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Today is Tuesday, May 18th.

The 139th day of 2004.

There are 227 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 18, 1804, the French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.



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On this date:



In 1642, The Canadian city of Montreal was founded.



In 1652, The Rhode Island Colony enacts the first American law declaring slavery illegal.



In 1852, The state of Massachusetts passed a law requiring all school age children to attend school.



In 1896, The Supreme Court endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation with its Plessy v. Ferguson decision, a ruling that was overturned 58 years later with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.



In 1897, Producer/Director Frank Capra was born in Sicily. He died September 3, 1991 at the age of 94.



In 1904, American statesman Jacob K. Javits was born in New York.



In 1914, The "Mariner" became the first steamboat with cargo to pass through the Panama Canal.



In 1926, Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, Calif.; she reappeared a month later, claiming to have been kidnapped.



In 1933, The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created.



In 1942, New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.



In 1944, During World War II, Allied forces finally occupied Monte Cassino in Italy after a four-month struggle that claimed some 20,000 lives.



In 1951, The United Nations moved out of its temporary headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., for its permanent home in Manhattan.



In 1953, The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California on this day, at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour.



In 1963, The Beatles began their first headlining tour at the Grenada Theatre in Slough, England.



In 1964, The Supreme Court rules unconstitutional a federal statute depriving naturalized citizens of U.S. citizenship if they return to the land of their birth for three years.



In 1965, WTAF TV channel 29 in Philadelphia PA (IND) begins broadcasting



In 1967, Tennessee Gov. Ellington repeals the "Monkey Law", upheld in the Scopes Trial in 1925.



In 1969, Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young blasted off aboard Apollo 10.



In 1974, India became the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.



In 1979, A federal jury in Oklahoma City awarded $10.5 million to the estate of Karen Silkwood, a laboratory technician contaminated by radiation at a Kerr-McGee plutonium plant in 1974. Silkwood herself couldn't collect. She died in a hit-and-run automobile accident while on her way to give information about the plant to a newspaper reporter.



In 1980, The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state, dormant for over 100 years, exploded, 500 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. The blast took 1,300 feet off the top of the mountain and left 57 people dead or missing.



In 1995, Actress Elizabeth Montgomery died at the age of 62. She was born in Los Angeles on April 15, 1933.



In 1998, The final episode of "Murphy Brown" aired on CBS.



Ten years ago (1994):



Israeli troops completed their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as Palestinian authorities took over.



Five years ago (1999):



Georgette Smith, a Florida woman left paralyzed from the neck down after being shot by her elderly mother, won the right to be taken off life support. (Smith died the next day, shortly after being taken off a ventilator; her mother, Shirley Egan, was later acquitted of attempted murder.)



Two Serb soldiers held as prisoners of war by the U.S. military were turned over to Yugoslav authorities.



One year ago (2003):



A Hamas suicide attacker disguised as an observant Jew killed seven Israeli bus passengers.



Belgian voters give Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's coalition of socialists and liberals another four years in office.



Pope John Paul II celebrated his 83rd birthday with an open-air Mass and requests for prayers so he could continue his papacy.



"Les Miserables" closed on Broadway after more than 16 years and 6,680 performances.



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Today's Birthdays:



Pope John Paul II (Ckarol Wojtyla) is 84.



Actor Bill Macy is 82.



Sportscaster Jack Whitaker is 80.



Actor Pernell Roberts is 74.



Actor Robert Morse is 73.



Actor and television executive Dwayne Hickman is 70.



Baseball Hall-of-Famer Brooks Robinson is 67.



Bluegrass singer-musician Rodney Dillard (The Dillards) is 62.



Baseball Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson is 58.



Country singer Joe Bonsall (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 56.



Actress Candice Azzara is 55.



Rock musician Rick Wakeman (Yes) is 55.



Actor James Stephens is 53.



Country singer George Strait is 52.



Rhythm and blues singer Butch Tavares (Tavares) is 51.



Rock singer-musician Page Hamilton is 44.



Singer-actress Martika is 35.



Comedian-writer Tina Fey ("Saturday Night Live") is 34.



Rapper Special Ed is 30.



Rhythm and blues singer Darryl Allen (Mista) is 24.



Actor Spencer Breslin is 12.



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Thought for Today:

"Life is a joke that's just begun." -

- W.S. Gilbert, English librettist (1836-1911).

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Today is Monday, May 17th.

The 138th day of 2004.

There are 228 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision which found that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional.



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On this date:



In 1666, Newark, New Jersey, was founded



In 1673, Louis Joliet & Jacques Marquette begin exploring Mississippi



In 1792, A group of 24 brokers meeting at a coffee house in New York City organize the New York Stock Exchange. The first transactions are made under a tree on Wall Street.



In 1803, The Reaping Machine was patented by John Hawkins & Richard French.



In 1804, Lewis & Clark begin their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase.



In 1845, The rubber band was patented.



In 1875, The first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was Aristides.



In 1883, Buffalo Bill Cody's 1st wild west show premieres in Omaha



In 1904, Jean Gabin, one of France's most popular film actors, was born in Paris.



In 1912, LPG (liquified petroleum gas) is first used for cooking and heating in Pennsylvania



In 1916, British Summer Time (Daylight Saving), 1st introduced



In 1920, 1st flight by Dutch airlines KLM (Koninklijke-Luchtvaart-Maatschappij)



In 1932, The U.S. Congress changed the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico."



In 1938, Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy.



In 1939, Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by reigning British sovereigns.



In 1940, The Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War II.



In 1946, President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.



In 1948, The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.



In 1974, During a shootout with Los Angeles police, the house the Symbionese Liberation Army were using to hideout in, is destroyed by fire (5 die).



In 1973, The Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal.



In 1975, NBC TV bought the rights to show "Gone With the Wind." The one time rights cost NBC $5,000,000.



In 1979, -12ºF (-11ºC), on top of Mauna Kea HI (state record)



In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq and the U.S. called the attack a mistake.)



In 1989, One million people demonstrated for democratic reforms in Beijing. The number of students fasting reached three-thousand.



Ten years ago (1994):



The U.N. Security Council approved a peacekeeping force and an arms embargo for violence-racked Rwanda.



Five years ago (1999):



The Supreme Court banned states from paying lower welfare benefits to newcomers than to longtime residents.



Labor Party leader Ehud Barak unseated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli elections.



Makah Indians in Washington state harpooned a gray whale for the first time in 70 years.



One year ago (2003):



A top Vatican official, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, acknowledged what many observers had long suspected - that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease.



A German tour bus overturned on a highway in France, killing 28 people.



A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in the West Bank city of Hebron, killing an Israeli man and his pregnant wife.



More than 260 people died in Sri Lanka's worst flooding in five decades.



Funny Cide ran away from the field in the Preakness, two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby. (However, Funny Cide came up short at the Belmont Stakes, finishing third.)



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Today's Birthdays:



Opera singer Birgit Nilsson is 86.



Actor-director Dennis Hopper is 68.



Rhythm and blues singer Pervis Jackson (The Spinners) is 66.



Singer Taj Mahal is 62.



Singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester is 60.



Rock musician Bill Bruford is 55.



Singer-musician George Johnson (The Brothers Johnson) is 51.



Journalist Kathleen Sullivan is 51.



Actor Bill Paxton is 49.



Boxing Hall-of-Famer Ray Charles "Sugar Ray" Leonard is 48.



Actor-comedian Bob Saget is 48.



Singer Enya (Eithne Ni Bhraonain) is 43.



Actor Craig Ferguson ("The Drew Carey Show") is 42.



Singer-musician Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) is 39.



Rhythm and blues musician O'Dell (Mint Condition) is 39.



Actress Paige Turco is 39.



Singer Jordan Knight is 34.



Rhythm and blues singer Darnell Van Rensalier (Shai) is 34.



Actor Hill Harper is 31.



Rock singer Andrea Corr (The Corrs) is 30.



Singer Kandi Burruss is 28.



Actor Tahj Mowry is 18.



Actress Samantha Browne-Walters is 13.



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Thought for Today:

"The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have." -

- Ring Lardner, American humorist (1885-1933).

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Today is Sunday, May 16th.

The 137th day of 2004.

There are 229 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The movie "Wings" won "best production" while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.



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On this date:



In 1639, The town of Newport, Rhode Island, was founded



In 1760, The French were forced to evacuate Quebec



In 1763, The English lexicographer, author and wit Samuel Johnson first met his future biographer, James Boswell.



In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis VI of France, who was 15.



In 1804, The French Senate declared Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.



In 1817, The Mississippi River steamboat service began as it took passengers from New Orleans, La, to Louisville, Ky.



In 1862, The Automobile was first built by Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir.



In 1866, Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer



In 1866, Congress authorized the minting of the 5-cent piece called the nickel, minted with not more than 25% nickel; the silver half-dime was used up to this point.



In 1868, The Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment against him.



In 1879, The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England set up the Afghan state.



In 1881, World's 1st electric tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin)



In 1888, Canadian Pacific Railroad opens Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver British Columbia



In 1888, The first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner.



In 1888, The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin.



In 1891, Spam was introduced by George A. Hormel & Co.



In 1905, Actor Henry Jaynes Fonda was born in Grand Island, NE. He died August 12, 1982 at the age of 77.



In 1910, The U.S. Bureau of Mines is established as part of the Department of the Interior.



In 1919, Pianist Liberace (Wladziu Valentino Liberace) was born a twin in West Allis, WI. He died February 4, 1987 at the age of 67.



In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.



In 1927, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that even though the manufacturing of liquor is illegal, all bootleggers must pay income tax.



In 1946, The Irving Berlin musical, "Annie Get Your Gun," opened at New York’s Imperial Theatre for the first of 1,147 performances.



In 1946, The world's first magnetic tape recorder is demonstrated for the first time by Jack Mullin.



In 1954, WGAN (now WGME) TV channel 13 in Portland, ME (CBS) 1st broadcast



In 1960, A "Big Four" summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the U.S. in the wake of the U2 incident.



In 1965, Spaghetti-O's is first marketed.



In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.



In 1977, Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling atop the Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.



In 1981, "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks



In 1986, "Top Gun" premieres



In 1988, US Supreme Court rules trash may be searched without a warrant



In 1990. Actor/Singer/Dancer Sammy Davis Jr. died at the age of 64. He was born In New York City NY on December 8, 1925.



In 1992, The space shuttle Endeavour completed its maiden voyage with a safe landing in the California desert.



In 1995, Japanese police arrested doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara, holding him in connection with the nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways two months earlier.



In 1996, Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the nation's top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question.



In 2000, U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.



Ten years ago (1994):



Israel began its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, shutting down the prison and military headquarters where Israeli soldiers had been in charge since the 1967 Middle East War.



Five years ago (1999):



The Justice Department said preliminary figures from the FBI indicated a decline in serious crime in 1998 for the seventh consecutive year.



One year ago (2003):



President Bush launched his re-election campaign.



The Senate committed $15 billion to fight global AIDS.



In Casablanca, Morocco, five simultaneous suicide attacks claimed the lives of 33 victims, in addition to a dozen suicide bombers.



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Today's Birthdays:



Author Studs Terkel is 92.



Actor George Gaynes is 87.



Actor Harry Carey Jr. is 83.



Actress Yvonne Craig is 67.



Jazz musician Billy Cobham is 60.



Actor Pierce Brosnan is 51.



Actress Debra Winger is 49.



Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut is 49.



Actress Mare Winningham is 45.



Singer Janet Jackson is 38.



Rhythm and blues singer Ralph Tresvant (New Edition) is 36.



Actress Tracey Gold is 35.



Tennis player Gabriela Sabatini is 34.



Country singer Rick Trevino is 33.



Actor David Boreanaz is 33.



Musician Simon Katz is 33.



Actress Tori Spelling is 31.



Actor Marc John Jefferies is 14.



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Thought for Today:

"Ideas won't keep; something must be done about them." -

- Alfred North Whitehead, English philosopher-mathematician (1861-1947).

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Today is Saturday, May 15th.

The 136th day of 2004.

There are 230 days left in the year.

This is Armed Forces Day.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 15, 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.



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On this date:



In 756, Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova Spain



In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, marries her third husband James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was acquitted of complicity in her second husband's murder.



In 1602, Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.



In 1618, Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law.



In 1672, The first copyright law in the colonies was enacted by the Massachusetts general court for "The General Laws and Liberties of the Massachusetts Colony."



In 1718, Britain's James Puckle patents the first machine gun.



In 1856, American writer L(yman) Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, NY. He created an original fairyland, the land of Oz, a world of fantastic characters and lighthearted adventure. He died May 6, 1919 at the age of 62



In 1886, Poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Mass.



In 1918, U.S. airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.



In 1930, Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyo.



In 1940, Nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States.



In 1941, Joe DiMaggio began his historic major-league hitting streak of 56 games.



In 1942, Gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles.



In 1948, Hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.



In 1957, Great Britain drops a hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific, becoming the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union, with thermonuclear capabilities.



In 1963, Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith Seven on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.



In 1970, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.



In 1972, George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, Md., for the Democratic presidential nomination.



In 1975, The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. This was the final U.S. action of the Viet Nam War.



In 1979, The final episode of "Starsky and Hutch" was aired by ABC.



In 1988, The Soviet Union begins withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan nearly a decade after invading the country.



In 1991, French President Francois Mitterrand appointed Edith Cresson to be France's first female premier.



In 2001, Tens of thousands of Palestinians packed town squares in the West Bank town of Ramallah as they marked what they called the day of "catastrophe" in 1948, when they were uprooted and the state of Israel created.



Ten years ago (1994):



Supreme Court nominee Stephen G. Breyer arrived in Washington to spend the night at the White House, while Republicans joined Democrats in predicting swift Senate confirmation.



Five years ago (1999):



Russian President Boris Yeltsin triumphed over his Communist foes, surviving an impeachment vote in the Russian parliament.



Charismatic won the Preakness, finishing one and a-half lengths ahead of Menifee.



One year ago (2003):



Emergency officials rushed to a series of mock catastrophes in the Chicago area on the busiest day of a national weeklong exercise.



Runaway Texas Democrats boarded two buses and returned home after a self-imposed weeklong exile in Oklahoma that succeeded in killing a redistricting bill they opposed.



The three-year championship reign of the Los Angeles Lakers came to a decisive end as the San Antonio Spurs overpowered the Lakers 110-82 to win the Western Conference semifinal series 4 games to 2.



Country music star June Carter Cash died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 73.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Constance Cummings is 94.



Singer Richard Edward "Eddy" Arnold is 86.



Actor Joseph Wiseman is 86.



Playwright Sir Peter Shaffer ("Equus") is 78.



Actress-singer Anna Maria Alberghetti is 68.



Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy is 68.



Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is 67.



Singer Trini Lopez is 67.



Singer Lenny Welch is 66.



Actress-singer Lainie Kazan is 64.



Actor-director Paul Rudd ("Knots Landing") is 64.



Country singer K.T. Oslin is 62.



Singer-songwriter Brian Eno is 56.



Actor Nicholas Hammond ("The Sound of Music") is 54.



Actor Chazz Palminteri is 53.



Baseball Hall-of-Famer George Brett is 51.



Musician-composer Mike Oldfield ("Tubular Bells") is 51.



Actor Lee Horsley is 49.



Singer-rapper Prince Be (PM Dawn) is 34.



Actor Brad Rowe is 34.



Actor David Charvet is 32.



Rock musician Ahmet Zappa is 30.



Olympic gold-medal gymnast Amy Chow is 26.



Actress Jamie-Lynn DiScala is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"People love to talk but hate to listen." -

- Alice Duer Miller, American author (1874-1942).

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Today is Friday, May 14th

The 135th day of 2004.

There are 231 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 14, 1904, the first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis, as part of the World's Fair commemorating the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase.



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On this date:



In 1643, Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis the 13th.



In 1796, Edward Jenner inoculated a healthy 8-year-old boy with cowpox virus; the boy subsequently withstood repeated attempts to infect him with smallpox.



In 1804, The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis.



In 1853, Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.



In 1874 McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, MA, for the first college football game to charge admission.



In 1897, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time. It was at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled.



In 1897, Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph.



In 1913, The Rockefeller Foundation was created by John D. Rockefeller with an endowment of $100,000,000.



In 1935, Los Angeles' Griffith Planetarium opens, 3rd in US



In 1936, Pop singer/Actor Bobby Darin (Walden Robert Cassotto) was born in New York, NY. He died December 20, 1973 at the age of 37.



In 1942, The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps was established.



In 1942, The British, while retreating from Burma, reached India.



In 1948, When British rule over Palestine ends, Israel is proclaimed an independent state and is declared open to Jewish immigration.



In 1955, Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland.



In 1961, A bus carrying Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama.



In 1964, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev joined United Arab Republic President Gamel Abdel Nasser in setting off charges, diverting the Nile River from the site of the Aswan High Dam project.



In 1973, The United States launched Skylab One, its first manned space station.



In 1973, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, last airs on NBC-TV



In 1975, U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation.



In 1980, President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services.



In 1989, The final episode of "Family Ties" aired.



In 1998, Singer-actor, "Chairman of the Board", Frances Albert "Frank" Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82. He was born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, NJ.



In 1998, The final episode of "Seinfeld" aired on NBC. The commercial time during the show was priced at $2 million for 30 seconds.



In 1998, Singer George Michael pled no contest in the Beverly Hills Municipal Court to committing a lewd act in a park restroom. He was fined $810, given 80 hours of community service, and ordered to undergo counseling.



Ten years ago (1994):



The West Bank town of Jericho saw its first full day of Palestinian self-rule following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, an event celebrated by Palestinians.



Five years ago (1999):



His previous calls rebuffed, President Clinton finally got through to Chinese President Jiang Zemin; Clinton expressed hope the two countries could repair the damage to their relations since the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.



One year ago (2003):



Smugglers abandoned more than 100 illegal immigrants in a locked trailer at a Texas truck stop; 19 people died.



In Chechnya, a female suicide bombing killed 18 people in an apparent attempt on the life of the Moscow-backed chief administrator (Akhmad Kadyrov).



President Bush met for the first time with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun; both leaders said they were united in seeking a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons.



Death claimed actress Dame Wendy Hiller in Beaconsfield, England, at age 90; actor Robert Stack in Beverly Hills, California, at age 84; and Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dave DeBusschere in New York at age 62.



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Today's Birthdays:



Opera singer Patrice Munsel is 79.



Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is 62.



Rock singer-musician Jack Bruce (Cream) is 61.



Movie producer George Lucas is 60.



Actress Meg Foster is 56.



Actress Season Hubley is 53.



Rock singer David Byrne is 52.



Movie director Robert Zemeckis is 52.



Actor Tim Roth is 43.



Rock singer Ian Astbury (The Cult) is 42.



Rock musician C.C./Cecil DeVille is 42.



Rock musician Mike Inez (Alice In Chains) is 38.



Fabrice Morvan (ex-Milli Vanilli) is 38.



Rhythm and blues singer Raphael Saadiq is 38.



Actress Cate Blanchett is 35.



Singer Danny Wood (New Kids on the Block) is 35.



Movie writer-director Sofia Coppola is 33.



Singer Natalie Appleton (All Saints) is 31.



Singer Shanice is 31.



Actress Amber Tamblyn is 21.



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Thought for Today:

"Ah, les bons vieux temps ou nous etions si malheureux!" (Oh, the good old times when we were so unhappy!) -

- French saying.

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Today is Thursday, May 13th.

The 134th day of 2004.

There are 232 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.



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On this date:



In 1607, Captains John Smith and Christopher Newport landed near James River in the future town of Jamestown in Virginia; established the next day, the first permanent English settlement in the future United States.



In 1648, Margaret Jones of Plymouth was found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck.



In 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip left Britain for Australia with the first convicts to populate the Australian Penal Colony. He successfully landed eleven ships full of convicts on January 18, 1788, at Botany Bay. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.



In 1835, The first foreign embassy in Hawaii was established.



In 1842, Composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, who collaborated with Sir William Gilbert in writing 14 comic operas, was born in London.



In 1846, The United States declared that a state of war already existed against Mexico.



In 1865, The last land engagement of the American Civil War was fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in far south Texas, more than a month after Gen. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, VA.



In 1873, Ludwig M. Wolf patented the sewing machine lamp holder.



In 1911, The New York Giants set a major league baseball record. Ten runners crossed home plate before the first out of the game against St. Louis.



In 1912, The Royal Flying Corps was established in England.



In 1913, Igor Sikorsky flew the first four engine aircraft.



In 1917, Three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.



In 1918, The first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of an airplane, were introduced. (On some of the stamps, the airplane was printed upside-down, making them collector's items.)



In 1940, In his first speech as prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill told the House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."



In 1941, Rock'n'Roll Hall of Famer Richie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela) was born in Pacoima, CA. He died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959 when he still only 17.



In 1947, The Taft-Hartley Act is approved by the U.S. Senate which intended to limit the power of Unions by restricting the weapons they could employ.



In 1950, The Diner's Club issues its first credit cards.



In 1954, The St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act, authorizing the construction of the artificial waterway, is signed by President Eisenhower.



In 1954, The musical play "The Pajama Game" opened on Broadway.



In 1958, Vice President Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.



In 1967, Mickey Mantle hit his 500th homerun.



In 1969, President Nixon called for a draft lottery with 19-year olds going first.



In 1978, The final episode of "Bionic Woman" aired.



In 1982, The Chicago Cubs became the first major league baseball team to win 8,000 games.



In 1985, A confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group's headquarters; 11 people died in the resulting fire.



In 1987, President Reagan said his personal diary confirmed that he'd talked with Saudi Arabia's King Fahd about Saudi help for the Nicaraguan Contras at a time when Congress banned military aid, but Reagan said he did not solicit secret contributions.



In 1989, President G. H. W. Bush called for the overthrow of Manuel Noriega...a general whom Bush said not only controlled the government of Panama but was a drug smuggler besides. Bush would later send in a large U.S. military force to arrest Noriega as a cocaine trafficker.



In 1993, The final episode of "Knots Landing" aired.



In 2002, President G. W. Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign a treaty to shrink their countries' nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun.



Five years ago (1999):



Russian lawmakers opened hearings on whether President Boris Yeltsin should be impeached. (The lower chamber of parliament ended up rejecting all five charges raised against Yeltsin, including one accusing him of starting the Chechen War.)



Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and columnist Meg Greenfield died in Washington at age 68.



One year ago (2003):



A judge ruled that Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols should stand trial in state court on 160 counts of first-degree murder.



The government unveiled a more colorful version of the new $20.



Algerian army commandos freed 17 European tourists who'd been kidnapped in the Sahara Desert by an al-Qaida-linked terror group.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Beatrice Arthur is 78.



Critic Clive Barnes is 77.



Actor Buck Taylor is 66.



Actor Harvey Keitel is 65.



Actress Senta Berger is 63.



Author Charles Baxter is 57.



Actor Franklin Ajaye is 55.



Singer Stevie Wonder is 54.



Basketball player Dennis Rodman is 43.



Actor Tom Verica is 40.



Country singer Lari White is 39.



Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 38.



Actress Susan Floyd is 36.



Actress Samantha Morton is 27.



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Thought for Today:

"A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours." -

- William Ralph Inge, English religious leader and author (1860-1954).

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Today is Wednesday, May 12 th.

The 133rd day of 2004.

There are 233 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 12, 1937, Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.



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On this date:



In 1621, The first marriage to take place in Plymouth Colony is between Edward Winslow and Susanna White.



In 1780, Charleston (then called Charles Town), South Carolina fell to British forces.



In 1789, Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers - It later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses - Tammany Hall.



In 1820, The founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, was born in Florence, Italy. She died August 13, 1910 at the age of 90 in London.



In 1847, Mormon pioneer William Clayton invented the odometer while crossing the plains in his covered wagon.



In 1865, The last land battle of the American Civil war occured at Palmito Ranch, TX.



In 1870, Manitoba entered Confederation as a Canadian province.



In 1885, In the Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebelled against the Canadian government.



In 1907, Actress Katherine Hepburn was born in Hartford, CT. Nominated 12 times as best actress, she won 4 times. She died June 29, 2003 at the age of 96.



In 1932, The body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, N.J.



In 1932, Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, 1st appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney



In 1933, The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration were established to provide help for the needy and farmers.



In 1940, The Nazi conquest of France began with the German army crossing Muese River.



In 1942, A Nazi U-boat sinks an American cargo ship at the mouth of the Mississippi River.



In 1943, During World War II, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.



In 1948, The state of Israel and its provisional government was established.



In 1949, The Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.



In 1951, The 1st H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll



In 1963, President John F. Kennedy sent federal troops into Birmingham, AL, following riots.



In 1963, Bob Dylan walked out of dress rehearsals for "The Ed Sullivan Show" when CBS censors told him he could not perform "Talking John Birch Society Blues."



In 1965, West Germany and Israel exchanged letters establishing diplomatic relations.



In 1965, "Satisfaction" was recorded by The Rolling Stones.



In 1970, The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.



In 1975, The White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters.



In 1978, The Commerce Department said hurricanes would no longer be given only female names.



In 1982, In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John II.



In 1982, Last broadcast of "The Incredible Hulk" aired.



In 1987, Last broadcast of "Hill Street Blues" aired.



In 1993, Last broadcast of "Cheers" on NBC-TV.



In 1993, Last broadcast of "Knots Landing" on CBS-TV.



In 1993, Last broadcast of "The Wonder Years" aired on ABC-TV.



In 2002, Former President Carter arrived in Cuba for a visit with Fidel Castro. It was the first time a U.S. head of state - in or out of office - had gone to the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.



Ten years ago (1994):



The Senate joined the House in passing a bill banning blockades, violence and threats against clinics where abortions were being performed.



British Labor Party leader John Smith died unexpectedly at age 55.



Five years ago (1999):



Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin announced he was leaving his post in July (he was succeeded by his deputy, Lawrence Summers).



Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and the Cabinet.



The final episode of "The Nanny" was aired by CBS.



One year ago (2003):



In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, nine terrorist shot their way into three compounds housing Westerners and then set off car bombs. At least 25 people were killed and over 190 were injured. The nine terrorists were also killed.



A suicide truck-bomb attack killed at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.



L. Paul Bremer, the new American civilian administrator of Iraq, arrived in Baghdad; coalition forces announced they had taken custody of Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha, the Iraqi scientist known as "Dr. Germ."



Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers brought the Texas House to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.



Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, a wealthy philanthropist who held a string of top UN humanitarian posts, died in Boston at age 70.



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Today's Birthdays:



Baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra is 79.



Critic John Simon is 79.



Composer Burt Bacharach is 75.



Talk show host Tom Snyder is 68.



Comedian George Carlin is 67.



Actress Millie Perkins is 66.



Rhythm and blues singer Jayotis Washington is 63.



Country singer Billy Swan is 62.



Actress Linda Dano is 61.



Musician Ian McLagan is 59.



Actress Lindsay Crouse is 56.



Singer-musician Steve Winwood is 56.



Actor Gabriel Byrne is 54.



Actor Bruce Boxleitner is 54.



Singer Billy Squier is 54.



Country singer Kix Brooks is 49.



Actress Kim Greist is 46.



Actor Ving Rhames is 43.



Rock musician Billy Duffy is 43.



Actor Emilio Estevez is 42.



Actress Vanessa Williams ("Soul Food") (this is NOT the one on the Radio Shack ads - That's Vanessa L. Williams) is 41.



Country musician Eddie Kilgallon is 39.



Actor Stephen Baldwin is 38.



Actress Kim Fields is 35.



Actress Samantha Mathis is 34.



Actress Jamie Luner is 33.



Actor Mackenzie Astin is 31.



Actor Jason Biggs is 26.



Actress Emily VanCamp is 18.



Actors Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten ("Everybody Loves Raymond") are nine.



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Thought for Today:

"Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity." -

- Johann Kaspar Lavater, Swiss theologian (1741-1801).

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Today is Tuesday, May 11th.

The 132nd day of 2004.

There are 234 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



One hundred years ago, May 11, 1904, surrealist artist Salvador Dali was born in Figueras, Spain.



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On this date:



In 330, Constantinople (formerly Byzantine, now Istanbul) was established as a new capital by Roman Emperor Constantine for the Eastern Roman Empire.



In 1752, The first U.S. fire insurance policy was issued in Philadelphia, Pa.



In 1792, The Columbia River was discovered and named by US Captain Robert Gray



In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.



In 1888, Composer/Songwriter Irving Berlin (Israel Isidore Baline) was born in Temun, Russia. He died September 22, 1989 at the age of 101.



In 1910, Glacier National Park in Montana was established.



In 1912, Actor/Comedian Phil Silvers (Philip Silversmith) was born in Brooklyn NY. He died November 1, 1985 at the age of 73.



In 1920, Oxford University permits the admission of women.



In 1921, Tel Aviv became the first all Jewish municipality.



In 1927, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.



In 1928, General Electric opens the first TV-station. WGY-TV (1.5 inch picture/43 lines), in Schenectady NY



In 1929,The first regularly scheduled TV broadcasts are aired 3 nights per week in Schenectady NY on WGY-TV.



In 1943, During World War II, U.S. forces landed on the Aleutian island of Attu, which was held by the Japanese; the Americans took the island 19 days later.



In 1944, Allied forces launched a major offensive against German lines in Italy.



In 1945, US marines conquer Awatsha Draw Okinawa.



In 1946, The first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.



In 1947, BF Goodrich manufactures 1st tubeless tire, Akron OH



In 1949, Israel was admitted to the United Nations as the world body's 59th member.



In 1949, The first Polaroid camera was sold for $89.95 in New York City.



In 1949, Siam changed its name to Thailand.



In 1950, U.S. President Truman dedicated the Grand Coulee Dam.



In 1951, Jay Forrester patents computer core memory.



In 1960, Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires



In 1969, The Monty Python comedy troupe forms



In 1969, One of the more infamous and bloody battles of the Vietnam War began with U.S. attempts to seize Dong Ap Bia mountain (Hill 937). After 10 days, American troops conquered the hill, only to abandon it soon after. The heavy casualties to take the mountain inspired the name "Hamburger Hill."



In 1972, John Lennon appeared on the "Dick Cavett" TV show and said that the FBI had tapped his phone.



In 1973, Charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the "Pentagon Papers" case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.



In 1976 ABC aired the last episode of "Marcus Welby, MD."



In 1977, The U.S. government outlawed the use of chlorofluorocarbons as spray can propellants.



In 1981, Reggae artist Bob Marley, 36, died in a Miami hospital of cancer.



In 1983, The final episode of "Quincy, M.E." aired on NBC.



In 1985, More than 50 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England.



In 1989, The final episode of "Dynasty" aired.



In 1996, An Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.



In 1999, CBS announced that it would provide high-definition prime-time programming beginning in September.



In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft delayed Timothy McVeigh's execution from May 16 to June 11 because of FBI mishandling of documents.



Ten years ago (1994):



Arkansas put to death two convicted murderers; it was the first time a state executed two people on the same day since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to restore the death penalty in 1976.



Five years ago (1999):



Stung by an espionage scandal, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said he would halt the Clinton administration's aggressive declassification of Cold War-era nuclear documents.



In Beijing, protests outside the U.S. Embassy over NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade eased after state-run television aired U.S. and NATO apologies for the attack.



One year ago (2003):



The United States declared Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party dead.



Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, heeding an appeal by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Palestinian leaders had put aside reservations to parts of the U.S.-developed plan for peace with Israel and were ready to get started on it.



Lithuania became the first ex-Soviet republic to approve entry into the European Union as voters completed a weekend referendum.



Canada beat Sweden 3-2 in Finland to win its first hockey world championship in six years.



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Today's Birthdays:



Comedian Mort Sahl is 77.



Religious leader (Nation of Islam) Louis Farrakhan is 71.



Rock singer Eric Burdon (The Animals; War) is 63.



Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo is 52.



Actress Frances Fisher is 52.



Actor Boyd Gaines is 51.



Country musician Mark Herndon (Alabama) is 49.



Actress Martha Quinn is 45.



Actress Natasha Richardson is 41.



Country singer-musician Tim Raybon (The Raybon Brothers) is 41.



Actor Coby Bell is 29.



Actor Austin O'Brien is 24.



Actor Jonathan Jackson is 22.



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Thought for Today:

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." -

- Salvador Dali, Spanish artist (1904-1989).

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Today is Monday, May 10th.

The 131st day of 2004.

There are 235 days left in the year.

Today is "Mother's Day" in Latin America



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.



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On this date:



In 1497, Amerigo Vespucci sailed for the New World for the first time. Christopher Columbus got there first, but Vespucci wrote about his voyages. A Swiss publisher put out an atlas after learning of Vespucci's adventures but before learning about Columbus's. He suggested naming the New World after Vespucci...and so put America on the map.



In 1752, Benjamin Franklins 1st tests the lightning rod



In 1773, The English Parliament passed the Tea Act, which taxed all tea in the U.S. colonies.



In 1774, Louis XVI ascended the throne of France.



In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, N.Y.



In 1823, The first steamboat to ascent the Mississippi River arrived at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.



In 1865, Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Ga.



In 1872, Victoria Claflin Woodhull became the first woman nominated for the U.S. Presidency. She was nominated by the National Equal Rights Party.



In 1899, American dancer and actor, Fred Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz) was born in Omaha, NE. He died in Los Angeles on June 22, 1987 at the age of 88.



In 1902, Producer David O. Selznick was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died June 22, 1965 at the age of 63



In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was given the job of FBI director.



In 1933, The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.



In 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.



In 1940, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.



In 1941, Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission. (Hess ended up serving a life sentence at Spandau prison until 1987, when he apparently committed suicide.)



In 1943, U.S. troops invaded Attu in the Aleutian Islands to expel the Japanese.



In 1968, Preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris.



In 1969, US troops begin attack on Hill 937/Hamburger Hill



In 1973, A federal grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal indicted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans on perjury charges. The burglary at Democratic party offices in the Watergate office complex eventually led to President Nixon's most trusted aides...and attempts to cover up their involvement let to Nixon himself.



In 1978, Britain's Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.



In 1983 "Laverne & Shirley" last airs on ABC-TV



In 1984, The International Court of Justice said the U.S. should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua's ports (the U.S. had already said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue.)



In 1995, former President G. H. W. Bush's office released his letter of resignation from the National Rifle Association in which Bush expressed outrage over its reference to federal agents as "jack-booted government thugs."



In 2000, 11,000 residents were evacuated in Los Alamos, NM, due to a wildfire that was blown into a canyon. The fire had been deliberately set to control another wildfire that had been deliberately set to clear brush.



Ten years ago (1994):



The state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.



Nelson Mandela took the oath of office to become South Africa's first black president.



An annular, or "ring," eclipse cast a moving shadow across the United States.



Five years ago (1999):



China broke off talks on arms control with the United States, and allowed demonstrators to hurl stones at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for a third day to protest NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.



A military jury at Camp Lejeune, N.C., sentenced Captain Richard Ashby, a Marine pilot whose jet had clipped an Italian gondola cable, sending 20 people plunging to their deaths, to six months in prison and dismissed him from the corps for helping hide a videotape made during the flight (Ashby had been acquitted earlier of manslaughter).



One year ago (2003):



The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, returned triumphantly to his U.S.-occupied homeland after two decades in Iranian exile.



The New York Times announced on its Web site that one of its reporters, Jayson Blair, had "committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud," according to an investigation conducted by the paper.



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Today's Birthdays:



Sportscaster Pat Summerall is 74.



T.V. and radio personality Gary Owens is 68.



Rhythm and blues singer Henry Fambrough (The Spinners) is 66.



Writer-producer-director Jim Abrahams is 60.



Singer Donovan is 58.



Singer Dave Mason is 58.



Actress Meg Foster is 56.



Rhythm and blues singer Ron Banks (The Dramatics) is 53.



Rock singer Bono (U2) is 44.



Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is 41.



Model Linda Evangelista is 39.



Rock musician Krist Novoselic (Nirvana, Eyes Adrift) is 39.



Rapper Young MC is 37.



Actor Erik Palladino is 36.



Rock musician Jesse Vest (Tantric) is 27.



Actor Kenan Thompson is 26.



Rhythm and blues singer Jason Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 24.



Singer Ashley Poole (Dream) is 19.



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Thought for Today:

"Nothing recedes like success." -

- Walter Winchell, American columnist and broadcaster (1897-1972).

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Today is Sunday, May 9th.

The 130th day of 2004.

There are 236 days left in the year.

This is Mother's Day.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 9, 1754, The first American newspaper cartoon was published. The illustration, in Benjamin Franklin's "Pennsylvania Gazette", showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die."



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On this date:



In 1502, Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.



In 1671, Irish adventurer Thomas Blood, known as Colonel Blood, is caught after stealing the crown jewels from the Tower of London; he is ultimately pardoned by King Charles II.



In 1899, The lawn mower was patented.



In 1913, The 17th amendment to the Constitution, providing for the election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than selection by state legislatures, was ratified.



In 1914, The first Mother's Day was proclaimed by President Wilson.



In 1926, Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly over the North Pole.



In 1936, Italy annexed Ethiopia.



In 1943, The 5th German Panser army surrenders in Tunisia



In 1945, U.S. officials announced that a midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.



In 1960, The Food and Drug Administration approved a pill as safe for birth control use. (The pill, Enovid, was made by G.D. Searle and Company of Chicago.)



In 1961, Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.



In 1963, A secret military satellite is launched by the Air Force from Point Arguello, Ca., releasing 400 million tiny copper hairs into a polar orbit to provide a cloud of reflective material for relaying radio signals from coast to coast within the U.S.



In 1970, 100,000s demonstrate against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC.



In 1974, The House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.



In 1978, The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.



In 1980, 35 motorists were killed when a Liberian freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, Fla., causing a 1,400-foot section to collapse.



In 1989, President G. H. W. Bush complained that Panama's elections were marred by "massive irregularities," and he called for worldwide pressure on General Manuel Antonio Noriega to step down as military leader.



In 1987, Actor Tom Cruise (27) weds actress Mimi Rogers (33).



In 1991, William Kennedy Smith, nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D- Mass., was charged with the March 30 rape and assault of a woman at the Kennedy estate in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was later acquitted.



Ten years ago (1994):



South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president. Mandela promised a South Africa for "all its people, black and white."



Five years ago (1999):



A chartered bus carrying members of a casino club on a Mother's Day gambling excursion flipped off a highway in New Orleans, killing 22 people.



Furious Chinese demonstrators hurled rocks and debris into the U.S. Embassy in a second day of protests against NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.



One year ago (2003):



The United States and its allies asked the UN Security Council to give its stamp of approval to their occupation of Iraq.



The Republican-led House approved 222-203 a $550 billion tax cut package.



Louisiana Democrat Russell B. Long, who greatly influenced tax laws during nearly four decades in the Senate, died at 84.



In Cleveland, a camouflage-clad gunman fired hundreds of rounds as he roamed the halls of Case Western Reserve University's business school, killing one person; suspect Biswanath Halder later pleaded innocent.



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Today's Birthdays:



CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace is 86.



Actor-writer Alan Bennett is 70.



Actor Albert Finney is 68.



Actress-turned-politician Glenda Jackson is 68.



Musician Sonny Curtis (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 67.



Producer-director James L. Brooks is 64.



Singer Tommy Roe is 62.



Singer-musician Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield and Poco) is 60.



Actress Candice Bergen is 58.



Singer Clint Holmes is 58.



Actor Anthony Higgins is 57.



Singer Billy Joel is 55.



Rock singer-musician Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick) is 54.



Actress Alley Mills is 53.



Actor John Corbett is 43.



Singer Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) is 42.



Rapper Ghostface Killah is 34.



Singer Tamia is 29.



Rock musician Dan Regan (Reel Big Fish) is 27.



Actress Rosario Dawson is 25.



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Thought for Today:

"A mother never realises that her children are no longer children." -

- Holbrook Jackson, British critic and historian (1874-1948 ).

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Today is Saturday, May 8th.

The 129th day of 2004.

There are 237 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 8, 1945, President Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe.



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On this date:



In 1429, During the Hundred Years' War, the siege of Orléans ends when French troops led by 17-year-old Joan of Arc drive the English from the city.



In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.



In 1618, Johannes Kepler announced his rules governing the motion of the planets.



In 1642, Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve founds and becomes the first governor of Ville-Marie, the first permanent European settlement in Canada and the future city of Montreal.



In 1794, the U.S. Post Office was established.



In 1794, Antoine Lavoisier, French scientist who is considered the founder of modern chemistry, is guillotined by the revolutionary authorities in Paris, France.



In 1846, The first major battle of the Mexican War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas, resulting in victory for Gen. Zachary Taylor's forces.



In 1847, Robert W. Thompson of England patented the rubber tire (first called "air wheels").



In 1866, Australian Rules Football is created



In 1877, the Westminister Dog Show was first held.



In 1884, The 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was born near Lamar, Mo.



In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for Coca-Cola.



In 1940, Actor/Singer Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (Ozzie & Harriet's son, David's brother, Tracy's dad, Kris Harmon's husband, Tom Harmon's son-in-law, Mark Harmon's brother-in-law) was born in Teaneck, NJ. He died December 31, 1985 at the age of 45.



In 1943, The Germans suppressed a revolt by Polish Jews and destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto.



In 1952, Mad Magazine debuts in newsstands. The face of Alfred E Neuman predates Mad Magazine by at least 50 years. He appeared often in the various EC publications before Mad was started. Originally he had no name, but writers occasionally attached some name to this ubiquitous face. Two names that were often used were Melvin Coznowski (multiple spellings) and Alfred E Neuman. Mad was originally a comic book. Though William Gaines was instrumental in the founding of the Comics Code Authority, he dropped out over a rule dispute. He dumped all of his comics except Mad, which he renamed Mad Magazine and changed to a not-quite-a-comic-book satirical format.



In 1953, President Eisenhower announced $60 million in military aid for the French effort in Vietnam.



In 1958, Vice President Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru.



In 1962, The musical comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" opened on Broadway.



In 1963, "Dr No" premieres in US



In 1967, World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Army for religious reasons.



In 1970, Construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York's Wall Street.



In 1972, President Nixon orders the mining of Haiphong harbor and massive bombing raids over North Vietnam in an effort to force the communists to end the Vietnam War.



In 1973, Militant American Indians who'd held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.



In 1978, David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to the "Son of Sam" killings that had terrified New Yorkers.



In 1984, Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) got married on ABC-TV's "Happy Days."



In 1984, The Soviet Union announced it would not participate in the Summer Olympics planned for Los Angeles.



In 1985, "New Coke" was released to the public on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.



In 1986, Reporters were told that 84,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Soviet Ukraine.



In 1987, Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his personal life, including his relationship with Miami model Donna Rice, withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.



In 2002, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Senate committee an FBI memo from Phoenix warning that several Arabs were suspiciously training at a U.S. aviation school wouldn't have led officials to the Sept. 11 hijackers even if they'd followed up the warning with more vigor.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton announced a shift in U.S. policy toward Haitian refugees, saying there would be offshore screening of boat people seeking political asylum.



Actor George Peppard died at age 65.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO expressed regret for a mistaken attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, but pledged to pursue the bombing campaign. Demonstrators in Beijing retaliated by throwing rocks and smashing cars at the U.S. Embassy.



The Citadel, South Carolina's formerly all-male military school, graduated its first female cadet, Nancy Ruth Mace.



British actor Sir Dirk Bogarde died in London at age 78.



One year ago (2003):



The Senate unanimously endorsed adding to NATO seven former communist nations: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.



A federal grand jury indicted Katrina Leung on charges that she'd illegally taken, copied and kept secret documents obtained from an FBI agent.



A Russian-built cargo plane lost a door over Congo, hurling more than 100 Congolese soldiers and their families to their deaths.



The Michigan Wolverines were barred from the next postseason and put on three and a-half years' probation by the NCAA for a booster's payments to players dating to the Fab Five era.



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Today's Birthdays:



Comedian Don Rickles is 78.



Environmentalist Sir David Attenborough is 78.



Author Peter Benchley is 64.



Singer John Fred (John Fred and His Playboy Band) is 63.



Actor James Mitchum is 63.



Country singer Jack Blanchard is 62.



Singer Toni Tennille is 61.



Jazz musician Keith Jarrett is 59.



Singer Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 53.



Rock musician Chris Frantz (Talking Heads) is 53.



Rockabilly singer Billy Burnette is 51.



Rock musician Alex Van Halen is 51.



Actor David Keith is 50.



Actor Stephen Furst is 50.



Actress Melissa Gilbert is 40.



Rock musician Dave Rowntree (Blur) is 40.



Country musician Del Gray is 36.



Rock singer Darren Hayes is 32.



Singer Enrique Iglesias is 29.



Singer Ana Maria Lombo (Eden's Crush) is 26.



Actress Julia Whelan is 19.



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Thought for Today:

"What you see is news, what you know is background, what you feel is opinion." -

- Lester Markel, American editor (1894-1977).

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Today is Friday, May 7th.

The 128th day of 2004.

There are 238 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 7, 1915, nearly 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.



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On this date:



In 1429, The English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.



In 1789, The first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. George Washington.



In 1800, The Northwest Territory is divided by law into two territories, the Ohio and the Indiana Territory.



In 1847, The American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia.



In 1888, George Eastman patents "Kodak box camera"



In 1901, Actor Frank James "Gary" Cooper was born in Helena, MT. He died May 13, 1961 at the age of 59.



In 1913, British House of Commons rejects woman's right to vote



In 1928, England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21



In 1934, The newly restored U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) is permanently berthed at Constitution Drydock in Boston.



In 1939, Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.



In 1940, Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.



In 1942, In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attacked each other with carrier planes. It was the first time in the history of naval warfare where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other.



In 1943, The last major German strongholds in North Africa, Tunis and Bizerte, fell to Allied forces.



In 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France. It would take effect the next day.



In 1947, "Kraft Television Theater" premiered on NBC.



In 1954, The 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces.



In 1963, The United States launched the Telstar Two communications satellite.



In 1975, President Ford formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era." In Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.



In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of its Triple Crown victories.



In 1984, A $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they'd suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.



In 1992, A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified as the 27th amendment.



In 1997, A report released by the U.S. government said that Switzerland provided Nazi Germany with equipment and credit during World War II. Germany exchanged for gold what had been plundered or stolen. Switzerland did not comply with postwar agreements to return the gold.



In 1998, Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, agreed to buy Chrysler Corporation for more than $37 billion.



In 1998, Residents of London voted to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. The vote would take place in May 2000.



In 2001, California electricity grid operators ordered statewide rolling power blackouts.



In 2002, Seattle Slew died in Lexington, Kentucky, at age 28.



Ten years ago (1994):



Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum.



Go For Gin won the 120th Kentucky Derby.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO jets struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three people and injuring 20; President Clinton called the attack a "tragic mistake."



A jury in Pontiac, Mich., ordered "The Jenny Jones Show" to pay $25 million to the family of Scott Amedure, a gay man who was shot to death after revealing a crush on Jonathan Schmitz, a fellow guest on the talk show. (However, the Michigan Court of Appeals later overturned the award, and the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.)



One year ago (2003):



President Bush ordered U.S. sanctions against Iraq lifted, allowing U.S. humanitarian aid and remittances to flow into Iraq.



The White House announced President Bush had chosen New Mexico oilman Colin R. McMillan to be secretary of the Navy and Air Force Secretary James Roche to replace the dismissed secretary of the Army, Thomas White. (However, McMillan died an apparent suicide the following July, while Roche's nomination is being held up in Congress.)



Roger Moore collapsed during a matinee performance of the Broadway comedy "The Play What I Wrote." He finished the show after a 10-minute break. He was fitted with a pacemaker the following day.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Darren McGavin is 82.



Singer Teresa Brewer is 73.



Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) is 72.



Singer Jimmy Ruffin is 65.



Singer Johnny Maestro is 65.



Actress Robin Strasser is 59.



Singer-songwriter Bill Danoff is 58.



Rock musician Bill Kreutzmann (The Dead) is 58.



NBC newsman Tim Russert is 54.



Actor Robert Hegyes is 53.



Movie writer-director ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High") Amy Heckerling is 50.



Actor Michael E. Knight is 45.



Rock musician Phil Campbell (Motorhead) is 43.



Country musician Rick Schell (Pinmonkey) is 41.



Rock singer-musician Chris O'Connor (Primitive Radio Gods) is 39.



Actress Traci Lords (Nora Louise Kuzma) is 35.



Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry is 32.



Actor Breckin Meyer is 30.



Actor Taylor Abrahamse is 13.



Grandson Tyler Jacob "TJ" Roy is 11. (grandpa sent him a new e-Machine computer for his present)



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Thought for Today:

"Men tire themselves in pursuit of rest." -

- Laurence Sterne, English author (1713-1768 ).

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Today is Thursday, May 6th.

The 127th day of 2004.

There are 239 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen-filled German dirigible Hindenburg burned and crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.



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On this date:



In 1527, German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.



In 1626, Dutch settler Peter Minuit allegedly purchases what is now New York's Manhattan Island from Native Americans for goods worth $24.



In 1833, John Deere makes the 1st steel plow



In 1840, The first adhesive postage stamps, the Penny Black and the Twopenny Blue, went on sale in Britain.



In 1851, Linus Yale patents the Yale-lock



In 1856, Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud was born in Czechoslovakia. He died September 23, 1939 at the age of 83 in London.



In 1861, Arkansas seceded from the Union.



In 1877, The Sioux (Lakota) chief Crazy Horse surrenders and gives up all claim to Nebraska.



In 1882, Congress passed, over President Arthur's veto, the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.



In 1889, The Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.



In 1890, The Mormon Church renounces polygamy



In 1895, Actor Rudolph Valentino (Rudolpho Alfonzo Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglieimi Di Valentino d'Antonguolla) was born in Castellaneta Italy. He died August 23, 1926 at the age of 31 in New York.



In 1906, a "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Street is issued, allowing United Railroads to run electric streetcars in San Francisco.



In 1910, Britain's King Edward VII died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.



In 1914, The British House of Lords rejects women suffrage



In 1915, Actor/Producer/Director Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, WI. He died Oct 10, 1985 at the age of 70 in Los Angeles CA.



In 1915, Boston Red Soxer Babe Ruth made his pitching debut and hit his first homerun, but loses to the New York Yankees 4-3 in 15



In 1935, The Works Progress Administration began operating.



In 1940, Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath)



In 1941, Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.



In 1942, During World War II, some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.



In 1950, U.S. President Harry Truman asked that Hawaii and Alaska be admitted as states in the interest of national security.



In 1950, Liz Taylor's 1st marriage (Conrad Hilton Jr)



In 1954, Medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.



In 1957, Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Profiles In Courage".



In 1957 Last broadcast of "I Love Lucy" on CBS-TV



In 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.



In 1962, In the first test of its kind, the submerged submarine USS "Ethan Allen" fired a Polaris missile armed with a nuclear warhead that detonated above the Pacific Ocean.



In 1976, An earthquake struck the town of Udine in northern Italy, killing 973 people and leaving over 100,000 homeless.



In 1981, Yale architecture student Maya Ying Lin was named winner of a competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.



In 1987, CIA Director William J. Casey died at age 74.



In 1987, Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart held a news conference in Hanover, New Hampshire, in which he denied ever having an affair with Miami model Donna Rice, but declined to say whether he'd ever committed adultery.



In 1996, The body of former CIA director William E. Colby was found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he'd disappeared.



In 1998, Astronomers announced the detection of a gamma ray burst in a galaxy 12 billion light years away that was equal to the energy expended by the sun in one trillion years.



In 2001, Chandra Levy's parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy's body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.



Ten years ago (1994):



Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Clinton, alleging he'd sexually harassed her in 1991. (Jones reached a settlement with Clinton in November 1998.)



Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel between their countries.



The House passed the assault weapons ban 216-214.



Five years ago (1999):



Russia and the major Western powers set aside their differences over NATO airstrikes and drafted a joint plan to end the Kosovo conflict.



President Clinton met with Kosovo refugees in Germany, listening to chilling stories of murder, rape and terror and promising them, "You will go home again in safety and in freedom."



Reversing decades of overwhelming loyalty to Britain's governing Labor Party, Scottish and Welsh voters elected strong nationalist oppositions to their first separate assemblies of modern times.



One year ago (2003):



Florida Senator Bob Graham launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination by accusing President Bush of retreating from the war on terrorism to "settle old scores" between the Bush family and Iraq's Saddam Hussein.



White House budget chief Mitchell Daniels announced his resignation.



Kmart Corporation emerged from bankruptcy after more than 15 months of Chapter 11 protection.



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Today's Birthdays:



Baseball Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays is 73.



Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is 70.



Rock singer Bob Seger is 59.



Singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore is 59.



Actor Ben Masters is 57.



Actor Gregg Henry is 52.



British Prime Minister Tony Blair is 51.



TV game show host Tom Bergeron is 49.



Rock singer John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants) is 44.



Actor George Clooney is 43.



Actor Clay O'Brien is 43.



Actress Roma Downey is 41.



Rock singer-musician Tony Scalzo (Fastball) is 40.



Rock musician Mark Bryan (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 37.



Rock musician Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters) is 33.



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Thought for Today:

"How glorious it is -- and also how painful -- to be an exception." -

- Alfred de Musset, French author (1810-1857).

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Today is Wednesday, May 5th.

The 126th day of 2004.

There are 240 days left in the year.

Today is Cinco de Mayo

Today is Boy's Day



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Today's Highlight in History:



One hundred years ago, on May 5, 1904, Cy Young pitched the American League's first perfect game as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0.



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On this date:



In 1818, Philosopher Karl Marx (Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital), the founder of modern socialism and communism was born in Prussia. He died in London in 1883.



In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the island of St. Helena.



In 1847, The American Medical Association was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



In 1862, Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeated French troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla.



In 1865, The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the U.S.



In 1912, The first issue of the Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda was published.



In 1914, Actor Tyrone Power was born. He died of a heart attack during the filming of a sword fight with George Sanders while making the film Solomon and Sheba in 1958. All his scenes in the film were reshot with actor Yul Brenner and the film was released in 1959.



In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson makes the Communist Labor Party illegal in the US.



In 1925, John T. Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.



In 1925, My father J. R. "Bob" Kyle was born near St. Louis, MO. He died in 1988 at the age of 63.



In 1942, During World War II, Japanese forces landed on the Philippine island of Corregidor.



In 1942, Country singer Tammy Wynette (Virginia Wynette Pugh) was born in Red Bay, AL. She died April 6, 1998 at the age of 55.



In 1942, Sales of sugar resumed in the United States under a rationing program.



In 1945, In the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children who were on a picnic.



In 1948, The first air squadron of jets is stationed aboard an aircraft carrier.



In 1952, Pulitzer prize awarded to Herman Wouk (Caine Mutiny)



In 1955, West Germany became a sovereign state.



In 1955, The baseball musical "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway at 46th St Theater NYC for 1022 performances.



In 1961, Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute sub-orbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.



In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Fair Labor Standards Act. The act raised the minimum wage to $1.15 in September.



In 1964, Separatists riot in Québec



In 1965, The first large-scale U.S. Army ground units arrived in South Vietnam.



In 1980, A siege at the Iranian Embassy in London ended as British commandos, the troops of the SAS, and police stormed the building killing four of the five gunmen who took over the building.



In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food. He is the first of 10 Irish Republican Army hunger strikers to die in a Belfast prison; they were protesting their treatment as criminals rather than political prisoners.



In 1989, A federal judge ordered sweeping changes in the FBI's promotion system, months after the judge found that the bureau had systematically discriminated against its Hispanic employees in advancements and assignments.



In 1997, "Married With Children" final episode on Fox TV



Ten years ago (1994):



Singapore caned American teen-ager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Clinton, who considered the punishment too harsh.



Five years ago (1994):



President Clinton began a morale-boosting trip to Europe that included a visit to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he met the three American soldiers just released by Yugoslavia.



The first Kosovo refugees brought to the United States, 453 of them, arrived at Fort Dix in New Jersey.



One year ago (2003):



Searchers using dogs and heavy equipment went from one crumbled home to another after tornado-packed storms flattened communities in four Midwestern states, killing 19 people.



In Colombia, a botched rescue attempt resulted in the deaths of a state governor, former defense minister and eight other hostages being held by rebels; three hostages survived.



Walter Sisulu, the quiet giant of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle for five decades, died in Johannesburg at age 90.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Ann B. Davis is 78.



Actress Pat Carroll is 77.



Actor Will Hutchins (Marshall Lowell Hutchason)(Sugarfoot) is 72.



AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney is 70.



Saxophonist Ace Cannon is 70.



Country singer-musician Roni Stoneman is 66.



Actor Michael Murphy is 66.



Actor Lance Henriksen is 64.



Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 61.



Actor Jean-Pierre Leaud is 60.



Actor John Rhys-Davies is 60.



Actor Roger Rees is 60.



Actor Richard E. Grant is 47.



Actress Lisa Eilbacher is 47.



Broadcast journalist John Miller is 46.



Rock singer Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 45.



NBC newscaster Brian Williams is 45.



Actress Tina Yothers is 31.



Singer Craig David is 23.



Actress Danielle Fishel is 23.



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Thought for Today:

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." -

- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, "father" of America's nuclear navy (1900-1986).

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