OCTOBER 17TH

Today is Friday, Oct. 17, the 291st day of 2008.
There are 75 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Oct. 17, 1777, British forces under General John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

On this date:

• In 1807, Britain declared it would continue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regardless of whether they held U.S. citizenship.
• In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi began offering limited commercial wireless telegraph service between Nova Scotia and Ireland.
• In 1919, the Radio Corporation of America was chartered.
• In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)
• In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
• In 1941, the U.S. destroyer Kearny was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Iceland; 11 people died.
• In 1958, the special "An Evening with Fred Astaire," the first major TV program produced on color videotape, aired on NBC.
• In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974.
• In 1978, President Carter signed a bill restoring U.S. citizenship to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
• In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck Northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion in damage.

Ten years ago:

• A pipeline explosion and fire in southwest Nigeria killed some 700 people.
• The New York Yankees won Game 1 of the World Series, defeating the San Diego Padres 9-6.

Five years ago:

• Fire killed six people in a high-rise county building in Chicago.
• The House and Senate voted to spend some $87 billion earmarked for securing peace and eliminating terrorist threats in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned; Vice President Carlos Mesa replaced him.

One year ago:

• President Bush, raising Beijing's ire, presented the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal and urged Chinese leaders to welcome the monk to Beijing.
• Comedian Joey Bishop, the last of Sinatra's Rat Pack, died in Newport Beach, Calif., at age 89.
• Singer Teresa Brewer died in New Rochelle, N.Y., at age 76.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actress Marsha Hunt is 91.
• Actress Beverly Garland is 82.
• Actress Julie Adams is 82.
• Country singer Earl Thomas Conley is 67.
• Singer Jim Seals (Seals & Crofts) is 66.
• Singer Gary Puckett is 66.
• Actor Michael McKean is 61.
• Actress Margot Kidder is 60.
• Actor George Wendt is 60.
• Actor Sam Bottoms is 53.
• Astronaut Mae Jemison is 52.
• Country singer Alan Jackson is 50.
• Movie director Rob Marshall is 48.
• Animator Mike Judge is 46.
• Rock singer-musician Fred LeBlanc (Cowboy Mouth) is 45.
• Actor-comedian Norm Macdonald is 45.
• Singer Rene' Dif is 41.
  
• Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 40.
• Singer Chris Kirkpatrick ('N Sync) is 37.
• Rapper Eminem is 36.
• Singer Wyclef Jean is 36.
• Actress Sharon Leal is 36.
• Actor Matthew Macfadyen is 34.
• Rock musician Sergio Andrade is 31.

Thought for Today:

"The thinking of a genius does not proceed logically. It leaps with great ellipses. It pulls knowledge from God knows where."
Dorothy Thompson, American journalist (1894-1961).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-291

"Let's all be careful out there!"