Paradise Driver

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

"Let's all be careful out there!"

What can I say? It does have a certain appeal. LOL.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Today is Monday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2008.
There are 30 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Mrs. Parks was arrested, sparking a yearlong boycott of the buses by blacks.

On this date:

In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)
In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis closed after seven months and some 20 million visitors.
In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company opened in Pittsburgh.
In 1921, the Navy flew the first nonrigid dirigible to use helium; the C-7 traveled from Hampton Roads, Va., to Washington, D.C.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Tehran conference.
In 1958, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Flower Drum Song" opened on Broadway.
In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.
In 1973, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, died in Tel Aviv at age 87.
In 1992, in Mineola, N.Y., Amy Fisher was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco. (Fisher served seven years.)
In 2000, Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination.

Ten years ago:

Exxon agreed to buy Mobil for $73.7 billion.
Cuba's Communist Party recommended that Dec. 25 be re-established as a permanent holiday.

Five years ago:

India and Pakistan agreed to restore airline overflight and landing rights by Jan. 1, 2004.
Boeing Co. chairman and chief executive Phil Condit resigned unexpectedly.
U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow went on trial in Flandreau, S.D., charged with manslaughter in the death of a motorcyclist who'd collided with his automobile. (Janklow was convicted and served 100 days in jail.)

One year ago:

Police in Wichita, Kan., identified a body found days earlier as that of Emily Sander, a missing college student whose disappearance drew nationwide attention after the discovery she was also an Internet pornography model named Zoey Zane. (A suspect, Israel Mireles, is fighting extradition from Mexico.)
Four suspects were charged in Miami in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. (One ended up pleading guilty to second-degree murder; a fifth suspect was also charged.)

Today's Birthdays:

Thought for Today:

"Life begins when a person first realizes how soon it will end."
Marcelene Cox, American writer.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Today is Sunday, Nov. 30, the 335th day of 2008.
There are 31 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 30, 1782, the United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

On this date:

In 1803, Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France, which had sold it to the United States.
In 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens — better known as Mark Twain — was born in Florida, Mo.
In 1874, British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.
In 1900, Irish writer Oscar Wilde died in Paris at age 46.
In 1936, London's famed Crystal Palace, constructed for the Great Exhibition of 1851, was destroyed in a fire.
In 1939, the Russo-Finnish War began as Soviet troops invaded Finland.
In 1962, U Thant of Burma, who had been acting secretary-general of the United Nations following the death of Dag Hammarskjold the year before, was elected to a four-year term.
In 1966, the former British colony of Barbados became independent.
In 1981, the United States and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.
In 1988, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. was declared the winner of the corporate free-for-all to take over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion.

Ten years ago:

Quebec's separatist premier, Lucien Bouchard, was returned to power, but with only 43 percent of the vote, setting back the Parti Quebecois' goal of seeking independence from Canada.
Deutsche Bank AG officially announced it was acquiring Bankers Trust Corp. for more than $10 billion.

Five years ago:

U.S. soldiers in Iraq fought back coordinated attacks throughout the northern city of Samarra.
Two South Korean contractors were killed in a roadside ambush.
Nathaniel Jones, a black man, died during a fight with Cincinnati police in a case that heightened racial tensions.
Walt Disney Co. vice chairman Roy E. Disney stepped down from the board of directors.
Mark Philippoussis gave Australia its 28th Davis Cup title, beating Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 2-6, 6-0.
Former U.S. congressman and World Bank chairman Barber B. Conable Jr. died in Sarasota, Fla., at age 81.
Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, died in Wyckoff, N.J., at age 98.

One year ago:

A man took hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H.; Leeland Eisenberg surrendered about five hours later.
An Atlasjet plane crashed in southwest Turkey, killing all 57 people on board.
An Amtrak train and a freight train collided on a track on the South Side of Chicago, injuring dozens of people.
Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel died in Clearwater, Fla., at age 69.

Today's Birthdays: