Brad's Worlds

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Did You Know

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Ugg Boot

Before we get to that, let me tell you a story. About a week and a half ago, me and two others went to an open casting call for an upcoming movie to be filmed in north Louisiana called Homeland Security with Antonio Banderas and Meg Ryan. I turned in my picture and my application thinking that nothing would ever come of it. Today I got the call telling me that I was going to be in an airport scene one day next week. How cool is that? Very. Touch me. No really, touch me please. Just like that, oh yeah baby.

Did you know?

1 . Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton..
2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper
3. The dot over the letter i is called a "tittle".
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down
continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.
6. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was
albino.
9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.
10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will
kill a small sized dog.
12. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's
stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww)
14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear
pants.
15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.
16. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper'and 'lower' because in the
time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper
case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the
smaller, 'lower case'letters.
17. Leonardo DA Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at
the same time hence, multi-tasking was invented.
18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were
made of wood.
19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a
recorded Wendy before!
21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple,
and silver!
22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint
Mona Lisa's lips.
23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and
sting itself to death.
24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was a Captain
Kirk's mask painted white.
25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have
$1.19 You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able
to make change for a dollar (good to know.)
26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in
quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless.)
27. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for
automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the
Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of
celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples!
30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
31. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher..
32. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often
stolen from Public Libraries.
33. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space
because passing wind in a space suit damages it. I NEED TO REMEMBER THIS!
34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart: "Boy, I feel a lot
safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still
walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America
willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her fanny off to
jail

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

What's It Worth?

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Ugg Boot

Oil exporting countries may consider a cut in output after crude prices fell below $60 a barrel on Monday for the first time in six months. Read that again. These bastards want to drop oil production because it's finally getting somewhat affordable. They're not making the billions per day that they were a month ago. Cry me a river. Aren't you rich enough? Bastards. You are the enemy!

Oil prices retreated Tuesday after a rally the day before lifted crude futures by almost $1 a barrel on worries that the recent drop in prices could prompt OPEC to cut production. Natrual gas hit a new three year low. I feel so sorry for those billionaires.
Scienteists to unveil secrets of Mona Lisa.

CAUGHT ON TAPE Fight Erupts Between Drivers at Toledo Speedway. You must watch the video. Dude kicks in the race car windshield, etc. Check it out.

Jack Neal briefly became the proud owner of a pink convertible car after he managed to buy it for 9,000 pounds ($17,000) on the Internet despite being only three years old.

Killer teddy bear leaves 2,500 fish dead

The odds of such an occurrence seem insurmountable, yet Jay Gibbons pulled off the unimaginable feat: He hit a foul ball that injured his wife. If a ball strikes a chicken, is it a fowl ball?

The Queen Mother lived through the whole of the 20th century without once having to open or draw her bedroom curtains herself. Other royal quirks here.

Today in History:
46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in fulfilment of a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.

1580 - Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe. I didn't know he was circumnavigated. I, myself, am also circumnavigated.

1687 - The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who were besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens. Thank you Venetians. What do we have to remember them by? Venetian blinds. That's it.

1777 - British troops occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution. Stinkin' red coats.

1789 - Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General. Back in the day, me and ole Tom Jeff, as I called him, hung out. That dude was a partier.

1890 US stops minting $1 & $3 gold coin & 3 piece

1934 - Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.

1944 - World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.

1950 Because of forest fire in Br Columbia, blue moon appears in England

1957 - West Side Story, by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins opens on Broadway

1960 - In Chicago, Illinois, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

1960 Longest speech in UN history (4 hrs, 29 mins, by Fidel Castro)

1961 - Bob Dylan makes his public debut.

1962 TV comedy series "The Beverly Hillbillies" premiers on CBS

1968 Hawaii Five-O debuts as an hourly program on CBS

1969 - The Chicago Seven trial begins.

1969 - The Beatles album Abbey Road is released in the UK.

1969 - The Brady Bunch debuts on ABC-TV and would run for five years.

1973 - Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.

1983 - Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war. Thanks Petrov.

1983 Cosmonauts Titov & Strekalov are saved from exploding Soyuz T-10

1986 Bobby (Patrick Duffy) returns to Dallas, his death is attributed to his wife Pam's bad dream (erases all of last season). Dude must've really needed a job.

1997 - A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234

2002 - Thirty people are killed in a shooting by terrorists at a temple in Gandhinagar, India

Happy Birthday:
1774 - Johnny Appleseed, American environmentalist (d. 1847)
1898 - George Gershwin, American composer (d. 1937)
1907 - Anthony Blunt, English art historian and Soviet spy (d. 1983)
1925 - Marty Robbins, American singer (d. 1982)
1926 - Julie London, American singer and actress (d. 2000)
1947 - Lynn Anderson, American singer
1948 - Olivia Newton-John, British-born Australian singer and actress
1956 - Linda Hamilton, American actress
1962 - Melissa Sue Anderson, American actress. Little House on the Prarie
1962 - Peter Foster, Australian con-man
1967 - Shannon Hoon, American singer (Blind Melon) (d. 1995)
1972 - Shawn Stockman, American R&B singer (Boyz II Men)
1977 - Kaylynn, porn star


Deaths on this day:
1763 - John Byron, English poet (b. 1692)
1820 - Daniel Boone, American frontiersman (b. 1734)
1902 - Levi Strauss, American clothing manufacturer (b. 1829) I'm wearing his product as we speak.
1937 - Bessie Smith, American singer (b. 1894)
1972 - Charles Correll, American radio actor (b. 1890)
1998 - Betty Carter, American singer (b. 1930)
2003 - Robert Palmer, British singer (b. 1949)
2003 - Shawn Lane, American guitarist (b. 1963)

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Ugly Yellow Lenolium

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Ugg Boot

Don't you hate it when life throws you a curve ball? Especially when you see it coming and are too dumb to get out of the way and let it pass or when you try to stop the baseball and it hits you in the face. What happens then?

It's very, very early sunday morning. I woke up to cats fighting. My first thought was of people I'll never see again the way I once did. My mom, my grandparents, friends....... No chance of going back to sleep now. So I'll bore you. That sounds nice.

One of my best memories is arriving home from school, riding with my brother in his Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with that one little wire that stuck out of the seat to cut you everytime it thought you had forgotten about it. We park on the carport and I notice the doors are open on the house. I open the door to "Elvira" by the Oak Ridge Boys and a smile crosses both of our faces. As we walk in the smell of lemon scented Pinesol fills the air. My mom was mopping our horribly ugly yellow lenolium floor and singing along. A smile crosses my face everytime I smell Pinesol.

If you could only buy memories like that. The ugly yellow linenolium is gone, the Oldsmobile is gone, my brothers lives 400 miles away, my mom has passed on. I miss you all. well, except for the ugly yellow lineolium. I realized that I've spelled lineolium a couple of different ways. I assure you that this does not effect the story.

Sorry to depress you. Bad dreams I guess. Don't worry, below you'll find some interesting historical facts. I think I'll go mop for old times sake.


Today in History:
1493 - Christopher Columbus departs on his second expedition to the New World. "She's aaaa round aaa" "she's aaaa flat aaaaa"

1664 - The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam to England. Amsterdam....Far out man!

1789 - The United States Supreme Court and the position of Attorney General are established.

1789 - The United States Post Office Department is established.

1852 - The first airship is displayed.

1869 - "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet as Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market. Greedy bastards.

1890 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower the nation's first National Monument. You remember Devils Tower? Where the UFO's visited?

1948 - The Honda Motor Company is founded. The Japs are comin'.

1950 - Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A Blue moon (in the astronomical sense) is seen as far away as Europe.

1957 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends United States National Guard troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation. Take that you racist bitches.

1962 - United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.

1988 - Summer Olympics: Ben Johnson beats Carl Lewis and Linford Christie in 100 metres sprinting in a record time of 9.79 seconds. (Johnson would later be disqualified in a high profile case of doping in sports.) Who's the dope now?

1991 - Nirvana's Nevermind album released. It's the end of rock and roll.

1998: Clinton's Grand Jury testimony released


Happy Birthday:
1871 - Lottie Dod, English athlete (d. 1960) Lottie Dod? As in "oh lottie dod"
1896 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist (d. 1940)
1936 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer (d. 1990) the Muppets rock
1941 - Linda McCartney, American singer (d. 1998) Wife of Paul McCartney....duh
1948 - Phil Hartman, Canadian actor (d. 1998)
1958 - Kevin Sorbo, American actor
1969 - Shawn "Clown" Crahan, American musician (Slipknot)


Deaths on this day:
768 - Pippin the Short, King of the Franks (b. 714) What a sucky title to have. I bet he didn't get too many dates.
1991 - Dr. Seuss, American children's writer (b. 1904)

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Today

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Ugg Boot



Today in History:
454 - Roman Emperor Valentinian III assassinates Aëtius in his own throne room.

1348 Jews in Zurich Switzerland are accused of poisoning wells

1745 - Battle of Prestonpans: A Hanoverian army under the command of Sir John Cope is defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. 10 minutes?

1765 - Antoine de Beauterne announced he had killed the Beast of Gévaudan. I don't believe it.

1776 Great fire in NY


1780 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point. Think about this. If the English had won the war, Mr. Arnold would've been a wartime hero in England and probably America, or whatever it would be called now. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

1792 - The French National Convention votes to abolish the monarchy.

1827 - According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Joseph translated into The Book of Mormon. So angels deal in gold too? Is every being in the universe run by greed?

1893 Frank Duryea drives 1st US made gas propelled vehicle (car)

1895 1st auto manufacturer opens-Duryea Motor Wagon Company

1897 - The "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter is published in the New York Sun. Brings a tear to the eye.

1913 1st aerobatic maneuver, sustained inverted flight, performed in France

1915 Stones at Stonehenge, England, sold at auction for œ6,600

1921 - Oppau explosion, a storage silo at a fertilizer producing plant exploded in Oppau, Germany, 500—600 killed.

1930 Johann Ostermeyer patents the flashbulb


1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published. I bet he didn't think it would cause such a stir. What a good book.

1938 - The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people. So many deaths today.

1939 - Romanian Prime Minister Armand Calinescu is assassinated by pro-Nazi members of the Iron Guard.

1942 - The B-29 Superfortress makes its debut. World War II hero, yes.

1950 - George Marshall sworn in as the 3rd Secretary of Defense of United States.

1953 Allied forces form West Germany

1954 Nuclear submarine "Nautilus" is commissioned

1957 "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr premiers on CBS-TV

1958 1st airplane flight exceeding 1200 hours, lands, Dallas Tx


1964 - Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1964 - The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first air-breathing aircraft to achieve a speed of Mach 3, made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.

1965 O Kommissarova (USSR) sets women's longest paracute jump (46,250')

1970 Luna 16 leaves the Moon

1971 John Lennon & Yoko Ono are Dick Cavett's only guest

1976 Wings performs in Zagreb Yugoslavia

1981 - Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.

1982 SF cable cars cease operations for 2 years of repairs

1988 Mike Tyson threatens a TV reporter in NJ

1991 - Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union.

1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. Everytime I hear that guys name I think of "Boris the Spider"

1995 - The Hindu milk miracle occurs, in which statues of the Hindu god Ganesh began drinking milk when spoonfuls were placed near their mouths. Do you believe in miracles? Email me your miracle stories at bradsarcade@yahoo.com

1999 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.

2001 - Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly. Only 8 more to go to get to Deep Space 9. I can wait to meet Odo.

2001 - AZF chemical plant explodes in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people.

2003 - Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes. It is 318 times more massive than Earth, with a diameter 11 times that of Earth, and a volume 1300 times that of Earth.

2005 - JetBlue Airways Flight 292 performs an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport following a front landing gear failure.

Happy Birthday:
1411 - Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (d. 1460)
1629 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1694)
1849 - Maurice Barrymore, actor; patriarch of the Barrymore family (d. 1905.
1866 - H. G. Wells, (Herbert George Wells) English writer (d. 1946)
1873 - Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
1886 Teiichi Igarashi Japan, climbed Mt Fuji at age 99
1912 Chuck Jones animator (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck)
1931 - Larry Hagman, American actor
1940 - Bill Kurtis, American television journalist
1947 - Stephen King, American author
1947 - Don Felder, American guitarist (Eagles) Rockin'
1950 - Bill Murray, American actor
1950 Bill Murray Evanston Ill, comedian (SNL, What About Bob, Stripes)
1967 - Faith Hill, American singer
1968 - Ricki Lake, American actress and talk show hostess
1971 - Luke Wilson, American actor


Deaths today:
1327 Edward II king of England (1307-1327), dies at 43
1776 Nathan Hale spied on British for American rebels, hanged
1798 - George Read, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)
1906 - Samuel Arnold, Lincoln conspirator (b. 1838)
1954 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese inventor (b. 1858)
1961 Earle Dickson inventor (band-aid), dies at 68
1974 - Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Nobody Wins, That's Life

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Ugg Boot

I once had a friend that was so dense that he though assphault was a hip disease.

Around 7:30 p.m. Monday, KING 5 News' phones started to ring as viewers reported seeing a ball of flames shooting across the skies of Western Washington. They're finally here.

Opec concerned over falling oil prices??? Who gives a damn about their concern for lower profit margin? Greedy bastards.

A Vietnamese man who once appeared on national television to demonstrate his ability to resist electric shocks has been electrocuted while repairing a generator. Idiot. That's kinda what electricity does.

A Florida diver shot a large grouper with a spear gun then apparently drowned when the fish sped into a hole, entangling the man in the line attached to the spear. Now that's justice.

A police chase came to an abrupt end when the suspect's car struck a deer. The world is full of stupid people.

A driver has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries after her car hit a bicyclist who was in the road waiting on an ambulance to treat him for injuries after being hit by another car. Oh my gosh.

Thanks, but no thanks. Donald P. Cook, who won HGTV's 5,700-square-foot Dream Home in April, says he's selling the house. The annual $19,396 tax bill plus maintenance costs are too much for the state auditor from Alum Creek, W.Va.


Today in History:
1609 - Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River on his birthday. I eat cake on my birthday. I bet he was thinking..... I, Henry Hudson, discover this river. There it is.
1758 Charles Messier observes the Crab Nebula & begins catalog
1776 Nathan Hale leaves Harlem Heights Camp (127th St) for spy mission. I spy something....Blue.
1846 - Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning. Hmmm.
1888 Start of the Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Greek Interpreter". It's amazing that Sherlock Holmes, although being a fictional character, is looked upon in history.
1890 - Salisbury, Rhodesia, is founded. When did they create the first Salisbury steak? that's what I wanna know. I know what I'm having for supper tonight.
1922 The House of Bishops of the U.S. Protestant Episcopal Church voted 36-27 to delete the word "obey" from the vows of their denomination's official marriage service.
1928 Katharine Hepburn's NY stage debut in "Night Hostess"
1933 - Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction. The world will never be the same.
1940 - Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France.
1940 - The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
1943 - Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, is rescued from house arrest by German commando Otto Skorzeny.
1953 - Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1953 - John F. Kennedy marries Jackie Bouvier.
1956 Black students enter & are barred from Clay Ky elementary school. and??? ohhh that was so wrong of me. I do not believe in segregation and am not a racist.
1957 - NORAD begins operations.
1959 - Bonanza premiers. First regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color.
1959 - The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon.
1962 - President John F. Kennedy declares the USA will get a man on the moon, and safely bring him back, by the end of the decade. And we do it with 5 months to spare.
1966 "The Monkees," premier on NBC. They're the monkees and people say they monkey around.
1970 - Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman. Terrorists are cowards. Stand up and fight like a man. Wus!
1977 - South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko is killed in police custody.
1978 Situation comedy "Taxi" premiers on ABC television
1983 - A Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, was robbed of approximately US$7 million by Los Macheteros .
1984 Country singer Barbara Mandrell is badly injured in a car accident.....beginning her prune commercial era. I'm just playing Barbara. I'll be home at 6 and no I didn't forget your dry cleaning. Anything else dear?
1986 US professor Joseph Cicippio is kidnapped & held hostage in Beirut
1994 - Frank Eugene Corder crashes a Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing and killing himself. Some people will do anything to get their name in the paper. Sheesh.
2005 - A blackout in Los Angeles affects millions of Californians.
2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. I bet the Mickey Mouse club song sounds completely different over there.

Happy Birthday:
1575 - Henry Hudson, English explorer. He discovered a river. Which was it? Mississippi river?
1812 - Richard Hoe, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1886) I bet he invented the yard broom.
1818 - Richard Gatling, American weapons inventor (d. 1903) I bet he invented the hand grenade.
1931 - George Jones, American country singer. George Jones will never die, he'll just play possum.
1944 - Barry White, American singer (d. 2003) Wasn't Barry White black? That's just one instance where black really is white and white really is black. That is some deep stuff there.
1952 - Neil Peart, Canadian drummer and author (Rush). Amazing drummer. Needs to hire someone who can sing. Sorry Mr. Lee.
1952 - Gerry Beckley, American musician (America)
1968 - Ler LaLonde, American Guitarist (Primus)

Deaths on this day:
1185 - Andronicus I Comnenus (tortured by the City mob)
When Andronikos arrived he found that his authority was overthrown: Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. The deposed Emperor attempted to escape in a boat with his wife Agnes and his mistress, but was captured. Isaac handed him over to the City mob and for three days he was exposed to their fury and resentment. His right hand was cut off, his teeth and hair were pulled out, one of his eyes was gouged out, and, among many other sufferings, boiling water was thrown in his face. At last, led to the Hippodrome of Constantinople, he was hung up by the feet between two pillars, and two Latin soldiers competed as to whose sword would penetrate his body more deeply. He died on September 12, 1185. At the news of the emperor's death, his son and co-emperor John was murdered by his own troops in Thrace.
1213 - King Peter II of Aragon (killed in battle) (b. 1174)
1369 - Blanche of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt (plague) (b. 1345)
1992 - Anthony Perkins, American actor (b. 1932)
2003 - Johnny Cash, American singer and guitarist (b. 1932)

Friday, September 08, 2006

Annie Chapman, Are You Okay?

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A Slovak driver who crashed into a bus shocked rescuers who found him unconscious and half naked with a vacuum pump on his penis.

A woman shot her husband in the back after he killed her pet chicken, the Lane County sheriff's deputies said. Deputies said they were sure that Mary Gray, 58, intended to shoot her husband, Stephen Gray, 43. They weren't certain if the husband meant to fire at the chicken.



History Today:

1504 - Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.
1727 - A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambs, UK kills 78 people, many of whom are children.
1810 - The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men established fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
1831 - William IV was crowned King of Great Britain.
1888 - In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.
1888 - In England the first six Football League matches ever are played.
1900 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
1923 - Honda Point Disaster: Nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
1934 - Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 135 people.
1935 - US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish", is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
1966 - The Severn Bridge was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
1974 - Evel Knievel's attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls, Idaho, fails after a parachute prematurely deploys on his "sky cycle."
1986 - The first Oprah Winfrey Show airs.
1994 - A Boeing 737 operating USAir Flight 427 carrying 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport. There are no survivors.
2003 - Brianna LaHara, a 12-year-old U.S. schoolgirl, is sued by the RIAA for sharing music illegally.
2004 - The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.

Happy Birthday:
1897 - Jimmie Rodgers, American singer and composer (d. 1933)
1932 - Patsy Cline, American singer (d. 1963)
1971 - David Arquette, American actor
1979 - Pink, American singer
1981 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor



Thursday, September 07, 2006

the Lady Elgin

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On September 7, 1860 the Lady Elgin left Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Chicago, carrying members of Milwaukee's Union Guard to hear a campaign speech by Stephen A. Douglas. That night, on the return trip, the Lady Elgin was steaming through Lake Michigan in gale force winds when she was rammed by the schooner Augusta, which was trying to pull alongside the Lady Elgin in search of assistance in the rough water. The collision knocked out the lights on the Lady Elgin.

Concerned that she was damaged and believing the Lady Elgin had gotten safely away, the Augusta made for Chicago. Aboard the Lady Elgin, cattle and cargo were being thrown overboard to lighten the load and raise the gaping hole in the Lady Elgin's port side above water level. The lifeboat which was lowered drifted away before anyone could board it. Within twenty minutes, the Lady Elgin had broken apart.

When day broke, between 350 and 500 passengers and crew were floating in the water, holding on to anything they could. Over 400 people are believed to have died in the sinking. Most of those lost were from Milwaukee's Third Ward Irish community and is the second greatest loss of life seen on the Great Lakes. A Wisconsin Historical Marker in the Third Ward commemorates the tragedy, and a monument dedicated at Calvary Cemetery serves as a cenotaph.

Following the wreck, the ship's owner, Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard received a $12,000 payment from his insurance company, but neither Hubbard nor the insurance company accepted abandonment of the ship.

The wreck of the Lady Elgin was discovered in 1989 off Highland Park, Illinois by Harry Zych, who claimed ownership, and which was awarded in 1999 after a protracted legal battle.



Cellular telephones were found inside four prisoners. Yes I said inside. Guess where? Check out the x-ray. Click on the link.

A television reporter investigating a suspected real estate scam was attacked by a woman and her husband, who punched and tackled him as a cameraman videotaped the incident. I guess there was a scam. Click on the link for pictures. The video showed blood streaks and cuts on Mattes' face as he tried to get away.

Did you see the pilot for Fox's Standoff? It didn't get good reviews but it's a great show, so far. I hope it continues.


Today in History:
1251 BC - A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes, Greece.
1776 - World's first submarine attack: the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship Eagle in New York Harbor.
1860 - Steamship Lady Elgin sinks on Lake Michigan, with the loss of around 400 lives.
1864 - American Civil War: Atlanta, Georgia, is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.
1876 - In Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank but are surrounded by an angry mob and are nearly killed.
1906 - Alberto Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France for the 1st time successfully.
1911 - French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum.
1915 - Former cartoonist Johnny Gruelle is given a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll.
1921 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant, a two-day event, is held.
1927 - The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Taylor Farnsworth.
1936 - The last surviving member of the thylacine species, Benjamin, dies alone in her cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
1940 - World War II: The Blitz - Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.
1943 - A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.
1953 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes head of the Soviet Central Committee.
1963 1st US TV appearance of the Beatles (Big Night Out-ABC)
1966 - The final new episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show airs (the first episode aired on October 3, 1961).
1969 - Monty Python's Flying Circus records first episode.
1970 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
1971 - The Beverly Hillbillies airs for the last time on CBS (the first episode debuted on September 26, 1962).
1976 US courts find George Harrison guilty of plagarism (He's So Fine)
1978 - While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from in a specially-designed umbrella.
1981 Judge Wapner & the People's Court premier on TV
1986 - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.
1996 - In Las Vegas, Nevada, actor and recording artist Tupac Shakur is shot several times after attending a boxing match, he would later die in the hospital due to his injuries from the shooting on September 13.
1997 - The first test flight of the F-22 Raptor takes place.
2005 - Apple Computer introduced the iPod nano, a revolutionary full-featured iPod that holds 1,000 songs yet is thinner than a standard #2 pencil and less than half the size of competitive players.

Happy Birthday:
1533 - Queen Elizabeth I of England (d. 1603)
1923 - Peter Lawford, English actor (d. 1984)(Mrs Miniver, The Thin Man)
1936 - Buddy Holly, American singer (d. 1959)
1949 - Gloria Gaynor, American singer (I Will Survive)
1960 David Steele rocker (Fine Young Cannibals-Drive Me Crazy)
1963 - Eazy-E, American rapper (d. 1995 of AIDS) "Woke up quick at about noon, just thought that I had to be in Compton soon. I gotta get drunk before the day begins, before my mother starts bitchin' about my friends......"
1973 - Shannon Elizabeth, American actress (American Pie)


Deaths on this day:
1548 - Catherine Parr, final wife of Henry VIII of England (bc. 1512)
1978 - Keith Moon, English drummer (The Who) (b. 1946)
2003 - Warren Zevon, American musician (b. 1947)



Wednesday, September 06, 2006

September 6

Free Hit Counters
Ugg Boot

Today in History:
1522 - The Victoria, one of the surviving ships of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
1620 - The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America.
1628 Puritans land at Salem, from Mass Bay Colony, witches soon to settle
1628 - Puritans settle Salem, which will later become part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1839 Great fire in NY
1862 Stonewall Jackson occupies Fredrick, Maryland
1869 1st westbound train arrives in SF
1869 Mine fire kills 179 at Avondale Pennsylvania
1870 - Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
1873 Regular Cable Car service begins on Clay Street
1876 Southern Pacific line from LA to SF completed
1899 Carnation processes its 1st can of evaporated milk. Engineers were stunned when the can was opened and it was empty. ....... because it evaporated...sheeesh
1901 - Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
1903 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Creeping Man"
1909 Word received, Adm Peary discovers North Pole 5 months earlier
1913 1st aircraft to loop the loop (Adolphe P‚goud-France)
1915 - The first prototype tank is tested for the British Army for the first time.
1941 - Holocaust: The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word Jew inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.
1943 "Congressional Limited" train derails near Frankfort Pa, kills 79
1949 Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in 12 minutes
1952 Dozens die in air show tragedy.
1966 "Star Trek" premiers on NBC TV. The world....will never....be.....the same.
1970 - Jimi Hendrix plays what turns out to be his last ever performance, at the badly controlled and rained out Love and Peace Festival, on the Isle Of Fehmarn, Germany.
1970 - Four passenger jets bound from Europe to New York are simultaneously hijacked by Palestinian terrorist members of PFLP. Two are taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
1972 John & Yoko appear on Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon
1976 Russian pilot defects to Japan in a Mig 25 jet
1982 Paul McCartney releases "Tug of War"
1983 - The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight KAL-007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.
1985 - Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9 crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.
1986 Barbra Streisand's 1st live concert in 20 years. Who?
1991 - The name Saint Petersburg is restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924.
1997 - The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey draws large crowds.

Happy Birthday:
1666 - Tsar Ivan V of Russia (d. 1696)
1757 - Marquis de Lafayette, French soldier and statesman (d. 1834)
1838 - Samuel Arnold, Lincoln conspirator (d. 1906)
1888 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (d. 1969)
1939 - David Allan Coe, American country singer, one of the key figures in the Outlaw country movement
1943 - Roger Waters, bassist, songwriter, and previous leader of Pink Floyd
1958 - Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor, and author


Deaths today:
1984 - Ernest Tubb, American singer (b. 1914)
1990 - Tom Fogerty, American singer (b. 1941)