FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Today is the 253rd day of 2021 and the 83rd day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1846, Elias Howe patented the first sewing machine.

In 1977, France used a guillotine in carrying out a death sentence for the last time.

In 2002, Switzerland became a member of the United Nations.

In 2008, the Large Hadron Collider was powered up for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Adele Astaire (1896-1981), dancer; Arnold Palmer (1929-2016), golfer; Charles Kuralt (1934-1997), TV journalist; Roger Maris (1934-1985), baseball player; Buck Buchanan (1940-1992), football player; Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), biologist/writer; Chris Columbus (1958- ), film director; Colin Firth (1960- ), actor; Randy Johnson (1963- ), baseball player; Guy Ritchie (1968- ), filmmaker; Ryan Phillippe (1974- ), actor; Ben Wallace (1974- ), basketball player.

TODAY’S FACT: The United Nations, which included 193 member states as of August 2021, began in 1945, when representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco to draw up the charter.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1972, the U.S. men’s basketball team fell for the first time in Olympic competition, suffering a controversial 51-50 loss to the Soviet Union team on a last-second shot in the gold medal match.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.” -- Stephen Jay Gould

TODAY’S NUMBER: 108 -- countries that have abolished the death penalty as of 2021, according to Amnesty International.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (Sept. 6) and first quarter moon (Sept. 13).

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Today is the 254th day of 2021 and the 84th day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1857, Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians massacred 120 pioneers in Mountain Meadows, Utah.

In 2001, hijacked planes crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Virginia and a Pennsylvania field in terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

In 2007, Russia announced that it had successfully tested the world’s most powerful nonnuclear bomb, a thermobaric weapon nicknamed the “father of all bombs.”

In 2012, a heavily armed militia attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: O. Henry (1862-1910), short-story writer; D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), author; Paul “Bear” Bryant (1913-1983), football coach; Tom Landry (1924-2000), football coach; Brian De Palma (1940- ), film director; Tony Gilroy (1956- ), filmmaker; Virginia Madsen (1961- ), actress; Moby (1965- ), singer-songwriter; Harry Connick Jr. (1967- ), actor/singer-songwriter; Ludacris (1977- ), rapper/actor; Ed Reed (1978- ), football player.

TODAY’S FACT: John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency because of a sitting president’s death. During the term he served, after William Henry Harrison’s monthlong presidency, Tyler was often referred to slightingly as “His Accidency” or “Acting President.”

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s record with his 4,192nd career hit.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Love is never a fulfillment. Life is never a thing of continuous bliss. There is no paradise. Fight and laugh and feel bitter and feel bliss: and fight again. Fight, fight. That is life.” -- D.H. Lawrence

TODAY’S NUMBER: 4,256 -- total career hits for Pete Rose, which remains the Major League Baseball record.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (Sept. 6) and first quarter moon (Sept. 13).