Books are a uniquely portable magic

Today is Read a Book Day, which should not be confused with National Book Lovers Day, celebrated on August 9th.



I'm currently reading Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World by Hugh Brewster.


September 6, 1925 -
The silent-film The Phantom of the Opera, starring, Lon Chaney (who considered it his crowning achievement) premiered in NYC on this date.



Lon Chaney's horrific, self-applied make-up was kept secret right up until the film's premiere. Not a single photograph of Chaney as The Phantom was published in a newspaper or magazine or seen anywhere before the film opened in theaters. Universal Pictures wanted The Phantom's face to be a complete surprise when his mask was ripped off.


September 6, 1936 -
The classic screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey, premiered on this date.



Jane Wyman has an uncredited role. She can be seen standing at the back of the crowd in the Waldorf Ritz Hotel as Godfrey makes his speech condemning them all as "nitwits".


September 6, 1940 -
Part of the Charlie Chan detective series, Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, directed by Lynn Shores and starring Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, C. Henry Gordon, and Marc Lawrence, was released on this date.



This was the 25th of 47 Charlie Chan movies.


September 6, 1944 -
Billy Wilder's film-noir classic, Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson, opened in NYC on this date.



Author James M. Cain later admitted that if he had come up with some of the solutions to the plot that screenwriters Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler did, he would have employed them in his original novel.


September 6, 1947 -
The Merrie Melodies short, House Hunting Mice, directed by Chuck Jones, and featuring Hubie and Bertie, was released on this date.



This short was a follow up to the 1939 short Dog Gone Modern, which featured two dogs exploring an "automatic house"


September 6, 1958 -
Steve McQueen debuted in the western series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, on CBS-TV on this date.



Steve McQueen was hired after Jack H. Harris, who was producing The Blob gave him a glowing reference to Dick Powell (the head of Four Star Productions). Powell also asked for, and was granted, the opportunity to view a rough cut of that film.


September 6, 1967 -
One of the seminal documentaries of the 60s, Don't Look Back directed by D. A. Pennebaker was released in NYC on this date.



The scene where Donovan visits Dylan in his hotel was generally viewed as Dylan putting the young singer-songwriter in his place when he grabs the guitar and performs It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. But a 2015 Criterion Collection remaster, with improved sound, revealed that Donovan actually requested Dylan play that song for him. That gave the entire scene a new meaning and revealed Dylan and Donovan as more friends than rivals.


September 6, 1975 -
After 13 Top 40 hits, Glen Campbell finally had his first No.1 hit with his song, Rhinestone Cowboy, on this date.



The song had a lot of meaning for Glen Campbell, and one he would call "maybe the best song I've ever sung." It came at a time when his career had gone flat: His popular TV show had been canceled, acting gigs dried up, and he hadn't had a hit since 1971. The story of the faded star who perseveres in the song held a lot of meaning for Campbell.


September 6, 1976 -
Fleetwood Mac's tenth studio album , Fleetwood Mac, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. It was their second eponymous album, (which was also known as their White Album); their first being the band's debut from 1968.



This was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist.


September 6, 1984 -
Milos Forman's adaptation of Peter Shaffer's play, Amadeus, starring Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham, and Elizabeth Berridge premieres in Los Angeles on this date



When shooting the scene in which Salieri is writing down the death mass under Mozart's dictation, Tom Hulce was deliberately skipping lines to confuse F. Murray Abraham, in order to achieve the impression that Salieri wasn't able to fully understand the music being dictated.


September 6, 1986 –
Bananarama's cover of the Shocking Blue single, Venus hit no. 1 on this date



Bananarama's version was produced by the team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who worked on hits by Rick Astley (Never Gonna Give You Up), Dead or Alive (You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)) and Kylie Minogue (I Should Be So Lucky).


Another album from the discount bid at The ACME Record Shoppe.


Today in History:
September 6, 1776 -
America's first submersible, David Bushnell's egg-shaped Turtle, piloted by Erza Lee (after Ezra Bushnell, David's brother, the submarine's initial captain, died the night before) unsuccessfully attacked the British-vessel HMS Eagle in New York harbor on this date.



The bomb was released into the water and resulted in a frightening explosion. While the American Turtle failed to destroy its target, the British recognized the threat and moved the fleet. Royal Navy logged and reported from this period make no mention of this incident, and it is possible that the Turtle's attack may be more submarine legend than historical event.


September 6, 1803 -
British scientist John Dalton (born on September 6, 1766,) begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements, which he considered to be the smallest parts of matter.

The idea of atoms was already known at the time, but not widely accepted. Dalton's theory of atoms was based on actual observation. Before this, ideas about atoms were based more on philosophy.


September 6, 1901 -
While shaking hands at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President William McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen at point-blank range with a .32 caliber revolver, on this date. He, unintentionally, became the first President to ride in an automobile as a motorized ambulance takes him to a hospital.



The assassin, an anarchist by the name of Leon Frank Czolgosz, concealed his gun within a handkerchief, actually was a lone gunman (for once). McKinley died a week later and became the third American president assassinated.


September 6, 1916 -
Clarence Saunders opened the Piggly Wiggly® grocery store (the first self-service market,) at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, 105 years ago on this date. Piggly Wiggly's introduction of self-service grocery shopping truly revolutionized the grocery industry.



There were shopping baskets, open shelves and no clerks to shop for the customer – all unheard of at the time. There are still more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores in the US today.


Although there can be no royalty in the United States, one young woman, is crowned each year as Miss America. The first such coronation was held for Margaret Gorman, on September 6, 1921.

Miss America reigns for one year, at which point she must retire-unless she removes her clothing, in which case she's deposed. (Or is that denuded?)


September 6, 1946 -
Almost everybody thinks that the fight is about ideology. Everybody will tell you, 'Well, the fighting is all about the Middle East.' 'Well, it's about Muslims starting jihad.' 'It's about terrorism.' 'It's about this or that.' And no, it's not. It's about money.



Roger Waters, singer, bassist, co-founded Pink Floyd, and holder of some very controversial political opinions, was born on this date.


September 6, 1951 -
During a drinking party in Mexico City, author William S. Burroughs instructed his wife Joan Vollmer to balance a glass of gin on her head. He then takes careful aim with his new .38 pistol, and unintentionally blows her brains out in front of their friends. The Mexican authorities later charge Burroughs with criminal imprudence.

So kids remember, when a drunken Beat drug addict writer asks you to play "William Tell" - Just Say No!!!


September 6, 1966 -
Parliamentary messenger Demetrios Tsafendas assassinated Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, considered to be the primary architect of Apartheid, by stabbing him in his chest on the floor of the South African legislature.



While Verwoerd died shortly thereafter, Apartheid tenaciously clung to life until 1994.


September 6, 1976 -
Years after their well-publicized break-up, Frank Sinatra privately orchestrated a surprise appearance of Dean Martin on Jerry Lewis' annual Labor Day telethon for the MDA. The two privately reconciled and maintained a relationship throughout the rest of their lives.



If only Sinatra could have knock off broads and booze long enough to deal with the whole Iranian situation.


September 6, 1997 -
Princess Diana's funeral was held on this date. Over a million people lined the streets and the world-wide TV audience for the funeral ceremonies was estimated at over two billion.



Elton John sung a new version of his hit single Candle In The Wind at the funeral. The new version, which replaced "Goodbye Norma Jean" with "Goodbye England's Rose," became the best-selling single of all time. Diana was buried on an island at her ancestral home at Althorp.



Before you go: Kids, if it gives you any comfort, there are only 110 days until Christmas -



And 58 days until the Midterm election

Remember, you have time, make good choices



And so it goes.

Do good. Be nice. Order pizza. Repeat.

Although it may seem like a cruel holiday to celebrate this time of year, September 5th is Be Late For Something Day. So forget the calendar and be late for something, except school.



Remember that things can go on without you, and maybe it’s not all quite as important as you thought.


Today is also National Cheese Pizza Day.



While you do not have to don tight fitting polyester pants and strut down 86th Street in Bensonhurst to celebrate, please remember that you have to fold your pizza in half to eat it, and for god's sake, don't use a fork and a knife.


September 5, 1916 -
D. W. Griffith classic silent-film masterpiece, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages, premiered on this date.



The Babylonian orgy sequence alone cost $200,000 when it was shot. That's nearly twice the overall budget of The Birth of a Nation, another D.W. Griffith film and, at the time, the record holder for most expensive picture ever made.


September 5, 1927 -
Walt Disney's Trolley Troubles, first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, premiered on this date.



Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks worked for Universal Pictures on this cartoon. Universal showed their appreciation for the two for making Oswald a star by threatening to cut their salaries. As a result, the two walked...and soon created Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.


September 5, 1942 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Fox Pop, directed by Chuck Jones, was released on this date.



The Sterling Silver Fox Farm farmer has a French-accented voice similar to that of Chuck Jones' famous creation Pepé Le Pew, who would debut later in 1945.


September 5, 1953 -
The Looney Tunes short, A Street Cat Named Sylvester, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Tweenty Bird and Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



The premise of this cartoon is very reminiscent to that of Hiss and Make Up which Friz Freleng directed ten years earlier, as both cartoons center on Granny dealing with a feuding cat and dog as her house pets, with a yellow canary caught in the middle, as well as both cartoons being set in a suburban home in a snowy winter as well.


September 5, 1959 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Bonanza Bunny, directed by Bob McKimson, and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



Blacque Jacques Shellacque was wanted for claim jumping, pogo sticking, and square dance calling, according to the poster. Pogo sticks were a popular postwar children's toy, along with the hula hoop and the yo-yo.


September 5, 1976 –
The first regularly scheduled episode of The Muppet Show, starring guest host Joel Grey, premiered in the UK on this date.



Kermit the Frog and Waldorf are the only characters to appear in all 120 episodes of the series.


September 5, 1981 -
Soft Cell's single Tainted Love was at No.1 on the UK singles chart on this date.



This is a cover of a 1964 song by the American soul singer Gloria Jones, whose original version was released as the B-side of her single My Bad Boy's Comin' Home. A club DJ named Richard Searling picked up a copy in Philadelphia and in 1973 started playing it in his sets at Va Va's, a popular club in Bolton, England that was very influential on the UK northern soul circuit. The song found new life, and Jones recorded a new version in 1976 that was released on her album Vixen.


September 5, 1981 -
Stevie Nicks’s solo debut, Bella Donna, goes to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date. The album featured such hits as Edge of Seventeen, Leather and Lace with Don Henley, and Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.



The multi-platinum record, which remained on the US album charts for nearly three years.


September 5, 1986 -
The documentary film, Sherman's March: A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love In the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation directed by Ross McElwee, opened in the US on this date.



The Burt Reynolds film seen being shot in Georgia was Cannonball Run.


September 5, 2006 -
Katie Couric made her first appearance as anchor on CBS Evening News.



Her introduction normally would have been read by an announcer, but in this case, viewers heard the voice of CBS News legend Walter Cronkite make the introduction.

Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour Today


Today in History:
September 5, 1638 -
King Louis XIV of France was born on this date.



Like Elizabeth I in England, Louis inherited a struggling kingdom and built it into a major power. Unlike Elizabeth, Louis did not remain a virgin. On the contrary, he produced so many little bastards that he came to be known as the "Son King," which led him to conclude famously L'etat, c'est moi. ("Kid, I'm your father.")


September 5, 1698 -
Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposed the first millionaire's tax when he began taxing beards on this date.



The new taxation was an attempt to modernize his citizens from what he felt were archaic traditions. On several occasions he cut off the beards of noblemen himself. Beards were still allowed for clergy, monks and peasants.


September 5, 1870 -
It's bizarre to think you can know this but, the first woman ever to vote legally in the U.S. marked her ballot in Laramie, Wyoming, on this date.

Louisa Swain made history by casting an electoral ballot under a new law giving women full civil and political equality with men. Described as “a gentle white-haired housewife” of 69 years old, she arose early that day and arrived early to the poll, where election workers invited her inside to mark a ballot.


September 5, 1877 -
The great Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, a cousin of Kicking Bear, was fatally bayoneted at age 36 by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, on this date.



His final resting place remains unknown.


September 5, 1882 -
The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held on this date in New York. Except it was not held on a Monday but a Tuesday. And it wasn't really a parade but a protest.

Matthew Maguire, secretary of a machinists and blacksmiths local union, pushed for the idea with the New York Central Labor Union as a way to promote the adoption of the 8-hour work day.


September 5, 1921 -
Undiscovered actress Virginia Rappe somehow ruptures her bladder during actor-comedian Fatty Arbuckle's party at the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco, on this date.



Three days later, the feverish woman is checked into a maternity hospital, where she dies from peritonitis. Arbuckle is tried for her murder but ultimately acquitted of any wrongdoing by a jury, his brilliant film acting career was destroyed. He had been one of the most popular (and highest-paid) film comedians of the silent era, second only to Chaplin.


September 5, 1930 -
Charles Creighton and James Hargis completed the drive from New York City to Los Angeles and back to New York City all in reverse gear, on this date.



The trip took 42 days in their 1929 Ford Model A.


September 5, 1942 -
You must live life in its very elementary forms. The Mexicans have a very nice word for it: pura vida. It doesn't mean just purity of life, but the raw, stark-naked quality of life. And that's what makes young people more into a filmmaker than academia.



Werner Herzog, German actor, director, producer, and screenwriter was born on this date.


September 5, 1946 -
Farrokh Bulsara, British musician, singer and songwriter, was born on this date.



Freddie Mercury has been called one of Rock's greatest performers of all time.


September 5, 1972 -
Five Palestinians armed with machine guns sneak into the Olympic Village in Munich. There they take nine Israeli athletes hostage, killing two others in the process, on this date.



Later, they demand safe passage out of the country and the release of 200 Palestinians from prison in Israel. Ultimately, none of the athletes made it out alive.


September 5, 1975 -
Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme almost assassinated President Gerald Ford with a .45 automatic in Sacramento, California on this date.



But Fromme was tackled by a Secret Service agent before she can remember to rack a round into the firing chamber.


September 5, 1990 -
In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, LAPD chief Daryl Gates opined: "Casual drug users should be taken out and shot."

Note to self: remember not to invite Mr. Gates to any social events. What a minute, he's dead.

New note to self: remember not to invite Zombie Gates to any social events.


September 5, 1991 -
Disgraced children's television star Pee-wee Herman returned to the public eye for the first time after his masturbation arrest, appearing on the MTV Video Music Awards.



He opens with the line: "Heard any good jokes lately?"


September 5, 1997 -
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.



New (and surprisingly controversal) saint and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, died at 87 after a heart attack on this date.


September 5, 2003 -
It wasn't so happy at the happiest place in the world on this date, when Marcelo Torres, 22, was killed and 10 others injured when the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster, at Disneyland, jumped the tracks in Frontierland.

Did they get their money back?



And so it goes.

It's the last thing your guest remember before the pass out at the table

Life is short, eat dessert first

Happy Eat an Extra Dessert Day.


September 4, 1936 -
The George Stevens' helmed sixth Astaire and Rogers film, Swing Time, co-starring Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, and Eric Blore, went into limited release in the US on this date.



Fred Astaire always insisted that his dance routines be filmed in one continuous camera shot, showing the dancer(s) from head to foot. However, in the Never Gonna Dance number, there is an obvious moment when Astaire and Rogers reach the tops of their respective winding staircases that the camera shot changes quickly to reflect the fact that the filming camera had to be brought upstairs to shoot the close-up finale of the dance number.


September 4, 1937 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Speaking of the Weather, directed by Frank Tashlin, was released on this date.



References to the animation staff appear in the backgrounds. The cover of the Police Gazette mentions a sports review from Ray Katz. Melvin Millar, Friz Freleng, Volney White, and R. Wolfe are mentioned on the cover of Detective Fiction Weekly. Millar's name also appears on the cover of Sea Stories, which advertises some “marvelous sea voyages” of his. Finally, Joe D'Igalo appears on the cover of Life Magazine.


September 4, 1942 -
Warner Brothers war time drama Across the Pacific, directed by John Huston's and reunited cast members Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet, from The Maltese Falcon, opened on this date.




Much of the action takes place upon a Japanese freighter named the "Genoa Maru". There was a real Japanese cargo ship by the same name which was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Finback on June 11, 1943.


September 4, 1951 –
The first national live television broadcast in the U.S. took place when President Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, California was transmitted to broadcast stations in local markets across the country.



It has been estimated that more than 40 million people saw the president open the Peace Treaty Conference; it was the largest single television audience to date.


September 4, 1953 -
The science fiction film Project Moonbase, based on a story by Robert A. Heinlein and directed by Richard Talmadge was released in the US on this date.

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This movie and Cat-Women of the Moon were made using the some of the same sets and costumes. The two films were then released within one day of each other.


September 4, 1954 -
The Looney Tunes short, Gone Batty, directed by Bob McKimson, was released on this date.



During Bobo's run around the bases, an ad on the outfield fence reads COHEN Ties. One of the animators on this short was Herman Cohen.


September 4, 1970 -
The Rolling Stones release their second live concert album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!: The Rolling Stones in Concert, on this date. It was recorded in New York City and Baltimore in November 1969.



The album is often considered by critics as one of the greatest live albums ever made.


September 4, 1971 -
Paul and Linda McCartney single from the album, Ram, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey went to No.1 on the Billboard charts on this date. This was the first No. 1 single by a Beatle after the group's break-up.



Linda McCartney is credited as a co-writer on this song with Paul. She sang background and contributed some of the vocal ideas, but how much she actually wrote on the song is questionable. Paul had some incentive to credit her as a songwriter: under a deal he signed with The Beatles, songs he wrote until 1973 were owned by Northern Songs publishing and Maclen Music. By splitting the credits with his wife, he could keep half the royalties in the family. The publishers brought a lawsuit against Paul for this practice, which was settled out of court.


September 4, 1972 -
The game show The Price is Right, featuring the host Bob Barker, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The final three pricing games played on Bob Barker's final show ('Double Prices', 'Bonus Game', and 'Any Number') were the first three games played on his first show, but in reverse order. On Decades week on the season 44 premiere in September 2015 the games were replayed in the same order as the show's premiere on September 4th 1972, and on June 26th 2023 the final show in the Bob Barker studio 33 to air, the games were again played in the reverse order.


September 4, 1976 –
One of the biggest disco hits of the era, You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date. (Along with Jive Talkin', this is one of two Bee Gees songs on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack that had already been released.)



You Should Be Dancing was included on the soundtrack along with five other songs performed by the Bee Gees (plus another they wrote: If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman). The album sold over 15 million copies in the US, marking the Bee Gees as a disco act when their earlier output was more charitably classified as blue-eyed soul.


September 4, 2007 -
The Bob Dylan "biographical" movie, I'm Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan, premieres at the Venice Film Festival on this date.



Colin Farrell was originally cast as Robbie Clark. He dropped out of the film to admit himself into rehab for a dependency on back pain medication. Heath Ledger replaced him. Farrell would later take over for Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus after Ledger's death.


Another unimportant moment in history.


Today in History:
September 4, 1781 -
Captain Rivera y Moncada (good friend of Uncle Porky) on the behest of the Mexican Provincial Governor, Felipe de Neve, led eleven Mexican Pobladores and their families, 46 settlers in all, established Our Pueblo by the River of Our Lady of the Angels of Uncle Porky near the the river they had seen 11 years earlier - (El Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula.)



Los Angeles was founded on this date.


September 4, 1882 -
Thomas Edison displayed the first practical electrical lighting system on this date.

He successfully turned on the lights in a one square mile area of New York City (NY's Pearl Street Station). This is considered by many as the day that began the electrical age.


September 4, 1885 -
The world's first cafeteria, The Exchange Buffet, catering to an exclusively male clientele, opens in New York at 7 New Street, on this date.

And if you hurry, there's still some of the original luncheon special available.


September 4, 1886 -
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who warred against the encroachment of the United States on his tribal lands and people for over 25 years.  While outnumbered, Geronimo fought against both Mexican and United States troops and became famous for his daring exploits and numerous escapes from capture from 1858 to 1886.



At the end of his military career, he led a small band of 38 men, women, and children. They evaded 5,000 U.S. troops (one fourth of the army at the time) and many units of the Mexican army for a year. His band was one of the last major forces of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the United States Government in the American West. This came to an end on this date, when Geronimo surrendered to United States Army General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona.

Dubya's grandpappy, the anti-Indiana Jones, somehow figures into this story (you knew he would). In 1918, certain remains of Geronimo were apparently stolen in a grave robbery. Three members of the Yale secret society of Skull and Bones served as Army volunteers at Fort Sill during World War I; one of those three members was Prescott Bush; father of the forty-first President of the United States, George Bush, grandfather of the forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush. They reportedly stole Geronimo's skull, some bones, and other items, including Geronimo's prized silver bridle, from the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery.



The stolen items were alleged to have been taken to the society's tomb-like headquarters on the Yale University campus, and are supposedly used in rituals practiced by the group, one of which is said to be kissing the skull of Geronimo as an initiation.  (But I've said too much already.)


September 4, 1888 -
Remember, You press the button, we do the rest.



George Eastman received patent #388,850 for the first roll-film camera and registered "Kodak" on this date.


September 4, 1949 –
A riot broke out in Peekskill, New York after Paul Robeson (with support from Pete Seeger, Woodie Guthrie, Howard Fast, and others) was slated to perform at a venue there. The Peekskill Riots, as they came to be known, would leave one hundred and fifty people injured, several of them seriously, in what was the most serious American grass-roots confrontation of the Cold War era.



These events foreshadowed the anti-Communist witch hunt which was to begin under the leadership of Senator Joe McCarthy in the following year, using the hysteria stirred up by fear of the ‘Red Menace’ to persecute Democrats, intellectuals and Hollywood figures. Paul Robeson, for his part, had his passport withdrawn.


September 4, 1957 -
Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas, in a vain attempt to take a stand against segregation, used the US reserve militia troops to stop nine black students from entering a high school in Little Rock on this date.



Faubus was in violation of a federal desegregation order and President Dwight Eisenhower, roused from his afternoon nap, sent the US military to escort the black children into the school.

You must know that you are on the wrong side of history if your first name is Orval.


September 4, 1972 -
American swimmer Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven Olympic gold medals on this date .



For his all of his effort, he is forced to walk around in a damp Speedo for years - the constant tinea cruris was horrible. You would have thought he would have become the spokesperson for ACME Medicated Groin Powder.


September 4, 1976 -
George W Bush was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine for driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent. He pays the $150 fine and has his driving privileges suspended for a month.

Years later, during Bush's 2000 campaign for President, a WPXT-TV reporter from Portland, Maine uncovers the arrest record just one week prior to election day. It is also revealed that Bush's V.P. candidate, Dick Cheney, had arrests for drunken driving in 1962 and 1963.


September 4, 1998 -
The Internet search engine, Google, was founded by two PhD students at Stanford University in California, Sergey Brin and Larry Page on this date.



Today, more than one million servers worldwide are used to power Google, which processes more than one billion search requests per day.  And all of those requests and e-mails goes straight to the NSA - hope you didn't search about that rectal itch you had.


September 4, 2006 -
“Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray’s barb piercing his chest and heart. He was snorkeling in shallow water at the Great Barrier Reef, filming some scenes for a segment in a television show

A similar incident in Florida a month later in which a man survived a stingray barb through the heart showed that Irwin may have caused his own death by removing the barb.


Before your go - As always -

And so it goes