If today is your birthday, “Happy Birthday!”
Film producer – director George Lucas (Star Wars series, Indiana Jones series, American Graffiti) is 68.
Film director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Romancing the Stone) is 61.
Singer – songwriter David Byrne (Talking Heads) is 60.
Screenwriter – director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette) is 41.
Filed under Birthdays
1727 – Artist Thomas Gainsborough (The Blue Boy, The Watering Place) was born in Suffolk, England.
1804 – One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition left St. Louis, MO, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
1878 – The trademarked name Vaseline, for a brand of petroleum jelly, was registered by Robert A. Chesebrough.
1897 – A statue of George Washington was unveiled in Philadelphia, PA.
1904 – The Olympic Games opened in St. Louis, MO, the first time the games were held in the United States.
1913 – John D. Rockefeller made the largest gift of money at the time by establishing the Rockefeller Foundation for $100,000,000. The foundation promotes “the well-being of mankind throughout the world.”
1948 – In Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel.
1955 – The Soviet Union and 7 of its European satellites signed a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states.
1973 – The U.S. successfully launched Skylab, the first American space station.
Filed under History
“This is not how we want to run a business.”
– Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in the United States, on its $2 billion loss through what he called “sloppiness” in stock market bets.
I’ve seen garage sales function better than some of these banks!
Filed under News
Tigryulia holds one of her newborn cubs at the Skazka Zoo in Yalta, Ukraine. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.
The three white male cubs cuddle with their albino sister shortly after being born at the Skazka Zoo. The zoo has launched a competition to find names for all of them inspired by former Ukraine presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.
Filed under News
Survivalist Tip: Since today is Mother’s Day, I want to remind everyone preparing for the apocalypse to remember your mothers or the mother figures in your lives. Whether or not your mother is still alive, keep pictures of her close by or take at least one with you as you flee to safety. There’s nothing like a mother to keep your ego in check and make you feel like a kid again. Even if you don’t or didn’t have as a great a mother as I do, think of a female individual who made a positive impact on your life. The blessings of a mother or mother figure will guide you to safety into the new Baktun. Besides, mothers will still love you even if you have to kill an uncooperative member of your posse.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
If today is your birthday, “Happy Birthday!”
Actress Zohra Lampert (Alan & Naomi, Splendor in the Grass) is 75.
Actor Harvey Keitel (The Last Temptation of Christ, Death Watch, Blue Collar, Taxi Driver) is 73.
Actress Senta Berger (The Victors, See How They Run, If It’s Tuesday This Must Be Belgium) is 71.
Bass guitarist Danny Klein (The J. Geils Band) is 66.
Actor Tim Pigott-Smith (The Jewel in the Crown, Remains of the Day) is 66.
Actor – comedian Franklyn Ajaye (The Wrong Guys, Fraternity Vacation, The Jazz Singer, Convoy, Car Wash) is 63.
Singer Stevie Wonder (Uptight, Living in the City, Isn’t She Lovely) is 62.
Actress Frances Barber (We Think the World of You, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Home Sweet Home) is 54.
Filed under Birthdays
1607 – Some 100 English colonists arrived on the west bank of what is now the James River in present-day Virginia and founded Jamestown.
1821 – Samuel Rust of New York City patented the first practical printing press built in the U.S.
1842 – Opera composer Arthur Sullivan (H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance) was born in London.
1846 – President James K. Polk declared war on México in a dispute over Texas.
1898 – Thomas Edison sued the American Mutoscope Company, claiming they infringed on his patent for the Kinetograph movie camera.
1907 – Writer Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, The Loving Spirit) was born in London.
1949 – The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.
1958 – Vice-President Richard Nixon was attacked in Caracas, Venezuela, during his Latin America goodwill trip, nearly overturning the car in which he was riding. The mob was angry about U.S. Cold War policy.
1981 – Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in St. Peter’s Square in Rome by Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca.
Filed under History
Just remember – behind every successful person there was a mother figure who wiped their nose and their butt years earlier!
Filed under News
Chief Writing Wolf 