Paradise Driver

Sunday, January 11, 2009

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-011

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Saturday, January 10, 2009

JANUARY 10TH

Today is Saturday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2009.
There are 355 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 10, 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his influential pamphlet, "Common Sense."

On this date:

In 1810, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, divorced his wife, Josephine.
In 1861, Florida seceded from the Union.
In 1870, John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.
In 1920, the League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.
In 1946, the first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.
In 1957, Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation of Anthony Eden.
In 1967, Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, took his seat.
In 1978, the Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule for a rendezvous with the Salyut 6 space laboratory.
In 1984, the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.
In 1989, Cuba began withdrawing its troops from Angola, more than 13 years after its first contingents arrived.

Ten years ago:

Republicans and Democrats disagreed over whether to call witnesses in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, with Republicans pressing to hear testimony from Monica Lewinsky and others, and Democrats saying such testimony could unnecessarily prolong the proceedings.

Five years ago:

North Korea said it had shown its "nuclear deterrent" to an unofficial U.S. delegation that visited the disputed Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Michelle Kwan won her seventh straight title and eighth overall at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Atlanta; Johnny Weir skated to his first men's title.
Actor-writer Spalding Gray, 62, vanished from his New York apartment (his body was found two months later in the East River).
Novelist Alexandra Ripley died in Richmond, Va., at age 70.

One year ago:

The United States on Thursday lodged a formal diplomatic protest with Iran over an incident in which Iranian speedboats harassed U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.
President George W. Bush, visiting Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, said a Mideast peace pact would require "painful political concessions by both sides."
John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Barack Obama's White House bid.
Maila Nurmi, whose "Vampira" TV persona pioneered the spooky-yet-sexy Goth aesthetic, died in Los Angeles at age 85.

Today's Birthdays:

Opera singer Sherrill Milnes is 74.
Blues artist Eddy Clearwater is 74.
Rock singer-musician Ronnie Hawkins is 74.
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey is 71.
Singer Scott McKenzie is 70.
Movie director Walter Hill is 69.
Singer Frank Sinatra Jr. is 65.
Singer Rod Stewart is 64.
Rock singer-musician Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) is 61.
Actor William Sanderson is 61.
Boxer George Foreman is 60.
Roots rock singer Alejandro Escovedo is 58.
Rock musician Scott Thurston (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) is 57.
Singer Pat Benatar is 56.
Rock musician Michael Schenker is 54.
Singer Shawn Colvin is 53.
Rock singer-musician Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) is 50.
Actor Evan Handler is 48.
Rock singer Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 45.
Actress Trini Alvarado is 42.
Rock musician Matt Roberts (3 Doors Down) is 31.
Rock singer Brent Smith (Shinedown) is 31.
Rapper Chris Smith (Kris Kross) is 30.
Actress Sarah Shahi is 29.

Thought for Today:

"Sex is the Tabasco sauce which an adolescent national palate sprinkles on every course in the menu."
Mary Day Winn, American writer (1888-1965).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-010

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Friday, January 09, 2009

JANUARY 9TH

Today is Friday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2009.
There are 356 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 9, 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif.

On this date:

In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.
In 1859, women's suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt was born in Ripon, Wis.
In 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union.
In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.
In 1959, the Western series "Rawhide" premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1964, anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and several U.S. soldiers.
In 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.
In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purportedly authorized biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.
In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.

Ten years ago:

At the White House, presidential advisers prepared a public and legal defense in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, pledged "above all, fairness" to the president, who ended up being acquitted.

Five years ago:

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that the nation's threat level had been lowered from orange to yellow.
Officials said Pentagon lawyers determined that former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein had been a prisoner of war since his capture.
An Ohio woman who'd claimed to have lost a lottery ticket worth $162 million was charged with filing a false police report. (Elecia Battle was later convicted of the misdemeanor and put on one year's probation.)

One year ago:

President Bush, on his first visit to Israel as president, warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it meddled again with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. military reported nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of Baghdad.
Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, died in Los Angeles at age 84.

Today's Birthdays:

Author Judith Krantz is 81.
Football Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr is 75.
Sportscaster Dick Enberg is 74.
Actress K. Callan is 73.
Folk singer Joan Baez is 68.
Rockabilly singer Roy Head is 68.
Actress Susannah York is 68.
Rock musician Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) is 65.
Singer David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter) is 59.
Singer Crystal Gayle is 58.
Actor J.K. Simmons is 54.
Nobel Peace laureate and human rights activist Rigoberto Menchu is 50.
Rock musician Eric Erlandson is 46.
Actress Joely Richardson is 44.
Rock musician Carl Bell (Fuel) is 42.
Rock singer Steve Harwell (Smash Mouth) is 42.
Rock singer-musician Dave Matthews is 42.
Actress-director Joey Lauren Adams is 41.
Singer A.J. McLean (Backstreet Boys) is 31.
Pop-rock musician Drew Brown (OneRepublic) is 25.
Rock-soul singer Paolo Nutini is 22.

Thought for Today:

"No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion."
Carrie Chapman Catt, American women's suffrage leader (1859-1947).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-009

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Thursday, January 08, 2009

JANUARY 8TH

Today is Thursday, Jan. 8th, the eighth day of 2009.
There are 357 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 8, 1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss.

On this date:

In 1798, the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect by President John Adams nearly three years after its ratification by the states; it prohibited a citizen of one state from suing another state in federal court.
In 1815, U.S. forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, the closing engagement of the War of 1812.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined his "Fourteen Points" for lasting peace after World War I. Mississippi became the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which established Prohibition.
In 1959, Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France's Fifth Republic. In Cuba, Fidel Castro and his army arrived in Havana in triumph following the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" in his State of the Union address.
In 1973, the Paris peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam resumed.
In 1976, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai died in Beijing.
In 1987, for the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25.
In 1989, 47 people were killed when a British Midland Boeing 737-400 carrying 126 people crashed in central England.
In 2003, a US Airways Express commuter plane crashed at the Charlotte, N.C., airport, killing all 21 people on board.
A Turkish Airlines jet crashed in Turkey, killing 75 people.

Ten years ago:

By a unanimous vote, senators formally ratified the rules for President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.
The top two executives of Salt Lake City's Olympic organizing committee resigned amid disclosures that civic boosters had given cash to members of the International Olympic Committee.

Five years ago:

A U.S. Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, Iraq, killing all nine soldiers aboard.
Libya agreed to compensate family members of victims of a 1989 bombing of a French passenger plane over the Niger desert that killed 170 people.

One year ago:

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican John McCain won the New Hampshire primaries.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, the only officer charged in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
A quick-thinking Boy Scout foiled an assassination attempt on the president of the Maldives, grabbing an attacker's knife as the man leapt from a crowd.
Paintings by Pablo Picasso and Brazilian painter Candido Portinari, stolen from Brazil's Sao Paulo Museum in December 2007, were recovered.

Today's Birthdays:

Actor-comedian Larry Storch is 86.
Actor Ron Moody is 85.
Comedian Soupy Sales is 83.
Broadcast journalist Sander Vanocur is 81.
CBS newsman Charles Osgood is 76.
Singer Shirley Bassey is 72.
Game show host Bob Eubanks is 71.
Country-gospel singer Cristy Lane is 69.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Anthony Gourdine (Little Anthony and the Imperials) is 68.
Actress Yvette Mimieux is 67.
Physicist Stephen Hawking is 67.
Rock musician Robby Krieger (The Doors) is 63.
Rock singer David Bowie is 62.
Movie director John McTiernan is 58.
Actress Harriet Sansom Harris is 54.
Singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith is 45.
Actress Maria Pitillo is 44.
Actress Michelle Forbes is 44.
Singer R. Kelly is 42.
Rock musician Jeff Abercrombie (Fuel) is 40.
Actress Ami Dolenz is 40.
Reggae singer Sean Paul is 36.
Country singer Tift Merritt is 34.
Actress-rock singer Jenny Lewis is 33.
Actress Amber Benson is 32.
Actor Scott Whyte is 31.
Actress Sarah Polley is 30.
Actress Rachel Nichols is 29.
Actress Gaby Hoffman is 27.
Rock musician Disashi Lumumbo-Kasongo (Gym Class Heroes) is 26.