DAILY CHUCKLE 8-309

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 3RD

Today is Monday, Nov. 3, the 308th day of 2008.
There are 58 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• One hundred years ago, on Nov. 3, 1908, Republican William Howard Taft was elected president, outpolling Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

On this date:

• In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.
• In 1868, Republican Ulysses S. Grant won the presidential election over Democrat Horatio Seymour.
• In 1896, Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan for the presidency.
• In 1903, Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.
• In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt won a landslide election victory over Republican challenger Alfred M. "Alf" Landon.
• In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, into orbit; on board was a dog named Laika who was sacrificed in the experiment.
• In 1964, President Johnson soundly defeated Republican Barry Goldwater to win a White House term in his own right.
• In 1970, Salvador Allende was inaugurated as president of Chile.
• In 1979, five radicals were killed when gunfire erupted during an anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Greensboro, N.C., after a caravan of Klansmen and neo-Nazis had driven into the area.
• In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair began to come to light as Ash-Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran.

Ten years ago:

• In national elections, Democrats gained five House seats, trimming the Republican majority.
• Minnesotans elected former pro wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura to be their governor.
• The death toll from Hurricane Mitch grew to 9,000 in Honduras.

Five years ago:

• Congress voted its final approval for $87.5 billion for U.S. military operations and aid in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, already jailed on fraud and tax evasion charges, resigned as head of the Russian oil giant Yukos.

One year ago:

• Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan.
• United Auto Workers agreed to a tentative contract with Ford Motor Co.
• Two astronauts conducted a successful spacewalk to save a ripped solar wing on the space station.

Today's Birthdays:

• Baseball Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller is 90.
• Actress Lois Smith is 78.
• Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is 75.
• Actor-dancer Ken Berry is 75.
• Movie composer John Barry is 75.
• Actor Shadoe Stevens is 62.
• Singer Lulu is 60.
• Comedian-actress Roseanne Barr is 56.
• Actress Kate Capshaw is 55.
• Comedian Dennis Miller is 55.
• Actress Kathy Kinney is 55.
• Singer Adam Ant is 54.
• Actor Dolph Lundgren is 51.
• Rock musician C.J. Pierce (Drowning Pool) is 36.

Thought for Today:

"You must be true to yourself. Strong enough to be true to yourself. Brave enough to be strong enough to be true to yourself. Wise enough to be brave enough, to be strong enough to shape yourself from what you actually are."
Sylvia Constance Ashton-Warner, New Zealander author and educator (1908-1984).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-308

Today is the final day of campaigning...

YIPPEE!!

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 2ND

Today is Sunday, Nov. 2, the 307th day of 2008.
There are 59 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Nov. 2, 1948, President Truman surprised the experts by winning a narrow upset over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.

On this date:

• In 1783, Gen. George Washington issued his Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States near Princeton, N.J.
• In 1795, the 11th president of the United States, James Knox Polk, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C.
• In 1865, the 29th president of the United States, Warren Gamaliel Harding, was born near Corsica, Ohio.
• In 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.
• In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration expressing support for a "national home" for the Jews in Palestine.
• In 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (dubbed the "Spruce Goose" by detractors), on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.
• In 1959, game show contestant Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he'd been given questions and answers in advance when he appeared on the NBC-TV program "Twenty-One."
• In 1963, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was assassinated in a military coup.
• In 1976, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South since the Civil War to be elected president as he defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford.
• In 1983, President Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Ten years ago:

• Central American officials estimated more than 7,000 people had died in floods and mudslides triggered by Hurricane Mitch.
• Microsoft chairman Bill Gates took center stage at his company's antitrust trial, appearing on videotape inside a federal courtroom in Washington.

Five years ago:

• In Iraq, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying dozens of U.S. soldiers, killing 16.
• In Durham, N.H., V. Gene Robinson was consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
• Kenyans ruled the New York City Marathon, with Margaret Okayo shattering the women's course record and Martin Lel earning his first marathon victory.

One year ago:

• Speaking at a graduation ceremony at Fort Jackson, S.C., President Bush said U.S. military deaths had fallen to their lowest levels in 19 months and the Iraqi people were slowly "taking back their country" in the wake of the American troop buildup there.
• Michael Mukasey drew closer to becoming attorney general after two key Senate Democrats, Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, said they would vote for him despite his refusal to say whether waterboarding was torture.
• Choreographer Igor Moiseyev, who transformed folk dance into a legitimate art, died in Moscow at age 101.

Today's Birthdays:

• Rhythm-and-blues singer Earl "Speedo" Carroll (The Cadillacs; The Coasters) is 71.
• Singer Jay Black (Jay and the Americans) is 70.
• Commentator Patrick J. Buchanan is 70.
• Actress Stefanie Powers is 66.
• Author Shere Hite is 66.
• Rock musician Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 64.
• Country-rock singer-songwriter J.D. Souther is 63.
• Actress Kate Linder is 61.
• Rock musician Carter Beauford (The Dave Matthews Band) is 51.
• Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 47.
• Rock musician Bobby Dall (Poison) is 45.
• Actor David Schwimmer is 42.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Alvin Chea (Take 6) is 41.
• Rock musician Fieldy is 39.
• Rock singer-musician John Hampson (Nine Days) is 37.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Timothy Christian Riley (Tony Toni Tone) is 34.
• Rapper Nelly is 34.
• Prodigy (Mobb Deep) is 34.
• Actor Danny Cooksey is 33.
• Rock musician Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) is 33.
• Country singer Erika Jo ("Nashville Star") is 22.

Thought for Today:

"Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that Fate allows you."
Horace, Roman poet (65 B.C.E.-8 B.C.E.)

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-307

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 1ST

Today is Saturday, Nov. 1, the 306th day of 2008.
There are 60 days left in the year.
This is All Saints Day.

A reminder:
Daylight-saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday. Clocks go back one hour.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Nov. 1, 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America unveiled its new voluntary film rating system: G for general audiences, M for mature audiences (later changed to GP, then PG), R for restricted audiences, and X (later changed to NC-17) for adults only.

On this date:

• In 1512, Michelangelo finished painting the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.
• In 1765, the Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.
• In 1861, Gen. George B. McClellan was made General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Winfield Scott.
• In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.
• In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an "axis" running between Rome and Berlin.
• In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington to assassinate President Truman. The attempt failed, and one of the pair was killed, along with a White House police officer.
• In 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Ivy Mike," at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
• In 1954, Algerian nationalists began their successful rebellion against French rule.
• In 1973, following the "Saturday Night Massacre," Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox.
• In 1979, former first lady Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., at age 82.

Ten years ago:

• The military arm of the radical Islamic group Hamas made an unprecedented threat against Yasser Arafat, demanding the Palestinian leader halt a crackdown against it, or face violent vengeance.
• John Kagwe of Kenya won the New York City Marathon for the second straight year; Franca Fiacconi became the first Italian to win the women's division.

Five years ago:

• Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean stirred controversy within his party by telling the Des Moines Register he wanted to be "the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." (The former Vermont governor explained that he intended to encourage the return of Southern voters who had abandoned the Democrats for decades but were disaffected with the Republicans.)

One year ago:

• Retired Air Force Brigadier Gen. Paul Tibbets, who'd piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died in Columbus, Ohio, at age 92.
• A defiant Democratic-controlled Congress voted to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children; President Bush vowed swiftly to cast his second straight veto on the issue.
• Less than a week after workers ratified a new contract, Chrysler announced 12,000 job cuts.

Today's Birthdays:

• Newspaper columnist James J. Kilpatrick is 88.
• Actress Betsy Palmer is 82.
• Golfer Gary Player is 73.
• Country singer Bill Anderson is 71.
• Actress Barbara Bosson is 69.
• Actor Robert Foxworth is 67.
• Actress Marcia Wallace is 66.
• Magazine publisher Larry Flynt is 66.
• Country singer Kinky Friedman is 64.
• Actress Jeannie Berlin is 59.
• Pop singer-musician Dan Peek is 58.
• Rhythm-and-blues musician Ronald Khalis Bell (Kool and the Gang) is 57.
• Country singer-songwriter-producer Keith Stegall is 54.
• Country singer Lyle Lovett is 51.
• Actress Rachel Ticotin is 50.
• Rock musician Eddie MacDonald (The Alarm) is 49.
• Rock singer Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 46.
• Pop singer-musician Mags Furuholmen (a-ha) is 46.
• Rock musician Rick Allen (Def Leppard) is 45.
• Country singer "Big Kenny" Alphin (Big and Rich) is 45.
• Rapper Willie D (Geto Boys) is 42.
• Singer Sophie B. Hawkins is 41.
• Country musician Dale Wallace (Emerson Drive) is 39.
• Actress Toni Collette is 36.
• Actress Jenny McCarthy is 36.
• Rock musician Andrew Gonzales is 36.
• Actor David Berman (TV: "CSI") is 35.
• Actress Aishwarya Rai is 35.
• Rock singer Bo Bice ("American Idol") is 33.
• Actor Penn Badgley is 22.
• Actor-musician Alex Wolff is 11.

Thought for Today:

"Good taste is the worst vice ever invented."
Dame Edith Sitwell, English poet (1887-1964).

"Let's all be careful out there!"