Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Tuesday, Sept. 10, the 253rd day of 2013 with 112 to follow. The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus. Advertisement Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include English scientist and clergyman John Needham in 1713; physicist Arthur Holly Compton in 1892; dancer Adele Astaire in 1896; English critic Cyril Connolly in 1903; film director Robert Wise in 1914; Hall of Fame golfer Arnold Palmer in 1929 (age 84); television journalist Charles Kuralt and home run-hitting baseball star Roger Maris, both in 1934; football Hall of Fame member Buck Buchanan in 1940; science writer Stephen Jay Gould in 1941; singer Jose Feliciano in 1945 (age 68); basketball Hall of Fame member Bob Lanier in 1948 (age 65); political commentator Bill O'Reilly in 1949 (age 64); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Joe Perry (Aerosmith) in 1950 (age 63), film directors Chris Columbus in 1958 (age 55) and Guy Ritchie in 1968 (age 45); actors Amy Irving in 1953 (age 60), Clark Johnson in 1954 (age 59), Colin Firth in 1960 (age 53) and Ryan Phillippe in 1974 (age 39); and longtime baseball pitching star Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson in 1963 (age 50). Advertisement On this date in history: In 1813, U.S. naval units under the command of Capt. Oliver Perry defeated a British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie. In 1823, Simon Bolivar, who led the wars for independence from Spain in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, was named president of Peru with dictatorial powers. In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for the sewing machine. In 1963, blacks entered the white public schools of Birmingham, Tuskegee and Mobile, Ala., after U.S. President John Kennedy federalized the state's National Guard. In 1996, the United Nations approved a new nuclear test ban treaty on a vote of 158-3. In 1998, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams had face-to-face talks with David Trimble, leader of Northern Ireland's Protestant Unionists, for the first time. In 2000, the U.S. government agreed to drop nearly all charges against Chinese-American scientist Wen Ho Lee, accused of stealing nuclear secrets from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In 2002, Switzerland and Timor-Leste joined the United Nations, expanding the membership roll to 191. In 2008, scientists in a Geneva lab activated the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful subatomic particle accelerator, built over a 14-year period and costing an estimated $8 billion. However, it had to be shut down after nine days for repairs. Advertisement In 2009, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted "You lie!" during U.S. President Barack Obama's address on healthcare reform to a joint session of Congress. Wilson's outburst brought sharp criticism from colleagues and he apologized to Obama for "inappropriate and regrettable" behavior and letting "my emotions get the best of me." In 2010, a gas pipeline explosion and fire leveled 37 houses in San Bruno, Calif. Eight people were killed and more than 50 others injured. In 2011, Zanzibar officials said at least 187 people died after an overloaded ferry capsized and sank off the coast of Tanzania. More than 600 were rescued. In 2012, Chicago's first teachers' strike in 25 years began after school officials and union leaders failed to reach a contract agreement. The walkout lasted more than a week. A thought for the day: "You can't get spoiled if you do your own ironing." -- actor Meryl Streep.
