Paradise Driver

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Today is Sunday, May 30th.

The 151st day of 2004.

There are 215 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 30, 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.



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On this date:



In 143, Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.



In 1539, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto landed in Florida.



In 1588, The Spanish Aramada, under Medina-Sidonia, departs Lisbon to invade England.



In 1783, The Pennsylvania Evening Post and Daily Advertiser is the first daily newspaper to be published in the United States.



In 1821, The Rubber Fire Hose was patented by James Boyd. It has a cotton jacket.



In 1848, The ice cream freezer was patented by William G. Young of Baltimore, Maryland.



In 1858, The Hudson Bay Company's rights to Vancouver Island are revoked.



In 1872, Mahlon Loomis patents wireless telegraphy



In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death when a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in imminent danger of collapsing triggered a stampede.



In 1889, The brasierre was invented.



In 1896, The first automobile accident occurred in New York City when Henry Wells hit a bicyclist Evelyn Thomas. The driver was not hurt, but Thomas had a fractured leg.



In 1911, Indianapolis saw its first long-distance auto race; Ray Harroun was the winner.



In 1922, The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., by Chief Justice William Howard Taft.



In 1937, Memorial Day Massacre - striking Republic Steel workers and their families, while parading towards the Republic factory, are attacked for no reason by police in Chicago (10 killed).



In 1943, American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.



In 1958, Unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflict were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.



In 1962, Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.



In 1971, The American space probe Mariner Nine blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a journey to Mars.



In 1982, Spain became NATO's 16th member.



In 1991, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors can be sued for the legal advice they give police and can be forced to pay damages when that advice leads to someone's rights being violated.



In 1996, Britain's Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.



In 1997, Child molester Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, New Jersey, of raping and strangling a seven-year-old neigbhor, Megan Kanka, whose 1994 murder inspired "Megan's Law," requiring that communities be notified when sex offenders move in. (Timmendequas was later sentenced to death.)



In 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued new terror-fighting guidelines allowing FBI agents to visit Internet sites, libraries, churches and political organizations as part of an effort to pre-empt terrorist strikes.



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Ten years ago (1994):



The U.N. Security Council warned North Korea to stop refueling a nuclear reactor and allow U.N. monitors to perform full inspections.



Mormon Church president Ezra Taft Benson died in Salt Lake City at age 94.



Five years ago (1999):



Astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery rigged cranes and other tools to the exterior of the international space station during a spacewalk; then, the astronauts entered the orbiting outpost for three days of making repairs and delivering supplies.



Kenny Brack won the crash-marred Indianapolis 500, driving a car owned by racing legend A.J. Foyt.



One year ago (2003):



ABC-TV news anchor Peter Jenning was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.



President Bush left for a weeklong tour of Europe and the Middle East.



The U.N. Security Council unanimously authorized the deployment of a French-led international force in northeastern Congo, the scene of ethnic fighting.



A federal judge ruled that the U.S. government could keep four watercolors signed by Adolf Hitler and millions of photographs taken by Hitler's personal photographer. A memorabilia collector and heirs of Hitler had charged that the U.S. Army had seized the materials near the end of World War II. The judge ruled that the heirs had waited too long to reopen the case.



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Today's Birthdays:



Country musician Johnny Gimble is 78.



Actor Clint Walker is 77.



Actor Keir Dullea is 68.



Actress Ruta Lee is 68.



Actor Michael J. Pollard (Pollack) is 65.



Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 53.



MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) founder Candy Lightner is 58.



Actor Colm Meaney (Miles O'Brien on Star Trek/TNG & DS-9) is 51.



Actor Ted McGinley is 46.



Actor Ralph Carter is 43.



Actress Tonya Pinkins is 42.



Country singer Wynonna (Christina Judd) is 40.



Rock musician Tom Morello (Audioslave) is 40.



Rock musician Patrick Dahlheimer (Live) is 33.



Actor Trey Parker is 32.



Rapper Cee-Lo is 30.



Actor Blake Bashoff is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"There are two statements about human beings that are true: that all human beings are alike, and that all are different. On those two facts all human wisdom is founded." -

- Mark Van Doren, American poet (1894-1972).

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