Paradise Driver

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Today is Monday, May 10th.

The 131st day of 2004.

There are 235 days left in the year.

Today is "Mother's Day" in Latin America



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.



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On this date:



In 1497, Amerigo Vespucci sailed for the New World for the first time. Christopher Columbus got there first, but Vespucci wrote about his voyages. A Swiss publisher put out an atlas after learning of Vespucci's adventures but before learning about Columbus's. He suggested naming the New World after Vespucci...and so put America on the map.



In 1752, Benjamin Franklins 1st tests the lightning rod



In 1773, The English Parliament passed the Tea Act, which taxed all tea in the U.S. colonies.



In 1774, Louis XVI ascended the throne of France.



In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, N.Y.



In 1823, The first steamboat to ascent the Mississippi River arrived at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.



In 1865, Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Ga.



In 1872, Victoria Claflin Woodhull became the first woman nominated for the U.S. Presidency. She was nominated by the National Equal Rights Party.



In 1899, American dancer and actor, Fred Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz) was born in Omaha, NE. He died in Los Angeles on June 22, 1987 at the age of 88.



In 1902, Producer David O. Selznick was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died June 22, 1965 at the age of 63



In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was given the job of FBI director.



In 1933, The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.



In 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.



In 1940, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.



In 1941, Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission. (Hess ended up serving a life sentence at Spandau prison until 1987, when he apparently committed suicide.)



In 1943, U.S. troops invaded Attu in the Aleutian Islands to expel the Japanese.



In 1968, Preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris.



In 1969, US troops begin attack on Hill 937/Hamburger Hill



In 1973, A federal grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal indicted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans on perjury charges. The burglary at Democratic party offices in the Watergate office complex eventually led to President Nixon's most trusted aides...and attempts to cover up their involvement let to Nixon himself.



In 1978, Britain's Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.



In 1983 "Laverne & Shirley" last airs on ABC-TV



In 1984, The International Court of Justice said the U.S. should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua's ports (the U.S. had already said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue.)



In 1995, former President G. H. W. Bush's office released his letter of resignation from the National Rifle Association in which Bush expressed outrage over its reference to federal agents as "jack-booted government thugs."



In 2000, 11,000 residents were evacuated in Los Alamos, NM, due to a wildfire that was blown into a canyon. The fire had been deliberately set to control another wildfire that had been deliberately set to clear brush.



Ten years ago (1994):



The state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.



Nelson Mandela took the oath of office to become South Africa's first black president.



An annular, or "ring," eclipse cast a moving shadow across the United States.



Five years ago (1999):



China broke off talks on arms control with the United States, and allowed demonstrators to hurl stones at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for a third day to protest NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.



A military jury at Camp Lejeune, N.C., sentenced Captain Richard Ashby, a Marine pilot whose jet had clipped an Italian gondola cable, sending 20 people plunging to their deaths, to six months in prison and dismissed him from the corps for helping hide a videotape made during the flight (Ashby had been acquitted earlier of manslaughter).



One year ago (2003):



The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, returned triumphantly to his U.S.-occupied homeland after two decades in Iranian exile.



The New York Times announced on its Web site that one of its reporters, Jayson Blair, had "committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud," according to an investigation conducted by the paper.



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Today's Birthdays:



Sportscaster Pat Summerall is 74.



T.V. and radio personality Gary Owens is 68.



Rhythm and blues singer Henry Fambrough (The Spinners) is 66.



Writer-producer-director Jim Abrahams is 60.



Singer Donovan is 58.



Singer Dave Mason is 58.



Actress Meg Foster is 56.



Rhythm and blues singer Ron Banks (The Dramatics) is 53.



Rock singer Bono (U2) is 44.



Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is 41.



Model Linda Evangelista is 39.



Rock musician Krist Novoselic (Nirvana, Eyes Adrift) is 39.



Rapper Young MC is 37.



Actor Erik Palladino is 36.



Rock musician Jesse Vest (Tantric) is 27.



Actor Kenan Thompson is 26.



Rhythm and blues singer Jason Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 24.



Singer Ashley Poole (Dream) is 19.



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Thought for Today:

"Nothing recedes like success." -

- Walter Winchell, American columnist and broadcaster (1897-1972).

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