Schedule of Presidential Debates and Debate History Resources
Via State Department: "The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 to ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners. Its primary purpose is to sponsor and produce debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates."
Dates and Locations
September 26, 2008 - First Presidential Debate - Domestic Policy - University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
October 2, 2008 - Vice Presidential Debate - Washington University, St. Louis, MO
October 7, 2008 - Second Presidential Debate - Town Meeting - Belmont University, Nashville, TN
October 15, 2008 - Third Presidential Debate - Foreign Policy - Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Background Information
Many Debates in Variety of Venues Would Enliven Race - AEI
Overview of the Presidential Debates - FPC Briefing with Janet Brown of the CPD
Presidential Debate History and Resources - Poynteronline
Presidential Debates 1960-2008 - The American Presidency Project
Televised Presidential Debates - Democracy in Action, George Washington U.

Some interesting statistics from The Economist:
• The average Wyoming resident checked out nine books in 2005-06, compared with an average of five in California and two in Washington, DC.
• Three-quarters of Laramie county’s 86,000 residents hold library cards.
The Economist says: "The land of mountains and cattle boasts some of America’s best public libraries." They cite examples of both large and small libraries in Wyoming and "the conservative rural heartlands," Laramie, Cheyenne and Burns in southern Wyoming.

Amazon.com Inc. struck a deal with a midsize publisher to offer separate biographies of the two potential first ladies on an exclusive basis to users of Amazon's Kindle electronic-book reader. The two titles, "Cindy McCain: Elegance, Good Will and Hope for a New America," by Alicia Colon, and "Michelle Obama: Grace and Intelligence in a Time of Change," by Elizabeth Lightfoot, are being published as e-books by Lyons Press, an imprint owned by Morris Communications Co.'s Globe Pequot Press publishing unit, based in Guilford, Conn. Only the title of the winning candidate's wife will be published as a traditional, $14.95 paperback. Full article here.

Comcast, the nation’s second-largest Internet provider, announced that beginning October 1, it will limit residential customers to downloading and uploading 250 gigabytes of data per month. The company said 250 GB equals downloading about 62,500 songs, 125 standard-definition movies or 25,000 high-resolution photos. The limit, which does not affect business service plans, far exceeds 2 to 3 GB, the median amount used by Comcast customers. Comcast says curbing the top users is necessary to keep the network fast for other users. The company in the past has had policies against “excessive” use, but this is the first time a specific limit has been set. Users who chronically exceed 250 GB may be notified and eventually cut off.
http://www.sj-r.com/news/x392054845/Talk-to-Us-Comcast-planning-download-limits

Harry S. Truman's Middle Initial from Jeanette Ertel (jeanertel gmail.com)
I do believe I have the final word on whether the S initial should have a period or not in Truman's middle name. In 1958 my husband James Ertel wrote to Truman to ask him about that S. Here is a quotation from the response: "Each of my grandfathers had a name beginning with S and because my parents could not agree on which name I should have, they gave me only the S, followed by a period, to stand for both." That says to me there should be the period after the S if we want to take Truman's word about his name. The letter has been framed and I am pleased to have it as a reminder of a president who talked straight when straight talk must have had a deeper meaning than it does today.
A.Word.A.Day

When Rich Robell moved his son to Michigan State University for his freshman year, he was in utter disbelief that out of the 8,000 or so rooms on campus, his 18-year-old, Mike, was assigned to Emmons Hall, room B310, the same room Rich had lived in. Robell's wife wondered if his memory was playing tricks on him after 30 long years. But if the same broken window latch from 1978 wasn't evidence enough, Robell sought solid proof. A helpful records' archivist on Michigan State's campus offered the confirmation in a matter of minutes: the 1978 student directory, and sure enough Robell lived in B310 Emmons.
http://detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080908/SCHOOLS/809080347

A Portland family racked up nearly $20,000 on their AT&T bill, local station KPTV reported. The Terry family said they wished they would have received some kind of warning before receiving their 200-page bill in the mail for $19,370. In July, their son headed north to Vancouver, Canada, and used a laptop with an AirCard to send photos and e-mails back home. The bill showed he used the service 21 times, but because he was out of the country, the activity added up to thousands of dollars in charges.
http://www.wftv.com/money/17390103/detail.html

Novel of the week according to The Week, September 19, 2008
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Robinson spent time at the University of Washington, and her breakout novel, 1980's "Housekeeping," was set in a small Idaho town. When Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for her deeply spiritual novel, 2004's "Gilead," it was a pleasure and a vindication for readers who had championed "Housekeeping" as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Now Robinson has written "Home," which tells the story of "Gilead" in a different voice.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2008171597_home14.html?syndication=rss

September 16 is the birthday of the children's author and illustrator H.A. Rey, (books by this author) born Hans Augusto Reyersbach in Hamburg, Germany, in 1898. When Hans was a boy in Hamburg, he lived near a zoo, and he loved visiting the animals there — he would imitate their noises and paint them. Hans and his wife, Margret Rey settled in Paris in 1935. Hans drew some cartoons of a giraffe for a newspaper, and a French publisher liked them and he asked Hans to do some more work like that. The Reys were happy to be living in Paris, happy to be working on more children's books and translations of nursery rhymes, but in June of 1940, they discovered that Hitler was about to take control of Paris and that they were in huge danger. As fast as he could, Hans constructed two bicycles from spare parts he found, and on the morning of June 14, the Reys biked out of the city with some food, warm coats, and five manuscripts. One of those manuscripts was Curious George. The Nazis took control of Paris that afternoon, but the Reys were safely out of the city. Over the next few months, they made it from Lisbon to Brazil, and then eventually to New York City. Curious George was published in 1941, and the Reys wrote and illustrated six more stories about him — stories like Curious George Rides a Bike (1952) and Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966).
On September 16, 1620 the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England. The ship carried the crew plus 102 passengers. After the first winter in the New World, only 53 people were left, about half the original group.
The Writer’s Almanac