Paradise Driver

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Today is Wednesday, March 17th.

The 77th day of 2004.

There are 289 days left in the year.

This is St. Patrick's Day.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On March 17, 461, according to tradition, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died in Saul.



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On this date:



In 1737, The Charitable Irish Society of Boston, Massachusetts, hosts the first nonliturgical celebration of Saint Patrick's Day.



In 1756, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated for the first time in New York City at the Crown and Thistle Tavern.



In 1762, The first Saint Patrick's Day parade in New York, New York, inaugurates a strong traditional celebration among Irish Americans.



In 1776, British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.



In 1845, the rubber band is patented by Stephen Perry of London.



In 1870, Massachusetts legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary (now Wellesley College).



In 1905, Eleanor Roosevelt married Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York.



In 1910, the Camp Fire Girls organization was formed. (It was formally presented to the public on this day two years later.)



In 1919, Singer Nat "King" Cole was born in Montgomery, AL. He died Feb. 15, 1965 at the age of 45.



In 1941, the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.



In 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater during World War II.



In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, californium.



In 1958, the U.S. Navy launched the Vanguard I satellite.



In 1966, a U.S. midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb that had fallen from an American bomber into the Mediterranean off Spain.



In 1969, Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel.



In 1973, The first prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the "Hanoi Hilton" in Hanoi, North Vietnam.



In 1985, U.S. President Reagan agreed to a joint study with Canada on acid rain.



In 1987, IBM releases PC-DOS version 3.3.



In 1992, 28 people were killed in the truck bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.



Ten years ago (1994):



former President Ronald Reagan said Oliver North, who was running for a U.S. Senate seat from Virginia, lied when he said Reagan "knew everything" about the Iran-Contra operation.



Secretary of State Warren Christopher, just back from China, told a House subcommittee that reports describing the trip as a failure were "rather misleading," and said Beijing had made "solid improvements" in the areas of prison labor and immigration.



Five years ago (1999):



A panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana has medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS.



In the wake of a bribery scandal, the International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members but backed President Juan Antonio Samaranch.



Instant replay was voted back in the NFL for the 1999 season.



One year ago (2003):



Edging to the brink of war, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country and told Americans that military confrontation will ultimately make them safer. Iraq rejected Bush's ultimatum, saying that a U.S. attack to force Saddam from power would be "a grave mistake."



In Washington, D.C., tobacco farmer Dwight Ware Watson, claiming to be carrying bombs, drove a tractor and trailer into a pond on the National Mall; the threat disrupted traffic for two days until Watson surrendered; there were no bombs.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Mercedes McCambridge is 86.



The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 71.



Rock musician Paul Kantner is 63.



Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly is 61.



Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful) is 60.



Rock musician Harold Brown (War) is 58.



Actor Patrick Duffy is 55.



Actor Kurt Russell is 53.



Country singer Susie Allanson is 52.



Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 50.



Country singer Paul Overstreet is 49.



Actor Gary Sinise is 49.



Actress Vicki Lewis is 44.



Actor Casey Siemaszko is 43.



Writer-director Rob Sitch is 42.



Actor Rob Lowe is 40.



Rock singer Billy Corgan is 37.



Rock musician Van Conner (Screaming Trees) is 37.



Actor Mathew St. Patrick ("Six Feet Under") is 36.



Actor Yanic Truesdale is 35.



Rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur is 32.



Rock musician Caroline Corr (The Corrs) is 31.



Actress Marisa Coughlan is 30.



Singer Stephen Gately (Boyzone) is 28.



Rapper Swifty (D12) is 27.



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Thought for Today:

"It is my rule never to lose me temper till it would be detrimental to keep it." -

- Sean O'Casey, Irish playwright (1880-1964).

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