Paradise Driver

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Today is Saturday, April 10th.

The 101st day of 2004.

There are 265 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.



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On this date:



In 1790, The first U.S. patent law, protecting inventions against piracy, is approved.



In 1790, Robert Gray is 1st American to circumnavigate the Earth



In 1814, British and Spanish forces defeated Napoleon's army at the Battle of Toulouse. This led to his abdication and exile to Elba the next day.



In 1825, 1st hotel in Hawaii opens



In 1841, The New York "Tribune" begins publication under editor Horace Greeley



In 1845, More than 1,000 buildings damaged by fire in Pittsburgh Pa.



In 1847, American journalist Joseph Pulitzer, whose will provided for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes, was born in Makó, Hungary. He died in 1911.



In 1849, The Safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt of New York City. He immediately sold the patent rights for $100.



In 1866, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.



In 1872, The first Arbor day was celebrated in Nebraska; it was later changed to April 22.



In 1903, American playwright, legislator, and diplomat Clare Boothe Luce was born in New York City. She died in 1987.



In 1925, The novel "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published.



In 1930, The first synthetic rubber is produced.



In 1932, German president Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.



In 1939, The British Mediterranean fleet sailed to protect Greece and Turkey from possible Italian aggression.



In 1941, In World War II, U.S. troops occupied Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration.



In 1945, German Me 262 jet fighters shot down ten U.S. bombers near Berlin.



In 1945, Members of the U.S. 80th Division entered the Buchenwald concentration camp north of Weimar, Germany. It was the first of the Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by Allied troops. Buchenwald had been established in 1937 and an estimated 56,000 people died there.



In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the 1st black in modern major league baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers)



In 1953, The three-dimensional horror movie "House of Wax," produced by Warner Brothers and starring Vincent Price, premiered in New York.



In 1955, Polio vaccine tested a success by Dr. Jonas Salk.



In 1957, Ricky Nelson sang for first time on TV's "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." He performed the song "I'm Walking."



In 1960, The U.S. Senate passed the Civil Rights Bill.



In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, the former Nazi, was put on trial as a war criminal in an Israeli court in Jerusalem.



In 1963, The nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher failed to surface off Cape Cod, Mass., in a disaster that claimed 129 lives.



In 1968, President Johnson replaced General Westmoreland with General Creighton Abrams in Vietnam.



In 1968, Ferry MV Wahine capsized in the harbor mouth of Wellington NZ in 100mph winds. 200 killed.



In 1972, The United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.



In 1974, Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel.



In 1978, Arkady Shevchenko, a high-ranking Soviet citizen employed by the United Nations, sought political asylum in the United States.



In 1981, Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands won election to the British Parliament.



In 1987, the state of Utah began pumping water from the Great Salt Lake to reduce damaging record water levels. The pumping created a 500-square-mile lake on the Bonneville salt flats.



In 1991, Last automat (coin operated cafeteria) closes (3rd & 42nd St, New York NY)



In 1995, NYC bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 or more



In 1998, The Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.



In 1998, the anti-impotence drug Viagra went on the market and became one of the best-selling new medications of all time. (Insert your own joke here.)



Ten years ago (1994):



Two U.S. F-16 fighters bombed Bosnian Serb targets in Gorazde -- NATO's first-ever attack on ground positions. (A second air strike took place the following day.)



Five years ago (1999):



Bad weather hampered NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, but the allies warned Slobodan Milosevic the lull wouldn't last. The Pentagon, meanwhile, announced that 82 U.S. planes would join the force conducting airstrikes over Yugoslavia.



The Miami Heat humiliated the Chicago Bulls, 82-49, holding the Bulls to the lowest point total since the introduction of the shot clock.



One year ago (2003):



Iraqi television aired videotaped greetings from President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.



The House passed a bill creating a national Amber Alert system and strengthening child pornography laws.



A fire in a boarding school for the deaf in southern Russia killed 30 children.



Eva Narcissus Boyd, the singer formerly known as "Little Eva," died in Kinston, N.C.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Harry Morgan is 89.



Actor Max von Sydow is 75.



Actress Liz Sheridan is 75.



Actor Omar Sharif is 72.



Sportscaster John Madden is 68.



Rhythm and blues singer Bobbie Smith (The Spinners) is 68.



Sportscaster Don Meredith is 66.



Reggae artist Bunny Wailer is 57.



Actor Steven Seagal is 53.



Folk-pop singer Terre Roche (The Roches) is 51.



Actor Peter MacNicol is 50.



Rock musician Steven Gustafson (10,000 Maniacs) is 47.



Singer-producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds is 46.



Rock singer-musician Brian Setzer is 45.



Rapper Afrika Bambaataa is 44.



Actor Jeb Adams is 43.



Olympic gold medal speedskater Cathy Turner is 42.



Rock musician Tim "Herb" Alexander is 39.



Actor-comedian Orlando Jones is 36.



Singer Kenny Lattimore is 34.



Blues singer Shemekia Copeland is 25.



Actor Ryan Merriman is 21.



Singer Mandy Moore is 20.



Actor Haley Joel Osment is 16.



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Thought for Today:

"Take from me the hope that I can change the future, and you will send me mad." -

- Israel Zangwill, English dramatist (1864-1926).

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