Paradise Driver

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Today is Saturday, May 1st.

The 122nd day of 2004.

There are 244 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.



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On this date:



In 1704, The Boston Newsletter published the first newspaper ad.



In 1707, The Act of Union unites England, Wales and Scotland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain; the countries adopt a single flag, the Union Jack.



In 1784, New York University is established.



In 1786, Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna.



In 1794, The first trade union in America is formed -- the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers -- (shoemakers).



In 1815, Georgetown University is founded in Washington, D.C.



In 1844, Samuel Morse sends 1st telegraphic message



In 1852, Adventurer "Calamity Jane" (Martha Jane Canary Burke) was born. She died August 1, 1903 at the age of 51.



In 1869, The "Folies-Bergère" opens in Paris France



In 1883 "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show



In 1884, Construction began in Chicago on the first skyscraper (the first steel skeleton construction), the ten-story Home Insurance Company of New York.



In 1889, Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany).



In 1893, The World's Columbian Exposition was officially opened in Chicago by President Cleveland.



In 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.



In 1912, The Beverly Hills Hotel opened.



In 1915, The liner Lusitania left New York on the same day the German Embassy took out advertisements warning anyone traveling on ships carrying a British flag that they did so at their own risk. It was sunk six days later with the loss of 1,198 lives.



In 1918, Tv host Jack Paar was born Canton, OH. He died January 27, 2004 at the age of 85.



In 1927, Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin. 17 years and 364 days later he commits suicide as the Soviet Russian Army enters Berlin.



In 1928, "Lei Day" is first observed (a Hawaiian celebration).



In 1931, New York's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated.



In 1931, Singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on CBS.



In 1935, Boulder Dam was finished after 4 years and 354 days.



In 1937, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.



In 1941, The Orson Welles motion picture "Citizen Kane" premiered in New York.



In 1941, The cereal Cheerios was introduced by General Mills.



In 1943, Food rationing began in the U.S.



In 1944,The Messerschmitt Me-262 Sturmvogel, the first operational jet aircraft (twin-jet fighter), makes its 1st flight



In 1945, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels committed suicide.



In 1959, West Germany introduced the 5 day work week.



In 1961, A Delta airliner destined for Miami became the first plane to be hijacked to Cuba by an armed gunman.



In 1963, Lesley Gore performed "It's My Party" on "American Bandstand."



In 1964, First BASIC program run on a computer (Dartmouth).



In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.)



In 1970, Students at Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, OH, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.



In 1971, Amtrak — which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 intercity passenger railroads — went into service.



In 1973, In Washington, DC, it was reported that there was evidence of a Watergate cover-up by top Nixon aides.



In 1975, Smokey the Bear retires after 25 years of public service.



In 1978, Ernest Morial was inaugurated as the first black mayor of New Orleans.



In 1981, Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3.



In 1988, The final episode of "Magnum, p.i." aired.



In 1988, "Newsweek" magazine reported that, according to a memoir by former White House chief of staff Donald Regan, astrology had influenced the planning of President Reagan's schedule.



In 1992, President Bush ordered 4,000 military troops into the riot-ravaged streets of Los Angeles.



In 1998, Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, Calif., at age 62.



In 2001, In Washington, DC, Chandra Levy disappeared. She was an intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. California Representative Gary Condit was named in the investigation. Her body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.



Ten years ago (1994):



Israeli and PLO delegates opened a final round of talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian autonomy prior to the signing of an agreement on self-rule.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic agreed to hand over three captured U.S. soldiers to the Reverend Jesse Jackson.



Despite protests, the National Rifle Association held its annual meeting in Denver 11 days after the Columbine shootings.



The "Liberty Bell Seven," the Mercury space capsule flown by Gus Grissom, was found in the Atlantic 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 38 years after it sank.



An amphibious boat (known as a "duck") sank at Hot Springs, Ark., killing 13.



"Charismatic," a 30-1 shot, charged to victory in the 125th Kentucky Derby.



One year ago (2003):



In Fallujah, Iraq, seven U.S. Army soldiers were injured when attackers threw two grenades into a compound. The attack occurred just hours after American fired on Iraqi protesters in the street outside after they received fire.



President Bush, speaking to the nation from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln off the Southern California coast, declared major combat in Iraq over, but also said "difficult work" remained ahead.



A magnitude 6.4 earthquake killed 177 people in Turkey.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Glenn Ford is 88.



Actor Dan O'Herlihy is 85.



Comedian Louis Nye (Nyestadt) is 82.



Former astronaut ("Aurora 7") Malcolm Scott Carpenter is 79.



Country singer Sonny James is 75.



Jazz singer Shirley Horn is 70.



Singer Judy Collins is 65.



Actor Stephen Macht is 62.



Singer Rita Coolidge is 59.



Actor-director Douglas Barr is 55.



Actor Dann Florek is 53.



Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Junior is 50.



Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen is 44.



Actress Maia Morgenstern ("The Passion of the Christ") is 42.



Country singer Wayne Hancock is 39.



Rock musician Johnny Colt is 38.



Actor Charlie Schlatter is 38.



Country singer Tim McGraw is 37.



Rock musician D'Arcy is 36.



Country singer Cory Morrow is 32.



Actor Darius McCrary is 28.



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Thought for Today:

"Think much, speak little, and write less." -

- Italian proverb.

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