UPI Almanac for Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016

Today is Sunday, Sept. 4, the 248th day of 2016 with 118 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include French novelist/politician Francois Rene de Chateaubriand in 1768; architect Daniel Burnham in 1846; engineer/inventor Lewis Latimer in 1848; French composer Darius Milhaud in 1892; bandleader Jan Savitt in 1907; novelist/essayist Richard Wright in 1908; radio news commentator Paul Harvey in 1918; actor Dick York in 1928; dancer/actor Mitzi Gaynor in 1931 (age 85); golf Hall of Fame member Raymond Floyd in 1942 (age 74); golf Hall of Fame member Tom Watson in 1949 (age 67); actor Judith Ivey in 1951 (age 65); comedian Damon Wayans in 1960 (age 56); actor Ione Skye in 1970 (age 46); singer Beyonce Knowles in 1981 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1609, navigator Henry Hudson discovered the island of Manhattan.

In 1954, the first voyage through the fabled Northwest Passage was completed by icebreakers from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.

In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.

In 1972, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games. The record stood until American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight golds at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

In 1991, South African President F.W. de Klerk proposed a new constitution. It provided for universal voting rights and opened Parliament to all races.

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush said he would seek congressional approval for any military move on Iraq. He also promised to consult with allies, some of whom were opposed to his "regime change" plan.

In 2006, Steve Irwin, Australia's internationally renowned "Crocodile Hunter" TV star, was killed by a stingray barb to the heart while he was filming underwater.

In 2010, a U.S. District judge in San Francisco struck down California's voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriages, saying it was unconstitutional.

In 2012, the Democratic National Convention opened in Charlotte, N.C.

In 2013, during a visit in Sweden en route to a G20 summit in Russia, U.S. President Barack Obama said he and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt discussed "the appalling violence being inflicted on the Syrian people by the [Bashar al-Assad] regime, including the horrific chemical weapons attacks two weeks ago."

In 2014, caustic comedienne Joan Rivers, whose cutting barbs were often aimed at celebrities, including herself, died at the age of 81 at a hospital in New York City. Her daughter, Melissa, said, "My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh."

A thought for the day: "The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst." -- Martina Navratilova