Paradise Driver

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Today is Thursday, June 10.

The 162nd day of 2004.

There are 204 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, two recovering alcoholics, to help each other stay sober.



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On this date:



In 1776, The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to write a statement of independence from Britain.



In 1793, The first public zoo, the Jardin des Plantes, opened in Paris.



In 1801, The north African state of Tripoli declared war on the United States in a dispute over safe passage of merchant vessels through the Mediterranean.



In 1847, Chicago Tribune begins publishing.



In 1859, Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin discovered the Comstock Lode near Virginia City, Nevada. It was the richest mining discovery in U.S. history.



In 1865, The Richard Wagner opera "Tristan und Isolde" premiered in Munich, Germany.



In 1905, The first forest fire lookout tower is placed in operation at Greenville ME.



In 1909, The SOS distress signal was used for the first time. The Cunard liner SS Slavonia used the signal when it wrecked off the Azores.



In 1916, Mecca, under control of the Turks (Ottoman Empire), fell to the Arabs during the Great Arab Revolt.



In 1922, singer-actress Judy Garland (Frances Gumm) was born in Grand Rapids, MN (NOT Michigan). She died in London, England on June 22, 1969 at age 47.



In 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain; Canada declared war on Italy.



In 1942, The Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of a Nazi official.



In 1943, The Allies began bombing Germany 24/7/365.



In 1943, the Ball Point Pen was patented by Lasalo Biro of Budapest, Hungary. The British Royal Air Force, who employed him, needed a pen that would write under low atmpspheric pressure at high altitudes during the war. It had been invented in 1938 while Biro was a journalist in Budapest, Hungary. Biro escaped the Nazis by travelling via Paris to Argentina in 1940. There, Englishman Henery Martin, in Buenos Aires on a mission for the British government, saw the invention and recognized its value for air crews making high altitude navigational calculations. Martin aquired the rights and began producing the ballpoint pens for the RAF.



In 1944, The youngest pitcher in major league baseball pitched his first game. Joe Nuxhall was 15 years old (and 10 months and 11 days).



In 1946, Italy replaced its abolished monarchy with a republic.



In 1948, Chuck Yeager exceeded the speed of sound in the Bell XS-1.



In 1954, PBS (then called NET) reaches San Francisco CA. KQED (Channel 9) starts broadcasting



In 1964, The Senate voted to limit further debate on a proposed civil rights bill, shutting off a filibuster by Southern states.



In 1965, Subway Sandwiches opened for business by Fred DeLuca.



In 1967, The Middle East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.



In 1977, Apple Computer ships its first Apple II



In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes and with it, horse racing's Triple Crown.



In 1989, HBO aired the first episode of "Tales from the Crypt."



In 1993, It was announced by scientists that genetic material was extracted from an insect that lived when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.



In 2002, Organized crime figure John Gotti died at a prison hospital in Missouri at age 61.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton intensified sanctions against Haiti's military leaders, suspending U.S. commercial air travel and most financial transactions between the two countries.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav troops departed Kosovo, prompting NATO to suspend its punishing 78-day air war.



The Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that the city of Chicago went too far in its fight against street gangs by ordering police to break up groups of loiterers.



One year ago (2003):



Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior Hamas leader, wounding him and killing two others. (Israel succeeded in killing Rantisi last April.)



ImClone chief Sam Waksal was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in connection with a stock-trading scandal.



A rocket holding the first of two Mars rovers blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.



Former treasury secretary and White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan died in Williamsburg, Va., at age 84.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Barry Morse is 86.



Britain's Prince Philip is 83.



Columnist Nat Hentoff is 79.



Actress June Haver is 78.



Actor-director Lionel Jeffries is 78.



Author Maurice Sendak is 76.



Astronaut (Gemini 4, Apollo 9) James A. "Jim" McDivitt is 75.



Attorney F. Lee Bailey is 71.



Actress Alexandra Stewart is 65.



Singer Shirley Alston Reeves (The Shirelles) is 63.



Actor Jurgen Prochnow is 63.



Media commentator Jeff Greenfield is 61.



Country singer-songwriter Thom Schuyler is 52.



Actor Andrew Stevens is 49.



Singer Barrington Henderson is 48.



Singer Maxi Priest is 43.



Actress Gina Gershon is 42.



Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 41.



Actress Elisabeth Shue is 41.



Rock musician Jimmy Chamberlin is 40.



Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 39.



Actor Doug McKeon is 38.



Rock musician Emma Anderson is 37.



Country musician Brian Hofeldt (The Derailers) is 37.



Rapper The D.O.C. is 36.



Rock singer Mike Doughty is 34.



Rhythm and blues singer Jo-Jo is 33.



Rhythm and blues singer Faith Evans is 31.



Rhythm and blues singer Lemisha Grinstead (702) is 26.



Actor Shane West is 26.



Singer Hoku is 23.



Actress Leelee Sobieski is 22.



Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski is 22.



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Thought for Today:

"All the historical books which contain no lies are extremely tedious." -

- Anatole France, French writer (1844-1924).

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