Paradise Driver

Monday, October 13, 2008

OCTOBER 13TH

Today is Monday, Oct. 13, the 287th day of 2008.
There are 79 days left in the year.
This is the Columbus Day holiday in the United States, as well as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 13, 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.

On this date:

In 54, Roman emperor Claudius I died, poisoned apparently at the behest of his wife, Agrippina.
In 1775, the United States Navy had its origins as the Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.
In 1843, the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith was founded in New York City.
In 1858, the sixth debate between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Quincy, Ill.
In 1908, the Chicago Cubs won Game 4 of the World Series, defeating the Detroit Tigers 3-0 to take a 3-1 Series lead.
In 1943, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.
In 1944, American troops entered Aachen, Germany, during World War II.
In 1960, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy participated in the third televised debate of their presidential campaign. (Nixon was in Los Angeles; Kennedy was in New York.)
In 1962, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee opened on Broadway.
In 1974, longtime television host Ed Sullivan died in New York City at age 72.

Ten years ago:

White House and congressional budget bargainers continued to hunt for agreement on issues snarling a massive $500 billion bill for the new fiscal year.
Five scientists in the United States won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing ways to analyze molecules in chemical reactions and the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering how electrons can change behavior.
The National Basketball Association wiped out the first two weeks of the 1998-99 season after collective bargaining talks broke off.
The New York Yankees won the American League pennant, defeating the Cleveland Indians 9-5 in Game 6 of their championship series.

Five years ago:

The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution expanding the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed into law a controversial redistricting bill designed to put more Republicans in the Texas congressional delegation.
Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich formally kicked off his presidential bid.

One year ago:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, after meeting with human-rights activists in Moscow, told reporters the Russian government under Vladimir Putin had amassed so much central authority that the power-grab could undermine its commitment to democracy.

Today's Birthdays:

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is 83.
Playwright Frank D. Gilroy is 83.
Gospel singer Shirley Caesar is 70.
Actress Melinda Dillon is 69.
Singer-musician Paul Simon is 67.
Actress Pamela Tiffin is 66.
Musician Robert Lamm (Chicago) is 64.
Country singer Lacy J. Dalton is 62.
Actor Demond Wilson is 62.
Singer-musician Sammy Hagar is 61.
Actor John Lone is 56.
Model Beverly Johnson is 56.
Producer-writer Chris Carter is 52.
Actor Reggie Theus is 51.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is 50.
Singer Marie Osmond is 49.
Rock singer Joey Belladonna is 48.
Actress T'Keyah Crystal Keymah is 46.
Actress Kelly Preston is 46.
Country singer John Wiggins is 46.
Actor Christopher Judge is 44.
Actress Kate Walsh is 41.
Rhythm-and-blues musician Jeff Allen (Mint Condition) is 40.
Actress Tisha Campbell-Martin is 40.
Classical singer Carlos Marin (Il Divo) is 40.
Olympic silver-medal figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is 39.
Country singer Rhett Akins is 39.
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is 37.
Rock musician Jan Van Sichem Jr. (K's Choice) is 36.
Rhythm-and-blues singers Brandon and Brian Casey (Jagged Edge) are 33.
Singer Ashanti is 28.
Christian rock singer Jon Micah Sumrall (Kutless) is 28.

Thought for Today:

"There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction. One has to go abroad in order to find the home one has lost."
Franz Kafka, Austrian author (1883-1924).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-287

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Sunday, October 12, 2008

OCTOBER 12TH

Today is Sunday, Oct 12, the 286th day of 2008.
There are 80 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 12, 1492 (Old Style calendar; Oct. 21 New Style), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.

On this date:

In 1870, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63.
In 1908, the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 3 of the World Series, played in Chicago.
In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by the Germans in occupied Belgium during World War I.
In 1918, the Cloquet Fire erupted in Minnesota, claiming some 450 lives.
In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.
In 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe when a speaker criticized his country.
In 1968, the Summer Games of the 19th Olympiad officially opened in Mexico City.
In 1968, Equatorial Guinea became independent of Spain.
In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
In 2002, a bomb blamed on Islamic militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

Ten years ago:

Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, died five days after being beaten and lashed to a fence; two men were charged with his murder. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences.)
Three Americans, Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Dr. Ferid Murad, won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for blood vessel research.

Five years ago:

A suicide attack outside a Baghdad hotel full of Americans killed six bystanders.
Doctors in Dallas succeeded in separating 2-year-old conjoined twins from Egypt.
Germany won the Women's Soccer World Cup 2-1 over Sweden in the eighth minute of overtime.
Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker died in San Marino, Calif., at age 72.
Philanthropist Joan B. Kroc died in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., at age 75.
British wartime hero Patrick Dalzel-Job, whose exploits made him a model for James Bond, died in Plockton, Scotland, at age 90.

One year ago:

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm over global warming.
A fiery, 34-vehicle pileup at a freeway tunnel in Santa Clarita, Calif., left three people dead.
A jury in Panama City, Fla., acquitted seven former juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse in a black teenager's death.

Today's Birthdays:

Actress Antonia Rey is 81.
Comedian-activist Dick Gregory is 76.
Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is 76.
Singer Sam Moore (formerly of Sam and Dave) is 73.
Sportscaster Tony Kubek is 72.
TV reporter Chris Wallace is 61.
Actress-singer Susan Anton is 58.
Rock singer-musician Pat DiNizio is 53.
Actor Carlos Bernard is 46.
Jazz musician Chris Botti is 46.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Claude McKnight (Take 6) is 46.
Rock singer Bob Schneider is 43.
Actor Hugh Jackman is 40.
Actor Adam Rich is 40.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Garfield Bright (Shai) is 39.
Country musician Martie Maguire (The Dixie Chicks) is 39.
Actor Kirk Cameron is 38.
Actor Marcus T. Paulk ("Moesha") is 22.
Actor Josh Hutcherson is 16.

Thought for Today:

"Some people always sigh in thanking God."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-286

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Saturday, October 11, 2008

OCTOBER 11TH

Today is Saturday, Oct. 11, the 285th day of 2008.
There are 81 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 11, 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.

On this date:

In 1779, Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, fighting for American independence, died two days after being wounded during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah, Ga.
In 1890, the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C.
In 1908, the Chicago Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the World Series, defeating the visiting Detroit Tigers 6-1 at the West Side Grounds.
In 1948, the musical comedy "Where's Charley?," starring Ray Bolger and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opened on Broadway.
In 1958, the lunar probe Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far out as planned, fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.
In 1962, Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Roman Catholic Church's Second Ecumenical Council, also known as "Vatican 2."
In 1968, the government of Panama was overthrown in a military coup.
In 1983, the last full-fledged hand-cranked telephone system in the United States went out of service as 440 telephone customers in Bryant Pond, Maine, were switched over to direct-dial service.
In 1984, space shuttle Challenger astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.
In 1991, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her; Thomas reappeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching."

Ten years ago:

Pope John Paul II decreed the first Jewish-born saint of the modern era: Edith Stein, a nun killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

Five years ago:

A team of 18 doctors at Children's Medical Center Dallas began complicated separation surgery for 2-year-old conjoined twins from Egypt; the operation was completed in 34 hours.
Clerks for three major supermarket chains in Southern California began a 4 1/2-month strike after negotiations with store officials broke off.
Ivan A. Getting, a Cold War scientist who conceived the Global Positioning Satellite system, died in Coronado, Calif., at age 91.

One year ago:

The Bush administration reported that the federal budget deficit had fallen to $162.8 billion in the just-completed budget year, the lowest amount of red ink in five years.
Cold medicines for babies and toddlers were pulled off shelves amid concerns about unintentional overdoses.
Briton Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature.
Werner von Trapp, a member of the family made famous by the musical "The Sound of Music," died in Waitsfield, Vt., at age 91.

Today's Birthdays: