Paradise Driver

Today is Saturday, June 19th.

The 171st day of 2004.

There are 195 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On June 19, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.



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On this date:



In 240, BCE., Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the earth, using two sticks.



In 1566, The man who would be King James -- first of Scotland (James VI) and then of England (James I)-- was born. This is the King James who ordered a new translation of the Bible into English that was plain enough to be understood by the common man. Most Protestant churches still use it today...and some students of language see the clever complexity of Shakespeare and the simple elegance of the King James Edition as the twin pillars of the mother tongue.



In 1586, English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island, N.C., after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in America.



In 1778, U.S. General George Washington's troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training.



In 1846, The New York Knickerbocker Club ("Knickerbockers") played the New York Club ("New York Nine") in the first ever organized (by Alexander Cartwright) baseball game. Played at the Elysian Field, Hoboken, NJ, the "Knicks" won 24-1.



In 1862, Slavery was outlawed in U.S. territories.



In 1867, First Belmont Stakes, Ruthless wins.



In 1897, Actor/Comedian Moe Howard (Moses Horwitz), of "The Three Stooges" was born in Brooklyn NY. He was the brother of "Curly" and "Shemp". He died May 4, 1975 at age 77.



In 1902, Bandleader Guy Lombardo was born in London, Ontario, Canada. He played the sweetest music this side of heaven with his "Royal Canadians". Famous for his annual New Year's Eve TV show and the song "Auld Lang Syne". He sold over 100 million records. He died November 5, 1977 at age 75.



In 1903, Baseball's "Iron Horse," Hall-of-Famer Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig, was born in New York City. 2,721 hits, 1,990 RBIs, .341 avg., 493 HRs, played record 2130 consecutive games. MVP in 1936. Died in New York City on June 2, 1941 at age 37, of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease".



In 1910, Father's Day was celebrated for the first time, in Spokane, Wash. Initiated by Mrs. John B. Dodd, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA



In 1911, In Pennsylvania, the first motion-picture censorship board was established.



In 1912, A new labor law is passed by Congress, extending the 8-hour working day to all workers under federal contract.



In 1914, The comic strip "Captain and the Kids" debut in newspapers.



In 1917, During World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames. The family took the name "Windsor."



In 1923, "Moon Mullins", Comic Strip, debuts.



In 1931, The first commercial photoelectric cell is installed in West Haven Ct.



In 1934, The first movie of the sun was taken.



In 1934, The Federal Communications Commission was created; it replaced the Federal Radio Commission.



In 1940, "Brenda Starr," first cartoon strip by a woman, appears in Chicago.



In 1940, The "Mickey Mouse" comic strip is published containing a small swastika in the last panel of the strip.



In 1941, "Cheerios Cereal" invented, O-shaped cereal 1/2-inch diameter, .0025 ounce, 400=1 serving; first called "Cheerie Oats".



In 1942, Norma Jeane Mortenson (Marilyn Monroe) and her 21-year-old neighbor Jimmy Dougherty were married. They were divorced in June of 1946.



In 1946, Gillette Razor Company became the first company to be a television network sponsor. They sponsored the Joe Louis vs. Bill Conn heavyweight boxing match.



In 1947, Gangster bigwig Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was shot to death at girlfriend Virginia Hill's mansion in Beverly Hills. The mob was reportedly angry over his exorbitant Las Vegas gambling spending sprees.



In 1947, The first plane (F-80) to exceed 600 mph (1004 kph) was flown by Albert Boyd in Muroc, California.



In 1947, The Tucker automobile premieres in Chicago.



In 1951, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1, 1955 and lowered the draft age to 18.



In 1952, "I've Got A Secret" debuted on CBS-TV with Garry Moore as host



In 1953, Julius Rosenberg (age 35, born May 12, 1918 ) and wife Ethel Rosenberg (age 37, born September 28, 1915), convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining NY. The first U.S. civilians to be put to death for espionage.



In 1961, The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's constitution requiring state officeholders to profess a belief in the existence of God.



In 1961, Kuwait regained complete independence from Britain.



In 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova returned to Earth after spending nearly three days as the first woman in space.



In 1973, "The Rocky Horror Show", the stage musical that later developed into the cult-classic film, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", opens in London.



In 1977, Pope Paul VI proclaimed a 19th-century Philadelphia bishop, John Neumann, the first male U.S. saint.



In 1978, "Garfield", created by Jim Davis, debuts in forty American newspapers.



In 1982, In a case that galvanized the Asian-American community, Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American, was beaten to death outside a nightclub in Highland Park MI, by two auto workers who later received probation for manslaughter.



In 1984, The Chicago "Bulls" pick Michael Jordan of the University of North Carolina third in the NBA draft, following Hakeem Olajuwon of the University of Houston and Sam Bowie of the University of Kentucky.



In 1987, The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring any public school teaching the theory of evolution to also teach creationism science as well.



In 1988, Over 3,000 East Germans gathered at the Berlin Wall to hear Michael Jackson. Jackson was performing a concert on the other side of the wall in West Berlin



In 1989, The movie "Batman" premiered.



In 1998, A study published in the British medical journal The Lancet said smoking more than doubles the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease.



In 2000, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a group prayer led by students at public-school football games violated the 1st Amendment's principle that called for the separation of church and state.



In 2001, A jury in San Jose, California, convicted motorist Andrew Burnett of tossing a little dog to its death on a busy highway in a bout of road rage directed at the dog's owner; he was sentenced to three years in prison for the death of Leo, a fluffy white bichon frise who was struck by several vehicles after Burnett grabbed the dog from its owner's car during the verbal altercation and tossed Leo into oncoming traffic.



Ten years ago (1994):



Former President Jimmy Carter, just returned from North Korea, said he believed the crisis with Pyongyang was over following talks with North Korean President Kim Il Sung on how to resolve the nuclear issue.



Five years ago (1999):



Britain's Prince Edward married commoner Sophie Rhys-Jones in Windsor, England.



The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in game six, which had gone into triple overtime and ended past midnight.



Turin, Italy, was chosen as the site of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.



Stephen King was struck from behind by a mini-van while walking along a road in Maine.



One year ago (2003):



The FBI put cosmetics heir Andrew Luster aboard a plane in Mexico and flew him back to California, five months after he'd been convicted in absentia of drugging and raping three women.



Federal authorities said an Ohio truck driver who met Osama bin Laden and admitted plots against trains and Brooklyn Bridge had pleaded guilty to felony charges.



The U.S. Air Force dropped manslaughter and aggravated assault charges against two fighter pilots who'd mistakenly bombed Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002. (One pilot is to be tried on a charge of dereliction of duty.)



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Louis Jourdan Gendre is 85.



Actress Gena Rowlands is 68.



Singer Al Wilson is 65.



Singer Spanky MacFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) is 62.



Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (soo chee) is 59.



Writer Salmon Rushdie (The Satanic Verses) is 57.



Actress Phylicia Rashad Ayers-Allen is 56.



Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 54.



Musician Larry Dunn is 51.



Actress Kathleen Turner is 50.



Country singer Doug Stone is 48.



Singer Mark DeBarge is 45.



Singer-dancer Paula Julie Abdul is 42.



Rock singer-musician Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe) is 40.



Actor Andy Lauer is 39.



Actress Robin Tunney is 32.



Actor Bumper Robinson is 30.



Actress Poppy Montgomery is 29.



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Thought for Today:

"One has two duties - to be worried and not to be worried." -

- E.M. Forster, British author (1879-1970).