Good morning.

By September 2002, the digital future was arriving in pieces.

Plenty of homes still knew the familiar sound of a dial-up connection. Broadband was growing, but it was far from universal. Music still came home on CDs, DVDs were taking over more shelves, and television still asked you to be there when the show was on.

At the same time, something new was beginning to feel possible.

Apple's iPod had just opened its doors to Windows users, bringing the idea of carrying a large music collection in your pocket to a much wider audience.

The technology around the house was changing.

So was the world outside it.

In Washington, President George W. Bush was speaking with foreign leaders about Iraq as the United States considered what should happen next.

We'll come back to that.

First, let's see what September 6 has left behind.

1522 — The Victoria returned from the first circumnavigation of the globe. The ship reached Spain after an extraordinary voyage that had begun nearly three years earlier under Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan had died along the way, and Juan Sebastián Elcano led the surviving expedition home. The Victoria's return completed the first recorded voyage around the world.

1870 — Louisa Swain cast a historic vote in Laramie, Wyoming Territory. Wyoming Territory had granted women equal voting rights the year before, and on September 6 Swain cast what Wyoming records as the nation's first equal-suffrage vote by a woman. Her vote came decades before women gained voting rights nationwide.

1901 — President William McKinley was shot in Buffalo. McKinley was greeting visitors at the Pan-American Exposition when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz. The president initially survived the attack but died from his wounds eight days later, on September 14.

1968 — Swaziland gained independence. The southern African nation became independent from Britain on September 6. Today, the country is known as Eswatini, a name officially adopted decades later.

1995 — Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 2,131st consecutive game. The Baltimore Orioles shortstop passed Lou Gehrig's long-standing Major League record for consecutive games played. The celebration at Camden Yards became one of baseball's defining moments of the 1990s.

September 6 is also informally observed as National Read a Book Day.

Its origins are difficult to pin down, and it isn't an official observance.

Still, a Sunday and a good book are not a bad combination.

Now let's go back to a Friday in 2002.

The computer was becoming more important to everyday life.

But exactly what that meant depended on the house.

For many people, getting online still meant dialing in and tying up a phone line.

Broadband was growing quickly, but it had not yet become the default in most American homes.

Music was changing, too.

CDs were still everywhere, but portable digital music was beginning to move beyond early adopters. Apple had just started selling iPods that worked with Windows computers, opening the device to a much larger group of potential users.

You could still rent a movie, buy a disc, flip through television channels and plan your evening around a scheduled program.

The older digital world was still very much alive.

But the next one was beginning to plug itself in.

And on the news, technology was hardly the biggest story.

On September 6, 2002, President George W. Bush was speaking with major world leaders about Iraq.

He held consultations with French President Jacques Chirac, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin as the administration weighed how to respond to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

Not everyone agreed on what should happen next.

Russia and France were among the countries emphasizing diplomacy and the role of the United Nations.

And despite the increasingly serious public debate, the United States had not yet decided on its next course of action.

That distinction matters.

The invasion of Iraq was still more than six months away.

But on this September Friday, the diplomatic groundwork, disagreements and arguments that would shape the months ahead were already visible.

For Americans following the news, it was another sign that the post-September 11 world was still taking shape.

A new thriller arrived in theaters on September 6.

Swimfan starred Jesse Bradford as a high-school swimmer whose brief encounter with a new student, played by Erika Christensen, turns increasingly dangerous.

The movie arrived during a period when teen thrillers and glossy suspense films still had a dependable place at the multiplex.

And on opening day, audiences put it at the top.

Swimfan opened at No. 1 in the domestic daily box-office rankings on September 6.

It wouldn't become the era's most enduring movie.

But for that Friday in 2002, it was the film leading the box office.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 7, 2002, the No. 1 song was:

Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland — “Dilemma.”

The duet paired one of the biggest rappers of the moment with a member of Destiny's Child and became one of the defining pop and R&B hits of the year.

Right behind it at No. 2:

Avril Lavigne — “Complicated.”

That pairing makes for a pretty good 2002 snapshot.

One track was a polished hip-hop and R&B crossover.

The other announced a new pop-rock star with ties, guitars and a very different attitude.

Turn on the radio, and the decade was already developing several personalities at once.

The Oakland Athletics came into September 6 having won 20 games in a row.

It was an American League record at the time and one of baseball's biggest stories of the season.

Then they ran into the Minnesota Twins.

Minnesota pitcher Brad Radke shut Oakland out as the Twins won:

6–0.

Just like that, the streak was over at 20.

For three weeks, Oakland had found a way to win every night.

On this Friday, they didn't score a run.

That is part of what makes streaks so compelling.

The longer they last, the more impossible the ending starts to seem.

Until somebody finally ends one.

Television on September 6, 2002 offered a mix of news, crime shows, football promotion and a science-fiction movie.

Local affiliates could still delay, preempt or substitute programming, so exactly what appeared in a particular city could vary.

But the major-network prime-time schedule looked like this:

ABC — America's Funniest Home Videos opened the evening, followed later by the ABC News special In Search of America.

CBS — 48 Hours at 8:00, 60 Minutes II at 9:00 and an NFL Kick-Off Concert at 10:00.

NBC — Dateline NBC at 8:00, followed by two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

FOX — Starship Troopers filled the network's two-hour prime-time movie block.

That is a Friday-night lineup with very different choices.

News?

Crime drama?

Football?

Or giant alien bugs?

Which one would have won control of your television that night?

If you visited Walt Disney World in September 2002, the resort was still in the middle of its 100 Years of Magic celebration.

The event honored the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth and stretched across the resort, with Disney-MGM Studios serving as one of its major focal points.

One of the additions created for the celebration was Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, an attraction exploring Walt's life, ideas and the history of the company.

The celebration wasn't something that began specifically on September 6.

It was part of the larger Walt Disney World experience during this period.

And for a company built around looking forward, the celebration spent a surprising amount of time looking backward — at the person and ideas that started it all.

Some days, a full workout just isn't going to happen.

That doesn't mean the day has to become an all-or-nothing choice.

General physical-activity guidance emphasizes a simple point:

Some movement is better than none.

A walk around the neighborhood counts.

So does taking a few extra minutes to move during the day.

You don't need to turn every bit of activity into a challenge, a competition or a perfect routine.

The larger goal is simply to spend a little less time inactive when you reasonably can.

A useful Sunday approach might be:

Take a walk.

Stretch your legs.

Do something active you actually enjoy.

Then let that be enough for today.

Take the free health assessment →

Health Snap provides general wellness information, not individualized medical advice.

You're sharing your date with revolutionaries, reformers, musicians, comedians and actors.

🎂 Marquis de Lafayette — 1757 — French military officer and major figure in the American Revolution

🎂 Jane Addams — 1860 — Social reformer, Hull House co-founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

🎂 Roger Waters — 1943 — Pink Floyd co-founder, songwriter and musician

🎂 Jeff Foxworthy — 1958 — Comedian known for his “You Might Be a Redneck…” routines

🎂 Rosie Perez — 1964 — Actress and choreographer known for Do the Right Thing and Fearless

🎂 Macy Gray — 1967 — Singer-songwriter known for “I Try”

🎂 Idris Elba — 1972 — Actor known for The Wire and Luther

Is September 6 your birthday?

Tell us — we'd love to hear from you.

And if someone you know was born today, send them this issue and show them what was happening on their day.

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