On This Day, September 2

For whatever reason, I thought September 2nd to be a day of significance. With that in mind, I thought I'd put together a few highlights from the date, down through the ages. Partly fun, partly educational, partly historical significance. Hopefully enjoy.

490 BC - Pheidippides, Greek hero and inspiration for the modern marathon, dies

44 BC - Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.

- The first of Cicero's Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the next several months.

1649 - The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro. (I love that. Pope Innocent)

1666 - Great Fire of London begins at 2am in Pudding Lane, 80% of London is destroyed

1732 - Pope Clement XII renews anti-Jewish laws of Rome. (Don'tcha' just love those oh-so-innocent Catholics?)

1864 - Union General William T. Sherman captures and burns Atlanta during US Civil War

1894 - Forest fires destroy Hinckley Minnesota: about 600 die (I can't even fathom that one)

1901 - VP Theodore Roosevelt advises "Speak softly & carry a big stick"

1902 - "A Trip To The Moon", the first science fiction film, by film great Georges Méliès released

1919 - Communist Party of America organizes in Chicago (It didn't really catch on. Not permanently, anyway)

1936 - 1st transatlantic round-trip air flight

1942 - German troops enter Stalingrad

1944 - During WW II, George H W Bush ejects from a burning plane

1944 - Holocaust diarist Anne Frank was sent to Auschwitz

1945 - Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independence from France (National Day) (Years later, Americans would learn nothing whatever from France's loss and exit from Vietnam and instead, attack the country)

1946 - Nehru forms government in India

1957 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1962 - Stan Musial's 3,516th hit moves over Tris Speaker into 2nd place

1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

1963 - Alabama Gov George C Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee HS

1963 - CBS & NBC expand network news from 15 to 30 minutes

1964 - Keanu Reeves birthday, Beirut, "actor"

1969 - Ralph Houk signs 3-year contract to manage Yankees at $65,000 a season (think things haven't changed a lot?)
        - The first automatic teller machine (ATM) in the United States is installed in Rockville Center, New York.

1971 - Chris Evert & Jimmy Connors win their 1st US Open tennis matches (Chris who? Jimmy who?)
         - Also his, Jimmy Connors', birthday, 1952

1972 - Rod Stewart's 1st #1 hit (You Wear it Well)

1973 - J. R. R. Tolkien, British author (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings)--as if you had to ask--dies of an ulcer at 81

1982 - Rolling Stone Keith Richard's house burns down

1987 - Donald Trump takes out a full page NY Times ad lambasting Japan

1997 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Montreal Canada on CHOM 97.7 FM (and we still haven't gotten rid of him)

2005 - Bob Denver, American actor (Gilligan of "Gilligan's Island"), dies of complications from treatment for cancer at 70
So now, get out there, kids, and enjoy your September 2nd.

Entertainment overnight--a day in the life

Entertainment overnight---in flight

Entertainment overnight

Entertainment overnight--beautiful insanity

I've found a new favorite thing

If you don't watch the whole video, just watch the first few seconds, at least, and see how incredible this kind of flight is. Freaking wow.

How cool is that?

President's flight plans on the internet: WTH?

I think this has to be one of the most overlooked stories in the media this past week. According to an article in The New York Times this past Sunday, some average working joe in Japan posted President Obama's Air Force One flight plan on the internet last November--on his blog--and really, just so he could show his friends. WTH? Are you kidding me? How in the wide, wide world of sports did that happen? How was that possible? The guy is an air traffic controller over there and in his 50's. He "posted 12 pages of delicate information that included flight plans of a Global Hawk drone that was gathering radiation readings near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant..." So much for security, there, eh, Japan? Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/world/asia/11japan.html?scp=1&sq=japan%20obama&st=cse; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14867129

Omaha flooding

 

A friend of my Sister-in-Law sent this picture to her earlier this week, showing the Omaha airport as they were flying out. As you can see, there is already a great deal of water and flooding in the area. As my brother said, hopefully, for their sake, the levees keep the river out of the airport. I wouldn't bet on it, at this point, since the river is far from cresting, apparently, and they announced yesterday they were releasing far more water up North, in the Dakotas. Hope and/or pray for the best, folks. It isn't pretty and it's getting worse.

 

Late Autumn sunrise on the Rocky Mountains

 

Approximately 30,000 feet over Kansas somewhere, I estimate.