Today is Wednesday, September 20, the 263rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 102 days remain until the end of the year and a mere 3 days before autumn begins.
Sunrise: 6:55am
Sunset: 7:09pm
…giving us 12 hours and 14 minutes of daylight
The waxing crescent moon is 31.2% illuminated, rising at 12:33pm and setting at 10:07pm
San Francisco Tides
High: 4:01am/3:08pm
Low: 8:35am/10:01pm
In San Francisco Bay, the water temperature will be about 66 degrees, 58 degrees in the nearby sea.
Today's special celebrations/commemorations include...
International Day of University Sport
National Care for Kids Day
National Ask An Atheist Day
National Fried Rice Day
National Rehabilitation Day
National School Backpack Awareness Day
National String Cheese Day
On this day in…
1519 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan left Spain to find a route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Magellan was killed during the trip, but one of his ships eventually made the journey.
1870 - The Papal States came under the control of Italian troops, leading to the unification of Italy.
1881 - Chester A. Arthur became the 21st president of the US President James A. Garfield had died the day before.
1884 - The Equal Rights Party was formed in San Francisco, CA.
1921 - KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, started a daily radio newscast. It was one of the first in the US.
1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival premiered. The original premier was delayed in 1939 due to World War II.
1962 - James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted.
1963 - US president John F. Kennedproposed a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
1967 - The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was launched. It went out of service on November 27, 2008.
1977 - The first of the "boat people" arrived in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new US resettlement program.
1989 - F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as president of South Africa.
1991 - U.N. weapons inspectors left for Iraq in a renewed search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
1995 - The US House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit. This allowed the states to decide their own speed limits.
If today’s your birthday, you share it with…
Upton Sinclair 1878
Anne Meara 1929 - Actress, comedian
Sophia Loren 1934 - Actress
Dale Chihuly 1941 - Artist
John (Chuck) Panozzo (Styx) 1947
Gary Cole 1957 - Actor
Kristen Johnston 1965 - Actress ("3rd Rock From the Sun")
Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden) 1976