Paradise Driver

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Today is Saturday, May 15th.

The 136th day of 2004.

There are 230 days left in the year.

This is Armed Forces Day.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 15, 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.



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On this date:



In 756, Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova Spain



In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, marries her third husband James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was acquitted of complicity in her second husband's murder.



In 1602, Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.



In 1618, Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law.



In 1672, The first copyright law in the colonies was enacted by the Massachusetts general court for "The General Laws and Liberties of the Massachusetts Colony."



In 1718, Britain's James Puckle patents the first machine gun.



In 1856, American writer L(yman) Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, NY. He created an original fairyland, the land of Oz, a world of fantastic characters and lighthearted adventure. He died May 6, 1919 at the age of 62



In 1886, Poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Mass.



In 1918, U.S. airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.



In 1930, Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyo.



In 1940, Nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States.



In 1941, Joe DiMaggio began his historic major-league hitting streak of 56 games.



In 1942, Gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles.



In 1948, Hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.



In 1957, Great Britain drops a hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific, becoming the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union, with thermonuclear capabilities.



In 1963, Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith Seven on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.



In 1970, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.



In 1972, George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, Md., for the Democratic presidential nomination.



In 1975, The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. This was the final U.S. action of the Viet Nam War.



In 1979, The final episode of "Starsky and Hutch" was aired by ABC.



In 1988, The Soviet Union begins withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan nearly a decade after invading the country.



In 1991, French President Francois Mitterrand appointed Edith Cresson to be France's first female premier.



In 2001, Tens of thousands of Palestinians packed town squares in the West Bank town of Ramallah as they marked what they called the day of "catastrophe" in 1948, when they were uprooted and the state of Israel created.



Ten years ago (1994):



Supreme Court nominee Stephen G. Breyer arrived in Washington to spend the night at the White House, while Republicans joined Democrats in predicting swift Senate confirmation.



Five years ago (1999):



Russian President Boris Yeltsin triumphed over his Communist foes, surviving an impeachment vote in the Russian parliament.



Charismatic won the Preakness, finishing one and a-half lengths ahead of Menifee.



One year ago (2003):



Emergency officials rushed to a series of mock catastrophes in the Chicago area on the busiest day of a national weeklong exercise.



Runaway Texas Democrats boarded two buses and returned home after a self-imposed weeklong exile in Oklahoma that succeeded in killing a redistricting bill they opposed.



The three-year championship reign of the Los Angeles Lakers came to a decisive end as the San Antonio Spurs overpowered the Lakers 110-82 to win the Western Conference semifinal series 4 games to 2.



Country music star June Carter Cash died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 73.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Constance Cummings is 94.



Singer Richard Edward "Eddy" Arnold is 86.



Actor Joseph Wiseman is 86.



Playwright Sir Peter Shaffer ("Equus") is 78.



Actress-singer Anna Maria Alberghetti is 68.



Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy is 68.



Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is 67.



Singer Trini Lopez is 67.



Singer Lenny Welch is 66.



Actress-singer Lainie Kazan is 64.



Actor-director Paul Rudd ("Knots Landing") is 64.



Country singer K.T. Oslin is 62.



Singer-songwriter Brian Eno is 56.



Actor Nicholas Hammond ("The Sound of Music") is 54.



Actor Chazz Palminteri is 53.



Baseball Hall-of-Famer George Brett is 51.



Musician-composer Mike Oldfield ("Tubular Bells") is 51.



Actor Lee Horsley is 49.



Singer-rapper Prince Be (PM Dawn) is 34.



Actor Brad Rowe is 34.



Actor David Charvet is 32.



Rock musician Ahmet Zappa is 30.



Olympic gold-medal gymnast Amy Chow is 26.



Actress Jamie-Lynn DiScala is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"People love to talk but hate to listen." -

- Alice Duer Miller, American author (1874-1942).

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