Paradise Driver

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Today is Friday, May 7th.

The 128th day of 2004.

There are 238 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 7, 1915, nearly 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.



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On this date:



In 1429, The English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.



In 1789, The first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. George Washington.



In 1800, The Northwest Territory is divided by law into two territories, the Ohio and the Indiana Territory.



In 1847, The American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia.



In 1888, George Eastman patents "Kodak box camera"



In 1901, Actor Frank James "Gary" Cooper was born in Helena, MT. He died May 13, 1961 at the age of 59.



In 1913, British House of Commons rejects woman's right to vote



In 1928, England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21



In 1934, The newly restored U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) is permanently berthed at Constitution Drydock in Boston.



In 1939, Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.



In 1940, Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.



In 1942, In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attacked each other with carrier planes. It was the first time in the history of naval warfare where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other.



In 1943, The last major German strongholds in North Africa, Tunis and Bizerte, fell to Allied forces.



In 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France. It would take effect the next day.



In 1947, "Kraft Television Theater" premiered on NBC.



In 1954, The 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces.



In 1963, The United States launched the Telstar Two communications satellite.



In 1975, President Ford formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era." In Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.



In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of its Triple Crown victories.



In 1984, A $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they'd suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.



In 1992, A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified as the 27th amendment.



In 1997, A report released by the U.S. government said that Switzerland provided Nazi Germany with equipment and credit during World War II. Germany exchanged for gold what had been plundered or stolen. Switzerland did not comply with postwar agreements to return the gold.



In 1998, Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, agreed to buy Chrysler Corporation for more than $37 billion.



In 1998, Residents of London voted to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. The vote would take place in May 2000.



In 2001, California electricity grid operators ordered statewide rolling power blackouts.



In 2002, Seattle Slew died in Lexington, Kentucky, at age 28.



Ten years ago (1994):



Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum.



Go For Gin won the 120th Kentucky Derby.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO jets struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three people and injuring 20; President Clinton called the attack a "tragic mistake."



A jury in Pontiac, Mich., ordered "The Jenny Jones Show" to pay $25 million to the family of Scott Amedure, a gay man who was shot to death after revealing a crush on Jonathan Schmitz, a fellow guest on the talk show. (However, the Michigan Court of Appeals later overturned the award, and the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.)



One year ago (2003):



President Bush ordered U.S. sanctions against Iraq lifted, allowing U.S. humanitarian aid and remittances to flow into Iraq.



The White House announced President Bush had chosen New Mexico oilman Colin R. McMillan to be secretary of the Navy and Air Force Secretary James Roche to replace the dismissed secretary of the Army, Thomas White. (However, McMillan died an apparent suicide the following July, while Roche's nomination is being held up in Congress.)



Roger Moore collapsed during a matinee performance of the Broadway comedy "The Play What I Wrote." He finished the show after a 10-minute break. He was fitted with a pacemaker the following day.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Darren McGavin is 82.



Singer Teresa Brewer is 73.



Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) is 72.



Singer Jimmy Ruffin is 65.



Singer Johnny Maestro is 65.



Actress Robin Strasser is 59.



Singer-songwriter Bill Danoff is 58.



Rock musician Bill Kreutzmann (The Dead) is 58.



NBC newsman Tim Russert is 54.



Actor Robert Hegyes is 53.



Movie writer-director ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High") Amy Heckerling is 50.



Actor Michael E. Knight is 45.



Rock musician Phil Campbell (Motorhead) is 43.



Country musician Rick Schell (Pinmonkey) is 41.



Rock singer-musician Chris O'Connor (Primitive Radio Gods) is 39.



Actress Traci Lords (Nora Louise Kuzma) is 35.



Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry is 32.



Actor Breckin Meyer is 30.



Actor Taylor Abrahamse is 13.



Grandson Tyler Jacob "TJ" Roy is 11. (grandpa sent him a new e-Machine computer for his present)



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Thought for Today:

"Men tire themselves in pursuit of rest." -

- Laurence Sterne, English author (1713-1768 ).

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