Paradise Driver

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Today is Friday, April 2nd.

The 93rd day of 2004.

There are 273 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy."



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On this date:



In 742, The first Holy Roman emperor (800-814) Charlemagne was born. He died on January 28, 814 at the age of 71.



In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida.



In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.



In 1805, Storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.



In 1819, The first successful agricultural journal ("The American Farmer") began publication.



In 1827, Lead pencils were first manufactured by Joseph Dixon.



In 1860, The first Italian Parliament met at Turin.



In 1865, Confederate President Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.



In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died in New York.



In 1876, The Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Caps play the 1st National League baseball game, in Philadelphia.



In 1877, The 1st Easter egg roll is held on the White House lawn.



In 1902, The first motion picture theatre opened in Los Angeles with the name Electric Theatre.



In 1908, Actor Christian Rudolph "Buddy" Ebsen, Jr. was born in Belleville, IL. He died July 6, 2003 at the age of 95.



In 1914, Considered one of the best actors of the 20th century, Sir Alec Guinness [de Cuffe] ("Obi-Wan Kenobi" - Star Wars) was born in London, England, United Kingdom. He was knighted in 1959. He died in 2000.



In 1917, Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana) becomes 1st woman member of US House of Representatives



In 1921, Professor Albert Einstein lectures in NYC on his new theory of relativity



In 1920, Actor/Producer/Director Jack Webb ("Sgt. Joe Friday" - Dragnet) was born in Santa Monica, CA. He died December 23, 1982, at the age of 62.



In 1931, A teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga TN



In 1932, Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and Dr. John F. Condon turned over $50,000 in ransom to an unidentified man in a New York City cemetery in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, however, was not returned, and was found dead the following month.)



In 1935, Sir Watson-Watt was granted a patent for the RADAR.



In 1941, German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox," resumed his advance into Cyrenaica. The advance was the beginning of the recapture of Libya by the Axis forces.



In 1944, The Soviet Union announced that its troops had crossed the Prut River and entered Romania.



In 1956, "The Edge of Night" and "As the World Turns" debuted on CBS-TV.



In 1958, The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA) is renamed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).



In 1974, French president Georges Pompidou died in Paris.



In 1978, The first episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.



In 1982, Several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.)



In 1992, Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison.



In 1995, The New York Police Department and the New York Transit Police merge into one organization



In 1996, Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard, earning $250 per month. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland's first post-war democratic president.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton warned Americans against "demagogues of division" in his weekly radio address, while calling for greater personal responsibility and cooperation to overcome the nation's problems.



Consumer reporter Betty Furness died in Hartsdale, N.Y., at age 78.



Five years ago (1999):



The Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment rate fell to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent in March 1999.



One year ago (2003):



American forces fought their way to within sight of the Baghdad skyline; Iraqi soldiers discarded their military uniforms by the roadside to hide their identity.



A bomb blast near a wharf in the southern Philippine city of Davao killed 16.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Dabbs Greer is 87.



TV Actress Gloria Henry (Dennis the Menace's mom:Alice Mitchell) is 81.



Actress Rita Gam is 76.



Actress Elena Verdugo (Marcus Welby, MD's Consuelo Lopez) is 78.



Actress Sharon Acker is 69.



Singer Leon Russell is 63.



Radio Disc Jocky Dr. Demento (Barrett E. Hansen) is 63.



Jazz musician Larry Coryell is 61.



Actress Linda Hunt is 59.



Singer Emmylou Harris is 57.



Actress Pamela Reed is 55.



Actress Debralee Scott is 51.



Actor Ron Palillo (Welcome Back Kotter's Arnold J. Horshack) is 50.



Country singer Buddy Jewell is 43.



Actor Chris Meloni is 43.



Singer Keren Woodward (Bananarama) is 43.



Country singer Billy Dean is 42.



Actress Jana Marie Hupp is 40.



Rock musician Greg Camp (Smash Mouth) is 37.



Rock musician Tony Fredianelli (Third Eye Blind) is 35.



Country singer Jill King is 29.



Actor Jeremy Garrett is 28.



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Thought for Today:

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time. It is just that others are behind the time." -

- Martha Graham, modern dance pioneer (1894-1991).

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