UPI Almanac for Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 11, the 255th day of 2024 with 111 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include writer O. Henry, born William Sydney Porter, in 1862; writer D.H. Lawrence in 1885; College Football Hall of Fame Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant in 1913; former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos in 1917; Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Tom Landry in 1924; Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov, the second man in space, in 1935; American astronaut Robert Crippen in 1937 (age 87); filmmaker Brian De Palma in 1940 (age 84); actor/musician Lola Falana in 1942 (age 82); musician Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) in 1943 (age 81); musician Leo Kottke (Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band) in 1945 (age 79); actor Amy Madigan in 1950 (age 74); musician Tommy Shaw (Styx) in 1953 (age 71); musician Jon Moss (Culture Club) in 1957 (age 67); actor Scott Patterson in 1958 (age 66); actor John Hawkes in 1959 (age 65); actor Anne Ramsay in 1960 (age 64); actor Virginia Madsen in 1961 (age 63); actor Kristy McNichol in 1962 (age 62); Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 1965 (age 59); musician Moby, born Richard Hall, in 1965 (age 59); actor/musician Harry Connick Jr. in 1967 (age 57); actor Taraji P. Henson in 1970 (age 54); actor Laura Wright in 1970 (age 54); musician Jonny Buckland (Coldplay) in 1977 (age 47); musician Ludacris, born Christopher Brian Bridges, in 1977 (age 47); musician Charles Kelley (Lady A) in 1981 (age 43); actor Tyler Hoechlin in 1987 (age 37); actor Elizabeth Henstridge in 1987 (age 37); actor Michael J. Willett in 1989 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1777, troops commanded by Gen. George Washington were defeated by the British under Gen. William Howe in the Battle of Brandywine.

In 1847, Stephen Foster's first hit, "Oh! Susanna," had its debut at a concert in a Pittsburgh saloon and soon became a standard for minstrel troupes.

In 1921, Fatty Arbuckle, one of the foremost comedians of the silent movie days, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of a starlet in an alleged sexual assault during a wild drinking party. Arbuckle eventually was cleared but his career had been ruined.

In 1971, former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died of a heart attack in Moscow.

In 1973, the elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende of Chile was toppled in a right-wing military coup led by future dictator Augusto Pinochet and supported by the CIA. Authorities said Allende committed suicide the same day.

In 1985, Pete Rose's 4,192nd hit broke Ty Cobb's 57-year-old career Major League Baseball record. Rose finished his career with 4,256 hits.

In 2001, Islamist terrorists attacked the United States, crashing two hijacked airliners into the Twin Towers at New York's World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon outside Washington. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, apparently en route to Washington, after passengers attacked their captors. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, most of them in the two towers, which collapsed. U.S. President George W. Bush pledged to destroy the responsible terrorist organizations and the regimes that supported them. Osama bin Laden, a wealthy anti-American Saudi exile operating out of Afghanistan and leader of al-Qaida, a shadowy, far-flung terrorist organization, was identified as the ringleader of the attacks.

In 2008, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, forced into a runoff after a disputed election, agreed on a power-sharing arrangement.

In 2011, the National September 11 Memorial was dedicated in New York City on the site of the iconic Twin Towers, destroyed 10 years earlier in terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The memorial features the nation's largest man-made waterfalls cascading into two sunken pools marking footprints of the decimated skyscrapers, with 2,980 names nearby, etched in granite.

In 2012, heavily armed attackers killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

In 2019, scientists announced that for the first time they have detected water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet (K2-18b) within its host star's habitable zone.

In 2023, Aerosmith postponed its Peace Out farewell tour after singer Steven Tyler suffered vocal cord damage. The band fully canceled the tour a year later, saying "a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible."

A thought for the day: American political activist Mary Ellen Lease said, "Raise less corn and more hell!"