On October 4, 1927, Gutzon Borglum began work on Mount Rushmore. There has been a lot of controversy about using an important site for Lakota people as a memorial. In addition,Borglum was an active member of the Ku Klux Klan. Although it seems he never officially joined, he was both a participant

October 3 is the Day of German Unity, commemorating events of 1990. The Berlin Wall "fell" less than 11 months earlier on November 9, 1989.

On October 2, 1937, the Parsley Massacre began in the Dominican Republic. Estimates are that between 10,000 and 30,000 Hairians were murdered by Dominican police and soldiers under direct orders from the dictator Trujillo. The name of the massacre comes from the difficulty that Haitians have

On October 1, 1908, the first Model T was sold. The price was $825. Ford Motor Company went on to sell about 15 million Model t's from 1908 until 1927.

On September 30, 1905, Savitri Devi Mukherji was born. Her real name was Maximiani Portas, And she is an important reminder that apparent opposites can go together. She was a Nazi and a proponent of animal rights, vegetarianism, and deep ecology. She was a spy for Nazi Germany in WWII, but don't

On September 29, 1941, the Babi Yar massacre began. It lasted two days, and 33,771 Jews were killed. This is the 3rd greatest single-day massacre of Jews during WWII, exceeded only by the massacres of Odessa 1941 (34,000–100,000), and the Operation Harvest Festival www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X-k...

On September 28, 1571, Caravaggio was born. Often now called "a bad boy of art", he actually was, often, truly a bad man, but also an amazing artist. Not a person you wanted as an enemy, nor even as a friend. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kcd...

September 27 is World Tourism Day. It might be a good time to think of this quotation, and even to (re-)read the play. Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don't talk in English and don't even want to. -- Mrs. Gibbs to Mrs. Webb, in

September 26 is the European Day of Languages.

On September 25, 1822, Pope Pius VII allows the helo-centric theory, specifically, he allowed the printing of books in Rome that advocated for this theory. This was definitely a Johnny-come-lately move.

On September 24, 1906, Devils Tower became the first national monument in the US. It is also known as Mato Tipila or Bear Lodge). www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyZx...

On September 23, 1977, David Bowie released " 'Heroes' ". That extra pair of quotation marks are a part of the title. This was part of the Berlin trilogy of three albums. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXgk...

On September 22, 1904, Ellen Church was born. She went on to become the first airline stewardess (female flight attendant). On May 15, 1930, she began a 20-hour flight from Oakland/San Francisco to Chicago with 13 stops and 14 passengers. She was not the first flight attendent. That honor goes to a

On September 21, 1939, Armand Călinescu was assassinated by the Iron Guard. He was the prime Minister of Romania. Although not well known outside of Romania, this event is still important in the history of World War II. It took place 3 weeks after the invasion of Poland and shows how the Iron Guard

On September 22, 1940 Li Zhensheng was born. He went on to become probably the most important photographic documenter of the great proletarian cultural revolution in China. youtu.be/v95uuOIp2vs?...

On September 21, 4004 BCE, the world was created. At least this is according to calculations made by Bishop James Ussher of Ireland. He gave the date in the Julian calendar but the date here is in the Gregorian calendar. Also, the day would have begun at sunset on September 20 because in the Jewish

September 19th, 1991, Ötzi was discovered. His real name is unknown. He was murdered sometime between 3350 and 3105 BCE, And he is also, so far, the oldest discovered natural mummy in Europe. youtu.be/Lr9jXJE363w?...

On September 28, 1793, the first cornerstone of the Capitol building was laid by George Washington

On September 17, 1787, the US Constitution was signed. It would not become effective for about a year and a half when, on March 4, 1789, it finally replaced the Articles of Confederation. These articles were the first constitution of the US and were in force for about 8 years. September 17 is

On September 16, 1975, Papua New Guinea became independent. People might have noticed that today on Wikipedia, there are perhaps half a dozen featured articles connected with this country. For those interested in languages, it's famous for having the highest number of languages spoken in any

On September 15, 1792, Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans was renamed Philippe Egalité by the authorities. Although he was a royal, such titles had been abolished earlier in the French Revolution, so he was left without a surname. Four months later, on January 15th, 1793, he voted for the execution

September 14 is Hindi Day. There's often lots of confusion about this, not just among foreigners. Hindi is the official language of India, but English is an associate language. Debates about this can be endless.

On September 13th, 1990, UN Security Council Resolution 666 was passed. For many evangelical, Christians and conspiracy theorists, the number 666 is extremely important. Many of them had awaited this resolution, convinced it would somehow be a crucial sign of the End Times. Instead, it was a

On September 12, 1683, the Battle of Vienna began. This ended the months-long Ottoman siege of the city and also stopped the Turkish advance across Europe. It marks the beginning of the rise of Habsburg hegemony in Central Europe.

On September 11th, 1941, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh delivered his "Who are the Agitators?" speech. "The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration." Lindbergh was one of the most famous people in the

On September 9, 622 CE, Muhammad began the Hijra, the migration from Mecca to Medina. Thursday 26 Safar AH 1, 9 September 622. He left his home in Mecca and stayed three days in the Cave of Thawr near Mecca. Of course, this date generally is not celebrated because this is not in the Hijri calendar.

On September 19 (or maybe the 13th), 1922, Yma Sumac was born. She had a vocal range greater than four octaves. youtu.be/Eon7GcYCIFs?...

September 9th is Chrysanthemum Day in Japan. In the past, such holidays were determined with reference to the Chinese lunar-solar calendar, and this day would have been the ninth day of the ninth month in that calendar, which did not have a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julianne calendars. But as

On September 8, 1932, Patsy Cline was born. youtu.be/iuZTk1hdpMs?...

On September 7th, 1940, blitz began. It lasted for 267 days, and about 40,000 civilians in the UK were killed. This compares with the much longer allied bombing of German cities in which anywhere from 300,000 500,000 people were killed. No moral equivalence between the Axis and the Allies is

September 6th is Fight Procrastination Day. I'm not joking, but I had planned to post this yesterday. However I didn't get around to doing it until today. One day late.

It was on September 5, 1838 that J. M. W. Turner saw The Fighting Temeraire. This became the basis of his painting "The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838". In a BBC poll 8n 2005, it was voted as the most popular UK painting. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fig...

On September 4, 1950, Sunset Boulevard was released. A classic movie with so many incredible lines, a great over-the-top character, and great acting. youtu.be/UvD-F5hqLU8?...

On September 3, 1967, Sweden changed from driving on the left side of the streets to driving on the right side of the road. This is called Dagen H in Swedish. Some popular accounts talk about chaos, but that seems to be quite false. The changeover went smoothly. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiIn...

On September 2, 1838, Liliʻuokalani was born. She became the last monarch and only Queen region of Hawaii. She's also famous for being the composer of Aloha 'Oe. youtu.be/ONFMei_PpNQ?...

On September 1 on 1959, the peak of solar superstorm often called the Carrington Event occurred. This is the most powerful solar storm in recorded history. Admittedly, that "recorded history" is less than two centuries. A year or so ago, we were told to panic because it might be happening in a few

On August 31, 1869, Mary Ward was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam powered vehicle. She is often considered the first death due to an automobile, which is surprising in some ways because it happened so long before the time we think of as the dawn of the car.

On August 4, 1997, Skynet became self aware and launched a nuclear war against humanity...at least in the "Terminator" series, where it is called Judgment Day.

On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held. It was there that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a Dream" speech. youtu.be/vP4iY1TtS3s?...

On August 27, 1928, the Kellogg–Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris) outlawed war. Phew!

On August 26th, 1071, the Battle of Manzikert, in what is now Turkey. Oh but not especially well known globally. Nowadays, it was hugely important because it marked the entrance of large numbers of Turkish soldiers into Asia Minor. This culminated in the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

On August 25, 1914, the MacAdam Shield-Shovel was patented in Canada. This is often mentioned among some of the worst ideas and also serves as a cautionary tale against armchair inventors. Something might sound good on paper but be a total flop in reality. youtu.be/0XpryqlzbSI?...

On August 24th, 394 BCE, an Egyptian priest named Nesmeterakhem a message using Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom (another version of his name) is the last known inscription in hieroglyphs until the language was understood again in the 19th century. youtube.com/shorts/LVJIs...

On August 23, 1867, Edgar wall was born. He is most famous as a creator of interlingue, not to be confused with interlingua. Edgar de Wahl (23 august (1867 - 9 marte 1948) esset un matematico e linguiste qui nascet in Olwiopol, Russia. Hodíe li cité es nominat Pervomaysk e it es localisat in

On August 22, 1849, Austria launched what is sometimes considered the first air raid. They sent up pilotless hot air balloons in a battle against Venice. www.history.com/this-day-in-....

On August 21, 1945, Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. received a fatal radiation poisoning from a sphere of plutonium. This was the first known criticality accident causing a fatality. He died on September 25, 1945.

On August 20, 1968, the Prague Spring ended with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces. youtu.be/NsGyohz558Q?...

On August 19, 2989, the Pan-European Picnic took place on the Austrian-Hungarian border. This picnic was met as a challenge to both Soviet and local communist parties. The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party was still the only legal party in the country, and in every other Warsaw Pact country,

On August 18, 1901, Lucien Boyle was born. Although not particularly famous now, a century ago, she was hugely popular. In 1930, she released this song, Parlez-moi d'amour, probably the highlight of her career. youtu.be/DMmp2qDpfeI?...

On August 17, 1945, Indonesia became independent. People often say about Indonesia that it is "the most important country that people don't know about." Of course, that's not really true, but it is true that given its huge population, about 290 million people, it's not especially famous worldwide.