DAILY CHUCKLE 8-330

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 24TH

Today is Monday, Nov. 24, the 329th day of 2008.
There are 37 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Nov. 24, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.

On this date:

• In 1784, Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange County, Va.
• In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," which explained his theory of evolution.
• In 1863, the Civil War battle for Lookout Mountain began in Tennessee; Union forces succeeded in taking the mountain from the Confederates.
• In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers based on Saipan attacked Tokyo in the first raid against the Japanese capital by land-based planes.
• In 1947, a group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the "Hollywood Ten" was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry.
• In 1947, John Steinbeck's novel "The Pearl" was first published.
• In 1950, the musical "Guys and Dolls," based on the writings of Damon Runyon and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opened on Broadway.
• In 1969, Apollo 12 splashed down safely in the Pacific.
• In 1971, hijacker "D.B. Cooper" parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom. His fate remains unknown.
• In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles.

Ten years ago:

• America Online confirmed it was buying Netscape Communications in a dramatic $4.21 billion deal.
• The first Palestine Airlines flight touched down at Gaza International Airport.
• A funeral was held in St. Petersburg for liberal Russian lawmaker Galina Starovoitova, who had been assassinated four days earlier.

Five years ago:

• President Bush signed a $401.3 billion defense authorization bill. The president then traveled to Fort Carson, Colo., where he paid tribute to the sacrifices of U.S. troops in Iraq.
• A jury in Virginia Beach, Va., sentenced John Allen Muhammad to death for the Washington-area sniper shootings.
• A fire at a Moscow dormitory for foreign students killed 43 people.
• Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn died in Broken Arrow, Okla., at age 82.

One year ago:

• A fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds raced through the canyons and mountains of Malibu, Calif., for the second time in little more than a month, destroying some 50 homes.
• In Australia's election, conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered defeat at the hands of Labor Party head Kevin Rudd.

Today's Birthdays:

• Country singer Johnny Carver is 68.
• Rock-and-roll drummer Pete Best is 67.
• Rock musician Donald "Duck" Dunn (Booker T. & the MG's) is 67.
• Actor-comedian Billy Connolly is 66.
• Former White House news secretary Marlin Fitzwater is 66.
• Motion Picture Association of America President Dan Glickman is 64.
• Singer Lee Michaels is 63.
• Actor Dwight Schultz is 61.
• Actor Stanley Livingston is 58.
• Rock musician Clem Burke (Blondie; The Romantics) is 53.
• Record producer Terry Lewis is 52.
• Actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson is 52.
• Actress Denise Crosby is 51.
• Actress Shae D'Lyn is 46.
• Rock musician John Squire (The Stone Roses) is 46.
• Rock musician Gary Stonadge (Big Audio) is 46.
• Actor Garret Dillahunt is 44.
• Rock musician Chad Taylor (Live) is 38.
• Actress Lola Glaudini is 37.
• Actor Colin Hanks is 31.
• Actress Katherine Heigl ("Grey's Anatomy") is 30.

Thought for Today:

"Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt."
Minna Antrim, American writer (1861-1950).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-329

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 23RD

Today is Sunday, Nov. 23, the 328th day of 2008.
There are 38 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Nov. 23, 1765, Frederick County, Md., became the first colonial entity to repudiate the British Stamp Act.

On this date:

• In 1804, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, was born in Hillsboro, N.H.
• In 1889, the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon.
• In 1903, singer Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto."
• In 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.
• In 1943, during World War II, U.S. forces seized control of Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese.
• In 1945, most U.S. wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter, was set to expire by day's end.
• In 1963, President Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
• In 1971, the People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.
• In 1980, some 2,600 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.
• In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the waves off Comoros Islands, killing about two-thirds of the 175 people on board.

Ten years ago:

• Whitewater figure Susan McDougal was acquitted in Santa Monica, Calif., of embezzling from conductor Zubin Mehta and his wife — a case McDougal said had been trumped up to pressure her to testify against President Clinton.

Five years ago:

• Five U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
• Eduard Shevardnadze resigned as president of Georgia in the face of protests.

One year ago:

• Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations grudgingly agreed to attend an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference, despite failing to get any guarantee of Israeli concessions.
• Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud left office without a successor after announcing he was handing over security powers to the army.
• A Canadian cruise ship, the MS Explorer, struck submerged ice off Antarctica and began taking on water, but all 154 passengers and crew took to lifeboats and were plucked to safety by a passing cruise ship.

Today's Birthdays:

• Broadway composer Jerry Bock is 80.
• Former Labor Secretary William E. Brock is 78.
• Actor Franco Nero is 67.
• Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 64.
• Actor Steve Landesberg is 63.
• Actor-comedy writer Bruce Vilanch is 60.
• Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is 58.
• Singer Bruce Hornsby is 54.
• Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 53.
• Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 49.
• Actor John Henton is 48.
• TV personality Robin Roberts ("Good Morning America") is 48.
• Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 42.
• Rock musician Charlie Grover is 42.
• Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 41.
• Actor Oded Fehr is 38.
• Rapper Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 36.
• Actor Page Kennedy is 32.
• Actress Kelly Brook is 29.
• Actor Lucas Grabeel is 24.
• Actress-singer Miley Cyrus (TV: "Hannah Montana") is 16.
• Actor Austin Majors is 13.

Thought for Today:

"I'm a realist and so I think regretting is a useless occupation. You help no one with it. But you can't live without illusions even if you must fight for them, such as 'love conquers all.' It isn't true, but I would like it to be."
Marlene Dietrich, German-born actress (1901-1992).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-328

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 22ND

Today is Saturday, Nov. 22, the 327th day of 2008.
There are 39 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot to death while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Texas Gov. John B. Connally, in the same limousine as Kennedy, was seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested.

On this date:

• In 1718, English pirate Edward Teach — better known as "Blackbeard" — was killed during a battle off the Virginia coast.
• In 1890, French president Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.
• In 1928, "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel was first performed, in Paris.
• In 1935, a flying boat, the China Clipper, took off from Alameda, Calif., carrying more than 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.
• In 1943, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan.
• In 1943, lyricist Lorenz Hart died in New York at age 48.
• In 1965, the musical "Man of La Mancha" opened in New York.
• In 1967, the U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured the previous June, and implicitly called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.
• In 1975, Juan Carlos was proclaimed King of Spain.
• In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win re-election of the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced her resignation.

Ten years ago:

• The CBS News program "60 Minutes" aired videotape of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an advocate of assisted suicide, administering lethal drugs to Thomas Youk, a terminally ill patient. (Kevorkian, who challenged prosecutors to charge him, was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. He was released in 2007 after serving eight years.)

Five years ago:

• The Medicare prescription drug bill narrowly passed the House, 220-215, following a dusk-to-dawn debate.
• Thousands of mourners gathered in downtown Dallas along the street where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 40 years earlier.
• College student Dru Sjodin disappeared while leaving her job at a Grand Forks, N.D., mall. (Sjodin's body was found in April 2004; a suspect, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., was later convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to death.)

One year ago:

• Retailers lured shoppers to stores and online on Thanksgiving Day ahead of the traditional Black Friday kickoff.
• A gunman shot and killed his ex-wife, their three children and himself in a park in Laytonsville, Md.
• French rail workers who'd staged a nine-day-old strike voted to return to the job.

Today's Birthdays:

• Former Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., is 90.
• Movie director Arthur Hiller is 85.
• Actor Robert Vaughn is 76.
• Actor Michael Callan is 73.
• Actor Allen Garfield is 69.
• Animator and movie director Terry Gilliam is 68.
• Actor Tom Conti is 67.
• Singer Jesse Colin Young is 67.
• Astronaut Guion S. Bluford is 66.
• Tennis player Billie Jean King is 65.
• Rock musician-actor Steve Van Zandt (AKA Little Steven) is 58.
• Rock musician Tina Weymouth (The Heads; Talking Heads; The Tom Tom Club) is 58.
• Former baseball player Greg Luzinski is 58.
• Rock musician Lawrence Gowan is 52.
• Actor Richard Kind is 52.
• Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is 50.
• Rock singer Jason Ringenberg (Jason & the Scorchers) is 50.
• Actress Mariel Hemingway is 47.
• Actor Stephen Geoffreys is 44.
• Rock musician Charlie Colin is 42.
• Actor Nicholas Rowe is 42.
• Actor Mark Ruffalo is 41.
• Tennis player Boris Becker is 41.
• Actor-singer Tyler Hilton is 25.
• Actress Scarlett Johansson is 24.

Thought for Today:

"In youth we feel richer for every new illusion; in maturer years, for every one we lose."
Anne Sophie Swetchine, Russian-French author (1782-1857).

"Let's all be careful out there!"