Paradise Driver

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Today is Monday, May 24th.

The 145th day of 2004.

There are 221 days left in the year.

This is the Memorial Day observance.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 24th, 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore as he formally opened America's first telegraph line.



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On this date:



In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus publishes proof of a sun-centered solar system "De Revolutionibus."



In 1607, Captain Christopher Newport and 105 followers found the colony of Jamestown at the mouth of the James River on the coast of Virginia.



In 1624, After years of unprofitable operation Virginia’s charter was revoked and it became a royal colony.



In 1626, Peter Minuet of the Dutch West India Trading Company bought the Island of Manhattan from the Carnarsee Indians reportedly for blankets, cattle, and various trinkets valued in all at $24.



In 1738, The Methodist Church was established.



In 1819, Queen Victoria was born in London.



In 1830, "Mary Had A Little Lamb" is written



In 1830, the first passenger railroad service in the United States began service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, Maryland.



In 1859, Charles Gounod's "Ave Maria" was performed by Madame Caroline Miolan-Carvalho for the first time in public.



In 1869, The first exploration expedition goes down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon by boat, 1000 miles in 101 days.



In 1881, Some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario.



In 1883, The Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic.



In 1899, The first auto repair shop opens in Boston.



In 1941, The German battleship Bismarck sank the British dreadnought HMS Hood in the North Atlantic. Only 3 people survived, 1,416 die.



In 1951, Racial segregation in Wash DC restaurants ruled illegal.



In 1958, United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.



In 1962, Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora Seven.



In 1974, The last "Dean Martin Show" was seen on NBC.



In 1976, Britain and France opened transatlantic Concorde service to Washington.



In 1977, In a surprise move, the Kremlin ousted Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo.



In 1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.



In 1987, On it's 50th anniversary, a quarter-of-a-million people jammed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge -- so many people that their combined weight temporarily flattened its arching span.



In 1993, The final episode of "Designing Women" was aired on CBS.



In 2000, Israel completed its withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon. Israel had occupied the region for 22 years.



In 2002, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty in Moscow.



Ten years ago (1994):



Four men convicted of bombing New York's World Trade Center were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.



The United States and Japan agreed to revive efforts to pry open Japanese markets to U.S. goods.



Five years ago (1999):



A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled, five to four, that schools can be sued when officials fail to stop students from sexually harassing each other.



The Supreme Court ruled that police violate people's privacy rights when they bring TV camera crews or other journalists into homes during arrests or searches.



Mike Tyson walked out of a Rockville, Md., jail after serving 3 1/2 months behind bars for assaulting two motorists after a fender-bender.



The final episode of "Mad About You" aired.



One year ago (2003):



Furious crowds hurled debris and insults at Algeria's president (Abdelaziz Bouteflika) when he visited a town devastated by a deadly earthquake.



The U.S.-led coalition ordered Iraqis to give up their weapons by mid-June.



British actress Rachel Kempson, matriarch of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died in Millbrook, N.Y., four days short of her 93rd birthday.



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Today's Birthdays:



Comedian Tommy Chong is 66.



Singer Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) is 63.



Singer Sarah Dish (Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles) is 62.



Actor Gary Burghoff is 61.



Singer Patti LaBelle is 60.



Actress Priscilla Presley is 59.



Country singer Mike Reid is 57.



Actor Jim Broadbent is 54.



Actor Alfred Molina is 51.



Singer Rosanne Cash is 49.



Actress Kristin Scott Thomas is 44.



Rock musician Vivian Trimble is 41.



Actor John C. Reilly is 39.



Actor Eric Close is 37.



Rapper-recording executive Heavy D (Dwight Myers) is 37.



Rock musician Rich Robinson is 35.



Actor Billy L. Sullivan is 24.



Actor-rapper Big Tyme is 21.



Country singer Billy Gilman is 16.



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Thought for Today:

"Responsibility educates." -

- Wendell Phillips, American abolitionist (1811-1884).

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