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Today is Wednesday, March 3rd.

The 63rd day of 2004.

There are 303 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On March 3, 1931, "The Star-Spangled Banner" officially became the national anthem of the United States.



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On this date:



In 1791, The United States Congress passes the nation's first tax law. The law divides the country into 14 tax zones and levies a duty on, among other items, distilled spirits.



In 1831, George Mortimer Pullman, American inventor, who designed the first modern railroad sleeping car and patented his innovations (folding upper berths and seats that could extend into lower berths—in 1863) was born in Brocton, New York.



In 1845, Florida became the 27th state.



In 1845, The U.S. Congress passed legislation overriding a U.S. President’s veto. It was the first time the Congress had achieved this.



In 1847, Inventor Alexander Graham Bell was born.



In 1849, the U.S. Department of the Interior was established.



In 1849, Congress created the Minnesota Territory.



In 1853, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh was born.



In 1863, Free city delivery of mail was authorized by the U.S. Postal Service.



In 1875, The opera Carmen, written by French composer Georges Bizet, opens in Paris, France.



In 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes took the oath of office as the 19th president of the United States in a private ceremony (a public swearing-in took place two days later).



In 1879, Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood became the first woman to be admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.



In 1885, The American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) was incorporated in New York as a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company.



In 1885, the Indian Appropriations Act was passed by Congress. It made all American Indians wards of the federal government and nullified all previous treaties with the Indians.



In 1903, North Carolina becomes first state requiring registration of nurses.



In 1909, Aviators Herring, Curtiss and Bishop announced that airplanes would be made commercially in the U.S.



In 1910, In New York, Robert Forest founded the National Housing Association to fight deteriorating urban living conditions.



In 1911, Actress Jean Harlow [Harlean Carpentier] was born in Kansas City, MO.



In 1913, A gender war erupts in Washington, D.C., when 5,000 suffragists led by Alice Paul, are treated to abuse by crowds of scornful men. Some 40 people are wounded in the clash.



In 1918, The Treaty of Brest Litovsky is signed by Germany, Austria and Russia, ending Russia’s participation in World War I.



In 1933, Mount Rushmore honoring the Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, & Teddy Roosevelt was dedicated. It was completed on October 31, 1941.



In 1934, John Dillinger breaks out of jail using a wooden pistol.



In 1939, In Bombay, Ghandi began a fast to protest the state's autocratic rule.



In 1941, Moscow denounced the Axis rule in Bulgaria.



In 1945, During World War II, Finland declared war on the Axis.



In 1945, Superman encountered Batman and Robin for the first time on the Mutual Broadcasting System.



In 1957, The head of the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago (the largest in the world), Samuel Cardinal Strich, bans rock & roll from Catholic schools and "recreations" in his district. He cites the "tribal rhythms" and "encouragement to behave in a hedonistic manner." Chicago record sellers report no drop in sales of hedonism-encouraging records.



In 1959, The San Francisco Giants name their new stadium "Candlestick Park".



In 1965, The motion picture The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premieres in American movie theaters.



In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan testified in a Los Angeles court that he killed Robert Kennedy.



In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test the lunar module.



In 1974, nearly 350 people died when a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris.



In 1985, The TV series “Moonlighting,” starring Cybill Shepard and Bruce Willis, airs for the first time.



In 1987, comedian Danny Kaye died in Los Angeles at age 74.



In 1991, Operation Desert Storm ended. The purpose of the operation was remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait.



In 1991, in a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.



In 1991, 25 people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.



In 1992, President George H. W. Bush admits publicly that he is sorry that while he was President he raised taxes despite the fact that he had pledged during his election campaign that there would be "NO NEW TAXES!"



In 1995, A U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia ended. Several gunmen were killed by U.S. Marines in Mogadishu while overseeing the pull out of peacekeepers.



Ten years ago (1994):



Amid continuing trade tensions with Japan, President Clinton issued an executive order reviving an expired provision of U.S. trade law known as Super 301, which provided a strict timetable for results.



The Mexican government reached a peace agreement with the Chiapas rebels.



Five years ago (1999):



The Supreme Court ruled that public schools had to finance one-on-one nursing care for some disabled students throughout the school day.



Monica Lewinsky, in an ABC interview timed to coincide with the publication of her book, recounted for Barbara Walters some of the fondest, as well as most painful, aspects of her relationship with President Clinton.



In Egypt, 19 people were killed when a bus plunged into a Nile canal.



Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones began their attempt to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon non-stop. They succeeded on March 20, 1999.



One year ago (2003):



Israeli troops arrested reclusive Hamas ideologue Mohammed Taha in a deadly raid.



President Bush offered a rough blueprint for adding drug benefits to Medicare.



The U.S. re-opened its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.



Malcolm Kilduff, the White House spokesman who announced to a shocked world the death of President Kennedy, died in Beattyville, Ky., at age 75.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor James Doohan ("Beam me up Scotty") is 84.



Lee Radziwill is 71.



Actress Hattie Winston is 59.



Singer Jennifer Warnes is 57.



Actor-director Tim Kazurinsky is 54.



Singer-musician Robyn Hitchcock is 51.



Actress Miranda Richardson is 46.



Actress Mary Page Keller (The blonde who undressed in the window in front of Belushi in "Animal House") is 43.



Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 42.



Football player Herschel Walker is 42.



Rapper-actor Tone-Loc is 38.



Rock musician John Bigham is 35.



Actress Julie Bowen is 34.



Country singer Brett Warren (The Warren Brothers) is 33.



Actor David Faustino ("Bud" Bundy, "Married With Children") is 30.



Singer Ronan Keating (Boyzone) is 27.



Rapper Lil' Flip is 23.



Actress Jessica Biel is 22.



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Thought for Today:

"Nothing is really real unless it happens on television." -

- Daniel J. Boorstin, former Librarian of Congress.

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Today is Tuesday, March 2nd.

The 62nd day of 2004.

There are 304 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



One hundred years ago, on March 2, 1904, children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel — popularly known as "Dr. Seuss" — was born in Springfield, Mass.



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On this date:



In 1498, Vasco de Gama's Portuguese expedition reaches the island of Mozambique, the most southerly port of call for Arab merchants on the east coast of Africa.



In 1776, Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston



In 1789, Pennsylvania ends prohibition of theatrical performances



In 1793, the first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, was born near Lexington, Va.



In 1799, Congress standardizes US weights & measures



In 1807, The U.S. Congress passed an act to "prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States... from any foreign kingdom, place or country."



In 1819, Territory of Arkansas organized.



In 1824, Interstate commerce comes under federal control.



In 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico.



In 1853, Territory of Washington organized after separating from Oregon Territory.



In 1861, US Congress creates Dakota & Nevada Territories out of the Nebraska & Utah territories



In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.



In 1897, U.S. President Cleveland vetoed legislation that would have required a literacy test for immigrants entering the country.



In 1899, U.S. President McKinley signed a measure that created the rank of Admiral for the U.S. Navy. The first admiral was George Dewey.



In 1899, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state was established.



In 1901, The U.S. Congress passed the Platt amendment, which limited Cuban autonomy as a condition for withdrawal of U.S. troops.



In 1909, baseball hall of famer (New York Giants)Mel Ott was born. The 1st National League-er to hit 500 homeruns,



In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship.



In 1917, Actor-producer-director-musician Desi Arnaz (Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III ) was born in Santiago, Cuba. He died of cancer December 2, 1986.



In 1923, Time magazine made its debut.



In 1925, State and federal highway officials develop a nationwide route-numbering system and adopt the shield-shaped, number marker.



In 1928, Author Philip K. Dick was born.



In 1933, the motion picture "King Kong," starring Fay Wray, had its world premiere in New York.



In 1939, Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope; he took the name Pius XII.



In 1940, The first televised intercollegiate track meet was seen on TV in New York City on W2XBS. The game presented live from Madison Square Garden. New York University won the meet.



In 1943, the World War II Battle of the Bismarck Sea began.



In 1946, Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist leader, is elected the first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.



In 1956, Morocco gained independence from France.



In 1962, Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain scores a record 100 points in an NBA game, leading the Philadelphia Warriors over the New York Knicks, 169-147.



In 1970, Rhodesia becomes independent republic.



In 1970, Supreme Court ruled draft evaders can not be penalized after 5 years



In 1972 The first outer-planetary probe, Pioneer 10, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On December 3, 1973 the probe sent back the first close-up images of Jupiter.



In 1974, First class postage stamps go up in price from eight to ten cents.



In 1974, Stevie Wonder wins five Grammy awards for his album Innervisions.



In 1977, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a strict code of ethics.



In 1998, The United Nation’s Security Council endorses U.N. chief Kofi Annan’s deal to open Iraq’s presidential palaces to arms inspectors.



In 1998, Images from the American spacecraft Galileo indicated that the Jupiter moon, Europa, has a liquid ocean and a source of interior heat.



In 2000, In Great Britain, Chile's former President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was freed from house arrest and allowed to return to Chile. Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw had concluded that Pinochet was mentally and physically unable to stand trial. Belgium, France, Spain and Switzerland had sought the former Chilean leader on human-rights violations.



Ten years ago (1994):



The government of Mexico and Indian rebels reached a tentative accord on most insurgent demands for the ending the rebellion, including sweeping political reforms.



Five years ago (1999):



Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan launched a third White House bid.



Texas Governor George W. Bush announced he was forming a presidential exploratory committee.



Singer Dusty Springfield died at her home west of London at age 59.



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One year ago (2003):



Over the Sea of Japan, there was a confrontation between four armed North Korean fighter jets and a U.S. RC-135S Cobra Ball. No shots were fired in the encounter in international airspace about 150 miles off North Korea's coast. The U.S. Air Force announced that it would resume reconnaissance flights on March 12.



Iraq crushed another six Al Samoud Two missiles, as ordered by U.N. weapons inspectors.



Landlocked Switzerland became the first European country to win the America's Cup as "Alinghi" swept Team New Zealand in five races.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Jennifer Jones is 85.



Bluegrass singer-musician Doc Watson is 81.



Actor John Cullum is 74.



Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is 73.



Author Tom Wolfe is 73.



Actress Barbara Luna is 65.



Actor Jon Finch is 63.



Author John Irving ("The World According To Garp") is 62.



Singer Lou Reed is 62.



Actress Gates McFadden ("Beverly Crusher" - Star Trek Next Generation) is 55.



Actress Cassie Yates is 53.



Actress Laraine Newman is 52.



Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., is 51.



Singer Jay Osmond is 49.



Pop musician John Cowsill (The Cowsills) is 48.



Tennis player Kevin Curren is 46.



Country singer Larry Stewart (Restless Heart) is 45.



Rock singer Jon Bon Jovi is 42.



Rock musician Casey (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 28.



Rock singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 27.



Actress Heather McComb is 27.



Actor Robert Iler ("The Sopranos") is 19.



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Thought for Today:

"Be who you are and say what you feel 'cause people who mind don't matter, and people who matter don't mind.'" -

— Theodor Seuss Geisel, American children's author (1904-1991).

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Today is Monday, March 1st.

The 61st day of 2004.

There are 305 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



Fifty years ago, on March 1, 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen.



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On this date:



In 1260, The city of Damascus surrenders to the Mongols, who now occupy all Syria, extinguishing the Ayyubid Sultanate.



In 1692, The Salem Witch Hunt begins as Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, an Indian slave from Barbados, are charged with the illegal practice of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts.



In 1781, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.



In 1790, Congress authorized the first U.S. Census.



In 1803, Ohio enters the Union as the 17th state.



In 1810, Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin was born.



In 1845, U.S. President Tyler signed the congressional resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.



In 1862, Prussia formally recognized the Kingdom of Italy.



In 1864, Rebecca Lee became the first black woman to receive an American medical degree, from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.



In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state.



In 1872, Congress authorized creation of Yellowstone National Park.



In 1875, The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875, guaranteeing African Americans equal access to public facilities.



In 1904, bandleader Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa.



In 1907, In New York, the Salvation Army opened an anti-suicide bureau.



In 1909, British actor David Niven was born.



In 1912, Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.



In 1913, Federal income tax takes effect in the United States as per the 16th amendment.



In 1914, American author and educator Ralph Ellison was born



In 1917, popular singer and television performer Dinah Shore was born.



In 1922, Israeli prime minister and Nobel laureate Yitzhak Rabin was born.



In 1932, 20-month-old Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, N.J. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)



In 1937, The first permanent automobile license plates are issued in Connecticut.



In 1941, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact.



In 1943, U.S. reconnaissance planes spotted 16 Japanese ships en route to Lae and Salamaua in New Guinea. The next day, the U.S. and Australia began an offensive against the ships.



In 1948, In Israel, the People's Council was formed.



In 1950, Klaus Fuchs was convicted of giving U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.



In 1959, Archbishop Makarios returned to Cyprus from exile.



In 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps.



In 1965, The 150th episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" aired.



In 1966, Venera 3, a Soviet probe, collides with the planet Venus. Although the mission is unsuccessful, it is the first unmanned spacecraft to land on the surface of another planet.



In 1969, Mickey Mantle announces his retirement from Major League Baseball.



In 1971, A bomb exploded in a restroom in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol. There were no injuries. A U.S. group protesting the Vietnam War claimed responsibility.



In 1972, The 100th episode of "Adam-12" aired on NBC.



In 1972, Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first NBA basketball player to score 30,000 points.



In 1974, seven people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. (These four defendants were convicted the following January, although Mardian's conviction was later reversed.)



In 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.



In 2000, Operation Anaconda began in eastern Afghanistan. Allied forces were fighting against Taliban and Al Quaida fighters.



Ten years ago (1994):



Falling four votes shy of a two-thirds majority, the Senate rejected a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.



A Lebanese immigrant opened fire on a van of Hasidic students on New York's Brooklyn Bridge, killing one of them.



Israel released about 500 Arab prisoners in an effort to placate Palestinians over the Hebron massacre.



At the 36th annual Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston won best female pop vocalist and record of the year for "I Will Always Love You"; "The Bodyguard" won album of the year.



Five years ago (1999):



The General Accounting Office released an audit of the Internal Revenue Service that found chronic problems in the agency's record-keeping.



An attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels in a Ugandan national park left eight foreign tourists, including two Americans, and a park guard dead.



One year ago (2003:



Suspected Sept 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured by CIA and Pakistani agents.



Iraq began complying with orders from U.N. weapons inspectors to destroy its Al Samoud Two missiles.



The United Arab Emirates called for Saddam Hussein to step down, the first Arab country to do so publicly.



Turkey's parliament dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning by failing to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Robert Clary is 78.



Singer Harry Belafonte is 77.



Former U.S. Solicitor General Robert H. Bork is 77.



Actor Robert Conrad is 69.



Rock singer Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann) is 60.



Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 60.



Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 60.



Actor Dirk Benedict is 59.



Actor Alan Thicke is 57.



Actor-director Ron Howard is 50.



Actress Catherine Bach is 50.



Country singer Janis Gill (aka Janis Oliver Cummins) (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 50.



Actor Tim Daly is 48.



Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 47.



Rock musician Bill Leen is 42.



Actor Russell Wong is 41.



Actor John David Cullum is 38.



Actor George Eads is 37.



Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 30.



Actor Jensen Ackles is 26.



TV host Donovan Patton is 26.



Rock musician Sean Woolstenhulme (Lifehouse) is 23.



Rhythm and blues singer Sammie is 17.



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Thought for Today:

"If you are able to state a problem, it can be solved." -

- Edwin H. Land, American inventor (born 1909, died on this date in 1991).

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Today is Sunday, Feb. 29th.

The 60th day of 2004.

There are 306 days left in the year.

This is Leap Day.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 29, 1940, "Gone with the Wind" won eight Academy Awards, including best picture of 1939. Victor Fleming was named best director, Vivien Leigh best actress, and Hattie McDaniel best supporting actress, the first black performer to receive an Oscar. Best actor went to Robert Donat for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips."



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On this date:



In 1504, Christopher Columbus, stranded in Jamaica during his fourth voyage to the West, used a correctly predicted lunar eclipse to frighten hostile natives into providing food for his crew.



In 1692, The Salem witch trials begin when Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are accused of using witchcraft.



In 1792, composer Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy.



In 1860, Herman Hollerith invents the first electric tabulating machine



In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a seven-member commission to facilitate completion of the Panama Canal.



In 1904, bandleader Jimmy Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pa.



In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act. The new act rewards farmers for growing soil-enhancing crops.



In 1952, In Times Square, NYC, four electronic signs are installed at 44th Street and Broadway to tell pedestrians when to “walk.”



In 1956, President Eisenhower announced he would seek a second term of office.



In 1960, The first Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago, Illinois.



In 1960, An earthquake hits Agadir, Morocco, killing 12,000 people. It is the worst earthquake recorded in Africa to date.



In 1968, the discovery of the first "pulsar," a star which emits regular radio waves, was announced by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell at Cambridge, England.



In 1968, President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move "toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."



In 1968, at the Grammy Awards, the Fifth Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" won record of the year for 1967, while album of the year honors went to the Beatles for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."



In 1972, Hank Aaron becomes the first baseball player to sign a deal worth $200,00 a year.



In 1980, former Israeli foreign minister Yigal Allon, who had played an important role in the Jewish state's fight for independence, died at age 61.



In 1984, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he was stepping down after more than 15 years in power.



Twelve years ago (1992):



Muslims and Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina began casting ballots in an independence referendum; Serbs boycotted the vote, calling it illegal.



Eight years ago (1996):



About 30 television and entertainment industry executives met with President Clinton at the White House, where they promised to devise a TV ratings system.



Daniel Green was convicted in Lumberton, N.C., of murdering James R. Jordan, the father of basketball star Michael Jordan, during a 1993 roadside holdup. (Green was sentenced to life in prison.)



A Peruvian commercial jetliner crashed in the Andes, killing all 123 people on board.



Four years ago (2000):



George W. Bush won Republican presidential primaries in Virginia, Washington state and North Dakota, defeating John McCain; Vice President Al Gore crushed fellow Democrat Bill Bradley in Washington state.



Six-year-old Kayla Rolland was fatally shot by a fellow first-grader at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Mich.



Puff Daddy plead not guilty to charges that he had attempted to bribe a professional driver to take responsibility for a 9mm handgun that had been found in a vehicle with Puff Daddy following a shooting in 1999.



The city of Autlan de Navarro, Mexico announced plans to build a public monument to tribute Carlos Santana.



Sparky Anderson was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame along with Turkey Stearnes of the Negro leagues and 19th-century second baseman Bid McPhee.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Michele Morgan is 84.



Actor Arthur Franz is 84.



Actor James Mitchell is 84.



Actor Joss Ackland is 76.



Actor Alex Rocco is 68.



Former space shuttle astronaut Jack Lousma is 68.



Actor Dennis Farina is 60.



Actress Phyllis Frelich is 60.



Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is 32.



Rapper Ja Rule is 28.



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Thought for Today:

"There are many fine things which you mean to do someday, under what you think will be more favorable circumstances. But the only time that is yours is the present." -

- Grenville Kleiser, American author (1868-1953).



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Today is Saturday, Feb. 28th.

The 59th day of 2004.

There are 307 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 28, 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.



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On this date:



In 1784, The English evangelist John Wesley signs a deed of declaration as the charter of Wesleyan Methodism and ordains two “Presbyters” for the American Mission.



In 1827, the first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated.



In 1844, a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.



In 1849, the ship California arrived at San Francisco, carrying the first of the gold-seekers.



In 1854, The Republican Party was organized in Ripon, WI.



In 1861, the Territory of Colorado was organized.



In 1922, After 40 years of occupation, Great Britain grants independence to Egypt, but retains the Suez Canal.



In 1933, Francis Perkins is appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor, becoming the first female cabinet member in American history.



In 1933, Adolf Hitler persuades president Paul von Hindenburg to issue an emergency order that suppresses civil liberties and freedom of the press and allows the Nazis to arrest thousands of their opponents.



In 1940, The first televised basketball game is aired from Madison Square Garden featuring Fordham University and the University of Pittsburgh.



In 1951, the Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued a preliminary report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the United States.



In 1953, In Tehran, Iran, supporters of the Shah drove Mohammed Mossadegh out of his home. Mobs were rioting outside.



In 1960, The United States wins the Olympic hockey gold medal by defeating Czechoslovakia, 9-4.



In 1962, TheJohn Glenn for President Club was formed by a group of Las Vegas republicans.



In 1972, U.S. President Nixon ended a visit to China that had begun on February 21st.



In 1974, the United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.



In 1975, more than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.



In 1979, Mr. Ed, the talking horse, died.



In 1983, "M*A*S*H" became the most watched television program in history when the final episode aired.



In 1984, Michael Jackson's album Thriller wins an unprecedented eight Grammy Awards.



In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.



In 1989, In Lebanon, Israeli bombs killed three children. The bombs were intended for terrorist bases.



In 1991, U.S. President H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein pledged to honor future United Nations peace terms.



In 1993, a gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.



In 1996, Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana agreed to divorce.



In 2001, The Northwest region of the U.S., including the state of Washington, was hit by an earthquake that measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale. There were no deaths reported.



In 2002, The Israeli military attacked two West Bank refugee camps. The attacks were an attempt to break strongholds of Palestinian militants. It was Israels largest military operation since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.



Ten years ago (1994):



Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets downed four Serb warplanes that U.N. officials said had bombed an arms plant run by Bosnia's Muslim-led government.



Five years ago (1999):



Guerrillas detonated two bombs beside a military convoy in southern Lebanon, killing a brigadier general and three other Israelis; Israel retaliated with air raids on suspected guerrilla hideouts.



One year ago (2003):



NASA released video taken aboard Columbia that had miraculously survived the fiery destruction of the space shuttle with the loss of all seven astronauts; in the footage, four of the crew members can be seen doing routine chores and admiring the view outside the cockpit.



The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the words "under God."



The Food and Drug Administration announced that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.



It was reported that Iraq would began destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles the next day. U.N. weapons inspectors deemed that the missiles violated U.N. limits on ranges.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Charles Durning is 81.



Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 78.



Actor Gavin MacLeod is 73.



Actor Don Francks is 72.



Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 65.



Auto racer Mario Andretti is 64.



Singer Joe South is 64.



Actor Frank Bonner is 62.



Actress Kelly Bishop is 60.



Football player Bubba Smith is 59.



Actress Stephanie Beacham is 57.



Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 56.



Actress Bernadette Peters is 56.



Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 49.



Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 48.



Actor John Turturro is 47.



Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 47.



Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 43.



Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 35.



Rock singer Pat Monahan (Train) is 35.



Actress Maxine Bahns is 33.



Singer FeFe Dobson is 19.



Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson ("The Tracy Morgan Show") is 8.



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Thought for Today:

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers." -

- Voltaire, French author-philosopher (1694-1778 ).



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Today is Friday, Feb. 27th.

The 58th day of 2004.

There are 308 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 27, 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, caught fire. The Nazis, blaming the Communists, used the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties.



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On this date:



In 1594, Henry IV is crowned king of France in Chartres.



In 1801, the District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.



In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.



In 1827, The first open celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans begins.



In 1883, Oscar Hammerstein patented the first cigar-rolling machine.



In 1902, Pulitzer Prize winning (Grapes of Wrath) American author John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, Calif.



In 1922, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote.



In 1939, the Supreme Court outlawed sit-down strikes.



In 1947, In Baltimore, the first closed-circuit broadcast of a surgical operation takes place at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Observers in four classrooms are able to see the procedure simultaneously.



In 1949, Chaim Weizmann became the first Israeli president.



In 1960, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The United States went on to win the gold medal.)



In 1972, President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China.



In 1973, Sioux Native Americans seize and hold Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, demanding a United States Senate investigation of Native American problems.



In 1974, The first issue of People magazine, a weekly publication featuring entertainment and social-interest news, hits the newsstands.



In 1979, Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)



In 1982, Wayne B. Williams was found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period.



In 1990, The Exxon Corporation is indicted on five criminal charges relating to the 1989 Alaskan oil spill.



In 1991, Kuwait was liberated by U.S. troops. The U.S. had began a ground assault to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait on February 24.



In 1997, divorce became legal in Ireland.



In 1998, Britain's House of Lords agreed to give a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son. This was the end to 1,000 years of male preference.



In 2002, In Boston, twenty people working at Logan International Airport were charged with lying to get their jobs or security badges.



Ten years ago (1994):



The Winter Olympic Games ended in Lillehammer, Norway.



Five years ago:



The Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was convicted in Largo, Fla., of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers. (Lyons, who served nearly five years in prison, was released last December.)



Nigerians elected Olusegun Obasanjo to be president as their country marked the final phase of its return to democracy.



Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new hot-air balloon endurance record when they stayed aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes. The two were in the process of trying to circumnavigate the Earth.



One year ago (2003):



A design by architect Daniel Libeskind is selected to be built on the former site of the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center.



The Bush administration lowered the national terror alert from orange to yellow.



Iraq agreed in principle to destroy its Al Samoud Two missiles, two days before a U.N. deadline.



Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic was sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison.



Children's television host Fred Rogers died in Pittsburgh at age 74.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Joanne Woodward is 74.



Actress Elizabeth Taylor is 72.



Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 70.



Actress Barbara Babcock (Faye Furillo, "Hill Street Blues") is 67.



Actor Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever, "WKRP") is 64.



Actress Debra Monk is 55.



Rock singer-musician Neal Schon (Journey) is 50.



Rock musician Paul Humphreys (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) is 44.



Basketball player James Worthy is 43.



Actor Adam Baldwin is 42.



Actor Grant Show is 42.



Rock musician Mike Cross (Sponge) is 39.



Actor Donal Logue is 38.



Rhythm and blues singer Chilli (TLC) is 33.



Rock musician Jeremy Dean (Nine Days) is 32.



Rhythm and blues singer Roderick Clark is 31.



Chelsea Clinton is 24.



Rhythm and blues singer Bobby Wilson (Mista) is 24.



Singer Josh Groban is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"All that is human must be retrograde if it does not advance." -

— Edward Gibbon, English historian (1737-1794).



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Today is Thursday, Feb. 26th.

The 57th day of 2004.

There are 309 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb built by a group of Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.



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On this date:



In 1766, Empress Catherine II (the Great) grants freedom of worship in Russia.



In 1802, French poet, novelist, and playwright Victor Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) was born in Besançon, France. He died in 1885



In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.



In 1829, Levi Strauss, creator of blue jeans was born.



In 1846, American guide, scout, and showman William Frederick (Buffalo Bill) Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa. He died in 1917. The town of Cody, Wyoming, is named after him.



In 1848, the Second French Republic was proclaimed.



In 1848, Karl Marx and Friederich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto in London.



In 1863, U.S. President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act.



In 1907, The U.S. Congress raised their own pay to $7500.



In 1916, Comedian and actor Herbert John ("Jackie") Gleason was born in Brooklyn, New York. He ided in 1987.



In 1919, Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.



In 1929, President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.



In 1930, New York City installed traffic lights.



In 1932, Country music singer Johnny Cash (known for the sincerity of his singing and for his deep bass voice) was born in Kingsland, Arkansas. He died in 2003.



In 1940, the United States Air Defense Command was created.



In 1945, In the U.S., a nationwide midnight curfew went into effect.



In 1945, During World War II, Syria declared war on Germany and Japan.



In 1946, Captain James Gallagher and 14 crew members take off aboard Lucky Lady II as they begin what will become the first non-stop flight around the globe. The plane will be refueled four times while in the air before landing back in the U.S. on March 2.



In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.



In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.



In 1962, after becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn told a joint meeting of Congress, "Exploration and the pursuit of knowledge have always paid dividends in the long run."



In 1979, a total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.



In 1985, Tina Turner wins two Grammy Awards for her hit song "What's Love Got to Do With It?"



In 1987, the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.



In 1990, The 100th episode of "MacGyver" aired.



In 1991, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that Iraqi troops were being withdrawn from Kuwait.



In 1998, A federal jury in Armarillo, Texas, rules in favor of Oprah Winfrey in a lawsuit filed against her by Texas cattlemen. The lawsuit stems from a beef comment the popular talk show host made concerning mad cow disease.



In 1998, In Oregon, a health panel rules that taxpayers must help to pay for doctor-assisted suicides.



In 2000, Pope John Paul II visited Mount Sinai in Egypt, revered as the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments.



In 2002, In Rome, Italy, a bomb exploded near the Interior Ministry. No injuries were reported.



In 2002, U.S. officials confirmed that small groups of U.S. diplomats and intelligence analysts had been infiltrating northern Iraq periodically to confer with Kurds and other opponents of Saddam Hussein's government.



Ten years ago (1994):



A jury in San Antonio acquitted 11 followers of David Koresh of murder, rejecting claims they'd ambushed federal agents; five were convicted of manslaughter.



Five years ago (1999):



President Clinton, outlining foreign policy goals for the final two years of his administration, urged continued American engagement in the quest for peace and freedom abroad during a news conference in San Francisco.



One year ago (2003):



President Bush, offering new justification for war in Iraq, told a think tank that "ending this direct and growing threat" from Saddam Hussein would pave the way for peace in the Middle East and encourage democracy throughout the Arab world.



In a victory for abortion foes, the Supreme Court ruled that federal racketeering and extortion laws had been wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.



A fire at the Greenwood Health Center in Hartford, Conn., killed 16 nursing home patients; a patient charged with setting the blaze was later ruled incompetent to stand trial.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Mason Adams is 85.



Actor Tony Randall is 84.



Actress Betty Hutton is 83.



Singer Fats Domino is 76.



Political columnist Robert Novak is 73.



Country-rock musician Paul Cotton (Poco) is 61.



Actor-director Bill Duke is 61.



Singer Mitch Ryder is 59.



Rock musician Jonathan Cain (Journey) is 54.



Singer Michael Bolton is 51.



Actor Greg Germann is 46.



Bandleader John McDaniel is 43.



Actress Jennifer Grant is 38.



Singer Erykah Badu is 33.



Rhythm and blues singer Rico Wade (Society of Soul) is 32.



Country singer Rodney Hayden is 24.



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Thought for Today:

"The wise make proverbs and fools repeat them." -

- Isaac D'Israeli, English author (1766-1848 ).

_____________________________________

Today is Wednesday, February. 25th.

The 56th day of 2004.

There are 310 days left in the year.

Today Is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 25, 1793, the department heads of the U.S. government met with President Washington at his home for the first Cabinet meeting on record.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated England's Queen Elizabeth I.



In 1601, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, is executed (beheaded) for high treason after his revolt against Queen Elizabeth I of England's ministers.



In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.



In 1888, John Foster Dulles was born in Washington, DC. Secretary of State from 1953 to 1959, he is remembered as an uncompromising foe of communism. He resigned from office a few weeks before his death, on May 24, 1959.



In 1890, Vlacheslav Mikhaylovich Skryabin was born in Kurkaka, Russia. He was the foreign minister of the Soviet Union who took the revolutionary name Molotov. Molotov had advocated the use of throwing bottles filled with flamable liquid stuffed with a burning rag, known as a "Molotov cocktail," at the enemy.



In 1901, United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.



In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect.



In 1917, Anthony Burgess, British novelist and critic, best known for his controversial novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), was born in Manchester, United Kingdom. He died in 1993.



In 1919, Oregon became the first state to place a tax on gasoline. The tax was 1 cent per gallon.



In 1925, A remote part of southeastern Alaska that is only accessible by boat or plane is designated as the Glacier Bay National Monument. It will become a National Park and Preserve on December 2, 1980



In 1928, The Federal Radio Commission (forerunner to the Federal Communications Commission) issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.



In 1933, The first aircraft carrier, "Ranger", was launched.



In 1940, The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position.



In 1943, during World War II, U.S. troops reoccupied the Kasserine Pass.



In 1948, Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.



In 1950, "Your Show of Shows" debuted on NBC.



In 1956, Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.



In 1961, Henry Kissinger is named National Security Adviser by President John F. Kennedy.



In 1964, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.



In 1972, Germany gave a $5 million ransom to Arab terrorists who had hijacked a jumbo jet.



In 1973, the Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music" opened at Broadway's Shubert Theater.



In 1982, The final new show of "The Lawrence Welk Show" aired, ending an amazing 27-year run on television.



In 1986, President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.



In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.



In 1993, The University of Vermont women's basketball team extends its winning streak to 50 straight victories by beating Northeastern, 50-40. This breaks the women's Division I college basketball record for consecutive regular-season wins.



In 1998, Bob Dylan wins three awards, including album of the year for Time Out of Mind, and his son Jakob wins two awards at the 40th annual Grammy Awards in New York City.



In 2000, In Albany, NY, a jury acquitted four New York City police officers of second-degree murder and lesser charges in the February 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.



Ten years ago (1994):



American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers.



At the Winter Olympics in Norway, Oksana Baiul of Ukraine won the gold medal in ladies' figure skating while Nancy Kerrigan won the silver and Chen Lu of China the bronze; Tonya Harding came in 8th.



Five years ago (1999):



A jury in Jasper, Texas, sentenced white supremacist John William King to death for chaining James Byrd Jr., a black man, to a pickup truck and dragging him to pieces.



Israel's Supreme Court blocked the extradition of American teenager Samuel Sheinbein to the United States to face charges stemming from a grisly slaying in Maryland.



In Moscow, China's Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and Russia's President Boris Yeltsin discussed trade and other issues.



One year ago (2003):



Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."



Roh Moo-hyun became South Korea's new president.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Country singer Ralph Stanley is 77.



Producer-writer Larry Gelbart is 76.



Musician Tommy Newsom is 75.



Actor Tom Courtenay is 67.



CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 67.



Actress Diane Baker is 66.



Talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael is 61.



Actress Karen Grassle is 60.



Movie director Neil Jordan is 54.



Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 45.



Actress Veronica Webb is 39.



Actor Alexis Denisof is 38.



Actress Tea Leoni is 38.



Actress Lesley Boone ("Ed") is 36.



Actor Sean Astin is 33.



Rhythm and blues singer Justin Jeffre (98 Degrees) is 31.



Rock musician Richard Liles is 31.



Actor Anson Mount is 31.



Actress Rashida Jones is 28.



Actor Justin Berfield ("Malcolm in the Middle") is 18.



Actors Oliver and James Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 18.



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Thought for Today:

"Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom." -

- Herbert Spencer, British philosopher (1820-1903).

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 24th.

The 55th day of 2004.

There are 311 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1209, Saint Francis of Assisi's vocation, to live in complete poverty and to preach, is revealed to him.



In 1786, Wilhelm Grimm (The Brothers Grimm, Grimm's Fairy Tales) was born. He died December 16, 1859.



In 1803, Marbury v. Madison establishes the authority of the Supreme Court of the United States to decide whether acts of Congress are legitimate under the U.S. Constitution and ruled itself the final interpreter of constitutional issues.



In 1821, Mexico declared its independence from Spain.



In 1863, Arizona was organized as a territory.



In 1868, The first parade to use floats took place in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.



In 1885, Admiral Chester William Nimitz was born. He died in 1966.



In 1900, New York City Mayor Van Wyck signed the contract to begin work on New York's first rapid transit tunnel. The tunnel would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. The ground-breaking ceremony was on March 24, 1900.



In 1903, the United States signed an agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.



In 1920, a fledgling German political party held its first meeting of importance in Munich; it became known as the Nazi Party, and its chief spokesman was Adolf Hitler.



In 1924, Johnny ‘Tarzan’ Weissmuller broke the world’s record in the 100-meter swimming event. He did it in 57 2/5 seconds.



In 1942, the Voice of America (VOA) went on the air for the first time.



In 1942, In order to make more weapons ready for war production, deliveries of all 12-gauge shotguns for sporting use are shut down by the U.S. government.



In 1945, American soldiers liberated the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese control during World War II.



In 1945, During World War II, Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha was killed after reading a decree that declared war on the Axis powers.



In 1946, Juan Peron was elected president of Argentina.



In 1949, Egypt announced that their agreement to a cease fire was not an accectance of the state of Israel.



In 1955 Turkey and Iraq signed the military alliance known as the Baghdad Pact.



In 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated Finland, 4-2, to clinch the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.



In 1981, Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.



In 1983, a congressional commission released a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a "grave injustice."



In 1987, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hits his first three-point shot. Up to this date, he has scored 36,000 points, but only scoring two points at a time.



In 1989, A United Airlines 747 jet rips open in flight killing 9 people. The flight was from Honolulu to New Zealand.



In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced Salman Rushdie to death for his novel "The Satanic Verses". A bounty of one to three-million-dollars was also put on Rushidie's head.



In 1989, a state funeral was held in Japan for Emperor Hirohito, who had died the month before at age 87.



In 1991, The United States begins their ground invasion of Kuwait and Iraq.



In 1997, The Food and Drug Administration named six brands of birth control as safe and effective "morning-after" pills for preventing pregnancy.



Ten years ago (1994):



Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders labeled smoking an "adolescent addiction," and accused the tobacco industry of trying to convince teenagers that cigarettes will make them sexy and successful.



Entertainer Dinah Shore died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 76.



Five years ago (1999):



The Senate voted overwhelmingly to give the nation's military the biggest benefits increase since the early 1980s.



Lauryn Hill won a record five Grammys, including album of the year and best new artist, on the strength of her solo debut album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."



One year ago (2003):



Seeking U.N. approval for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein had missed "the final opportunity" to disarm peacefully and indicating that he had to face the consequences.



A powerful earthquake in China's western region of Xinjiang killed at least 268 people and injured more than 1,000.



CMT featured an entire day of Shania Twain programming.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Abe Vigoda is 83.



Actor Steven Hill is 82.



Actor-singer Dominic Chianese ("The Sopranos") is 73.



Movie composer Michel Legrand is 72.



Actor John Vernon is 72.



Opera singer Renata Scotto is 69.



Actor James Farentino is 66.



Actor Barry Bostwick is 59.



Actor Edward James Olmos is 57.



Singer-writer-producer Rupert Holmes is 57.



Actress Debra Jo Rupp is 53.



Actress Helen Shaver is 53.



Apple co-founder Steven Jobs is 49.



News anchor Paula Zahn is 48.



Country singer Sammy Kershaw is 46.



Singer Michelle Shocked is 42.



Movie director Todd Field is 40.



Actor Billy Zane is 38.



Rhythm and blues singer Brandon Brown (Mista) is 21.



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Thought for Today:

"Nothing is more difficult for Americans to understand than the possibility of tragedy." -

- Henry A. Kissinger, former U-S Secretary of State (1923- ).

Today is Monday, Feb. 23rd.

The 54th day of 2004.

There are 312 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On Feb. 23, 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1792, The Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated.



In 1822, Boston was granted a charter to incorporate as a city.



In 1836, Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna begins his military siege of the Alamo in San Antonio.



In 1847, 5,000 U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican Gen. Santa Anna, commanding 15,000 troops, at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico.



In 1848, the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died of a stroke at age 80.



In 1861, President-elect Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, an assassination plot having been foiled in Baltimore.



In 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.



In 1896, The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.



In 1904, The U.S. acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.



In 1905, The Rotary Club is founded in Chicago, Illinois.



In 1915, Nevada began enforcing convenient divorce law.



In 1924, The twenty-eighth president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, died.



In 1934, Casey Stengel, who had previously been the team's coach, becomes the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.



In 1940, The Walt Disney animated motion picture "Pinocchio", about a wooden puppet who longs to become human, is released.



In 1942, the first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery in Ellwood (just west of Santa Barbara), California. No one is hurt and the damage caused by the 20-minute attack is approximately $500.



In 1945, During World War II, Turkey declared war on Germany and Japan.



In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.



In 1966, The Bitar government in Syria was ended with a military coup.



In 1968, Wilt Chamberlain, of the Philadelphia 76ers, became the first pro basketball player to score 25,000 career points.



In 1980, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared that Iran's new parliament would have to decide the fate of the hostages taken on November 4, 1979, at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.



In 1981, an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)



In 1987, Astronomer Ian Shelton spots an exploding star in the sky - the first supernova visible with the naked eye since 1604.



In 1991, During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.



In 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly." (Dolly, however, was put down Feb. 14, 2003, after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)



Ten years ago (1994):



The military chiefs of Bosnia's Muslim-led government and their second-strongest foes, Bosnia's Croats, signed a truce.



Russia's new parliament took a swipe at President Boris Yeltsin by granting amnesty to leaders of the 1991 Soviet coup and the hard-liners who'd fought him in 1993.



Nancy Kerrigan led the women's figure skating short program at the Winter Olympics in Norway, while Tonya Harding placed 10th.



Five years ago (1999):



A jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted white supremacist John William King of murder in the gruesome dragging death of a black man, James Byrd Jr.; King was sentenced to death two days later.



Serbs agreed in principle to give limited self-rule to majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, thereby avoiding for the time being threatened NATO air strikes, but the two sides failed to conclude a deal for ending their yearlong conflict during talks in Rambouillet, France.



In Ankara, Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan was charged with treason. The prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for the Kurdish rebel leader.



The first of two avalanches that claimed 38 lives over two days struck in Austria.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



One year ago (2003):



In West Warwick, R.I., relatives of the victims of a deadly nightclub fire were allowed to walk up to the charred rubble to pray and say goodbye.



Norah Jones won five Grammys, including album and record of the year, at the Grammy Awards in New York.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Songwriter Bob Willis is 70.



Actor Peter Fonda is 64.



Author John Sandford is 60.



Singer-musician Johnny Winter is 60.



Country-rock musician Rusty Young is 58.



Actress Patricia Richardson is 53.



Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 52.



Singer Howard Jones is 49.



Rock musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche) is 42.



Country singer Dusty Drake is 40.



Actress Kristin Davis is 39.



Tennis player Helena Sukova is 39.



Actor Marc Price is 36.



Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 33.



Country singer Steve Holy is 32.



Rock musician Lasse Johansson (The Cardigans) is 31.



Actress Dakota Fanning is 10.



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Thought for Today:

"Men are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions than by money." -

- Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1892-1954).

My step-daughter gave birth to her second son on Monday (02-02-2004). 6 lbs. 13 oz. Evan Israel. Welcome to the new world Evan. <.gif=BIG smile>

Last night was unusually slow.



About midnight I noticed some lightning over the west/southwest horizon.



At 12:30am it started to sprinkle. I went home, closed all the windows and brought the litter box in from the lanai.



At 1:00am we had a steady rain accompanied by a phenomenal light show.



At 1:30am the winds started blowing. Steady at 50mph and gusting to about 75mph. The rain was now coming in torrents. At 10mph, with my wipers on high, I could just barely see the roadway. The phone also started ringing.



Since it was soooo slow, I had cut our coverage down to two cabs. Now, every drunk in Kihei was calling, begging for a ride.



At 1:40am the roads began to flood. From 1:00am until 2:30am we received almost 18" of rain being driven by hurricane force gusts.



On our main coastal street (south Kihei road), we had flowing water between 1' to 3' deep. At the crest of one small hill along that road, there was 1' of water on the roadway flowing towards the really flooded areas.



By 2:00am the wind was right at hurricane strength with higher gusts and the light show was nonstop. Only briefly did it turn dark. The changing focal point of continuous illumination was difficult to adjust for. The wall of sound was like the finale of the "1812 Overture."



What would be a 10 minute run was now taking up to 30 minutes, as we often had to backtrack to use alternate routes. On one street of mild incline, the water was moving so fast that rocks the size of a lunch box were being propelled down the street also.



At 2:30am it stopped in an eye blink. The storm continued to pound the mountain above us as it moved off to the east/northeast But the roads were now flooded and the runoff was still coming down the mountain.



I had a late run to the airport and got off late. By 6:00am we still had major flooding on portions of the low road but things were starting to return to normal. Most roadways had a veneer of palm fronds, tree branches and a gravel garden.



Of course, this did not help our beach situation. We still are having high surf and having a driving rain come in from the southwest didn't help matters at all. Onel surfer "dude" told me that he went out into the storm at the penultimate and saw the wave fronts at 30'+!!!



My one joy in all this is that it wasn't snow. At the normal 10:1 ratio, that would have been 180" of snow in, basically, 2 hours. Also (my cab has an external thermometer) the temperature never went below 73F.



Those with calendars can check for the page showing Kamaole Beach Park #3. All the sand you see there is gone. The water is continuously at the edge of the grass.

http://www.mbay.net/~wb6nvh/chpradio.htm



http://members.cox.net/marnells/kma367-1.htm

CHRISTINA AGUILERA

Turned 23 Today

SADDAM CAPTURED!!!!!

---

He was captured at 8:30pm Iraq time (which is UTC+4) or 11:30am EST yesterday morning.



The news of his capture was first reported just before 6:00am EST today.



The news conference was just after 7:00am EST today.



All the military would say, when asked where he was being held, was that he is in custody at an "undisclosed location".



Since it was almost 18 hours from his capture to the announcement and considering that nowhere in the middle-east could we truly have safe confinement, I wonder if he is being held at "Gitmo"?



All factors considered, including flight time, it would make sense.





Way to go Marines and hats off to the American GI!!!

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY
BRITNEY

President Bush visited the troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving Day.



For the morale factor of the troops, a nice gesture. The GI's needed it.



There were other more motivating political factors involved, though.



He wanted to show Saddam & "uncle bin" that he could go anywhere in their baliwick that he wished to. But by doing it on the "sly" he actually showed that he feared making an announced trip and his action indicates that the American military do not have control in Iraq. Something that anyone following the news with even half an ear has already deduced. This is why he didn't leave the Bagdad airport.



We are an occupying, not a controlling, force. We are basically in the same position as the German Army was in France during WWII and look how they faired against the French resistance. The U.S. installed government in Iraq has the same veracity as the German installed Vichy government in France during WWII.



Regardless of the motives, I am happy for the troops.

Modern KYLE Tartan

KYLE Tartan

Standard KYLE Tartan

Ancient KYLE Tartan

District of Ayshire Tartan

KYLE History (Irish, then Scottish, then Irish...)



The terms Scotia and Scot was first applied to the Gaelic natives of Eirinn (present day Ireland), but later came to be applied to Ireland's northeastern neighbor, Alba (present day Scotland). By the seventh century the Northmen were calling Scotia, Eire pronounced "Ir" or "Ire" and the Britons called it "Ireland". The Irish were settling Alba (present Scotland) as early as the third century and pretty much dominated Alba by the 7th century. More by marriage than just conquest the Picts just seem to disappear from Alba. These areas were also refereed to as Scotia Minor (present Scotland), and modern Ireland referred to as Eire or Scotia Major until about the 11 century when the present names of Ireland and Scotland became commonplace. So, Scotland was populated and ruled by Irish royal line until Alexander the Third died without heir in 1287.



The KYLE Family spelling can be traced back to the year 1056 where HUGH KYLE the Great was commander in Chief and his brother was his assistant in the First Crusade. KYLE is a Scottish place type name taken from the Celtic language “caol”, which means “narrow or straight”. Most European languages were influenced by Latin, which did not use the letter “K” or “Y”. Early spellings include CEOL; CIL, which was Anglo-Saxon, the German and Dutch, used KEHL, KEIL, COIL, and KAIL. The English form was KAIL, KYLL, KAILE, and KILE. The Anglo-Saxons introduced the letter “Y” to replace the “I”. The “C” when pronounced “K” was changed to “K” after it was introduced, which leads to the modern spelling of “KYLE”. Records show some people used these different spellings interchangeably. A Clerk with an IRISH tongue could readily spell KYLE as COYLE, CEOL, COIL or KOYLE. Since very few people were well educated spelling suffered greatly throughout written records.



One will find a simple explanation of the Kyle name today as: “In early times, the man who lived by an important river was referred to by the name of the river. In England, the Kyle River was the "narrow" river. Today Kyle is referred to as an English Place name.” This of course is a modern explanation. The KYLE clan originally took their surname, before the alphabet had a “K” or “Y” from where they lived in southwestern Scotland in Auchlinleck Parish, KYLE District in Ayshire, near Muirkirk by the river Ayr. I think many Kyle's would have been very offended to be referred to as English!



Thus the original place referred to as “CAOL", is today the town named Coylton (KYLE TOWN) between Rivers Irvine and Doon is by the water of Coyle(Kyle), found in County Ayr. County Coylton is due east of County Ayr. A local stream is called KYLL.



This is also the area known for King Arthur, also of Celtic stock, legand has it, he fought a battle where the Glen Water meets the River Irvine at Darvel in Ayshire about the year 542. In 1236 Kyle Port is listed in Ayr on the High Street beside the Auid Tour. One of the earliest maps of Scotland, made by Matthew de Paris, a monk of St. Albans around 1250 AD shows the name “COLA” in what is now the District of KYLE one of the three subdivisions of Ayr County. KYLE District was divided by the River Ayr into two parts, KING'S KYLE and STEWART KYLE. These two Kyle districts on the old maps prior to 1700, consisted of half of Ayr. On May 16, 1975 Ayr County Council officially disbanded these old districts and burghs.



In 1334 Thomas Bruce and Robert the Stewart (Later Robert II) organized a rising in District of Kyle against the English.



In 1424 “WALTER OF KYLE” entered into the records as having been granted a document, which would guarantee his safe conduct into England. These safe conduct passes were only given to people of importance and were respected by both England and Scotland. In 1440 recorded devastation in Ayrshire of the lands of Colville of Ochiltree . In 1494 Protestant ideas in Ayshire came from thirty lesser lairds (lords) from Kyle with George Reid of Barskinning their spokesman and were tried for heresy and admonished. In 1498 Sir William Colville had his dependents received an exemption from jurisdiction by the Sheriff of Ayr. In Edinburgh, 100 years after it became the Capitol City of Scotland in 1537, GEORGE KYLE was elected a Member of Parliament. In the same year, in a place called Irvine, JOHN and THOMAS KILE were also members of Parliament. In Glasgow in the year 1606 a ROBERT KYLE appears on record as leaving his estate to his heir ANDREW KILE. Lord Colville is listed in Colville in 1651. One of the KYLE’s is involved with the coopers trade in Edinburgh in 1662 (a cooper was a highly skilled craftsman making water tight barrels out of hand carved wooden staves). The lands belonging to lord Coville of Ochiltree became extinct in 1728. In 1740 there is a reference of a Kyle from Dairy that introduced “bowls (as in a kitchen bowl)” at Kilmarnock.



Bleau’s Atlas issued in 1654 marks this same physical location in Scotland as “Ayr-Ky-O-LLE”. Therefore this family had been there for over a thousand years. The old KYLE castle was still standing there as late as 1863. The registry of castles in Scotland list the Kyle castle as an early 15th century keep. A recent picture of that castle found in Old Cumnock parish in Ayshire is in the attached file. The local farmland was called KYLE, but the property was owned by Marquis of Bute, with most memory of the locals of the earlier owners lost by 1863. Ayr and Coylton and Old Cumnack parish, in the District of Kyle of Ayrshire County is located in southwest part of Scotland.



This was confirmed in December of 2000 when I received this e-mail:

“Hi, Joseph, I have been trying for ages to find out some info. about Kyle Castle and hey presto, I come across your brilliant site. I must thank you for your information and just to let you know that for the past year and a half I have lived with that picture of the castle that you have on your site in front of me every morning when I get out of bed. You see I live on the farm directly below the castle. Thanks again, and if you have any more information, it would be much appreciated.

Best regards," John V. Gulbis.”



This area was presumably named after COILUS, 53rd King of the Britons, descendant of Brutus the 1st king of the Britons, descendant from the line of Noah, as written in chapter 18 of Nennius’ Historia Brittonum. King Brutus was the first to colonize the British mainland after the Flood. COILUS’s son Lucius, the 54th King of the Britons, was the fist Christian king, he died in 156 AD. The nursery rhyme “OLD KING COLE “(COEL) is about another ancestor, COEL the 59th King of the Britons. In 702 Scots invaders were defeated at Coilsfield by Coilus, a British king. Old King COEL (as in the nursery rhyme) founded the city of Colschester that still bears his name.



Robert Bruce, Boswell and the famous poet Robert Burns were born and lived in KYLE District by the River Ayr. Burns wrote in his “Farewell Song to the Banks of Ayr” using the ancient from of the word Kyle:



“Farewell, old Coila’s hills and dales

Her healthy moors and winding vales,”



And in his poem “The Vision” he writes:



There, where a sceptr’d Pictish shade

stalked round his ashes lowly laid”



A footnote by Burns says the lines refer to KING COILUS who lies buried, near the family seat of the Moatgomeries of Coilsfield. Other historians also state the famous “OLD KING COLE” (pronounced COUL) nursery rhyme and the name KYLE and COLE are the same. Old King Cole's grave was opened in 1837 finding artifacts indicating a personage of distinction. COEL’s grandson was the 61st King of Briton, Constantine I, the famous Emperor of Rome who legalized the Christian Religion.



The history of the KYLE family finds generation after generation fighting for religious freedom and many generations of members being in the clergy. The earliest Protestant recorded times show the KYLE'S have been Presbyterians, in the main. It was in Scotland that Presbyterianism emerged as a great national religious institution as noted in 1494 District of Kyle above. John Knox was the leader of the Scotch Presbyterian Church after the Reformation, around 1525, and later.



The Kyle's move to Ireland



In the years of Queen Elizabeth's reign in Ireland, Conn the Lame, & Baron of Dungannon died. Shane the Proud slew his half brother, the next Baron, and was inaugurated the O'Neill in Ulster. Mercenaries from Scotland were hired to assist Queens' O'Donnels, Queens' O'Neills and the red coats to oust Shane the Proud and their Catholic supporters. Years later, Shane's sons and Red Hugh O'Donnell escaped from the English and swept through Ulster driving out the English sheriffs starting the "Nine Year War". The Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill, head of the O’Neill clan in Northern Ireland, rebelled against English rule, cast off his title of Earl, and set himself up as King of Ulster. Elizabeth recalled her best soldiers from the Spanish war in Belgium to send to Ireland. This war continued with the King of England, King James I, himself a Scotch Presbyterian until the "Flight of the Earls", with the defeat of O’Neal and the other Irish chiefs who had supported him and fled into exile with their families. The English Crown took over the vast estates and parceled them out which included some land to the Kyle's around the year 1606. King James gave Sir William (KYLE) a belt of land in Tyrone County Ireland where he moved with his family from Scotland. This was only about 20 miles from the. Boarders of Scotland. KYLE'S supported William Wallace and when the Convenanters defied the king in 1638 many KYLE'S were numbered in that group. The Kyle's survived the uprising of the Irish on October 21, 1641 and are mentioned at the historic Synod in Kilkenny in May of 1642 which created the Parliament.



The brothers ROBERT KYLE, JAMES KYLE and WILLIAM KYLE fought under Oliver Cromwell beginning August of 1640 to uphold Protestantism in Ireland, against Owen Roe O'Neill, a nephew of Hugh O'Neill, and commander of a hundred officers from Catholic King Charles I of Spain, and their invasion of Ireland. As a reward they were awarded grants of land in Derry, Tyrone and nearby counties in Ulster located in Northern Ireland around 1649. Around this time, the last of the KYLE'S from around Ayshire, Scotland moved, and most moved into Ireland. This was during the period, which was known as the “Plantation of Ulster”. In Ulster the family gained great prominence and was referred to as the well known “KYLES OF LAUREL HILL” in later years. Some other of the KYLES must have moved into Northwest Scotland where today there is a town called “Kyle of Lochalsh”.



In one of the Churches in Northern Ireland a monument to a KYLE has a “Cross and an Urn” on it, which was the usual symbol indicating a crusader in search of the Holy Grail. In 1759 a monument was erected in the wall of Castleberg Church located in Tyrone County, Mournebeg Ireland carved in stone dedicated by JOHN KYLE to his brother ROBERT KYLE that included the words “Mournebeg House” and the KYLE coat of Arms.



The KYLE coat of arms has been tracked back to around the year 1000. This is also the time true surnames, in the sense of hereditary appellations were found around England and required by the conquering Normans. Probably the Oldest recorded KYLE coast of arms was that shown in Lyndsay’s Heraldic Manuscripts, hand painted in 1630 and described below.



ALSO, in the general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales first published in 1842, lists REVEREND SAMUEL KYLE, D. D. BISHOP OF CORK, whose family was long seated at KYLE, N.B. And whose immediate ancestors settled Camish County, Derry, Ireland is listed with a similar coat of arms and uses the family motto of “Tibisoli”. The Lyndsay manuscripts were reproduced in color in 1878 and consisted of only 130 pages. This was dedicated to mostly kings and Nobles including the arms of about 500 of the principal families including the Kyle's.



The Kyle Coat of Arms is Argent (silver which denotes sincerity and nobility) with three candlesticks (religious significance) in sable (black which denotes repentance or vengeance). Over the years a candlestick would be changed to denote a special accomplishment or the bearer was not the eldest son. Under heraldic rules only the first son of each generation may use their exact ancestors Coat of Arms. History denotes the third candlestick has been replaced with a mullet (star) in Gules (red) to denote military fortitude) or a lion rampant (standing and facing) in Gules (red) on azure (blue representing loyally and splendor) background. Sometimes over all is found a Saltire (Saint Andrews Cross) in Gules.



The crest was added in the 13th century and contained a ducal coronet surmounting a helmet, Dexter, arms in armor elbowed, holding a dagger.



The family motto AFIDES NON TIMET is Latin for "Faith Fears Not".



There are several Kyle Tartans.



The KYLE men were known to be of powerful physique, both tall and broad shouldered. The KYLEs were fair of skin, fair hair, and blue eyes with little exception. Long life was another common characteristic. The KYLE VOICE is mentioned over many generation and described as "very pleasant" and unquestionably a useful feature in the ministry.



Much of this information came from U.S. Senator from South Dakota (1891-1901) THOMAS HENDERSON KYLE; Miss EMMA KYLE BURLESON’s, daughter of Postmaster General Albert Sidney Burleson, of Texas, research in London in 1911 with the help of R.A. KYLE and others of Belfast Ireland; The book "Kyle, Kile Family History"; the eighth century work of Nennius, the “Historis Brittonum”, 1. Ayrshire, the story of a County by John Strawhorn 1975 & Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History society, and information passed down in our own family.



Kyle's move to America



Thus many of the KYLE’s of today are descendent of the Scottish/Irish Kyle's that migrated to the United States of America beginning @ 1720 because of religious persecution of Staunch independent Presbyterians who refused to support the Church of England during the previous 60 years.

KYLE
Coat of Arms
Version #2

KYLE Coat of Arms

"Winnie" visiting Santa

40 Years ago



16 years old, 10th grade, Portsmouth (NH) High School, biology class, principal announces over the in-class PA system that the president had been shot. Lesson stops, all ears focused on the audio being relayed from TV channel 6 out of Portland, ME, over the PA system, prayers (silent and whispered) being offered, soft sobs damping everyone's eyes. Bell rings, students move to the last class of the day. Almost 5,000 people in the building (my class of 1966 was 1800 alone) and absolute silence during class change, just the TV audio. Final class of my day, geometry, the teacher had a test scheduled for that day and come hell or presidential assassination she was going to give it. Passed out the exam, the announcer tells us that the president is dead, the teacher tells us that his death isn't important, the country was better off without him in the White House, and that the test would count 10% towards our final grade. Failed the test. Went home and was glued to the TV screen until the curtain rang down on this macabre play five days later.



I guess this day is etched in my mind until I am dead.