SEPTEMBER 19TH

Today is Friday, Sept. 19, the 263rd day of 2008.
There are 103 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Sept. 19, 1796, President Washington's farewell address was published. In it, the nation's first chief executive wrote, "Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all."

On this date:

• In 1777, during the Revolutionary War, American soldiers won the first Battle of Saratoga.
• In 1783, Jacques Etienne Montgolfier launched a duck, a sheep and a rooster aboard a hot-air balloon at Versailles in France.
• In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died 2 1/2 months after being shot by Charles Guiteau; Chester Alan Arthur became president.
• In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was arrested in New York and charged with the kidnap-murder of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr.
• In 1945, Nazi radio propagandist William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was convicted of treason and sentenced to death by a British court.
• In 1957, the United States conducted its first contained underground nuclear test, code-named "Rainier," in the Nevada desert.
• In 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev reacted angrily during a visit to Los Angeles upon being told that, for security reasons, he wouldn't be allowed to visit Disneyland.
• In 1960, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in New York to visit the United Nations, angrily checked out of the Shelburne Hotel in a dispute with the management; Castro accepted an invitation to stay at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem.
• In 1982, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman proposed punctuating humorously intended computer messages by employing a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis as a horizontal "smiley face." :-)
• In 1988, Israel succeeded in launching a test satellite, the Ofeq ("Horizon") 1, over the Mediterranean Sea.

Ten years ago:

• Susan Barrantes, mother of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was killed in a car crash in Argentina; she was 61.
• Miss Virginia Nicole Johnson, a 24-year-old diabetic who wore an insulin pump on her hip, was crowned Miss America 1999.

Five years ago:

• Former Hurricane Isabel raced from Virginia to Canada, delivering far less rain than expected but leaving millions without power.
• Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's defense minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmad, surrendered to U.S. forces.

One year ago:

• The Senate blocked legislation that would have regulated the amount of time troops spent in combat, a blow for Democrats struggling to challenge President Bush's Iraq policies.
• A powerful bomb killed anti-Syria lawmaker Antoine Ghanem and six others in Beirut, Lebanon.
• O.J. Simpson was released from jail after posting $125,000 bail in connection with the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors at a Las Vegas hotel.

Today's Birthdays:

• Author Roger Angell is 88.
• TV host James Lipton ("Inside the Actors Studio") is 82.
• Former Defense Secretary Harold Brown is 81.
• Actor Adam West is 78.
• Actor David McCallum is 75.
• Singer-songwriter Paul Williams is 68.
• Singer Bill Medley is 68.
• Singer Sylvia Tyson (Ian and Sylvia) is 68.
• Golfer Jane Blalock is 63.
• Singer David Bromberg is 63.
• Actor Randolph Mantooth is 63.
• Singer Freda Payne is 63.
• Rock singer-musician Lol Creme (10cc) is 61.
• Actor Jeremy Irons is 60.
• Actress Twiggy Lawson is 59.
• TV personality Joan Lunden is 58.
• Singer-producer Daniel Lanois is 57.
• Actor Scott Colomby is 56.
• Musician-producer Nile Rodgers is 56.
• Singer-actor Rex Smith is 53.
• Actor Kevin Hooks is 50.
• Actress Carolyn McCormick is 49.
• Country singer Jeff Bates is 45.
• Country singer Trisha Yearwood is 44.
• Actress-comedian Cheri Oteri is 43.
• News anchor Soledad O'Brien is 42.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Espraronza Griffin is 39.
• Actress Sanaa Lathan is 37.
• Rock singer A. Jay Popoff (Lit) is 35.
• Comedian Jimmy Fallon is 34.
• TV personality Carter Oosterhouse is 32.
• Actress-TV host Alison Sweeney is 32.
• Rock musician Ryan Dusick is 31.
• Actor Columbus Short is 26.
• Rapper Eamon is 25.
• Christian rock musician JD Frazier (Rush of Fools) is 25.
• Actor Kevin Zegers is 24.
• Actress Danielle Panabaker is 21.

Thought for Today:

"There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all."
Dame Rebecca West, Irish-born novelist (1892-1983).

"Let's all be careful out there!"