84. Actress Brigitte Bardot is 75. Singer Ben E. King is 71. Actor Joel Higgins is 66. Singer Helen Shapiro is 63. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 63. Movie writer-director-actor John Sayles is 59. Actress Sylvia Kristel is 57. Rock musician George Lynch is 55. Zydeco singer-musician C.J. Chenier is 52. Actor Steve Hytner is 50. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 45. Country singer Matt King is 43. Actress Mira Sorvino is 42. TV personality Moon Zappa is 42. Actress-model Carre Otis is 41. Actress Naomi Watts is 41. Country musician Chuck Crawford is 36. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 34. Rapper Young Jeezy is 32. World Golf Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak is 32. Actor Peter Cambor is 31. Writer-producer-director-actor Bam Margera is 30. Actress Hilary Duff is 22. Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak is 17.
Today’s Historic Birthdays
Pierre-Louis Maupertuis
9/28/1698 – 7/27/1759
French mathematician, biologist and astronomer
Prosper Mérimée
9/28/1803 – 9/23/1870
French dramatist, historian, archaeologist and short story writer
Georges Clemenceau
9/28/1841 – 11/24/1929
French statesman; premier of the Third Republic (1917-20)
Avery Brundage
9/28/1887 – 5/8/1975
American president of the International Olympic Committee (1952-72)
Elmer Rice
9/28/1892 – 5/8/1967
American playwright, director and novelist
William Paley
9/28/1901 – 10/26/1990
American broadcaster; led CBS for over 50 years
Ed Sullivan
9/28/1901 – 10/13/1974
American television host
Al Capp
9/28/1909 – 11/5/1979
American cartoonist; created “Li’l Abner”
Alice Marble
9/28/1913 – 12/13/1990
American tennis player
Michael Somes
9/28/1917 – 11/18/1994
English ballet dancer
Tom Harmon
9/28/1919 – 3/15/1990
American football player; won Heisman Trophy in 1940
Marcello Mastroianni
9/28/1924 – 12/19/1996
Italian actor
Seymour Cray (1925-1996), American electronics engineer and computer designer, known for his contributions to early computers and supercomputers. Born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Cray attended the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1950. He established himself at the forefront of computer design through his work at Remington Rand Corporation, Control Data Corporation, and Cray Research, Inc.
Thought for Today
“The secret of how to live without resentment or embarrassment in a world in which I was different from everyone else, was to be indifferent to that difference.” – Al Capp, American cartoonist (1909-1979).
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Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092800002.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html
http://www.todayinhistory.de/index.php?tag=28&monat=9&dayisset=1&year=2009&lang=en
http://www.britannica.com/eb/dailycontent/rss
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761589215/Seymour_Cray.html
