Paradise Driver

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Today is Tuesday, April 6th.

The 97th day of 2004.

There are 269 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On April 6, 1909, Explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuit guides became the first men to reach the North Pole. (The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.)



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On this date:



In 648 B.C.E., The earliest total solar eclipse chronicled by Greeks was observed.



In 6 B.C.E., This day is believed by some Biblical scholars to be the actual date of the historical birth of Jesus Christ.



In 610, Lailat-ul Qadar, the night the Koran descended to Earth



In 1199, English King Richard I was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.



In 1652, Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in S Africa, established.



In 1712, Slave revolt in New York.



In 1722, Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards.



In 1789, The first U.S. Congress began regular sessions at the Federal Hall in New York City.



In 1814, After being granted sovereignty in the island of Elba and a pension from the French government, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates at Fountainebleau. He was allowed to keep the title of emperor.



In 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka:Morman)(known as the Church of Christ until 1834) was organized by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at Fayette, New York.



In 1862, The Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.



In 1866, Outlaw Butch Cassidy (George Robert Leroy Parker) was born. He died in 1908.



In 1869, Celluloid is the first plastic to be patented.



In 1874, American magician Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss) was born in Budapest Hungary. He died October 31, 1926 at the age of 52 in Detroit, MI.



In 1884, Actor, Movie Director Walter Huston (Houghston) (John's dad, Anjelica's granddad) was born in Toronto, Ontario Canada. He died April 7, 1950 at the age of 66.



In 1886, City of Vancouver, BC incorporated.



In 1889, The Kodak Camera was placed on sale by George Eastman.



In 1892, Author, journalist, broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio.



In 1893, Andy Bowen & Jack Burke box 7 hours 19 minutes to no decision in St Louis (111 rounds, longest bout in boxing history)



In 1893, Mormon temple in Salt Lake City dedicated



In 1896, The first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.



In 1909, St. Canadian Credit Union of Manchester, New Hampshire received a charter to become the first credit union to be established in the U.S.



In 1912, The electric starter first appeared in cars.



In 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.



In 1924, 4 planes leave Seattle on 1st successful around-the-world flight



In 1927, William P. MacCracken, Jr. earned license number "1" when the Department of Commerce issued the first aviator's license.



In 1930, Hostess Twinkies were invented by bakery executive James Dewar.



In 1930, Humorist Will Rogers begins broadcasting The Will Rogers Program on CBS radio.



In 1938, Du Pont researchers Roy J. Plunkett and Jack Rebok accidentally created the chemical compound that was later marketed as Teflon.



In 1941, Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.



In 1954, Four weeks after being attacked on the air by Edward R. Murrow, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., delivered a filmed response on CBS' "See It Now" in which he charged that Murrow had, in the past, "engaged in propaganda for Communist causes."



In 1954, The TV Dinner was first put on sale by Swanson & Sons.



In 1957, Trolley cars in New York City completed their final runs



In 1965, The United States launched the "Early Bird" Intelsat 1, the first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite.



In 1965, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the use of ground troops in combat operations in Vietnam.



In 1968, Federal troops and National Guardsmen were ordered out in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, as rioting continued over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.



In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York City.



In 1973, Yankee Ron Blomberg becomes 1st designated hitter, he walks



In 1980, Post It Notes were introduced.



In 1992, Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov died in New York at age 72.



In 1998, Pakistan successfully tests medium-range missile capable of attacking neighboring India.



In 1998, Country singer Tammy Wynette died at her Nashville, Tenn., home at age 55.



In 2000, The father of Elian Gonzalez, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrived in the United States to press for the return of his six-year-old son to Cuba.



In 2000, A private company mapping the human genetic blueprint announced it had decoded all of the DNA pieces that make up the genetic pattern of a single human being.



In 2001, Pacific Gas and Electric filed for bankruptcy in an offshoot of the California energy crisis.



Ten years ago (1994):



Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced his retirement after 24 years.



The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a mysterious plane crash near Rwanda's capital; widespread violence and genocide erupted in Rwanda over claims the plane had been shot down.



A Palestinian suicide-bomber killed seven Israelis in an attack on a bus in Afula.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic declared a unilateral cease-fire in his campaign to crush rebels in Kosovo; Western leaders called the move a sham and pledged to press ahead with airstrikes.



Carmen Electra filed for a divorce from Dennis Rodman. They had only been married six months.



One year ago (2003):



U.S. forces encircled and began flying into Baghdad's international airport. British forces in the south made their deepest push into Basra, Iraq's second largest city.



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Today's Birthdays:



Composer-conductor Andre Previn is 75.



Actor Ivan Dixon is 73.



Country singer Merle Haggard is 67.



Actor Billy Dee Williams is 67.



Actor Roy Thinnes is 66.



Movie director Barry Levinson is 62.



Singer/actress/model [Holly] Michelle [Gilliam] Phillips is 60.



Actor John Ratzenberger is 57.



Actress Marilu Henner is 52.



Figure skater Janet Lynn is 51.



Actor Michael Rooker is 49.



Actress Ari Meyers is 35.



Actor Paul Rudd is 35.



Actor Jason Hervey is 32.



Actor Zach Braff is 29.



Actress Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) is 28.



Actress Candace Cameron is 28.



Actor Bret Harrison is 22.



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Thought for Today:

"After the age of 80, everything reminds you of something else." -

- Lowell Thomas, American author and broadcaster (1892-1981).

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