Paradise Driver

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Today is Friday, June 11th.

The 163rd day of 2004.

There are 203 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlights in History:



On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain.



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On this date:



In 1184 BCE, Greeks finally captured Troy



In 1509, England's King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon.



In 1742, Benjamin Franklin invents his Franklin stove



In 1770, Captain James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.



In 1793, Robert Haeterick was issued the first patent for a stove.



In 1895, The first U.S. patent for a gasoline-driven automobile by a U.S. inventor is issued to Charles E. Duryea.



In 1896, A US Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota is authorized.



In 1901, The Cook Islands were annexed and proclaimed part of New Zealand.



In 1910, Explorer/Inventor/Author Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born in St. Andre-de-Cubzac, France. He died June 25, 1997 at age 87.



In 1913, Hall of Famer NFL coach (Green Bay Packers) Vincent Thomas Lombardi was born in New York City. He died September 3, 1970 at age 57. The Super Bowl's Lombardi Trophy is named for him.



In 1919, Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner.



In 1927, In recognition of his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Charles Lindbergh was awarded the first Distinguished Flying Cross.



In 1927, Babe Ruth hits the 19th and 20th of his 60 home runs.



In 1937, The Marx Brothers' movie "A Day At The Races" was released.



In 1942, The United States and the Soviet Union signed a lend-lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II.



In 1947, The government announced the end of household and institutional sugar rationing, to take effect the next day.



In 1953, The tv and radio comedy "Amos 'n Andy" last aired on CBS. It had been on the radio since 1929.



In 1955, In France, 80 people were killed and more than 100 were injured when three cars crashed on the Le Mans racetrack. The cars had ploughed into the spectator's grandstand.



In 1961, Roger Maris hits the 19th and 20th of his 61 home runs.



In 1963, Buddhist monk Quang Duc immolated himself on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.



In 1969, Soviet and Chinese troops clash on Sinkiang border.



In 1970, The United States presence in Libya came to an end as the last detachment left Wheelus Air Base.



In 1975, The first test pumpings of oil from Britain's North Sea oilfields began.



In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown.



In 1977, In the Netherlands, a 19-day hostage situation came to an end when Dutch marines stormed a train and a school being held by South Moluccan extremist. Two hostages and the six terrorists were killed.



In 1978, Joseph Freeman Jr. became the first black priest ordained in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).



In 1979, Actor John Wayne (Marion Michael Morrison) died at age 72. He was born in Winterset, IA on May 26, 1907.



In 1981, The first major league baseball player's strike began. It would last for two months.



In 1982, Steven Spielberg's "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial" was released



In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan, the comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision, died at a nursing home in Morris Plains, N.J. She was 31. She was born on March 29, 1954.



In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. The eruption of ash and gas could be seen for more than 60 miles. It forced the closure and abandonment of Clark AFB.



In 1993, Steven Spielberg's movie "Jurassic Park" opened.



In 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.



Ten years ago (1994):



The United States, South Korea and Japan agreed to seek punitive steps against North Korea over its nuclear program.



A car bomb blew up outside a luxury hotel in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing five people in an apparently drug-related attack.



Tabasco Cat won the Belmont Stakes.



Five years ago (1999):



The FBI was seeking the creator of Worm.Explore.Zip, a file-destroying computer virus which had hit some of the nation's biggest corporations.



Actor DeForest Kelley, "Star Trek"'s "Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy", died in Woodland Hills, California, at age 79. He was born in Atlanta, GA on January 20, 1920.



One year ago (2003):



A suicide bomber killed 17 people in a Jerusalem bus blast; two Israeli rocket strikes against Hamas fugitives killed 11 Palestinians in Gaza City.



Houston's Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner combined for the first no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 45 years, winning 8-0.



Pioneering broadcast journalist David Brinkley died in Houston at age 82. He was born in Wilmington NC on July 10, 1920.



Actor (Eldred) Gregory Peck died at age 87. He was born in San Diego CA on April 5, 1916.



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Today's Birthdays:



Opera singer Rise Stevens is 91.



Actor-producer Richard Todd is 85.



Author William Styron is 79.



Actor Gene Wilder is 71.



Actor Chad Everett is 67.



Comedian Johnny Brown is 67.



Former auto racer Jackie Stewart is 65.



Singer Joey Dee is 64.



Actress Adrienne Barbeau is 59.



Rock musician Frank Beard (ZZ Top) is 55.



Rock singer Donnie Van Zant (.38 Special) is 52.



Actor Peter Bergman is 51.



Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana is 48.



Actor Hugh Laurie is 45.



Country singer-songwriter Bruce Robison is 38.



Country musician Smilin' Jay McDowell is 35.



Rock musician Dan Lavery (Tonic) is 35.



Rock musician Tai Anderson (Third Day) is 28.



Actor Joshua Jackson is 26.



Actor Shia La Beouf ("Even Stevens") is 18.



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Thought for Today:

"Forgetfulness is a form of freedom." -

- Khalil Gibran, American poet and artist (1883-1931).

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