Paradise Driver

Thursday, December 04, 2008

DECEMBER 4TH

Today is Thursday, Dec. 4, the 339th day of 2008.
There are 27 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 4, 1619, a group of settlers from Bristol, England, arrived at Berkeley Hundred in present-day Charles City County, Va., where they held a service thanking God for their safe arrival. (Some suggest this was the true first Thanksgiving in America, ahead of the Pilgrims' arrival in Massachusetts.)

On this date:

In 1783, General George Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
In 1816, James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States.
In 1875, William Marcy Tweed, the "Boss" of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled the country.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson left Washington on a trip to France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.
In 1942, U.S. bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time in World War II.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.
In 1965, the United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard.
In 1978, San Francisco got its first female mayor as City Supervisor Dianne Feinstein was named to replace the assassinated George Moscone.
In 1991, the original Pan American World Airways ceased operations.
In 1996, the Mars Pathfinder lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and began speeding toward Mars on a 310 million-mile odyssey. (It arrived on Mars in July 1997.)

Ten years ago:

Space shuttle Endeavour and a crew of six blasted off on the first mission to begin assembling the international space station.

Five years ago:

President George W. Bush scrapped import tariffs he'd imposed earlier to help the battered U.S. steel industry.
Baltimore-based federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna was found dead behind the parking lot of a well-drilling company in Lancaster County, Pa. (The case remains unsolved.)

One year ago:

Defending his credibility, President George W. Bush said Iran was dangerous and needed to be squeezed by international pressure despite a blockbuster intelligence finding that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years earlier. The intelligence report on Iran figured in a Democratic debate on National Public Radio as rivals assailed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for voting in favor of a Senate resolution designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
Pimp C, a rapper with the Texas hip-hop group Underground Kingz, was found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles; he was 33.

Today's Birthdays:

Actress-singer Deanna Durbin is 87.
Game show host Wink Martindale is 74.
Actor-producer Max Baer Jr. is 71.
Actress Gemma Jones is 66.
Rock musician Bob Mosley (Moby Grape) is 66.
Singer-musician Chris Hillman is 64.
Musician Terry Woods (The Pogues) is 61.
Rock singer Southside Johnny Lyon is 60.
Actor Jeff Bridges is 59.
Rock musician Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd; the Rossington Collins Band) is 57.
Actress Patricia Wettig is 57.
Actor Tony Todd is 54.
Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 53.
Country musician Brian Prout (Diamond Rio) is 53.
Rock musician Bob Griffin (The BoDeans) is 49.
Rock singer Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge) is 46.
Actress Marisa Tomei is 44.
Actress Chelsea Noble is 44.
Actor-comedian Fred Armisen is 42.
Rapper Jay-Z is 39.
Actor Kevin Sussman is 38.
Actress-model Tyra Banks is 35.
Country singer Lila McCann is 27.
Actress Lindsay Felton is 24.
Actor Orlando Brown is 21.

Thought for Today:

"There is always room at the top — after the investigation."
Oliver Herford, American author (1863-1935).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-339

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

DECEMBER 3RD

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 3, the 338th day of 2008.
There are 28 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 3, 1967, surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the new heart.

On this date:

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.
In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.
In 1857, English novelist Joseph Conrad was born in Berdychiv, Poland.
In 1925, Concerto in F by George Gershwin had its world premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin himself at the piano.
In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway.
In 1953, the musical "Kismet" opened on Broadway.
In 1960, the musical "Camelot" opened on Broadway.
In 1967, the 20th Century Limited, the famed luxury train, completed its final run from New York to Chicago.
In 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.
In 1984, thousands of people died after a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

Ten years ago:

Republicans jettisoned campaign fundraising from their impeachment inquiry, clearing the way for a historic House Judiciary Committee vote over President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky and his effort to cover it up.
The movie "Shakespeare in Love" premiered.

Five years ago:

A U.N. tribunal convicted and sentenced a radio news director and a newspaper editor to life imprisonment for their role in promoting the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
British actor David Hemmings died on a Romanian movie set; he was 62.

One year ago:

A U.S. intelligence report concluded that Iran had halted nuclear weapons development in 2003 — a stark contrast to the conclusions U.S. spy agencies had drawn just two years earlier.
British teacher Gillian Gibbons, jailed in Sudan for insulting Islam after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, flew home after being pardoned by the country's president.
Former commissioner Bowie Kuhn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; former Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth and ex-Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss also were elected.

Today's Birthdays:

Country singer Ferlin Husky is 83.
Singer Andy Williams is 81.
Movie director Jean-Luc Godard is 78.
Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 77.
Actress Mary Alice is 67.
Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 60.
Actress Heather Menzies is 59.
Rock singer Mickey Thomas is 59.
Country musician Paul Gregg (Restless Heart) is 54.
Actor Steven Culp is 53.
Actress Daryl Hannah is 48.
Actress Julianne Moore is 48.
Actor Brendan Fraser is 40.
Singer Montell Jordan is 40.
Actor Royale Watkins is 39.
Actor Bruno Campos is 35.
Actress Holly Marie Combs is 35.
Actress Lauren Roman is 33.
Pop-rock singer Daniel Bedingfield is 29.
Actress Anna Chlumsky is 28.
Actor Brian Bonsall is 27.
Actress Amanda Seyfried is 23.
Actor Michael Angarano is 21.
Actor Jake T. Austin is 14.

Thought for Today:

"There is a way to look at the past. Don't hide from it. It will not catch you if you don't repeat it."
Pearl Bailey, American entertainer (1918-1990).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-338

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

DECEMBER 2ND

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 2, the 337th day of 2008.
There are 29 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 2, 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time, at the University of Chicago.

On this date:

In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.
In 1823, President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.
In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., the previous October.
In 1927, Ford Motor Co. formally unveiled its Model A automobile, the successor to its Model T.
In 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Wisconsin Republican Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct that "tends to bring the Senate into disrepute."
In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility in the U.S., began operations. (The reactor ceased operating in 1982.)
In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus.
In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered outside San Salvador, El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan.

Ten years ago:

Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was acquitted of all counts in a corruption case involving sports tickets and travel that he'd accepted from companies that did business with his department.

Five years ago:

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that after knocking, police don't have to wait longer than 20 seconds before breaking into the home of a drug suspect.
Authorities in Ohio announced that they had linked 12 shootings along a five-mile stretch of interstate around Columbus, including one that killed a woman and another that broke a window at an elementary school. (A suspect, Charles A. McCoy Jr., later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and 10 other charges, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.)

One year ago:

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez suffered a humbling defeat as voters rejected sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 to 49 percent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's party swept 70 percent of the seats for a new parliament in a vote whose fairness was called into question by European election monitors.
Brian Wilson, Martin Scorsese, Steve Martin, Diana Ross and pianist Leon Fleisher were the latest U.S. artists to receive Kennedy Center honors for their career achievements.

Today's Birthdays:

Character actor Bill Erwin is 94.
Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig is 84.
Actress Julie Harris is 83.
Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 77.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is 69.
Actress Cathy Lee Crosby is 64.
Movie director Penelope Spheeris is 63.
Actor Ron Raines is 59.
Country singer John Wesley Ryles is 58.
Actor Keith Szarabajka is 56.
Actor Dan Butler is 54.
Broadcast journalist Stone Phillips is 54.
Actor Dennis Christopher is 53.
Actor Steven Bauer is 52.
Country singer Joe Henry is 48.
Rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) is 48.
Tennis Hall-of-Famer Tracy Austin is 46.
Rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) is 40.
Actress Rena Sofer is 40.
Rock singer Jimi HaHa (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 40.
Actress Lucy Liu is 40.
Rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature) is 38.
Tennis player Monica Seles is 35.
Singer Nelly Furtado is 30.
Pop singer Britney Spears is 27.
Actresses Deanna and Daniella Canterman are 16.

Thought for Today:

"Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them."
Washington Irving, American author (1783-1859).

"Let's all be careful out there!"