It's really the end of summer

So sorry kids, but today is the first day of school.



There are 183 more class days - enjoy.



(Sorry for the colorized version)


September 9, 1972 -
The animated-series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, hosted by Bill Cosby, debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



The series was originally offered to NBC but the network turned it down because it was too educational. It aired on CBS. NBC eventually aired repeats of the series in 1989.


September 9, 1975 -
The sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, starring Gabe Kaplan, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



The original title of the series was to be simply "Kotter," but that was before composer John Sebastian had difficulty writing the theme song lyrics. He couldn't find enough rhyming words for the title. Giving up on that tack, he decided to compose lyrics that illustrated the premise of the show in a song called, "Welcome Back." The producers were so impressed with the song that they decided to change the series title to "Welcome Back, Kotter." The song was also released on a single which went to #1 on the charts.


September 9, 1978 -
A Taste of Honey song Boogie Oogie Oogie topped the charts on this date.



The band got the idea for this song when they played a show at a military base. It was a tough crowd, and the audience was not responding to their songs. Lead singer Hazel Payne admonished them from the stage: "If you're thinking that you're too cool to boogie, we've got news for you. Everyone here tonight must boogie and you are no exception to the rule."


September 9, 1978 -
The Rolling Stones released their hit, Beast of Burden on this date.



Keith Richards wrote most of this song, but a lot of the lyrics were improvised in the studio. While the band played, Jagger came in with different lines to fit the music. As a result, some of the lyrics are less than meaningful and a little repetitious.


Today in History:
September 9, 1087 -
William the Conqueror died of internal injuries, sustained six weeks prior in a horse riding accident at Mantes-la-Jolie.

The king's funeral did not go well - according to some sources, a fire broke out during the funeral; the original owner of the land on which the church was built claimed he had not been paid yet, demanding 60 shillings, which William's son Henry had to pay on the spot. When the corpulent king was later laid to rest in the foundations of a church, his corpse would not fit in the stone sarcophagus. William's "swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd."



Don't you just wish they had television back then.


September 9, 1890 -
123 years ago today a little boy named Harland was born in Kentucky.



When Harland was six, his father died and his mother was forced to go to work. Little Harland did most of the cooking for his younger siblings. By the age of seven he was a master of the local cuisine.

There was no stopping the ambitious Harland, who had his own highway service station in Corbin, Kentucky, by the time he was forty.

He began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station. He didn't own a restaurant, so he served them at his own dining table. Word of his excellent cooking spread (secret combination of eleven herbs and spices) and soon he moved across the street to a restaurant that seated 142 people.

His cooking soon became so well known that his state's governor, Ruby Laffoon, made him a colonel.



In an independent 1976 survey, Colonel Harland Sanders was ranked as the world's second most recognizable figure.


September 9, 1956 -
Elvis Presley made his first-ever appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing four songs for guest host Charles Laughton on this date.



Ed himself had vowed never to have Presley on his show, but Sullivan was at home this evening, recuperating from a severe head injury, from a drunken fall.


September 9, 1971 -
1,300 inmates riot inside the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York state, commandeering the prison and taking 40 guards hostage on this date.



The national guard staged an assault five days later, killing 42 people in the process (10 of them being captives).


September 9, 1976 -
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.

Mao Tse-tung, Chinese Communist party chairman (1949-76) died in Beijing, on this date.



In 1965, he launched the controversial Cultural Revolution, an often-brutal campaign to reform Chinese society. He was later held responsible for over 70 million deaths. Mao Tse-tung’s death triggered a two-year power struggle. The Cultural Revolution's chief architects, Mao’s widow (Jiang Qing) and 3 others, the so-called Gang of Four, were jailed. Deng Xiaoping returned from disgrace and eventually seized power.


September 9, 2003 -
Edward Teller, the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb" and purported model for Dr. Strangelove (or Kissinger was, take your pick), died at the age of 95 at his home on the Stanford University campus.



His role in the destruction of colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer's career during the McCarthy era resulted in his own ostracism by many of his peers.

And no, he didn't utter, Mein Fuhrer, I can walk just before his death.



And so it goes