On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on September 15:
0053 Trajan 13th Roman emperor (98-117), second of the "five good emperors"
1613 Duc Francois de la Rochefoucald, Writer
1789 James Fenimore Cooper 1st major American novelist (The Last of the Mohicans)
1830 Porfirio Diaz, soldier, president of Mexico (1877-1911)
1852 Jan E Matzeliger Surinamese inventor (shoe lacing machine)
1857 William Howard Taft Cin, (R) 27th pres (1909-13), chief justice
1876 Frank E Gannett Rochester, newspaper publisher (Gannett)
1881 Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti Milan, race car builder (Amaz Bugattis)
1889 Robert Benchley author (My 10 Years in a Quandary)
1890 Dame Agatha Christie mystery writer (Murder on the Orient Express)
1899 Milton S Eisenhower Dwight's brother/Pennsylvania State president
1903 Roy Acuff Maynardville Tenn, country musician (Hee Haw)
1904 Umberto II king of Italy (1946)
1906 Kathryn Murray Jersey City NJ, dancer (Arthur Murray Dance Party)
1906 Penny Singleton Phila Pa, voice (Jane Jetsons)/actress (Blondie)
1907 Fay Wray Alberta, actress (King Kong)
1907 Jack Bailey Hampton Iowa, TV host (Queen for a Day)
1913 John Mitchell Nixon's attorney general who went to jail
1914 Creighton Abrams US, army general (Vietnam War)
1921 Jackie Cooper LA Calif, actor/director ("Our Gang" films,"The Rockford Files")
1924 Bobby Short singer/pianist (Carlisle Hotel)
1925 Blues musician B. B. ("Blues Boy") (Riley B.) King. In the mid-1950s, while King was performing in Twist, Arkansas, some audience members got into a fight over a woman named Lucille. They knocked over a kerosene stove and set the place on fire. Everyboy ran outside...but when King realized he left his guitar inside, he rushed back to retrieve it. From then on, King has named all his guitars "Lucille."
1927 Norm Crosby Boston Mass, comedian/double talker (Liar's Club)
1929 Murray Gell-Mann physicist who predicted quarks
1938 Gaylord Perry baseball player (1972 AL Cy Young winner)
1940 Merlin Olsen UT, NFL tackle (Rams)/sportscaster/actor (Father Murphy)
1941 Miroslaw Hermaszewski 1st Polish space traveler (Soyuz 30)
1946 Oliver Stone NYC, director/conspiracy nut/moral midget (Wall St, Good Morning Vietnam, Platoon)
('Bin Laden was completely protected by the oil companies in this country who told President Bush not to go after him because it would piss off the Saudis.'
Oliver Stone)
1946 Tommy Lee Jones actor (Executioner's Song, Men In Black)
1961 Dan Marino NFL quarterback (Miami Dolphins)
1984 Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales, 3rd in British sucession
Deaths which occurred on September 15:
0009 Publius Quinctilius Varus, Roman viceroy of Syria, suicide at 59
1525 Jan de Bakker (26), Roman Catholic priest also known under the name Pistorius, burned at the stake during the Reformation in the Netherlands.
1736 Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit. He discovered that water boils at 212F and froze at 32F.
1883 Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (Mathematician)
1938 Thomas Wolfe, US writer (Enigma), dies at 62
1963 Denise McNair, eleven years old, Carole Robertson, fourteen years old, Cynthia Wesley, fourteen years Addie Mae Collins, fourteen years old, killed in bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a site of past civil rights rallies.
1978 Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft builder, dies at 80
1979 Tommy Leonetti singer/actor (Gomer Pyle USMC), dies at 50
1982 Sadegh Ghotbzadeh Iran's former foreign minister, executed by Iran
1983 Willie Bobo jazz drummer (Cos), dies at 49
1986 Virginia Gregg actress (Little Women), dies at 69
1994 Alain Berdarin founder/owner of "Crazy Horse Saloon," suicide at 78
2004 Johnny Ramone (55), guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band "The Ramones," died of cancer
Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
15-Sep-2003 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Alyssa R. Peterson Telafar - Ninawa Non-hostile - weapon discharge
US Staff Sergeant Kevin C. Kimmerly Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
15-Sep-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Lance Corporal Gregory C. Howman Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Lance Corporal Drew M. Uhles Al Anbar Province (westernmost part) Hostile - hostile fire
Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
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Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
On this day...
0608 St Boniface IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1514 Thomas Wolsey appointed archbishop of York
1514 Selim I captures Tabriz, Persia, massacres much of the population.
1588 The Spanish Armada, which attempted to invade England, is destroyed by a British fleet.
1620 Mayflower departs from Plymouth, England with 102 pilgrims
1621 Swedish troops occupy Riga
1644 Giambattista Pamfili replaces Pope Urban VII as Innocent X
1776 British forces capture Kip's Bay Manhattan during the Revolution
1789 Dept of Foreign Affairs, renamed the Dept of State
1821 Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras & Nicaragua gain independence
1830 1st to be run-over by a railroad train (William Huskisson, England)
1835 HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin reach the Galapagos Islands.
1853 1st US woman ordained a minister, Antoinette Blackwell
1858 The Butterfield Overland Mail Company begins delivering mail from St. Louis to San Francisco. The company's motto was: "Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the United States mail!"
1862 Stonewall Jackson takes Harpers Ferry
1887 Phila celebrates 100th anniversary of US Constitution
1891 The Dalton gang holds up a train and takes $2,500 at Wagoner, Oklahoma
1893 More than 100 thousand people rushed to the Cherokee Strip as a large area of the Indian Territory - now known as Oklahoma - was opened to homesteaders.
1894 Japan defeats China in Battle of Ping Yang
1904 Wilbur Wright makes his 1st airplane flight
1912 Red Sox pitcher Joe Wood ties then record of 16 straight wins
1912 War between Turkey & Montenegro breaks out in Albania
1913 1st US milch goat show held, Rochester, NY
1914 Battle of Aisne begins between Germans & French during WW I
1916 1st tank used in war, "Little Willies" at Battle of Flors, France
1917 Russia proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky
1918 CH Chubb gives Stonehenge to English state
1923 In response to terrorist activity by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Oklahoma was placed under martial law by Governor John Calloway Walton
1928 Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers, by accident, that the mold penicillin has an antibiotic effect.
1930 1st intl bridge match is held in London. US team defeats England
1931 British naval force mutinies at Invergordon over pay
1935 Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship & makes the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany
1938 British PM Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgarden
1938 John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 350.2 MPH (lasts 1 day)
1938 Only time brothers hit back-to-back HRs (Lloyd & Paul Waner, Pitts)
1939 The Polish submarine Orzel arrives in Tallinn, Estonia, after escaping the German invasion of Poland.
1940 Tide turns in Battle of Britain in WW II, RAF beats Luftwaffe, On this day, a reported 185 German planes were shot down
1941 Nazis kill 800 Jewish women at Shkudvil Lithuania
1942 US aircraft carrier Wasp torpedoed at Guadalcanal
1946 Dodgers beat Cubs 2-0 in 5 inns, games called because of gnats
1947 1st 4 engine jet propelled fighter plane tested, Columbus, Oh
1947 Yanks clinch pennant #15
1948 F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed record of 1080 kph
1949 The Lone Ranger premiers on ABC-TV
(A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi Yo Silver!" The Lone Ranger. "Hi Yo Silver, away!" With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains, led the fight for law and order in the early west. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The Lone Ranger rides again!)
1950 During Korean war, UN forces land at Inchon in the south
1950 Longest game in Phila's Shribe Park, Phils beat Reds 8-7 in 19
1952 UN turns over Eritrea to Ethiopia
1953 Boxing's NBA adopts 10-pt-must-scoring-system (10 pts to round winner)
1957 "Bachelor Father" with John Forsythe premiers
1958 Commuter train crashes through drawbridge, killing 48 (Newark NJ)
1959 Soviet Premier Khrushchev arrives in US to begin a 13-day visit
1961 Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 mph
1962 Australia's 1st entry in America's Cup yacht race (US wins)
1962 KC A's Bill Fischer sets record of 69 1/3 innings without a walk
1963 4 children killed in bombing of a black Baptist church in Birmingham. In 1977 Robert Chambliss (d.1985) was tried and convicted of murder. Suspect Herman Cash died in 1994. In 2000 Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry (d.2004) turned themselves in after they were indicted by a state grand jury. In 2001 Thomas Blanton was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Cherry was convicted May 22, 2002, and sentenced to life in prison.
1963 SF Giants play outfield of Felipe, Matty & Jesus Alou
1965 "Lost in Space" premiers
1966 Gemini XI returns to Earth
1968 "Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park" Show on CBS TV
1968 Launch of Zond 5, the 1st lunar flyaround with Earth reentry. Probable test flight for a manned fly-around (scooped by Apollo 8)
1970 Decca awards Bing Crosby a 2nd platinum disc for selling 300 million
1971 1st broadcast of "Columbo" on NBC-TV (just one more question)
1971 The environmental group Greenpeace is founded.
1973 "Star Trek-Animated" premiers on TV
1974 President Ford offered conditional amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders.
1976 Soyuz 22 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit for 8 days
1978 Muhammad Ali beats WBA heavyweight champion Leon Spinks
1981 US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor
1982 1st issue of "USA Today" published by Gannett Co Inc
1982 Israeli forces began pouring into west Beirut
1990 Florida lottery goes over $100,000,000
1990 France announce it will send 4,000 troops to the Persian Gulf
1991 "The Party Machine with Nia Peeples" final show(life is good)
1991 SD State freshman Marshall Faulk sets NCAA rushing record of 386 yds
1993 Katherine Ann Power, member of the Weather Underground Aka Weathermen aka Students for a Democcratic Society, aka Communists. surrendered to authorities to face charges stemming from a 1970 bank robbery in which Boston police officer Walter Schroeder Sr. was killed. She received a five-year federal term, to run concurrently with an eight- to 12-year state sentence. (8-12 for murder. Of course he was only a cop so it's not like it was anyone important. Katherine did it for the "people" for the "children" and I'm sure she regrets this....unfortunate incident and suffered (at least) 2-3 sleepless nights over it. Oh well life goes on for her and we must learn to move on with our lives...well except for Walter Schroeder Sr he wasn't able too because the B*tch shot and killed him)
/rant
1994 Moslem fundamentalists kidnap & behead 16 citizens in Algeria
1998 Mark McGuire of the St. Louis Cardinals hits his 63rd home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates
1998 Archeologists find 6 frozen mummies sacrificed to Inca gods over 500 years ago near the crater of the 19,100 foot El Misti volcano in Peru
2001 Pres. Bush states: “We are planning a broad and sustained campaign to secure our country and eradicate the evil or terrorism.”
2002 Thousands of Muslims gathered at a radical Islamic conference in London to confront what organizers said was a choice between accepting life under a "colonialist world view" or being labeled terrorists.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Costa Rica, El Salv, Guatemala, Honduras & Nicaragua : Ind Day (1821)
Iran : Imama Ja'afar Sadeq's Death
Japan : Respect for the Aged Day
UK : Battle of Britain Day (1940)
Mexico : Independence Day
USA : Felt Hat Day, when men of fashion put away their straw hats
USA : Quarterly Income Tax Due.
National Spina Bifida Awareness Month
Religious Observances
RC : Memorial of 7 Sorrows of Mary
RC Nicomedes, martyr in Rome
Moslem : Id Al-Fitr
Religious History
1648 The Larger and the Shorter Catechisms -- both prepared by the Westminster Assembly the previous year -- were approved by the British Parliament. These two documents have been in regular use among various Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists ever since.
1770 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'To use the grace given is the certain way to obtain more grace. To use all the faith you have will bring an increase of faith.'
1853 In her home state of New York, Antoinette L. Brown, 28, became pastor of the Congregational church in South Butler -- making her the first woman to be formally ordained to the pastorate in the United States.
1920 Pope Benedict XV published the encyclical "Spiritus paraclitus," which restated the Catholic position on Scripture: '...the Bible, composed by men inspired of the Holy Ghost, has God himself as its principal author, the individual authors constituted as his live instruments. Their activity, however, ought not be described as automatic writing.'
1966 The American Bible Society published the New Testament of its "Today's English Version" (TEV), otherwise known as "Good News for Modern Man." It marked the end of a two-year effort led by chief translator, Robert G. Bratcher. (The complete Good News Bible was published in 1976.)
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Treadmill arrives to help Alaska's only elephant fight battle of the bulge
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A 7,260-kilogram treadmill specifically built to exercise Maggie the elephant arrived at the Alaska Zoo, but the question remains: Just how do you get a more than 4-tonne animal fighting the battle of the bulge to use a treadmill?
Zoo director Tex Edwards is optimistic she can do it.
"Every time we've undertaken to teach Maggie something new she has always learned it faster than we anticipated," Edwards said Tuesday. "She seems to enjoy new challenges."
The six-metre-long by 2.5-metre-wide treadmill was built by Conveyor Engineering, an Idaho-based company that designs heavy-duty conveyor systems for mining. Automatic Welding in Anchorage put the treadmill together, believed to be the first one built specifically for an elephant.
"They have built them for race horses and race camels but never for an elephant," said assistant zoo director Pat Lampi.
The treadmill arrived Monday and was lowered through the roof, which has been removed for a renovation project to double Maggie's living space.
The treadmill sits in a well in the elephant house so that it will be flush with the floor. It also is equipped with gates on either end so she can get on and off the treadmill, which is separated from her main living quarters by steel beams.
Zoo officials are eager to get the elephant house renovation completed and Maggie back in her permanent home before the snow flies in October. Since summer, she's been housed in a temporary shelter of empty truck trailers equipped with two large heaters that are turned on when the temperature dips below 10 C.
At last weigh-in in August 2004, Maggie tipped the scales at about 4,135 kilograms, which is around 455 kilograms overweight. But Lampi estimates that under her new diet and health regime, even without the benefit of the treadmill, she's already lost roughly 410 kilograms.
Maggie's weight became an issue when the broader question of her welfare was raised after the zoo's only other elephant died of a chronic foot infection in 1997.
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association in Washington, D.C., an accrediting organization, recommends that female elephants be kept in groups of three or more. The AZA recommended Maggie be moved but the zoo's board of directors decided to keep her as long as improvements were made for her care.
One of the challenges with captive elephants is to get them enough exercise, Lampi said. In the wild, African elephants spend their time foraging for food.
In an effort to simulate that experience, Maggie has had to strain and reach for her food, now hung from structures inside her paddock as part of her lifestyle enrichment program. Her diet also was changed to help her shed some pounds.
Maggie's handlers hope to use the same positive reinforcement technique to get her, well ... if not up and running, at least moving at first. Lampi predicts a slow start.
"The first time she's on it ... it will be barely moving," he said.
Maybe later, the treadmill's incline feature can be utilized and it can be sped up to give her a brisk, healthful walk.
"Since nobody has ever done it before we are proceeding very cautiously, making sure she and all the people involved are very comfortable," Lampi said.
Edwards predicted Maggie will become a shining example of the benefits of regular exercise for overweight pachyderms worldwide.
"We think it is possible that a lot of elephants around the world will find more regular exercise a beneficial addition to their lives," he said.
Thought for the day :
"Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example."
Duc Francois de la Rochefoucald
