Paradise Driver

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Today is Wednesday, April 28th

The 119th day of 2004.

There are 247 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On April 28, 1789, there was a mutiny on HMS Bounty as the crew of the British ship set Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific.



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On this date:



In 1686, The first volume of Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathamatic" was published.



In 1758, The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was born in Westmoreland County, Va.



In 1770, Captain James Cook in Endeavor lands at Botany Bay in Australia



In 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.



In 1910, 1st night air flight (Claude Grahame-White, England)



In 1914, 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles WV



In 1914, W H Carrier patents air conditioner



In 1916, The British declared martial law throughout Ireland.



In 1919, 1st jump with Army Air Corp (rip-cord type) parachute (Les Irvin)



In 1924, 119 die in Benwood WV coal mine disaster



In 1932, Yellow fever vaccine for humans announced



In 1940, Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000"



In 1942, Coffee rationing begins in the U.S.



In 1944, Exercise "Tiger" ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats



In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.



In 1947, A six-man expedition sailed from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the "Kon-Tiki" on a 101-day journey to Polynesia.



In 1952, War with Japan officially ended as a treaty that had been signed by the United States and 47 other nations took effect.



In 1956, Last French troops leave Vietnam



In 1958, Vice President Nixon and his wife, Pat, began a goodwill tour of Latin America that was marred by hostile mobs in Lima, Peru, and Caracas, Venezuela.



In 1967, Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day General William C. Westmoreland told Congress the U.S. "would prevail in Vietnam."



In 1967, Expo 67 opens in Montréal Canada



In 1968, "Hair" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 1750 performances



In 1969, French President Charles de Gaulle resigned his office after voters rejected major government reforms in a referendum.



In 1971, Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. became the first black admiral in the U.S. Navy.



In 1974, A federal jury in New York acquitted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice H. Stans of charges in connection with a secret $200,000 contribution to President Nixon's re-election campaign from financier Robert Vesco.



In 1975, Helicopters evacuated the last American civilians from Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital.



In 1986, The Soviet Union informed the world of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.



In 1987, The U.S. barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the country.



In 1988, An Aloha Airlines flight from Hilo to Honolulu turned into a tragedy...and a miracle. 18 feet of the Boeing 737's hull ripped away. A flight attendant was sucked through the hole to her death...her body dropping 24-thousand feet into the Pacific. Scores of passengers and crew were injured. Yet the pilot and co-pilot managed to land the torn-open jet on Maui.



In 1993, The first "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," promoted by the New York-based Ms. Foundation, was held in an attempt to boost the self-esteem of girls by having them visit a parent's place of work.



In 1997, A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons took effect. Russia and other countries such as Iraq and North Korea did not sign.



In 2000, Jay Leno received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.



Ten years ago (1994):



Former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had betrayed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.



The Navy expelled 24 midshipmen from the U.S Naval Academy in what was said to be the biggest cheating scandal in Annapolis history.



Five years ago (1999):



In a sharp repudiation of President Clinton's policies, the House rejected, on a tie vote of 213-213, a measure expressing support for NATO's five-week-old air campaign against Yugoslavia; the House also voted 249-180 to limit the president's authority to use ground forces in Yugoslavia.



Actor Rory Calhoun died in Burbank, Calif., at age 76.



One year ago (2003):



On Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday, delegates from inside and outside Iraq agreed to hold a nation-building meeting and fashion a temporary, post-Saddam government.



The Soyuz space capsule carrying a U.S.-Russian space crew docked with the international space station.



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Today's Birthdays:



Author Harper Lee is 78.



Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 74.



The former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, is 67.



Actress-singer Ann-Margret is 63.



Actress Marcia Strassman is 56.



Actor Paul Guilfoyle ("CSI") is 55.



Actor Bruno Kirby is 55.



"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is 54.



Actress Mary McDonnell is 51.



Rock singer-musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 51.



Rapper Too Short is 38.



Actress Simbi Khali is 33.



Actor Chris Young is 33.



Rapper Big Gipp is 31.



Actress Elisabeth Rohm ("Law & Order") is 31.



Actress Penelope Cruz is 30.



Actor Nate Richert is 26.



Actress Jessica Alba is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go." -

- Bernard Malamud, American author (1914-1986).

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