Paradise Driver

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Today is Friday, March 5th.

The 65th day of 2004.

There are 301 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On March 5, 1770, the Boston Massacre took place as British soldiers who'd been taunted by a crowd of colonists opened fire, killing five people and wounding six. Among the victims is Crispus Attucks, a seaman of African American descent.



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On this date:



In 1496, English King Henry VII hires John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) to explore.



In 1558, Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes.



In 1616, Copernicus' "de Revolutionibus" placed on Catholic Forbidden index.



In 1623, 1st American temperance law enacted, Virginia.



In 1750, King Richard III was performed in New York City. It was the first Shakespearean play to be presented in America.



In 1836 Mexico attacks the Alamo.



In 1836, Samuel Colt manufactures 1st pistol, 34-caliber "Texas" model



In 1868, the Senate was organized into a Court of Impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson.



In 1877, Mary Clemmer used the term "First Lady" to describe Lucy Hayes. It was the first time the term was used to describe a current President's wife.



In 1907, 1st radio broadcast of a musical composition aired.



In 1908, British actor Sir Rex Harrison was born. He was knighted in 1989. He died in 1990.



In 1910, In Philadelphia, PA, 60,000 people left their jobs to show support for striking transit workers.



In 1918, The Soviets move the capital of Russia from Petrograd to Moscow.



In 1922, Annie Oakley shoots 98 out of 100 clay pigeons, breaking the existing women's trap-shooting record.



In 1924, The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corporation becomes IBM.



In 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday in order to stop large amounts of money from being withdrawn from banks.



In 1933, in German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44 percent of the vote, enabling it to join with the Nationalists to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.



In 1943, Germany called fifteen and sixteen year olds for military service due to war losses.



In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the European Continent.”



In 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died at age 73 after 29 years in power.



In 1953, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev died in Moscow at age 61.



In 1955, Elvis Presley's 1st TV appearance on "Louisiana Hayride" show.



In 1956, The United States Supreme Court affirms the ban on segregation in public schools.



In 1956, The motion picture King Kong is shown on television for the first time.



In 1960, Elvis Presley ends 2-year hitch in US Army.



In 1963, country music performers Patsy Cline, "Cowboy" Copas and "Hawkshaw" Hawkins died in a plane crash near Camden, Tenn.



In 1970, a nuclear nonproliferation treaty went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.



In 1976, British £ falls below $2 for 1st time



In 1982, comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33.



In 1984, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities had the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display.



In 1986, in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had "executed" French hostage Michel Seurat, who had been abducted almost a year earlier.



In 1993, Cuban President Fidel Castro said that Hillary Clinton is "a beautiful woman."



In 1993, Sprinter Ben Johnson was banned from racing for life by the Amateur Athletic Association after testing positive for banned performance-enhancing substances for a second time.



In 1995, The graves of czar Nicholas & family are found in St Petersburg, Russia.



In 1997 North Korea and South Korea met for first time in 25 years for peace talks.



In 1998, NASA announced that an orbiting craft had found enough water on the moon to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.



In 1998, It was announced that Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins would lead crew of Columbia on a mission to launch a large X-ray telescope. She was the first woman to command a space shuttle mission.



In 2001, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney underwent an angioplasty for a partially blocked artery after going to a hospital with chest pains.



In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush imposed tariffs up to 30 percent on steel imports.



Ten years ago (1994):



White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum resigned in the wake of turmoil over the Clinton administration's handling of questions related to Whitewater.



A jury in Pensacola, Fla., convicted anti-abortion activist Michael F. Griffin of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Dr. David Gunn; Griffin was sentenced to life in prison.



Five years ago (1999):



Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema met at the White House with President Clinton, a day after a military jury in North Carolina acquitted a Marine pilot in the Italian cable car accident that killed 20 people; D'Alema demanded justice, while Clinton expressed profound regret.



Actor Richard Kiley died in Warwick, N.Y., at age 76.



One year ago (2003):



In a blunt warning to the United States and Britain, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Russia said they would block any attempt to get U.N. approval for war against Iraq.



Thousands of students nationwide walked out of classes to protest a possible war.



A suicide bus bombing in Haifa, Israel, killed 14 Israelis and an American teenager.



A Kuwaiti policeman was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 2002 attack that wounded two U.S. soldiers on a Kuwaiti desert highway.



Comedian George Miller died in Los Angeles at age 61.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor James Noble is 82.



Actor James B. Sikking ("Hill Street Blues") is 70.



Actor Dean Stockwell is 68.



Actor Fred Williamson is 66.



Actress Samantha Eggar is 65.



Actor Michael Warren ("Hill Street Blues") is 58.



Actor Eddie Hodges is 57.



Singer Eddy Grant is 56.



Violinist Eugene Fodor is 54.



Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 52.



Actress-comedian Marsha Warfield ("Night Court") is 50.



Magician Penn Jillette is 49.



Rock singer Charlie Reid is 42.



Rock singer Craig Reid is 42.



Rock musician John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 34.



Singer Rome is 34.



Actor Kevin Connolly is 30.



Actress Jolene Blalock ("Enterprise") is 29.



Model Niki Taylor is 29.



Actress Eva Mendes is 26.



Actor Jake Lloyd (young "Anakin Skywalker", Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace) is 15.



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Thought for Today:

"If you don't have enemies, you don't have character." -

- Paul Newman, American actor.

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