On this date in 2014, Scotland’s voters rejected proposed national secession from the United Kingdom.

And an armed intruder entered the White House unimpeded. Omar Gonzalez, carrying a knife, went over a fence of the White House, ran 70 yards to it, entered thorough an unlocked front door, overpowered a Secret Service agent, and went into the ceremonial East Room.

On this date in 1982, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman proposed punctuating some e-mail messages with an improvised, horizontal ‘smiling face.’

:-)

On this date in 1881, U. S. President James Garfield died of wounds that were inflicted by an assassin.

On September 17, 1862, the Union Army rebuffed a Confederate Army invasion of Maryland in the Civil War battle of Antietam. It is the bloodiest day in U.S. military history, with 23,100 persons killed, wounded or captured.

“Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.” — Aristotle