Paradise Driver

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Today is Sunday, March 28th.

The 88th day of 2004.

There are 278 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On March 28, 1979, America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.



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On this date:



In 1380, Gunpowder first used in Europe, by the Venetians against the Genoese



In 1797, Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patented the washing machine.



In 1799, New York State abolished slavery.



In 1804, Ohio passed law restricting movement of Blacks



In 1834, the U.S. Senate voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.



In 1848, a Pennsylvania law decrees that no child under twelve could engage in commercial labor.



In 1854, during the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.



In 1865, Outdoor advertising legislation was enacted in New York State. The law banned "painting on stones, rocks and trees."



In 1885, The Salvation Army was officially organized in the U.S.



In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen. This meant that they could not be deported under the Chinese Exclusion Act.



In 1899, Budwiser beer magnate August Anheuser Busch, jr. was born. He died September 29, 1989.



In 1910, Mickey Mouse Club host Jimmie Dodd was born. He died in 1964.



In 1917, During World War I the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was founded.



In 1930, the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.



In 1933, In Germany, the Nazis ordered a ban on all Jews in businesses, professions and schools.



In 1939, the Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.



In 1941, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf died in Lewes, England.



In 1941, The Italian fleet was defeated by the British at the Battle of Matapan.



In 1942, during World War II, British naval forces raided the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire.



In 1943, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff died in Beverly Hills, Calif.



In 1953, Olympic Gold Medal athlete James Francis "Jim" Thorpe died in Lomita, Calif., at the age of 64.



In 1962, Jack Paar made his final appearance on the "Tonight" show.



In 1967, Raymond Burr starred in a TV movie titled "Ironside." The movie was later turned into a television series.



In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington at age 78.



In 1969, In London, Ringo Starr announces that there will be no more public appearances by the Beatles.



In 1972, Wilt Chamberlain plays his last pro basketball game



In 1974, A streaker ran onto the set of "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson."



In 1979, The King of Clowns, Emmett Kelly died at the age of 80.



In 1982, The soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" changed from CBS to NBC.



In 1986, More than 6,000 radio stations of all format varieties played "We are the World" simultaneously at 10:15 a.m. EST.



In 1990, In Britain, a joint Anglo-U.S. "sting" operation ended with the seizure of 40 capacitors, which can be used in the trigger mechanism of a nuclear weapon.



In 1991, The 100th episode of "L.A. Law" aired.



In 1997, a medical examiner revealed that some members of the Heaven's Gate cult who'd committed suicide in a California mansion had also been castrated in apparent pursuit of the group's ideal of androgynous immortality.



In 2000, In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court sharply curtailed police power to rely on anonymous tips to stop and search people.



Ten years ago (1994):



More than 50 people were killed in violence that erupted in Johannesburg, South Africa, during a march by Zulu nationalists.



Absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco died in Paris at age 81.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO broadened its attacks on Yugoslavia to target Serb military forces in Kosovo in the fifth straight night of airstrikes; thousands of refugees flooded into Albania and Macedonia from Kosovo.



The Baltimore Orioles beat a Cuban all-star team 3-2 in Havana.



Venus Williams beat kid sister Serena 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Lipton Championships in the first all-sister women's final in 115 years.



Paraguay's President Raúl Cubas Grau resigned after protests inspired by the assassination of Vice-President Luis María Argaña on March 23. The nation's Congress had accused Cubas and his political associate, Gen. Lino César Oviedo, for Cubas' murder. Senate President Luis González Macchi took office as Paraguay's new chief executive.



One year ago (2003):



American-led forces in Iraq dropped 1,000-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriya.



President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.



Japan launched its first spy satellites to monitor communist neighbor North Korea's missile development and suspected nuclear weapons programs.



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Today's Birthdays:



Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is 76.



Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski is 71.



Country musician Charlie McCoy is 63.



Movie director Mike Newell is 62.



Actress Conchata Ferrell is 61.



Actor Ken Howard is 60.



Actress Dianne Wiest is 56.



Rhythm and blues musician Milan Williams (The Commodores) is 56.



Olympian gold medalist Ronnie Ray Smith is 55.



Country singer Reba McEntire is 49.



American Gymnast and three-time Olympian Bart Conner is 46.



Actress Tracey Needham is 37.



Actor Max Perlich is 36.



Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 35.



Actor Vince Vaughn is 34.



Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 33.



Actor Ken L. is 31.



Actress Julia Stiles is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people." -

- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

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