DAILY CHUCKLE 8-347

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DECEMBER 11TH

Today is Thursday, Dec. 11, the 346th day of 2008.
There are 20 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Dec. 11, 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.

On this date:

• In 1792, France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis was convicted, and executed the following month.)
• In 1816, Indiana became the 19th state.
• In 1882, Boston's renamed Bijou Theatre, the first American playhouse to be lighted exclusively by electricity, gave its first performance, of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe, Or The Peer and the Peri."
• In 1928, police in Buenos Aires, Argentina, announced they had thwarted an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover.
• In 1937, Italy announced it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.
• In 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.
• In 1946, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established.
• In 1981, the U.N. Security Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru to be the fifth secretary-general of the world body.
• In 1983, Pope John Paul II visited a Lutheran church in Rome, the first visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Protestant church in his own diocese.
• In 1997, more than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth's greenhouse gases.

Ten years ago:

• Majority Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee pushed through three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton over Democratic objections.
• The Mars Climate Orbiter blasted off on a nine-month journey to the red planet. (However, the probe disappeared in September 1999, apparently destroyed because scientists had failed to convert English measures to metric values).

Five years ago:

• U.S. health officials reported an early flu outbreak had hit all 50 states and was widespread in 24.
• A German court freed a Moroccan accused of supporting the Sept. 11 al-Qaida cell in Hamburg, saying there was new evidence he did not know about the plot.
• A new second home for the National Air and Space Museum opened in Chantilly, Va., some 28 miles west of the original's home in Washington, D.C.

One year ago:

• Two car bombs in Algeria, including one targeting the U.N. refugee agency's offices, killed 37 people, 17 of them U.N. employees; Al-Qaida's self-styled North African branch claimed responsibility.
• The Senate Intelligence Committee took closed-door testimony from CIA Director Michael Hayden on how videotapes of terror suspect interrogations were made, then destroyed.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant is 78.
• Actress Rita Moreno is 77.
• Former California state lawmaker Tom Hayden is 69.
• Pop singer David Gates (Bread) is 68.
• Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is 67.
• Actress Donna Mills is 66.
• Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is 65.
• Singer Brenda Lee is 64.
• Actress Lynda Day George is 64.
• Music producer Tony Brown is 62.
• Actress Teri Garr is 60.
• Movie director Susan Seidelman is 56.
• Actress Bess Armstrong is 55.
• Singer Jermaine Jackson is 54.
• Rock musician Mike Mesaros (The Smithereens) is 51.
• Rock musician Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) is 50.
• Rock musician Darryl Jones (The Rolling Stones) is 47.
• Singer-musician Justin Currie (Del Amitri) is 44.
• Rock musician David Schools (Gov't Mule, Widespread Panic) is 44.
• Actor Gary Dourdan is 42.
• Actress-comedian Mo'Nique ("The Parkers") is 40.
• Rapper-actor Mos Def is 35.
• Actor Rider Strong is 29.

Thought for Today:

"A technical objection is the first refuge of a scoundrel. "
Heywood Broun, American journalist (1888-1939).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-346

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DECEMBER 10TH

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 10, the 345th day of 2008.
There are 21 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• Fifty years ago, on Dec. 10, 1958, National Airlines opened the era of U.S. domestic jet passenger service as it began flights between New York and Miami using Boeing 707s leased from Pan Am.

On this date:

• In 1520, Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant, or face excommunication.
• In 1817, Mississippi was admitted as the 20th state.
• In 1869, women were granted the right to vote in the Wyoming Territory.
• In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
• In 1931, Jane Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (the co-recipient was Nicholas Murray Butler).
• In 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
• In 1950, Ralph J. Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first black American to receive the award.
• In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received his Nobel Peace Prize.
• In 1967, singer Otis Redding, 26, and six others were killed in the crash of their plane in Lake Monona, Wis.
• In 1978, movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. ("Plan 9 From Outer Space") died in North Hollywood, Calif., at age 54.

Ten years ago:

• Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee lined up one by one in favor of impeaching President Bill Clinton; Democrats vowed opposition after lawyers clashed in closing arguments over alleged "high crimes and misdemeanors."
• Six astronauts jubilantly swung open the doors to the new international space station, becoming the first guests aboard the orbiting outpost.
• The Palestinian leadership scrapped constitutional clauses rejecting Israel's existence.

Five years ago:

• A divided Supreme Court upheld the broadest restrictions on campaign donations in nearly 30 years.
• An appeals court ordered a new trial for Lionel Tate, a Florida teen sentenced to life for causing the death of a 6-year-old playmate, Tiffany Eunick. (Lionel, who'd originally been convicted of first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and went free in January 2004.)
• Iranian democracy activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted the award in Oslo, Norway.

One year ago:

• Suspended NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced by a federal judge in Richmond, Va., to 23 months in prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation and killing dogs that underperformed.
• Madison Square Garden and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas reached an $11.5 million settlement of a sexual harassment case brought by former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders.
• Cristina Fernandez was sworn in as Argentina's first elected female president.
• Former Vice President Al Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a call for humanity to rise up against a looming climate crisis and stop waging war on the environment.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor Harold Gould is 85.
• Former Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter is 78.
• Actor Tommy Kirk is 67.
• Actress Fionnula Flanagan is 67.
• Pop singer Chad Stuart (Chad and Jeremy) is 67.
• Actress-singer Gloria Loring is 62.
• Pop-funk musician Walter "Clyde" Orange (The Commodores) is 62.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Ralph Tavares is 60.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Jessica Cleaves (Friends of Distinction) is 60.
• Country singer Johnny Rodriguez is 57.
• Actress Susan Dey is 56.
• Actor Michael Clarke Duncan is 51.
• Jazz musician Paul Hardcastle is 51.
• Actor-director Kenneth Branagh is 48.
• Actress Nia Peeples is 47.
• TV chef Bobby Flay is 44.
• Rock singer-musician J Mascis is 43.
• Country singer Kevin Sharp is 38.
• Rock musician Scot Alexander (Dishwalla) is 37.
• Rock musician Meg White (The White Stripes) is 34.
• Violinist Sarah Chang is 28.
• Actress Raven-Symone is 23.

Thought for Today:

"It is only in romances that people undergo a sudden metamorphosis. In real life, even after the most terrible experiences, the main character remains exactly the same."
Isadora Duncan, American modern dance pioneer (1878-1927).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-345

"Let's all be careful out there!"