Ancient Egyptian is considered one of the most difficult languages to master in history. Well, Cleopatra was able to master it. Along with eight other languages including: Ancient Greek, Ancient Iranian, Ancient Parthian, Syriac, Ethiopian, Troglodytae, Hebrew and Arabic. Unfortunately she wasn't as smart in her love life.
September is the ninth month of the year, which is why its name is derived from the Latin Septem, meaning seven. (We have previously addressed this problem last month; see August, the Sixth Month.) On the French Revolutionary calendar, September is known as Vendémiaire (vintage,) and in Dutch, September is "the begining of autumn", Hertmaand. The Basque refer to it as "ear month," and the Congolese, "sánza ya libwá" (Ninth month), the Irish called it "the month of plenty", and the Samoan call it, "September."
September is:
California Wine Month
National Chicken Month
Cable TV Month
National Home Furnishings Month
National Prime Beef Month
Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
So remember, prostate exams is checking your donut has not turned into a bagel.
Since it September 1, if you need to, you'd better hurry to catch the 11 am train,
The Hogwarts Express, that makes a run between London, King's Cross Station Platform 9¾ and Hogsmeade Station, if you need to get back to school.
Another thing about September, today is the start of the season when oysters are fit to eat (when months names contain an "R")
Let us give thanks to that first brave person who ate a raw oyster.
One more thing - For those of you reading this in Los Angeles,
It's Emma M. Nutt Day, the first woman telephone operator, hired in 1878. She was hired personally by Alexander Graham Bell. A few hours after Emma started work her sister Stella Nutt went into the family business and became the world's second female telephone operator.
She apparently had no life.
September 1, 1902 -
Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston, considered to be the first science fiction movie, was released on this date.
After finishing work on the film, Georges Méliès intended to release it in America and thereby make lots of money. Unfortunately, Thomas A. Edison's film technicians had already secretly made copies of the film, which was shown across the USA within weeks. Melies never made any money from the film's American showings, and went broke several years later (while Edison, of course, made a fortune on the film.)
September 1, 1938 -
Frank Capra bounced back from the disastrous reviews of Lost Horizon, released the previous year, with You Can't Take It with You, which opened in NYC on this date.
Frank Capra was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1938 and was at the forefront of a union dispute among producers and directors that was threatening to disrupt that year's Oscar ceremony. Fortunately it was resolved in time for the President to walk off with two more Oscars to add to his collection.
September 1, 1947 -
The screwball comedy, in which Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple play sisters in the film yet Myrna Loy was more than 20 years older that Shirley Temple, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, opened nationwide on this date.
There are a couple of "in joke" references to Shirley Temple in the film. When Cary Grant is sitting with Shirley in the soda shop, the waitress serves him a "Shirley Temple" drink. Later, when Shirley is in her room, packing her suitcase, she takes a Shirley Temple doll off the mantle over her fireplace.
September 1, 1948 -
Paramount released the Anatole Litvak noir classic, Sorry Wrong Number, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, on this date.
Reportedly, Anatole Litvak and Burt Lancaster butted heads over how to play the role of Henry. Things got so heated between the two that Lancaster threatened to walk off the picture altogether. They managed to iron out their differences enough to complete the film, but the two never worked together again.
September 1, 1972 -
David Bowie released John, I'm only Dancing in the U.K. on this date.
Several months prior to this song's release, Bowie had claimed to be bisexual in an interview with the Melody Maker and this song's gay connotations meant it was overlooked in America until its inclusion on the ChangesOneBowie in 1976.
Today's moment of Zen
Today in History:
September 1, 1854 -
Engelbert Humperdinck was born on this date,
No, not that one,
this one, the German opera composer.
September 1, 1897 -
The first subway in North America was opened in Boston on this date. Trolley car grid-lock and street congestion on main thoroughfares motivated the Massachusetts Legislature to authorize the construction of the subway. (Either that, or their unnatural love of dank, urine drenched underground stations.)
The "cut and cover" method of construction was used, with a deep trench dug or "cut" on Tremont Street, and a steel structure built around it and then filled in or "covered up." The Boston subway designers visited the Budapest Subway, and the later Paris Metro.
September 1, 1904 -
Helen Keller with the tireless assistance of teacher Annie Mansfield Sullivan, graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College at age 24.
September 1, 1914 –
The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo on this date.
Her body was frozen into a block of ice and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was skinned and mounted.
Martha (named after Martha Washington) is in the museum's archived collection, and was on display a few years ago.
September 1, 1923 -
The worst earthquake in Japan's history hit the Kanto Plain between Tokyo and Yokohama with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake and subsequent fires killed nearly 140,000 people and destroyed most of both cities.
The fires started because the earthquake occurred at noon, when charcoal cooking stoves were in use.
People, please stop using your hibachis in your rice paper houses.
September 1, 1932 -
No man could hold life so carelessly without falling down a manhole before he is done ...
September 1, 1939 -
Germany, ever eager to start their Second World War Tour (the Foreign Minister of Germany, Joachim von Ribbentrop was seen running around Europe in the Tour T-Shirt, months earlier,) began it at 5:30 AM on this date.
Hitler was so happy that day, he orders extermination of the mentally ill in Germany and Austria on this day as well.
September 1, 1939 -
Mary Jean Tomlin, Academy Award nominated, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning actress, comedian, writer and producer was born on this date.
One of her first "professional" gigs was as a waitress in Howard Johnson's on Broadway near Times Square. Her comments to customers and staff heard over the eatery's microphone attracted her first big-city audience.
September 1, 1961 -
TWA Flight 529, a Lockheed Constellation L-049 propliner, crashed shortly after takeoff from Midway Airport in Chicago, killing all 73 passengers and 5 crew on board.
At the time, it was the deadliest single plane disaster in US history.
September 1, 1972 -
The anti-American and anti-Semitic (towards the end of his life) Bobby Fischer became the World Chess Champion in Reykjavik, Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union on this date.
He had become the youngest United States Junior Chess Champion at 13 years old followed by the US championship at age 14 and many consider him to be one of the greatest natural talent Chess Players ever.
And so it goes
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