September 4, 1964 - Gilligan's Island began its 98-show run on CBS. The TV show starred Bob Denver in the title role, Jim Backus as Mr. Howell, Natalie Schafer as Lovey Howell, Alan Hale as the Skipper, Russell Johnson as the Professor and Dawn Wells and Tina Louise as Mary Ann and Ginger, respectively.

September 5, 1877 - Sioux chief Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted by a US soldier after resisting arrest at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. A year earlier, Crazy Horse had led combined Sioux-Cheyenne forces to victory over George A. Custer's troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Montana. Crazy Horse was killed when he was only 34 years of age.

1960 - Cassius Clay of Louisville, Kentucky won the gold medal in light heavyweight boxing at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. Clay would later change his name to Muhammad Ali and become one of the great boxing champions in the world. In 1996, at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Muhammad Ali had the honour of lighting the Olympic flame.

1972 - On this date in Germany, on the eleventh day of the Twentieth Olympiad, members of the Black September faction of the Palestinian Liberation Army infiltrated the Olympic Village and attacked the Israeli compound.

Two Israeli athletes were killed and nine were taken hostage. The next day, the terrorists, demanding the release of 200 Arab prisoners in Israel, were escorted with their hostages to the airport, where German sharpshooters opened fire.

All nine Israeli hostages were killed, as were five Palestinians and one German police officer. Three terrorists were captured alive. In retaliation, Israeli jets bombed Palestinian positions in Lebanon and Syria three days later.

Today is the birthday of Robert Pirsig (76), author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, one of my favorite books.

September 6th:


1901 - US President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by an anarchist at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died on September 14th.

1941 - Hitler's Nazi Regime required all Jews in Germany and its occupied territories, over the age of six, to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes.

1914 - At the First Battle of the Marnes the German Army's advance is stopped and the first trenches of Wold War I are dug.

September 6, 1666 - The Great Fire of London ended after destroying much of the city in a conflagration that began on 2 September. Ninety-seven churches burned to the ground, including St Paul's Cathedral.

1939 - The first German air-raid on Britain took place during World War II (WWII).

On September 6, 1847

Writer Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden and moves in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts, after living for two years in a shack he built himself on Walden Pond

September 7, 1908 - Professor Harold Wager claimed plants had eyes. ( thus confirming my suspicions)

1910 - Marie Curie announced she had isolated pure radium.

1945 - Cartoon chipmunks Chip 'n' Dale, made their debut in No Sail.

September 7, 1936


Rock & roll legend Buddy Holly was born.

September 7, 1977

In Washington, President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos sign a treaty agreeing to transfer control of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

September 8th:

1960: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Sidebar: 2 weeks later Wordman swiped the rocket fuel cooling condenser unit to use in his Granpappy's still.

1930: The comic strip Blondie premiered.

1900: Galveston, Texas was struck by a hurricane that killed approximately 6,000 people.

September 8, 1952 - The Ernest Hemingway novel The Old Man and the Sea was published.

1966 - Gene Roddenberry's sci-fi TV classic, Star Trek, with William Shatner starring as Captain James T. Kirk, debuted on NBC. It became the number-one cult television show of all time, with seven movies, more than 500 fan publications, 100 novels, half a billion dollars in merchandise sales, and the spawning of the highest-rated weekly syndicated show in America, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

On this day the crew of the USS Enterprise took off on its mission to 'boldly go where no man has gone before', with the premiere of Star Trek. Although Star Trek ran for only three years, the series became a cult classic and spawned four television series and nine movies.

The first Star Trek spin-off was a cartoon, The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, which ran from 1973 to 1975 (the original cast members supplying the voices).

The TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in 1987 and was set in the 24th century, starring the crew of the new, larger USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, captained by Jean-Luc Picard, who was played by Patrick Stewart. This series became the highest-rated syndicated drama on US television and ran until 1994.

Another spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, premiered in 1992, featuring a 24th-century crew that lived in a space station rather than a starship. Star Trek: Voyager, which debuted in 1995 and ran until 2001, was the first to feature a female captain, Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew. In this series, the crew of the USS Voyager is stranded more than 70,000 light years from Federation space and is trying to find its way home.

Meanwhile, the cast of the original Star Trek voyaged onto the big screen, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. The first film yielded disappointing returns at the box office, but its sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, in 1982 was more successful and ensured more movies in the franchise. Subsequent films included Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; Star Trek: Generations; Star Trek: First Contact; and Star Trek: Insurrection. The Star Trek books have been translated into more than 15 languages, and Star Trek conventions are held all over the United States.

In 1992, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, opened an exhibit honouring the original Star Trek television series. The exhibit featured more than 80 costumes, props, and models from the show, including Mr. Spock's pointy ears and a replica of the deck of the starship Enterprise.
(Andi Bradley Computer Designs)

On this date, 500 years ago, Sept 8, 1504, Michelangelo's statue "David" was unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy.
A truly awesome rendition of the male anatomy.

September 8, 1935

Senator Huey Long, nicknamed the "Kingfish" after a character on the popular Amos 'n' Andy radio show, is shot in the Louisiana state capitol building. He died two days later.

September 9, 1776 - The United States of America was born when the Continental Congress changed the name of the nation from the United Colonies.

1939 - Wanting spontaneous audience reaction without the press, David O. Selznick and co-workers on the movie Gone With The Wind drove 2½ hours out of Hollywood. Carrying 54 cans of film and soundtrack, they convinced the manager of the local Riverside Fox Theatre to preempt the scheduled movie, Beau Geste, in order that GWTW could be shown unannounced. The secret preview was a huge success, and gave producer Selznick the information he needed for final editing of the 3-hour-long movie.

1956 - 54,000,000 viewers (82.6 percent of the US television audience) turned their TV dials to CBS as Ed Sullivan introduced 21-year-old singer Elvis 'The Pelvis' Presley. Elvis sang Hound Dog and Love Me Tender. Ed Sullivan, watching out for the moral safety of the viewing public (plus a live audience of screaming Elvis fans in the show's New York theatre) demanded that the CBS cameras not venture lower than Elvis' waist. Elvis got the largest fee to that date for appearing on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, a cool $50,000. (Another source says actor Charles Laughton was the fill-in host).

September 9, 1850

California Statehood:

The flood of settlers following the discovery of gold created a need for effective civil government in California. The Congress of the United States had failed to organize California as a territory because of a deadlock over whether slavery would be permitted in the new state. Finally, Californians acted on their own. In September 1849 a convention met at Monterey and adopted a state constitution, including a clause prohibiting slavery. The constitution was approved by popular vote on November 13th, and on December 15th the first legislature met at San Jose to create an unofficial state government.

The Compromise Measures of 1850, a series of congressional acts passed during August and September 1850, admitted California as a free, or nonslave, state. On September 9, 1850, California became the 31st state in the Union. Peter H. Burnett, a Democrat, was its first governor. The state capital was moved successively from San Jose to Monterey, Vallejo, and Benicia. In 1854 it was located permanently at Sacramento.

September 9, 1943
Operation Avalanche, the Allied land invasion of Salerno, and Operation Slapstick, the British airborne invasion of Taranto, both in southern Italy, are launched

So many things happened on this day:

September 10, 1588 - Thomas Cavendish returned to England, becoming the third man to circumnavigate the globe.

1718 - The Collegiate School at New Haven, Connecticut, changed its name to Yale. (Congregationalists, unhappy with an increasing religious liberalism at Harvard, had founded Yale, the third oldest college in America, in 1701.)

1846 - Farmer Elias Howe patented the first practical sewing machine. Howe's machine, with a two thread and lock stitch, could stitch five times faster than by hand. It eventually helped to establish mass production of clothing and other sewn goods.

1869 - A Baptist minister invented the rickshaw in Yokohama, Japan.

1907- Born this day, Fay Wray, in Alberta, Canada, actress, King Kong's main squeeze.

1939 - Canada declared war on Germany.

1940 - Buckingham Palace was hit by a German bomb.

2000 - The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats ended its record-breaking run on Broadway after 7,485 performances. ( thank goodness! I never did understand Cats! )

September 10, 2004 Word Distillery's Colly and La Juliette, starved to death after their personal chef hadn't shown up for over 3 weeks. It was reported that the chef took on a higher paying job making strawberry crepes for some woman named Galatea. Her new book; The Crepes of Wrath is due to hit book stores by the end of September.

This post has been edited at member's request.La Juliette,

On this date in 1659, Henry Purcell, one of the greatest of English composers was born.

"Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors... None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. "

—President George W. Bush: September 11, 2001

September 12th, Netscape browser is released for the first time and Yao Ming is born (1980). The significance!