Paradise Driver

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Today is Friday, May 14th

The 135th day of 2004.

There are 231 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 14, 1904, the first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis, as part of the World's Fair commemorating the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase.



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On this date:



In 1643, Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis the 13th.



In 1796, Edward Jenner inoculated a healthy 8-year-old boy with cowpox virus; the boy subsequently withstood repeated attempts to infect him with smallpox.



In 1804, The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis.



In 1853, Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.



In 1874 McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, MA, for the first college football game to charge admission.



In 1897, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time. It was at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled.



In 1897, Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph.



In 1913, The Rockefeller Foundation was created by John D. Rockefeller with an endowment of $100,000,000.



In 1935, Los Angeles' Griffith Planetarium opens, 3rd in US



In 1936, Pop singer/Actor Bobby Darin (Walden Robert Cassotto) was born in New York, NY. He died December 20, 1973 at the age of 37.



In 1942, The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps was established.



In 1942, The British, while retreating from Burma, reached India.



In 1948, When British rule over Palestine ends, Israel is proclaimed an independent state and is declared open to Jewish immigration.



In 1955, Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland.



In 1961, A bus carrying Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama.



In 1964, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev joined United Arab Republic President Gamel Abdel Nasser in setting off charges, diverting the Nile River from the site of the Aswan High Dam project.



In 1973, The United States launched Skylab One, its first manned space station.



In 1973, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, last airs on NBC-TV



In 1975, U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation.



In 1980, President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services.



In 1989, The final episode of "Family Ties" aired.



In 1998, Singer-actor, "Chairman of the Board", Frances Albert "Frank" Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82. He was born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, NJ.



In 1998, The final episode of "Seinfeld" aired on NBC. The commercial time during the show was priced at $2 million for 30 seconds.



In 1998, Singer George Michael pled no contest in the Beverly Hills Municipal Court to committing a lewd act in a park restroom. He was fined $810, given 80 hours of community service, and ordered to undergo counseling.



Ten years ago (1994):



The West Bank town of Jericho saw its first full day of Palestinian self-rule following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, an event celebrated by Palestinians.



Five years ago (1999):



His previous calls rebuffed, President Clinton finally got through to Chinese President Jiang Zemin; Clinton expressed hope the two countries could repair the damage to their relations since the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.



One year ago (2003):



Smugglers abandoned more than 100 illegal immigrants in a locked trailer at a Texas truck stop; 19 people died.



In Chechnya, a female suicide bombing killed 18 people in an apparent attempt on the life of the Moscow-backed chief administrator (Akhmad Kadyrov).



President Bush met for the first time with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun; both leaders said they were united in seeking a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons.



Death claimed actress Dame Wendy Hiller in Beaconsfield, England, at age 90; actor Robert Stack in Beverly Hills, California, at age 84; and Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dave DeBusschere in New York at age 62.



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Today's Birthdays:



Opera singer Patrice Munsel is 79.



Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is 62.



Rock singer-musician Jack Bruce (Cream) is 61.



Movie producer George Lucas is 60.



Actress Meg Foster is 56.



Actress Season Hubley is 53.



Rock singer David Byrne is 52.



Movie director Robert Zemeckis is 52.



Actor Tim Roth is 43.



Rock singer Ian Astbury (The Cult) is 42.



Rock musician C.C./Cecil DeVille is 42.



Rock musician Mike Inez (Alice In Chains) is 38.



Fabrice Morvan (ex-Milli Vanilli) is 38.



Rhythm and blues singer Raphael Saadiq is 38.



Actress Cate Blanchett is 35.



Singer Danny Wood (New Kids on the Block) is 35.



Movie writer-director Sofia Coppola is 33.



Singer Natalie Appleton (All Saints) is 31.



Singer Shanice is 31.



Actress Amber Tamblyn is 21.



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Thought for Today:

"Ah, les bons vieux temps ou nous etions si malheureux!" (Oh, the good old times when we were so unhappy!) -

- French saying.

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