Paradise Driver

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Today is Sunday, April 25th.

The 116th day of 2004.

There are 250 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On April 25, 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.



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On this date:



In 1507, Geographer Martin Waldseemuller first uses the name America to indicate the New World, falsely giving discovery credit to Amerigo Vespucci.



In 1684, A patent is granted for the thimble.



In 1831, The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.



In 1859, Ground was broken for the Suez Canal.



In 1867, Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.



In 1874, Italian electrical engineer and Nobel laureate Guglielmo Marchese Marconi (inventor of wireless communications) was born in Bologna, Italy. He died in 1937.



In 1898, The United States formally declared war on Spain.



In 1901, New York became the first state to require automobile license plates; the fee was $1.



In 1928, Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for the blind



In 1940, W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presented the first circus on TV.



In 1945, During World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses.



In 1945, Last Boeing B-17 attack against Nazi Germany.



In 1945, Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.



In 1950, Basketball player Chuck Cooper becomes the first African-American in the NBA when he is drafted by the Boston Celtics.



In 1953, Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggested the double helix structure of DNA.



In 1957, WUHY TV channel 35 in Philadelphia PA (PBS) begins broadcasting



In 1959, The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.



In 1960, The US submarine Triton completed the first fully submerged trip around the globe.



In 1961, Robert Noyce was granted a patent for the integrated circuit, the basis for electronics and computers.



In 1971, About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington.



In 1974, NFL moves the goal posts & adopts sudden-death playoff.



In 1978, Supreme Court rules pension plans can't require women to pay more.



In 1980, A U.S. commando mission to rescue 53 American embassy hostages in Iran was abandoned in the desert with the loss of eight American lives when a helicopter collided with a tanker aircraft.



In 1983, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.



In 1983, The "Pioneer Ten" spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.



In 1983, ABC's "Nightline" expands from ½ hour to a full hour.



In 1990, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua, ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule.



In 1990, The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery.



In 1991, the United States announced its first financial aid to Hanoi since the 1960s: $1 million to make artificial limbs for Vietnamese disabled during the war.



In 1992, The final episode of "Growing Pains" aired on ABC.



In 1992, The final episode of "Who's the Boss?" aired on ABC.



In 1992, Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.



Ten years ago (1994):



Terrorist bombers struck twice on the eve of South Africa's first all-race election, killing about a dozen people.



Conservative Tsutomu Hata became prime minister of Japan, succeeding Morihiro Hosokawa.



Five years ago (1999):



On the third and final day of their Washington summit, NATO leaders promised military protection and economic aid to Yugoslavia's neighbors for standing with the West against Slobodan Milosevic.



More than 70,000 mourners gathered in Littleton, Colo., to remember the victims of the Columbine High School massacre.



Lord Killanin, former president of the International Olympic Committee, died in Dublin, Ireland, at age 84.



One year ago (2003):



The Pentagon announced that Army Secretary Thomas White, whose tenure as civilian chief of the military's largest service was marked by tensions with his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was leaving office.



Georgia lawmakers voted to scrap the Dixie cross from the state's flag.



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Today's Birthdays:



Country musician Vassar Clements is 76.



Movie director-writer Paul Mazursky is 74.



NBA'er Meadowlark Lemon is 72.



Songwriter Jerry Leiber is 71.



Actor Alfred "Al" Pacino is 64.



Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 59.



Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 59.



Actress Talia Rose Shire is 58.



Actor Jeffrey DeMunn is 57.



Rock musician Michael Brown (The Left Banke) is 55.



Rock musician Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 54.



Country singer-songwriter Rob Crosby is 50.



Actor Hank Azaria is 40.



Rock singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 40.



Rock musician Eric Avery (Jane's Addiction) is 39.



TV personality Jane Clayson is 37.



Actress Renee Zellweger is 35.



Actor Jason Lee is 34.



Actor Jason Wiles is 34.



Actress Emily Bergl is 29.



Singer Jacob Underwood (O Town) is 24.



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Thought for Today:

"Prophecy is the wit of a fool." -

- Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born author (1899-1977).

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