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

Today is Sunday, March 21st

The 81st day of 2004.

There are 285 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



Two hundred years ago, on March 21, 1804, the French civil code, or the "Code Napoleon" as it was later called, was adopted.



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



On this date:



In 1349, 3,000 Jews were killed in Black Death riots in Efurt Germany.



In 1617, Pocahontas died in England at about age 22. Three years earlier, she had converted to Christianity, taken the name Rebecca and married Englishman John Rolfe.



In 1685, composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.



In 1788, Fire destroyed 856 buildings in New Orleans.



In 1790, Thomas Jefferson reported to President Washington in New York as the new secretary of state.



In 1806, Mexican statesman Benito Juarez was born in Oaxaca.



In 1851, Yosemite Valley was discovered in California.



In 1871, journalist Henry M. Stanley began his famous expedition to Africa to locate the missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone.



In 1871, Otto von Bismarck opened the first Reichstag, or Parliament, in the newly created German Reich.



In 1891, a Hatfield married a McCoy, which ended a long family feud in West Virginia between the families. The last of the original feuding families died in 1984. The feud started with an accusation of pig-stealing and it lasted 20 years. Outsiders claimed at least a half-a-dozen vicious murders.



In 1910, The U.S. Senate granted ex-President Teddy Roosevelt a yearly pension of $10,000.



In 1917, Czar Nicholas II and his family were arrested by the revolutionary forces in Russia.



In 1918, Howard Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, NC.



In 1933, The first Reichstag under Hitler's rule was opened in Germany on the same day the first one of all was opened in 1871.



In 1935, Persia was officially renamed Iran



In 1944, Charles Chaplin went on trial in Los Angeles, accused of transporting former protegee Joan Barry across state lines for immoral purposes. (Chaplin was acquitted, but later lost a paternity suit despite tests showing he wasn't the father of Barry's child.)



In 1945, during World War II, Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany.



In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenburg were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.



In 1955, NBC-TV presented the first "Colgate Comedy Hour".



In 1960, some 70 people were killed in Sharpeville, South Africa, when police fired on demonstrators.



In 1963, the Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.



In 1965, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery.



In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may not require one-year residency for voting eligibility.



In 1979, the Egyptian Parliament unanimously approved a peace treaty with Israel.



In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announces to the U.S. Olympic Team that they will not compete in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.



In 1980, On the TV show "Dallas", J.R. Ewing was shot.



In 1982, The movie "Annie" premieres.



In 1989, Dick Clark announced that he would no longer be hosting the show "American Bandstand." He had been the host for 33 years.



In 1993, seven more adults left the besieged Branch Davidian compound as federal authorities continued negotiations with cult leader David Koresh to end the standoff



In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the FDA never received congressional authority to regulate tobacco products.



In 2228, James T. Kirk (Capt. USS Enterprise, NCC-1701) will be born in Riverside, IA (some say March 22, 2233).



Ten years ago (1994):



"Schindler's List" won best picture at the 66th Academy Awards; Holly Hunter was named best actress for "The Piano" while Tom Hanks was named best actor for "Philadelphia."



Actor Macdonald Carey died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 81.



Five years ago (1999):



Israel's Supreme Court rejected a final effort to have American teenager Samuel Sheinbein returned to the United States to face murder charges. (Under a plea agreement with Israeli prosecutors, Sheinbein was later sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder of Alfred Tello Jr.)



At the Academy Awards, "Shakespeare in Love" won seven Oscars, including best picture and best actress for Gwyneth Paltrow; Roberto Benigni won best actor for "Life is Beautiful," while Steven Spielberg won best director for "Saving Private Ryan."



One year ago (2003):



The United States launched a ferocious, around-the-clock aerial assault on military targets in Baghdad and other cities.



The House approved a $2.2 trillion budget embracing President Bush's tax-cutting plan.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Violinist-conductor Joseph Silverstein is 72.



Actor Al Freeman Jr. is 70.



Actress Kathleen Widdoes is 65.



Singer Solomon Burke is 64.



Actor Timothy Dalton is 60.



Actress Marie-Christine Barrault is 60.



Singer-musician Rose Stone (Sly and the Family Stone) is 59.



Singer Eddie Money is 55.



Rock singer-musician Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) is 54.



Rock musician Conrad Lozano (Los Lobos) is 53



Rhythm and blues singer Russell Thompkins Jr. (The Stylistics) is 53.



Actress Sabrina LeBeauf is 46.



Actor Gary Oldman is 46.



Actor Matthew Broderick is 42.



Comedian Rosie O'Donnell is 42.



Rock musician Jonas "Joker" Berggren (Ace of Base) is 37.



Rock M-C Maxim (Prodigy) is 37.



Rock musician Andrew Copeland (Sister Hazel) is 36.



"Hip-hop DJ" DJ Premier (Gang Starr) is 35.



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



Thought for Today:

"The heaviest baggage for a traveler is an empty purse." -

- German proverb.

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

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

Today is Saturday, March 20th

The 80th day of 2004.

There are 286 days left in the year.

Spring arrives.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 20, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.



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



On this date:



In 1413, England's King Henry IV died; he was succeeded by Henry V.



In 1549, Sir Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of the English Navy, fell in love with a girl named Elizabeth, who happened to be the princess, later to become the Queen of England. She didn't reciprocate his love, yet he kept pestering the girl. He became so much of an annoyance that he was charged with treason and beheaded on this day.



In 1602, The Dutch East India Company is chartered to establish bases and fortifications against Spain and Portugal, in return for a monopoly of trade in the Indian and Pacific oceans.



In 1727, physicist, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton died in London.



In 1780, The firm of James Watt & Co. was formed for the manufacture of the first duplicating machines, invented by Watt to cope with the large amount of copying involved in his steam engine business.



In 1800, French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis, Turkey, and advanced into Cairo.



In 1828, Norwegian poet-dramatist Henrik Ibsen was born.



In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel about slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was first published.



In 1865, A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was ruined when Lincoln changed his plans and did not appear at the Soldier’s Home near Washington, DC.



In 1886, the first AC power plant in the U.S. began commercial operation in Mass.



In 1896, U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.



In 1899, At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was sentenced to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.



In 1906, TV/Radio Actor, Producer/Director, Bandleader, Attorney/Lawyer, Songwriter, Multi-instrumentalist Oswald "Ozzie" Nelson was born in Jersey City, NJ. He died on June 3, 1975 at the age of 69



In 1908, British stage and motion-picture actor Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave was born in Bristol, England. Father of actors Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave. He was knighted in 1959. He died on March 21, 1985 at the age of 77.



In 1922, The first United States Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, is commissioned.



In 1922, U.S. President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.



In 1933, The first German concentration camp is completed at Dachau.



In 1940, The British Royal Air Force conducted an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.



In 1943, The Allies attacked Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.



In 1952, The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.



In 1956, France recognizes the independence of its protectorate of Tunisia. The bey of Tunis is head of state with Habib ben Ali Bourguiba as prime minister.



In 1965, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson orders 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.



In 1968, President Johnson signed a bill removing gold backing from U.S. paper money.



In 1969, John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.



In 1974, The White House announces the ban on Sunday Gasoline Sales will be lifted, with the end of the Arab oil embarge.



In 1976, kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San Francisco bank holdup.



In 1980 The U.S. made an appeal to the International Court concerning the American Hostages in Iran.



In 1984, The United States Senate rejects an amendment to allow spoken prayer in public schools.



In 1987, the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.



In 1989, The news media announces that Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation for betting on Major League Baseball games.



In 1990, The Los Angeles Lakers retire Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s number 33.



In 1990, Namibia became an independent nation as the former colony marked the end of 75 years of South African rule.



In 1992, Congress passed, and President Bush immediately vetoed, a Democratic tax cut for the middle class that would have been funded by a tax hike on the rich.



In 1995, In Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.



In 1995, About 35,000 Turkish troops crossed the northern border of Iraq in pursuit of the separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).



In 2000, Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was captured in Alabama; he was wanted in the fatal shooting of a Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff's deputy. (Al-Amin maintains his innocence.)



In 2001, Power-strapped California saw a second day of rolling blackouts.



In 2002, Arthur Andersen plead innocent to charges that it had shredded documents and deleted computer files related to the energy company Enron.



In 2002, The final Whitewater report was issued by Independent Counsel Robert Ray. The five-volume report cost $70 million over six years. The conclusion was that former U.S. President Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton had given factually inaccurate testimony, but there was not enough evidence to prove any wrongdoing.



In 2002, The U.S. Congress passed a campaign finance reform bill. U.S. President George W. Bush said that he would sign the bill even though he thought it was "flawed in some areas."



Ten years ago (1994):



El Salvador held its first presidential election following the country's 12-year-old civil war. Armando Calderon Sol of the ARENA party led the vote but needed to win a run-off to achieve the presidency.



Five years ago (1999):



Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Britain became the first aviators to fly a hot-air balloon around the world nonstop.



The Yugoslav army, taking advantage of the departure of international monitors from Kosovo, launched a furious offensive against outgunned ethnic Albanian rebels.



One year ago (2003):



A subdued Saddam Hussein appeared on state-run television after the initial U.S. air strike on Baghdad, accusing the United States of a "shameful crime" and urging his people to "draw your sword" against the invaders. American combat units rumbled across the desert into Iraq from the south and U.S. and British forces bombed limited targets in Baghdad. The start of war in Iraq triggered one of the heaviest days of anti-government protesting in years, leading to thousands of arrests across the United States and prompting pro-war counter-demonstrations.



The New York Stock Exchage opened with 2 minutes of silence to show support for U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Producer-director-comedian Carl Reiner is 82.



Actor Hal Linden is 73.



Singer Jerry Reed is 67.



Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney is 65.



Country singer Don Edwards is 65.



TV producer Paul Junger Witt is 61.



Country singer-musician Ranger Doug (Riders in the Sky) is 58.



Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bobby Orr is 56.



Blues singer-musician Marcia Ball is 55.



Actor William Hurt is 54.



Rock musician Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 54.



Rock musician Jimmie Vaughan is 53.



Country musician Jimmy Seales (Shenandoah) is 50.



Movie director Spike Lee is 47.



Actress Theresa Russell is 47.



Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway is 47.



Actress Holly Hunter is 46.



Rock musician Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) is 43.



Actor-auto racer John Clark Gable is 43.



Actress-model Kathy Ireland is 41.



Rock musician Adrian Oxxal (James) is 39.



Actress Liza Snyder is 36.



Actor Michael Rapaport ("Boston Public") is 34.



Actor Alexander Chaplin is 33.



Rock singer Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) is 28.



Actor Michael Genadry is 26.



Actress Bianca Lawson is 25.



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



Thought for Today:

"In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous." -

- Robert S. Ingersoll, American lawyer and politician (1833-1899).

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

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

Today is Friday, March 19th

The 79th day of 2004.

There are 287 days left in the year.

This is the date the swallows traditionally return to the San Juan Capistrano Mission in California.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



One year ago, on March 19, 2003, President Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. (Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq; U.S. forces bombarded Baghdad with cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs aimed at Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders.)



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



On this date:



In 721, B.C.E., according to the Roman historian Ptolemy, Babylonian astronomers noted history's first recorded eclipse: an eclipse of the moon.



In 1628, 90 Puritan merchants (New England Co.) receive New World land patent; Massachusetts Colony founded



In 1748, English Naturalization Act passes granting Jews right to colonize US.



In 1822, The city of Boston, Massachusetts, was incorporated.



In 1831, The first reported bank heist in U.S. history takes place when $245,000 is stolen from the City Bank in New York City.



In 1848, American frontiersman and law enforcement officer Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois. He died in 1929.



In 1859, the opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premiered in Paris.



In 1895, The Los Angeles Railway was established to provide streetcar service.



In 1908, The state of Maryland barred Christian Scientists from practicing without medical diplomas.



In 1917, the Supreme Court upheld the eight-hour work day for railroads.



In 1918, Congress approved daylight-saving time.



In 1931, Nevada legalized gambling.



In 1945, about 800 people were killed as kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. carrier Franklin off Japan; the ship, however, was saved.



In 1945, Adolf Hitler issued his "Nero Decree," ordering the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands.



In 1951, Herman Wouk's war novel "The Caine Mutiny" was published.



In 1953, the Academy Awards ceremony was televised for the first time; "The Greatest Show on Earth" was named best picture of 1952.



In 1973, "POWs Return from Vietnam" Shortly after the Paris cease-fire agreement was signed, North Vietnam began releasing American prisoners of war. The most touching reunion seen on TV took place at California's Travis Air Force Base, as Lt. Col. Robert Stirm stepped onto the tarmac. His eldest daughter, Lorrie, 15, beamed as she rushed at her father with arms outstretched, followed closely by her brothers, her sister, and her mother, Loretta. The scene personified Operation Homecoming, during which 591 serviceman were released.



In 1975, Pennsylvania became the first state to allow girls to compete with boys in high school sports.



In 1976, Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.



In 1977, The last episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" aired.



In 1979, the U.S. House of Representatives began televising its day-to-day business.



In 1980, The Prime Interest Rate went to 19.0 percent



In 1982, The 100th episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.



In 1984, 20 years ago, The Prime Interest Rate went to 11.5 percent



In 1984, The TV show "Kate and Allie" premiered.



In 1987, Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL following a sex scandal that involved himself and his secretary, Jessica Hahn.



In 1988, Two British soldiers were killed by mourners at a funeral in Belfast, North Ireland. The soldiers were shot to death after being dragged from a car and beaten.



In 1989, The 300th episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.



In 1990, Latvia's political opposition claimed victory in the republic's first free elections in 50 years.



In 1997, The 200th episode of "Beverly Hills 90210" was aired on FOX.



In 1998, The World Health Organization warned of tuberculosis epidemic that could kill 70 million people in next two decades.



In 2000, Vector Data Systems conducted a simulation of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege in Waco, TX. The simulation showed that the government had not fired first.



In 2001, California officials declared a power alert and ordered the first of two days of rolling blackouts.



In 2002, Operation Anaconda, the largest U.S.-led ground offensive since the Gulf War, ended in eastern Afghanistan. During the operation, which began on March 2, it was reported that at least 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed. Eleven allied troops were killed during the same operation.



In 2002, Actor Ben Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.



Ten years ago (1994):



Talks between North Korea and South Korea collapsed, imperiling a U.S.-brokered deal to resolve the North Korean nuclear dispute.



In his weekly radio address, President Clinton promised to tell people "all across America about our health reform plan and what it really means."



Five years ago (1999):



During a White House news conference, Clinton prepared the nation for airstrikes against Serbian targets following the collapse of Kosovo peace talks in Paris.



A powerful bomb shattered an outdoor food market in Vladikavkaz, Russia, killing at least 53 people.



One year ago (2003):



Tobacco farmer Dwight Ware Watson, who'd claimed to be carrying bombs in a tractor and trailer that he'd driven into a pond on Washington's National Mall, surrendered after disrupting traffic for two days; there were no explosives.



Six men hijacked a Cuban airliner at knifepoint to the Florida Keys to seek asylum in the United States. (The six were later convicted of federal hijacking charges.)



Mahmoud Abbas accepted the position of Palestinian prime minister.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Former White House national security adviser Brent Scowcroft is 79.



Actor-director Patrick McGoohan is 76.



Theologian Hans Kung is 76.



Jazz musician Ornette Coleman is 74.



Author Philip Roth is 71.



Actress Renee Taylor is 71.



Actress-singer Phyllis Newman is 69.



Actress Ursula Andress is 68.



Singer Clarence "Frogman" Henry is 67.



Rock musician Paul Atkinson (The Zombies) is 58.



Singer Ruth Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) is 58.



Actress Glenn Close is 57.



Actor Bruce Willis is 49.



Rock musician Gert Bettens (K's Choice) is 34.



Rock musician Zach Lind (Jimmy Eat World) is 28.



Actor Craig Lamar Traylor ("Malcolm in the Middle") is 15.



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



Thought for Today:

"History is always repeating itself, but each time the price goes up." -

— Anonymous.

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

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

Today is Thursday, March 18th

The 78th day of 2003.

There are 288 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 18, 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act.



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



On this date:



In 1190, Crusaders killed 57 Jews in Bury St. Edmonds England.



In 1554, Princess Elizabeth, heir apparent to the throne in England, is imprisoned for suspected complicity in Wyatt's Rebellion against her half sister, Queen Mary I of England.



In 1673, Lord Berkley sold his half of New Jersey to the Quakers.



In 1818, The U.S. Congress approved the first pensions for government service.



In 1834, The first railroad tunnel in the United States is completed in Pennsylvania.



In 1837, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in Caldwell, N.J.



In 1850, the First Stagecoach Company was formed by Henry Wells & William Fargo, was called the American Express, later changed to Wells Fargo, a coast to coast express business.



In 1909, Einar Dessau of Denmark uses a short-wave transmitter, becoming the first person to broadcast as a “ham” operator.



In 1910, The first opera by a U.S. composer was performed at the Met in New York City.



In 1922, Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years' imprisonment for civil disobedience. (He was released after serving two years.)



In 1931, Schick Inc. marketed the first electric razor.



In 1937, more than 400 people, mostly children, were killed in a gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas.



In 1938, New York first required serological blood tests of pregnant women.



In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany's war against France and Britain.



In 1945, 1,250 U.S. bombers attacks Berlin.



In 1949, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is ratified.



In 1959, President Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill.



In 1962, France and Algerian rebels agreed to a truce.



In 1963, The United States Supreme Court handed down its Miranda decision which states that all defendants must be provided with legal counsel.



In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod II capsule, secured by a tether.



In 1969, U.S. President Nixon authorizes Operation Menue. It was the ‘secret’ bombing of Cambodia.



In 1974, most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States.



In 1975, Saigon abandoned most of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Hanoi.



In 1975, The Kurds ended their fight against Iraq.



In 1977, Vietnam turned over an MIA to a U.S. delegation.



In 1979, Iranian authorities detained American feminist Kate Millett, a day before deporting her and a companion for what were termed "provocations."



In 1980, The Vostok rocket exploded on the launch pad killing 50.



In 1981, The U.S. disclosed that there were biological weapons tested in Texas in 1966.



In 1981, The Buffalo Sabres set an NHL record when they scored 9 goals in one period against Toronto.



In 1986, The U.S. Treasury Department announced that a clear, polyester thread was to be woven into bills in an effort to thwart counterfeiters.



In 1986, Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson.



In 1987, The U.S. performed nuclear tests at a Nevada test site.



In 1989, 12 paintings were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The value was $100 million making it the largest art robbery in history.



In 1989, A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered at the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.



In 1990, In Tampa, FL, a little league player was killed after being hit with a pitch.



In 1990, The first free elections took place in East Germany.



In 1990, The 32-day lockout of baseball players ended.



In 1992, Leona Hemsly was sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion.



In 1992, White South Africans voted for constitutional reforms that would give legal equality to blacks.



In 1997, A Russian AN-24 crashed killing 50 people.



Ten years ago (1994):



The space shuttle Columbia returned from a two-week mission.



Published reports said first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had made nearly $100,000 from the commodities market in the late 1970s on an initial investment of only $1,000.



Muslim and Croat leaders signed agreements to create a Bosnian federation.



The U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned the Hebron mosque massacre.



Zsa Zsa Gabor filed for bankruptcy.



Five years ago (1999):



The Kosovar Albanian delegation signed a U.S.-sponsored peace accord following talks in Paris; the Clinton administration warned NATO would act against Serb targets if Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic rejected the agreement.



One year ago (2003):



A jury in Corpus Christi, Texas, cleared Bayer Corp. of liability in a $560 million lawsuit that accused the pharmaceutical giant of ignoring research linking the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol to dozens of deaths.



In Salt Lake City, Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee were charged with aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was found with them six days earlier.



China's new president, Hu Jintao, announced that his country must deepen reforms and raise living standards of workers and farmers.



Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Peter Graves is 78.



Composer John Kander ("Chicago") is 77.



Author John Updike is 72.



Nobel peace laureate and former South African president F.W. de Klerk is 68.



Country singer Charley Pride is 66.



Singer Wilson Pickett is 63.



Actor Kevin Dobson is 61.



Actor Brad Dourif is 54.



Singer Irene Cara is 45.



Actor Thomas Ian Griffith is 42.



Singer James McMurtry is 42.



Singer-actress Vanessa L. Williams is 41.



Olympic gold medal speedskater Bonnie Blair is 40.



Country musician Scott Saunders (Sons of the Desert) is 40.



Rock musician Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) is 38.



Rock singer-musician Miki Berenyi is 37.



Rapper-actress-talk show host Queen Latifah is 34.



Rock musician Stuart Zender is 30.



Singer Devin Lima (LFO) is 27.



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



Thought for Today:

"No man has a right in America to treat any other man tolerantly, for tolerance is the assumption of superiority." -

— Wendell Willkie, American politician (1892-1944).

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

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

Today is Wednesday, March 17th.

The 77th day of 2004.

There are 289 days left in the year.

This is St. Patrick's Day.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 17, 461, according to tradition, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died in Saul.



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



On this date:



In 1737, The Charitable Irish Society of Boston, Massachusetts, hosts the first nonliturgical celebration of Saint Patrick's Day.



In 1756, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated for the first time in New York City at the Crown and Thistle Tavern.



In 1762, The first Saint Patrick's Day parade in New York, New York, inaugurates a strong traditional celebration among Irish Americans.



In 1776, British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.



In 1845, the rubber band is patented by Stephen Perry of London.



In 1870, Massachusetts legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary (now Wellesley College).



In 1905, Eleanor Roosevelt married Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York.



In 1910, the Camp Fire Girls organization was formed. (It was formally presented to the public on this day two years later.)



In 1919, Singer Nat "King" Cole was born in Montgomery, AL. He died Feb. 15, 1965 at the age of 45.



In 1941, the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.



In 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater during World War II.



In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, californium.



In 1958, the U.S. Navy launched the Vanguard I satellite.



In 1966, a U.S. midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb that had fallen from an American bomber into the Mediterranean off Spain.



In 1969, Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel.



In 1973, The first prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the "Hanoi Hilton" in Hanoi, North Vietnam.



In 1985, U.S. President Reagan agreed to a joint study with Canada on acid rain.



In 1987, IBM releases PC-DOS version 3.3.



In 1992, 28 people were killed in the truck bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.



Ten years ago (1994):



former President Ronald Reagan said Oliver North, who was running for a U.S. Senate seat from Virginia, lied when he said Reagan "knew everything" about the Iran-Contra operation.



Secretary of State Warren Christopher, just back from China, told a House subcommittee that reports describing the trip as a failure were "rather misleading," and said Beijing had made "solid improvements" in the areas of prison labor and immigration.



Five years ago (1999):



A panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana has medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS.



In the wake of a bribery scandal, the International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members but backed President Juan Antonio Samaranch.



Instant replay was voted back in the NFL for the 1999 season.



One year ago (2003):



Edging to the brink of war, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country and told Americans that military confrontation will ultimately make them safer. Iraq rejected Bush's ultimatum, saying that a U.S. attack to force Saddam from power would be "a grave mistake."



In Washington, D.C., tobacco farmer Dwight Ware Watson, claiming to be carrying bombs, drove a tractor and trailer into a pond on the National Mall; the threat disrupted traffic for two days until Watson surrendered; there were no bombs.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Actress Mercedes McCambridge is 86.



The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 71.



Rock musician Paul Kantner is 63.



Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly is 61.



Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful) is 60.



Rock musician Harold Brown (War) is 58.



Actor Patrick Duffy is 55.



Actor Kurt Russell is 53.



Country singer Susie Allanson is 52.



Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 50.



Country singer Paul Overstreet is 49.



Actor Gary Sinise is 49.



Actress Vicki Lewis is 44.



Actor Casey Siemaszko is 43.



Writer-director Rob Sitch is 42.



Actor Rob Lowe is 40.



Rock singer Billy Corgan is 37.



Rock musician Van Conner (Screaming Trees) is 37.



Actor Mathew St. Patrick ("Six Feet Under") is 36.



Actor Yanic Truesdale is 35.



Rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur is 32.



Rock musician Caroline Corr (The Corrs) is 31.



Actress Marisa Coughlan is 30.



Singer Stephen Gately (Boyzone) is 28.



Rapper Swifty (D12) is 27.



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



Thought for Today:

"It is my rule never to lose me temper till it would be detrimental to keep it." -

- Sean O'Casey, Irish playwright (1880-1964).

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

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

Today is Tuesday, March 16th.

The 76th day of 2004.

There are 290 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 16, 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" was first published.



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



On this date:



In 1190, The Crusaders began the massacre of Jews in York, England.



In 1516, Louis II, aged nine, succeeds as king of Bohemia and Hungary on the death of Ladislas II.



In 1621, The first Indian appeared in Plymouth, MA.



In 1751, James Madison, fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Va.



In 1802, Congress authorized the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.



In 1830, London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard) forms



In 1830, The New York Stock Exchange experiences its slowest day ever, with just thirty-one shares being traded.



In 1884, John Montgomery becomes the first man to fly a glider when he traveled approximately 600 feet across a California valley.



In 1906, Comedian and "King of the one-liners" ("take my wife, please.") Henny Youngman was born.



In 1912, Former First Lady Patricia "Pat" Nixon was born (nee: Thelma Catherine Ryan) in Ely, NV. She died on June 22, 1993.



In 1915, the Federal Trade Commission was organized.



In 1926, Robert G. Goddard, for whom a NASA space center is named, tested the first space-type liquid-fueled rocket. The rocket traveled for 2 1/2 seconds, covering 184 feet at a speed of 60 mph and attaining a maximum height of 41 feet.



In 1935, Adolf Hitler scrapped the Treaty of Versailles.



In 1942, U.S. President Roosevelt ordered men between the ages of 45 and 64 to register for non-military duty.



In 1945, during World War II, Iwo Jima was declared secured by the Allies.



In 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson submitted a $1 billion "war on poverty" program to Congress.



In 1966, United States astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott, aboard Gemini 8, achieve the first linkup of a crewed spacecraft with another object, an Agena rocket.



In 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai massacre was carried out by U.S. troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr.



In 1971, Simon and Garfunkel win the Grammy Award for Best Album for Bridge Over Troubled Water and the Grammy for Best Record for the title song.



In 1978, Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas, who later murdered him.



In 1984, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen; he died in captivity.



In 1985, Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted in Beirut; he was released in December 1991.



In 1985, "A Chorus Line" played its 4,000th performance.



In 1987, Bostonia magazine printed an English translation of Albert Einstein’s last high school report card. He got an "A" in math but a "D" in french.



In 1988, Indictments are issued for Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter of the National Security Council for their involvement in the Iran-Contra affair.



In 1991, U.S. skaters Kristi Yamaguchi, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan swept the World Figure Skating Championships in Munich, Germany.



In 1996, In his weekly radio address, President Clinton accused the Republican-controlled House of bowing to "the back-alley whispers of the gun lobby" by gutting anti-terrorism legislation he'd submitted in response to the Oklahoma City bombing.



Ten years ago (1994):



Figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Ore., to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, avoiding jail but drawing a $100,000 fine.



Russia agreed to phase out production of weapons-grade plutonium.



Five years ago (1999):



The Dow Jones industrial average briefly topped the 10,000 level, reaching a high of 10,001.78 before retreating.



The entire 20-member European Commission resigned following publication of a critical report on sloppy management and cronyism.



The Nebraska Cornhuskers beat Chicago State 50-3 in an NCAA baseball game.



One year ago (2003):



Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned that if Iraq were attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water."



President Bush gave the United Nations one more day to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff.



Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American college student in Gaza to protest Israel operations, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block troops from demolishing a Palestinian home.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Comedian-director Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch) is 78.



Movie director Bernardo Bertolucci is 63.



Game show host Chuck Woolery is 63.



Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 62.



Country singer Robin Williams is 57.



Actor Erik Estrada is 55.



Actor Victor Garber is 55.



Actress Kate Nelligan is 53.



Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) is 53.



Rock singer-musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 50.



Golfer Hollis Stacy is 50.



Actress Isabelle Huppert is 49.



Rapper Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 45.



Rock musician Jimmy DeGrasso (Megadeth) is 41.



Folk singer Patty Griffin is 40.



Actress Lauren Graham is 37.



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



Thought for Today:

"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true." -

- Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (1804-1864), in "The Scarlet Letter."

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

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

Today is Monday, March 15th.

The 75th day of 2004.

There are 291 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 15, 1919, the American Legion was founded, in Paris.



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



On this date:



In 44 B.C.E., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles including Brutus and Cassius.



In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.



In 1767, the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was born in Waxhaw, S.C.



In 1820, Maine became the 23rd state.



In 1827, University of Toronto is chartered



In 1892, The automatic ballot voting machine is unveiled in New York State.



In 1906, Britten Rolls & Royce Johnson found Rolls Royce Ltd.



In 1913, President Wilson held the first open presidential news conference.



In 1916, A United States expedition under the command of General John J. Pershing is sent into Mexico to pursue the Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa.



In 1922, Fuad I assumed the title of king of Egypt after the country gained nominal independence from Britain.



In 1937, The first blood bank is established at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.



In 1938, Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.



In 1944, during World War II, Allied bombers again raided German-held Monte Cassino.



In 1947, John Lee was appointed as the first black commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy.



In 1949, Clothes rationing in Great Britain ended nearly four years after the end of World War II.



In 1951, The Persian parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry.



In 1954, CBS television debuts its “Morning Show” with Walter Cronkite and Jack Paar.



In 1956, the Lerner and Loewe musical "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway.



In 1964, actress Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in Montreal; it was her fifth marriage, his second.



In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked for aWar on Poverty.



In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote.



In 1968, the U.S. Mint stopped buying and selling gold.



In 1971, CBS television dropped "The Ed Sullivan Show."



In 1975, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis died near Paris at age 69.



In 1977, the U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on television.



In 1977, The first episode of "Eight is Enough" was aired on ABC-TV.



In 1979, Apparat releases Newdos + 2.1 for the Radio Shack's TRS-80.



In 1979, The 100th episode of "Barney Miller" aired.



In 1989, A large rally in Budapest calls for democracy and national independence for Hungary.



In 1991, Four Los Angeles police officers are charged in the beating of Rodney King.



In 1994, U.S. President Clinton extended the moratorium on nuclear testing until September of 1995.



In 1995, President Clinton issued an executive order formally blocking a one billion-dollar contract between Conoco and Iran to develop a huge offshore oil tract in the Persian Gulf.



In 1998, CBS' "60 Minutes" aired an interview with former White House employee Kathleen Willey. Wiley said U.S. President Clinton made unwelcome sexual advances toward her in the Oval Office in 1993.



In 2002, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Associated Press that the U.S. would stand by a 24-year pledge not to use nuclear arms against states that don't have them.



In 2002, Libyan Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi began his life sentence in a Scottish jail for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.



Ten years ago:



Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, defeated four Democratic primary challengers in his bid for re-election.



Five years ago:



An Amtrak train slammed into a steel-filled truck at a crossing in Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people



The Kosovar Albanian delegation to peace talks in Paris said it was ready to sign an international accord for Kosovo.



Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Dusty Springfield were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



One year ago:



Hu Jintao was chosen to replace Jiang Zemin as the president of China.



Protesters in Washington, D.C., and around the world demonstrated against a possible war with Iraq.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Country singer Carl Smith is 77.



Former astronaut Alan L. Bean is 72.



Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 71.



Country singer Roy Clark (Hee Haw) is 71.



Jazz musician Cecil Taylor is 71.



Actor Judd Hirsch is 69.



American evangelist Jimmy Lee Swaggart is 69.



Rock musician Phil Lesh is 64.



Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 63.



Rock singer-musician Sly Stone is 60.



Rock singer-musician Howard Scott (War) is 58.



Rock singer Ry Cooder is 57.



Actor Craig Wasson is 50.



Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 49.



Actress Park Overall is 47.



Movie director Renny Harlin is 45.



Model Fabio is 43.



Singer Terence Trent D'Arby is 42.



Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 41.



Singer Rockwell is 40.



Rock singer Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 36.



Rock musician Mark Hoppus (Blink 182) is 32.



Rapper-musician will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) is 29.



Rock DJ Joseph Hahn (Linkin Park) is 27.



Actor Sean Biggerstaff is 21.



Actress Caitlin Wachs is 15.



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



Thought for Today:

"There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown helpless about them." -

- Clare Boothe Luce, American author, diplomat, member of Congress (1903-1987).

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

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

Today is Sunday, March 14th.

The 74th day of 2004.

There are 292 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 14, 1743, the first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston.



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



On this date:



In 1629, a royal charter established the Massachusetts Bay colony.



In 1644, England granted a patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island).



In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.



In 1879, American physicist and Nobel laureate, Alebert Einstein, was born in Ulm, Gemany. Best known as the creator of the "special" and "general theories of relativity" and for his bold hypothesis concerning the particle nature of light. He is perhaps the most well-known scientist of the 20th century. He died in 1955.



In 1883, Karl Marx, a Prussian political theorist, economist, and sociologist whose ideas formed the basis of communism, died in London, England, at the age of 65.



In 1891, The submarine Monarc laid telephone cable along the English Channel bed to prepare for the first telephone links across the Channel.



In 1891, the International Copyright Act was approved.



In 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.



In 1900, In Holland, Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovered "Mendel's laws of heredity".



In 1903, The United States Senate ratifies the Hay-Herran Treaty, which guarantees the U.S. the right to build a canal at Panama.



In 1904, The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government's claim that the Northern Securities Company was an illegal merger between the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies.



In 1914, Henry Ford announced the new continuous motion method to assemble cars.



In 1918, The first seagoing ship made of concrete was launched at Redwood City, CA, near San Francisco. The ship was named "Faith" and those who launched her had plenty of that. They had faith that the vessel wouldn't sink. It didn't. "Faith" cost $750,000 to build.



In 1923, Warren G. Harding became the first president to file an income tax report.



In 1935, Donald Duck makes his first appearance in the Mickey Mouse daily newspaper comic strip.



In 1936, Adolf Hitler told a crowd of 300,000 that Germany's only judge is God and itself.



In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation.



In 1943, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to fly in an airplane while in office.



In 1943, Aaron Copland's orchestral work "Fanfare for the Common Man" premiered in New York, with George Szell conducting.



In 1945, In Germany, a 22,000 pound "Grand Slam" bomb was dropped by the Royal Air Force Dambuster Squad on the Beilefeld railway viaduct. It was the heaviest bomb used during World War II.



In 1947, Moscow announced that 890,532 German POWs were held in the U.S.S.R.



In 1950, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) begins its “10 Most Wanted Fugitives” program.



In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.



In 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married. They were only married about 9 months.



In 1955, Elvis Presley was interviewed on Jimmy Dean's "Town & Country Jubliee" television show. Elvis did not perform.



In 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.



In 1965, Israel's cabinet formally approved establishment of diplomatic relations with West Germany.



In 1965, Petula Clark made her American TV debut on CBS' "Ed Sullivan Show."



In 1967, the body of President Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery.



In 1968, The final episode of "Batman" aired on ABC.



In 1989, Imported assault guns were banned in the U.S. under President George H. W. Bush.



In 1991, a British court reversed the convictions of the Birmingham Six, who had spent 16 years in prison for an Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.



In 1995, American astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to enter space aboard a Russian rocket.



In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton committed $100 million for an anti-terrorism pact with Israel to track down and root out Islamic militants.



In 1998, An earthquake left 10,000 homeless in southeastern Iran.



In 1998, Carolina farmers began assessing damage to their frost-bitten peach and strawberry crops as a result of three days of freezing weather. A third hard freeze overnight ruined tiny peaches emerging on early blooming trees in North and South Carolina orchards.



In 1998, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon told an Israeli television station that Israel would try again to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Meshal.



Ten years ago (1994):



Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, a longtime friend of President and Mrs. Clinton, resigned because of controversy over billings he'd charged while in private law practice.



Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrapped up three days of meetings with Chinese leaders, who rejected attempts to link their human rights record with preferred trade status.



Apple introduces the Power Macintosh.



Five years ago (1999):



The Clinton administration conceded the Chinese had gained from technology allegedly stolen from a federal nuclear weapons lab but insisted the government responded decisively; Republicans disagreed and pressed for a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward China.



One year ago (2003):



U.S. President George W. Bush extended a waiver of sanctions against Pakistan. The sanctions were removed due to President Pervez Musharraf siding with the United States after the terrorist attacks against the U.S. on September 11, 2001.



Actor Robert Blake was released from jail on $1.5 million bail, 11 months after he was arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.



Christopher Boyce, whose Cold War spying was immortalized on film in "The Falcon and the Snowman," was released from a halfway house in San Francisco after about a quarter-century in prison.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Former astronaut Frank Borman is 76.



Singer Phil Phillips is 73.



Actor Michael Caine is 71.



Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 71.



Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 70.



Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 63.



Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 59.



Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 59.



Actor Steve Kanaly is 58.



Comedian Billy Crystal is 56.



Country singer Jann Browne is 50.



Actor Adrian Zmed is 50.



Prince Albert of Monaco is 46.



Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is 43.



Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 39.



Actress Megan Follows is 36.



Actress Elise Neal is 34.



Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 32.



Actor Jake Fogelnest is 25.



Actor Chris Klein is 25.



Actress Kate Maberly is 22.



Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 21.



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



Thought for Today:

"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity." -

- George Bernard Shaw, Irish-born playwright (1856-1950).

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

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

Today is Saturday, March 13th.

The 73rd day of 2004

There are 293 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 13, 1964, in a case that sparked outrage over urban apathy, 38 residents of a Queens, N.Y., neighborhood failed to respond to the cries of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, as she was being stabbed to death. (Winston Moseley later confessed to killing Genovese; he is serving life in prison.)



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



On this date:



In 607, the 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.



In 1519, Cortez lands in Mexico.



In 1639, Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.



In 1644, Rhode Island becomes a separate colony



In 1759, 27th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.



In 1781, the planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel.



In 1852, The New York Lantern publishes the first cartoon showing the character "Uncle Sam," based on a real U.S. officer who served in the war of 1812, Samuel Wilson.



In 1855, American astronomer Percival Lowell was born in Boston, MA. In 1894 he founded and became director of the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona. He died in 1916.



In 1861, Jefferson Davis signed a bill authorizing slaves to be used as soldiers for the Confederacy.



In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the U.S. Senate.



In 1877, (some sources say 1887), Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, a teenager, received a patent for earmuffs.



In 1881, Alexander II, emperor of Russia, is assassinated by a bomb thrown into his carriage by a member of a revolutionary group, the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will).



In 1884, Standard Time was adopted throughout the United States.



In 1884, In Illinois, the Chicago Live Stock Exchange was chartered.



In 1901, the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, died in Indianapolis.



In 1901, Andrew Carnegie announced that he was retiring from business and that he would spend the rest of his days giving away his fortune. His net worth was estimated at $300 million.



In 1906, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony died in Rochester, N.Y.



In 1911, the Founder of Scientology, Dianetics, and the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard was born.



In 1918, Women were scheduled to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men due to wartime.



In 1919, the National Restaurant Association was founded.



In 1925, Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signs legislation that prohibits the teaching of evolution within the state’s public school system.



In 1930, Scientist Clyde Tombaugh announces his discovery of the planet Pluto at the Lowell Observatory.



In 1933, banks began to reopen after a "holiday" declared by Franklin President Roosevelt.



In 1934, John Dillinger and his gang robbed the First National Bank in Iowa. "Baby Face" Nelson was waiting outside in a getaway car. When a woman customer ran out of the bank and said "They're robbing the bank", Nelson responded "You're telling me".



In 1935, Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming some biblical history.



In 1942, Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps becomes the first woman colonel in the United States Army.



In 1944, Britain announced that all travel between Ireland and the U.K. was suspended because the Irish government would not expel Axis-power diplomats within its borders.



In 1948, Honda Motors Opens.



In 1961, The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, age 79, marries Jacqueline Roque, age 37.



In 1961, "Ken" Doll was created by Mattel. He has been "Barbie's" boyfriend ever since. Ken, whose full name is Ken Carson, has not let the couple's age difference come between them: Barbie is two years older. (For the record, her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.)



In 1969, the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.



In 1970, Digital Equipment Corp introduced the PDP-11 minicomputer.



In 1972, "The Merv Griffin Show" debuted in syndication for Metromedia Television.



In 1974, By a vote of 54-33, the United States Senate passes a law to restore the death penalty.



In 1974, The 150th episode of "Adam-12" aired on NBC.



In 1974, Oil producing Arab countries agreed to lift their five-month embargo on petroleum sales to the U.S.; during the embargo, gasoline prices in the U.S. rose 300 percent, a ban was imposed upon Sunday gasoline sales, and odd-even rationing was also put into effect. The embargo was in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel during the October 1973 Middle-East war.



In 1986, The Phillipine government confirmed it had discovered a bank account containing $800 million, in the name of exiled President Ferdinand Marcos and within days, hundreds of millions more were discovered. When the presidential palace was opened to the public, the people saw many expensive possessions including hundreds of pairs of shoes owned by First Lady Imelda Marcos.



In 1988, yielding to student protests, the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president.



In 1992, the U.S. House of Representatives, trying to weather a politically embarrassing firestorm, voted unanimously to publicly identify 355 current and former members who had overdrawn their accounts at the House bank.



In 1995, The first United Nations World Summit on Social Development concluded in Copenhagen, Denmark.



In 1996, a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire on a class of kindergartners, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.



In 1997, Sister Nirmala was chosen by India's Missionaries of Charity to succeed Mother Teresa as leader of the Catholic order.



In 1998, Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, at one time the U.S. Army's top enlisted man, was acquitted of pressuring military women for sex. He was convicted of trying to persuade the chief accuser to lie. He was reprimanded and had his rank reduced.



In 2001, Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national who was arrested with a carload of explosives just before New Year's Eve 1999, went on trial in Los Angeles on charges of plotting to bomb Seattle and other U.S. cities during the millennium celebrations. (He was convicted of terrorism the following month.)



Ten years ago (1994):



A South African diplomat took over as leader of Bophuthatswana as the black homeland's president, Lucas Mangope, was deposed.



The Israeli Cabinet outlawed two Jewish extremist groups, Kach and Kahane Lives, branding them terrorist organizations.



Five years ago (1999):



Serb government forces destroyed more than 25 ethnic Albanian homes in Kosovo, apparently in retaliation for the killing of Serb civilians in the area.



Evander Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champion, and Lennox Lewis, the WBC champion, kept their respective titles after fighting to a controversial draw in New York.



Playwright Garson Kanin died in New York at age 86.



One year ago (2003):



Forced into a diplomatic retreat, U.S. officials said President Bush might delay a vote on his troubled United Nations resolution or even drop it — and fight Iraq without the international body's backing.



Japan sent a destroyer to the Sea of Japan amid reports that North Korea was planning to test an intermediate-range ballistic missile.



The Senate voted 64-33 to ban a procedure that critics called partial birth abortion.



Norwegian Robert Sorlie won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in nine days, 15 hours, 47 minutes.



A report in the journal "Nature" reported that scientists had found 350,000-year-old human footprints in Italy. The 56 prints were made by three early, upright-walking humans that were descending the side of a volcano.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Country singer Jan Howard is 74.



Opera singer Rosalind Elias is 73.



Songwriter Mike Stoller is 71.



Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 65.



Actor William H. Macy is 54.



Actress Deborah Raffin is 51.



Comedian Robin Duke is 50.



Actress Dana Delany is 48.



Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 44.



Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 42.



Actor Christopher Collet is 36.



Actress Annabeth Gish is 33.



Actress Tracy Wells is 33.



Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob) is 32.



Singer Glenn Lewis is 29.



Actor Danny Masterson is 28.



Actor Emile Hirsch is 19.



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



Thought for Today:

"We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them." -

— Livy, Roman historian (64 or 59 B.C.-A.D. 17)

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

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

Today is Friday, March 12th.

The 72nd day of 2004.

There are 294 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 12, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered the first of his radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.



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



On this date:



In 1496, Jews were expelled from Syria.



In 1664, New Jersey became a British colony as King Charles II granted land in the New World to his brother James, the Duke of York.



In 1755, In North Arlington, NJ, the steam engine was used for the first time.



In 1789, The United States Post Office is established.



In 1809, Britain signed a treaty with Persia [today's Iran] forcing the French to leave the country.



In 1850, the first $20 gold piece was issued.



In 1890, Russian dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky was born.



In 1894, Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time.



In 1912, Capt Albert Berry performed the first parachute jump from an airplane.



In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.



In 1913, Canberra became the capital of Australia.



In 1922, Writer and leading chronicler (On the Road) of the 1950's "beat generation," Jean-Louis (Jack) Kerouac was born in Lowell, MA. He died on October 21, 1969, at his home in St. Petersburg, FL at the age of 47.



In 1925, Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died.



In 1928, at three minutes before midnight, the St. Francis Dam 50 miles north of Los Angeles suddenly collapsed, sending a 78-foot-high wall of water crashing on a 54-mile path of destruction through communities along the Santa Clara River Valley of Ventura County and onward to the Pacific Ocean. Over 450 people lost their lives in the catastrophe, the second worst natural disaster in California history; only the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire killed more people.



In 1930, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.



In 1938, the "Anschluss" took place as German troops entered Austria.



In 1939, Pope Pius XII was formally crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.



In 1945, Anne Frank, the Jewish teen-ager who kept a diary of her wartime experiences, died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. She was 15.



In 1945, The British Empire celebrates its first "British Empire Day" which they rename "Commonwealth Day" in 1958.



In 1947, President Truman established what became known as the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.



In 1951, "Dennis the Menace," created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.



In 1959, The U.S. House of Representatives joins the Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.



In 1963, the House of Representatives voted to grant former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship.



In 1969, Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London.



In 1972, Hockey legend Gordie Howe retires from the NHL after twenty-six seasons.



In 1974, "Wonder Woman" debuted on ABC-TV. The show later went to NBC-TV.



In 1980, A jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering thirty-three people in Chicago.



In 1985, Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced that he planned to drop Secret Service protection and hire his own bodyguards in an effort to lower the deficit by $3 million.



In 1987, a federal judge in Washington dismissed lawsuits by Lt. Col. Oliver North seeking to stop an independent counsel's investigation of his role in the Iran-Contra affair.



In 1987, "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.



In 1989, About 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of an exhibit.



In 1989, Prime Minister Sadiq al Mahdi of Sudan formed a new cabinet to end civil war.



In 1990, Exxon pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $100 million fine in a $1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Years after millions of barrels of oil fouled Prince William Sound in Alaska, the area still has not recovered.



In 1992, Mauritius became a republic but remained a member of the British Commonwealth.



In 1993, In the U.S., the Pentagon called for the closure of 31 major military bases.



In 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as the nation's first female attorney general.



In 1993, Several bombs were set off in Bombay, India. About 300 were killed and hundreds more were injured.



In 1997, Police in Los Angeles arrested Mikail Markhasev for the shooting of Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis. Markhasev was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.



In 1998, Astronomers cancelled a warning that a mile-wide asteroid might collide with Earth saying that calculations had been off by 600,000 miles.



In 2001, A U.S. Navy jet mistakenly dropped a bomb on a group of military personnel at a bombing range in Kuwait, killing five Americans and one New Zealander.



In 2002, The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution that endorsed a Palestinian state for the first time.



In 2002, In Houston, Andrea Yates was convicted of murdering her five children in the family bathtub.



In 2002, U.S. homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.



In 2002, Conoco and Phillips Petroleum stockholders approved a proposed merger worth $15.6 billion.



Ten years ago (1994):



The Church of England ordained its first women priests.



Secretary of State Warren Christopher held discussions with Chinese leaders in Beijing that were marked by blunt exchanges on human rights.



A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell of the Loch Ness monster was confirmed to be a hoax. The photo was taken of a toy submarine with a head and neck attached.



Five years ago (1999):



Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined NATO.



Violinist Yehudi Menuhin died in Berlin at age 82.



One year ago (2003):



Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who'd vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters.



Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated.



The U.S. Air Force announced that it would resume reconnaissance flights off the coast of North Korea. The flights had stopped on March 2 after an encounter with four armed North Korean jets.



Author Howard Fast died in Greenwich, Conn., at age 88.



Actress Lynne Thigpen died in Los Angeles at age 54.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Former astronaut Wally Schirra is 81.



Playwright Edward Albee is 76.



Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young is 72.



Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 68.



Singer Al Jarreau is 64.



Actress Barbara Feldon (Agent 99 - "Get Smart") is 63



Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 58.



Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 56.



Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 55.



Actor Jon Provost ("Lassie") is 54.



Author Carl Hiaasen is 51.



XXX-rated actor Ron Jeremy is 51.



Actor Jerry Levine is 47.



Rock musician Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) is 47.



Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 47.



Actor Courtney B. Vance is 44.



Actor Titus Welliver is 43.



Former baseball player Darryl Strawberry is 42.



Actress Julia Campbell is 41.



Actor Aaron Eckhart is 36.



Rock musician Graham Coxon is 35.



Actor Samm Levine is 22.



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



Thought for Today:

"Ill luck, you know, seldom comes alone." -

- Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, dramatist and poet (1547-1616).

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

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

Today is Thursday, March 11th.

The 71st day of 2004.

There are 295 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



Fifty years ago, on March 11, 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., and his subcommittee's chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee. (The confrontation culminated in the famous Senate Army-McCarthy hearings.)



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



On this date:



In 1302, The characters Romeo Monteveccio and Juliet Cappelleto were married this day according to William Shakespeare.



In 1619, Margaret and Philippa Flower were burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft in Lincoln, England. Known as the flower sisters, the two women, along with their mother, Joan, had cast spells upon various members of their employer's family. Joan didn't help things during the trial when she picked up a piece of bread and said "May this cake choke me if I am guilty." Then she took a bite of the bread and dropped dead.



In 1789, Benjamin Banneker with L'Enfant begin to lay out Washington DC.



In 1791, Samuel Mulliken of Philadelphia, PA became the first person to receive more than one patent from the U.S. Patent Office.



In 1810, Emperor Napoleon of France was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.



In 1811, The wedding of President Madison's sister-in-law is the first to be held in the White House.



In 1824, the Bureau Of Indian Affairs was created in the U.S. War Dept.



In 1847, John 'Johnny Appleseed' Chapman died in Allen County, Indiana. This day became known as Johnny Appleseed Day.



In 1850, the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical school entirely for women, is incorporated.



In 1861, the Confederate convention in Montgomery, Ala., adopted a constitution.



In 1865, General William T. Sherman takes Fayetteville, North Carolina, and destroys the arsenal there.



In 1888, the famous "Blizzard of '88" struck the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.



In 1903, American accordion player and orchestra leader, Lawrence Welk, was born in Strasburg, North Dakota. He died on May 17, 1992, in Santa Monica, California, of pneumonia.



In 1907, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt induced California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.



In 1918, The so-called Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 arrived in the United States. By 1920, the virus had killed as many as 22 million people worldwide, 500,000 in the United States alone.



In 1927, the Flatheads Gang was responsible for the first armored car robbery which took place near Pittsburgh, PA. It was reported that $104,250 was taken in the heist.



In 1927, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the famous Roxy Theatre in New York City.



In 1930, former President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.



In 1935, Hermann Goering officially created the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force.



In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.



In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, vowing: "I shall return." (He kept that promise nearly three years later.)



In 1947, The DuMont network aired "Movies For Small Fry." It was network television's first successful children's program.



In 1953, first woman doctor commissioned in regular army - F. M. Adams



In 1958, an American B-47 bomber accidentally drops an unarmed atom bomb on a South Carolina farm. The bomb's conventional explosives injure six, level a farm house, and produce a thirty-five-foot-deep crater.



In 1959, the Lorraine Hansberry drama "A Raisin in the Sun" opened at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater. It is the first play by an African-American woman to run on Broadway.



In 1965, the Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.



In 1966, Three men were convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.



In 1969, Levi-Strauss starts selling the popular bell-bottomed style jeans.



In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.



In 1978, Bobby Hull joins hockey great Gordy Howe in the record books by scoring his 1,000th career goal.



In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.



In 1986, 1 million days since traditional foundation of Rome, 4/21/753 BC.



In 1986, Popsicle announced its plan to end the traditional twin-stick frozen treat for a flatter, one-stick model.



In 1988, A cease-fire was declared in the war between Iran and Iraq.



In 1990, Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet republic to break away from Communist control.



In 1990, In Chile, Patricio Aylwin was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since 1973.



In 1991, In South Africa a curfew was imposed on black townships after fighting between political gangs had left 49 dead.



In 1992, Former U.S. President Nixon said that the Bush administration was not giving enough economic aid to Russia.



In 1993, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the first female attorney general.



In 1993, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty refusing to open sites for inspection.



In 1994, In Chile, Eduardo Frei was sworn in as President. It was the first peaceful transfer of power in Chile since 1970.



In 1997, An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant caused 35 workers to be exposed to low levels of radioactivity. The incident was the worst in Japan's history.



In 1998, The International Astronomical Union issued an alert that said that a mile-wide asteroid could come very close to, and possibly hit, Earth on Oct. 26, 2028. The next day NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.



In 2001, Masked Zapatista rebels urged passage of an Indian rights bill after riding triumphantly into the heart of Mexico's capital in a march supported by the president and welcomed by 75,000 cheering supporters.



In 2002, Two columns of light soared skyward from Ground Zero in New York City as a temporary memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks.



Ten years ago (1994):



Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Beijing, the mood of his trip already soured by a fresh government crackdown on Chinese dissidents.



Five years ago (1999):



The House voted 219-191 to conditionally support President Clinton's plan to send U.S. troops to Kosovo if a peace agreement were reached.



U.S. President Bill Clinton completed a four-day, four-nation visit to Central America.



One year ago (2003):



A U.S. Army helicopter crashed near Fort Drum in upstate New York, killing 11 soldiers.



Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of Turkey's governing party, was named prime minister.



After a four-day walkout that cost the city $10 million, Broadway musicians settled the first strike on the Great White Way in nearly 30 years.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Terence Alexander is 81.



Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 73.



ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 70.



Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is 68.



Musician Flaco Jimenez is 65.



Actress Tricia O'Neil is 59.



Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 57.



Singer Bobby McFerrin ("Don't Worry, Be Happy" Grammy 1989) is 54.



Movie director Jerry Zucker is 54.



Actress Susan Richardson is 52.



Singer Nina Hagen is 49.



Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 49.



Singer Cheryl Lynn is 47.



Actress Alex Kingston is 41.



Actor Wallace Langham is 39.



Singer Lisa Loeb is 36.



Singer Pete Droge is 35.



Rock musician Rami Jaffee (Wallflowers) is 35.



Actor Johnny Knoxville is 33.



Rock singer-musicians Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte) are 25.



Actor David Anders is 23.



Actress Thora Birch is 22.



Actor Anton Yelchin is 15.



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



Thought for Today:

"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." -

- Bertholt Brecht, German poet and dramatist (1898-1956).

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

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

Today is Wednesday, March 10th.

The 70th day of 2004.

There are 296 days left in the year.



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



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 10, 1876, the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."



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



On this date:



In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.



In 1629, England's King Charles I dissolved Parliament; he did not call it back for 11 years.



In 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.



In 1848, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico.



In 1849, Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent. He is the first United States president to do so.



In 1862, The first paper money in the United States is issued.



In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies in the Civil War.



In 1880, the Salvation Army arrived in the United States from England.



In 1912, China becomes a republic after the Manchu Ching Dynasty is overthrown.



In 1940, W2XBS-TV in New York City aired the first televised opera as it presented scenes from "I Pagliacci".



In 1945, American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, killing an estimated 100,000 people.



In 1947, The Big Four met in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany.



In 1949, Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C., of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)



In 1956, Julie Andrews, at the age of 23, made her TV debut in "High Tor" with Bing Crosby and Nancy Olson.



In 1965, "The Odd Couple," starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney, opens on Broadway. The play later goes on to become a hit television series.



In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)



In 1971, The U.S. Senate approves an amendment to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.



In 1971, Indira Gandhi's Congress Party wins a landslide victory in the Indian general election.



In 1978, CBS began airing the series "The Incredible Hulk."



In 1980, "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death in Purchase, N.Y. (Jean Harris, convicted of murder, served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)



In 1982, The United States bans Libyan oil imports due to their continued support of terrorism.



In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.



In 1997, The series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" began airing.



In 1998, U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf begin receiving the first vaccinations against anthrax.



In 2001, The 500th episode of "Saturday Night Live" aired on NBC.



In 2002, The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon informed the U.S. Congress in January that it was making contingency plans for the possible use of nuclear weapons against countries that threaten the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, including Iraq and North Korea.



Ten years ago (1994):



White House officials began testifying before a federal grand jury about the Whitewater controversy.



Five years ago (1999):



During a visit to Guatemala, President Clinton acknowledged the U.S. role in Central America's "dark and painful period" of civil wars and repression.



One year ago (2003):



North Korea test-fired a short-range missile. The event was one of several in a patter of unusual military maneuvers



Facing almost certain defeat, the United States and Britain delayed a vote in the U.N. Security Council to give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to disarm.



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



Today's Birthdays:



Talk show host Ralph Emery is 71.



Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 66.



Actor Chuck Norris is 64.



Playwright David Rabe is 64.



Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 64.



Actress Katharine Houghton is 59.



Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 57.



The 19th prime minister of Canada (1993) and first woman to hold the office, Avril Phaedra Campbell is 57.



Actress Shannon Tweed is 47.



Actress Sharon Stone is 46.



Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 44.



Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 41.



Britain's Prince Edward is 40.



Actress Jasmine Guy is 40.



Singer Edie Brickell is 38.



Actor Stephen Mailer is 38.



Actress Paget Brewster is 35.



Country singer Daryle Singletary is 33.



Rapper-producer Timbaland is 32.



Actor Cristian de la Fuente is 30.



Actress Bree Turner is 27.



Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller is 27.



Actress Emily Osment is 12.



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



Thought for Today:

"We must not waste life in devising means. It is better to plan less and do more." -

— William Ellery Channing, American clergyman (1780-1842).

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