ON THIS DAY

On this date in 1789, the U.S. Treasury Department was established by Congress, to be in charge of the money we didn't have.

In 1901, President Teddy Roosevelt made his "walk softly but carry a big stick" speech.

On this date in 1936, the first transatlantic round-trip air flight took place.

In 1945, that Japan surrendered to the United States.

Keanu Reeves turns 45 today. Selma Hayek turns 43. Retired tennis star Jimmy Connors is 57, and Football Hall-of-Famer and Fox sportscaster Terry Bradshaw's 61st birthday.

TV Guide recently asked, "Who's your favorite pro football pre-game personality?" Guess who came out on top? Yep, our bud Terry. Here's the breakdown:

• Terry Bradshaw, 44%
• Howie Long, 16%
• Dan Marino, 8%
• Boomer Esiason, 5%
• Steve Young, 5%
• Jimmy Johnson, 4%
• Don't know, 12%

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Apple has announced they'll have a media event next week, but won't say what it's about. Speculation ranges from a new music player to the Beatles digitally-remastered catalog heading to iTunes.
• Oprah's new season starts September 14 with that Whitney Houston interview, but she's going to have a two-day preview kickoff in the streets of Chicago on September 10th with the Black Eyed Peas.
• Oh yeah, and on September 11, Oprah will do a show featuring the first interview with ESPN's Erin Andrews since she was videotaped in the nude.
• That ring Tyra Banks has been seen wearing lately is not an engagement ring. She says it's just a high school class ring.
• Flip flops may be comfy and colorful, but researchers say thaey can become contaminated with bacteria, including the potentially deadly germ staphylococcus aureus.
• Carrie Prejean is now suing the Miss California USA folks for what she's calling discrimination.
• Renee Zellweger was in a fender-bender in Hollywood the other day that was bad enough, she had to have her car towed away. But she's just fine.
• An appeals court has ruled that Paris Hilton can continue pursuing a lawsuit against Hallmark Cards over the use of her picture and catch phrase "That's hot" on a greeting card.
• Microsoft is experimenting with sending out a wi-fi signal on unused TV frequencies. Hmmmmm...
• Katy Perry says she's really looking forward to her turn as a guest judge on "American Idol" later this month. She says she plans to be "Simon-esque."
• 79-year-old evangelist Pat Robertson is recovering from heart surgery, but said to be doing great.
• A Detroit postal worker is in big trouble for not delivering 20,000 pieces of mail that he kept for himself.
• Porsche is going to issue it's first hybrid car next year, an SUV called the Cayenne.
• Jenna Bush Hager, long known as "the blonde Bush twin," isn't blonde anymore. The special "Today" correspondent is now a brunette.
• Madonna wraps up her worldwide "Sticky and Sweet" tour with two concerts this week in Israel.
• JVL is offering the ultimate video game system, with 140 pre-loaded games, ultimate graphics, the works: just $3,999. Available only on Amazon.com.

(Redbook) Labor Day weekend is one of the deadliest for drivers. Since 60% of people admit to driving while drowsy, a major cause of accidents, stay safe by catching some sleep and, of course, skipping the booze, before you get behind the wheel. Want more?

• 1882 was the year the first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City
• 25.1 minutes is the average amount of time it takes an American to commute to work
• 12 women are running one of the top 500 public companies in America, as ranked by Fortune magazine as part of The Fortune 500
• 42.3% increase in the number of women owned business in the last 10 years

It turns out that when men buy new undies, it means the economy is improving. The Washington Post reports that, in general, sales of men's underwear are actually fairly stable, since they are considered a necessity. But when times get tough financially, men make do with the old boxers and briefs, and that causes underwear sales to drop. The research firm Mintel noticed that the growth in sales of men's underwear began to slow last year as the recession grabbed the country in its teeth. This year, sales are expected to fall 2.3%. But next year, sales are expected to fall just 0.5%, which is such a slight amount that it's seen as a positive economic indicator.

This is a joke right? Wrong. When provoked beyond their endurance, plants are quite capable of committing suicide, says a new study. The findings were discovered by cell biologists and biochemists at Vienna University in Austria. The researchers found that when plant life is threatened by either animals or infection, they deliberately sacrifice parts of themselves. "It's often a wrong assumption that immense heat or ozone kills a plant," explains study leader Andeas Bachmair. "Most of the time, plants create a special program themselves to save what can be saved. Despite the voluntary death of certain parts, it remains alive in its core." A variety of vegetation have developed defense mechanisms since they' can't run away from an enemy. Their tactics including killing off only the infected section, or appearing to be diseased to discourage foraging animals. "Instead of relocation, they do without certain parts when there is a problem," Bachmair says. (Sun)

Art imitates life when cartoon characters get red faced with anger. It's perfectly natural for fury to turn your mug scarlet, say researchers from the University of Southern California and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The scientists deliberately found ways to tick off 58 healthy volunteers between the ages of 19 and 60. Tests revealed that almost every volunteer experienced a "head rush" as the carotid arteries expanded to flood their necks, faces and brains with blood. Only those people with high blood pressure demonstrated no increase in blood flow. (National Examiner)