It’s about 10 minutes to 10 o’clock, and those of you who are dreading or are already sick of the media coverage and loud-mouthed punditry–whether it’s concerning the anniversary of the WTC attacks in the US, or the big nationalist rally taking place in honor of ‘la Diada’ here in Catalunya–all know exactly what time it is.

That’s right, kids! It’s that time of the year again! September 11th fun facts, whoo!!! (courtesy Wikipedia, of course)

I’m sure everyone reading this also read last year’s installment. But did you know that on this day in history lots of other important stuff that you should celebrate or commemorate happened, such as…

1609 – Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain’s Moriscos.

1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there.

1776 – British-American peace conference on Staten Island fails to stop nascent American Revolutionary War.

1802 – France annexes the Kingdom of Piedmont.

1851 – Christiana Resistance: Escaped slaves stand against their former owner in armed resistance in Christiana, Pennsylvania, creating a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement.

1897 – After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.

1921 – Nahalal, the first moshav in Palestine, is settled as part of a Zionist plan to colonize Palestine and creating a Jewish state, later to be Israel.

1941 – Charles Lindbergh’s Des Moines Speech accusing the British, Jews and the Roosevelt administration of pressing for war with Germany.

1972 – The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system has its opening day of passenger service.

1986 – Chiliboy Ralepelle, South African rugby player, born

1987 – death of Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bob Marley & The Wailers) (b. 1944)

1997 – NASA‘s Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.

1998 – Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.

Also, it’s the feast day of St. Paphnutius of Thebes!

Happy Sept. 11th, everybody!!!