Jackson Browne

Singer-Songwriter Jackson Browne born on this day in Heidelberg, Germany. Here he is performing acoustic version of These Days:



These Days
Well I've been out walking
I dont do that much talking these days
These days--
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
For you
And all the times I had the chance to

And I had a lover
Its so hard to risk another these days
These days--
Now if I seem to be afraid
To live the life I have made in song
Well its just that I've been losing so long

I'll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
These days--
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them

Great Balls of Fire

On this day in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the song "Great Balls Of Fire."

Melissa Etheridge

On this day in 2004, Melissa Etheridge cancelled her tour and announced she would undergo surgery and treatment for breast cancer. Here she is singing her song celebrating her cancer survival: "I Run For Life."

Like We Never Loved At All

On this day in 1996, Country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were married. Here's the duo singing "Like We Never Loved At All."

Harry Chapin

On this day 1975, Harry Chapin released "Cat's in the Cradle."

Janis Joplin

On this day in 1970, Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose. She was 27. Here she is on the Dick Cavett show:

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan was born on this day in 1954. Here he is performing Pride and Joy on 12-string acoustic guitar:

Peace Train

On this day in 1971, Cat Stevens released "Peace Train," which became his first U.S. Top-10 hit.



Peace Train
Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately,
dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be,
some day it's going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train

Yes, peace train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train

Come Sail Away

On this date in 1977, the American band Styx released the ballad, "Come Sail Away."

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen (1949-) was born on this day in Freehold, New Jersey and continues to be vibrant and relevant and a cultural figure. Here is U2's Bono inducting Bruce into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fameon March 15, 1999.:

John Lennon

On this day in 1980, John Lennon signed with Geffen Records. Here's a portion of his last interview:

All Along the Watchtower

On this day in 1968, Jimi Hendrix released All Along the Watchtower:



Lyrics:
"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

Lyrics by Bob Dylan (1968)

Born to Run

On this day in 1975, Bruce Springsteen released the single "Born to Run." Springsteen live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1975.



In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
and steppin' out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
and strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
'Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wildgirl
I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss
The highway's jammed with broken heroes
on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
but there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul

Someday girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us--baby we were born to run

Long Way From Happiness

On this day 1997, VH1 aired "Storytellers" live for the first time. From The House Of Blues in New Orleans, Elton John performed "Long Way From Happiness":

Atom Heart Mother

On this day in 1971, Pink Floyd performed "Atom Heart Mother" at Switzerland's Classical Music Festival. Here's the band performing songs from the album in St. Tropez, France, 1970:

My Generation

On this day in 1967, The Who performed "My Generation" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. A defining moment in television and music history, Keith Moon's kick drum exploded at the end of the song, causing chaos and permanently damaging Pete Townshend's hearing. Here's the classic:

O Sole Mio

On this day in 1920, Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) completed his final recording session with Victor Records. Here is the maestro singing "O Sole Mio":




Lyrics:
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole,
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare gia na festa...
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole.

Ma n'atu sole
cchiu bello,
oje ne'.
'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!

Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
me vene quase 'na malincunia;
sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.

Reba McEntire

On this day in 1998, Country music singer Reba McEntire received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Here's a video of the event:

Getting Better

On this day in 1995, Paul McCartney's hand written lyrics for "Getting Better" by the Beatles sold for $249,000 at a Sotheby's auction.

Tupac Shakur

On this day in 1996, American rapper Tupac Shakur died six days after he was shot in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip. Here's an MTV news clip reporting the death:

Wonderwall

On this day in 1996, at the height of their fame, British rock band Oasis canceled their U.S. tour citing "internal differences." Here's the 1995 music video for their hit, "Wonderwall":

Runaway

On this day in 1995, singer Janet Jackson made history with "Runaway," the first single by a woman to debut in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100:

Cherry Cherry

On this day in 1966, singer-songwriter Neil Diamond scored his first chart song, "Cherry Cherry" Here he is performing the song in Sydney, 1976:

Soul Man

On this day in 1967, Sam & Dave released "Soul Man."

28 - Watergate Break-In

1774: The First Continental Congress convenes in Virginia.

1830: Congress authorizes the "relocation" to the western prairie of all Native Americans living east of the Mississippi; the goal is to open fresh land for settlers.

1863: The first black regiment from the North leaves Boston to fight in the Civil War.

1892: The Sierra Club, whose mission is the conservation of nature, is founded by John Muir.

1915: John B. Gruelle patents the "Raggedy Ann" doll.

1929: "On With the Show," the first talking movie that is all in color, debuts at New York City's Winter Garden theater.

1934: The identical Dionne quintuplets - Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne - are born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

1972: The White House "plumbers" break into Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, setting in motion the series of events that will force President Nixon to resign two years later.

1977: Bruce Springsteen settles out of court with manager Mike Appel. The settlement allow Springsteen to start recording again.

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Today's Birthdays:
Athlete Jim Thorpe (1887-1953)
Writer Ian Fleming (1908-1964)
NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (1944)
Rocker John Fogerty (1945)
Singer Kylie Minogue (1968)

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Something to Think About:
"Be the person your dog thinks you are." -Richard Bandler

27 -Golden Gate Bridge Opens

1647: First recorded execution of a witch reportedly took place in Massachusetts when Achsah Young was hanged.

1703: St. Petersburg founded by Czar Peter the Great.

1937: The 4,200-foot-long Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens.

1969: Construction begins on Walt Disney World in Florida.

1976: The Allman Brothers Band breaks up. The breakup occurs after Gregg Allman testifies against his personal road manager, charged with drug trafficking.

1995: In Charlottesville, VA, Christopher Reeve is paralyzed after being thrown from his horse during a jumping event.

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Today's Birthdays:
Italian writer Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
American Industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
Writer Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961)
Biologist Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978)
American film actor Vincent Price (1911-1993)
Golfer Sam Snead (1912-2002)
Statesman Henry Kissinger (1923)
American writer Harlan Ellison (1934)

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Something to Think About:
"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. Get started now." ~Mark Victor

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Something to Think About:

24 - Telegraph Invented

1844: Samuel F.B. Morse transmits the message, "What hath God wrought" from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America's first telegraph line.

1883: Brooklyn Bridge, linking two New York City boroughs, Brooklyn and Manhattan, opens to traffic.

1941: the German battleship Bismarck sinks the British dreadnought Hood in the North Atlantic.

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Today's Birthdays:
Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
American clergyman Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969)
American golfer Jimmy DeMaret (1910-1983)
American politician Coleman Young (1918-1997)

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Something to Think About:
"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains." ~Anne Frank

23 - Hilo Tsunami

1430: Joan of Arc is captured at Compiegne and sold to the British.

1785: In a letter, Benjamin Franklin describes his latest invention, bifocal eyeglasses.

1873: The North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is established as Canada's national police force.

1934: Bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are shot to death in a police ambush in Gibsland, Louisiana.

1960: A tsunami resulting from Chilean earthquakes hits the Hawaiian port city of Hilo, killing 61 people. The wave heights in Hilo Bay reached 35 feet.

1994: Funeral services are held at Arlington National Cemetery for former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

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Today's Birthdays:
Physician/astrologist Friedrich Anton Mesmer (1734-1815)
Feminist writer Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)
First female U.S. lawyer Arabella Mansfield (1846-1911)
Actor Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939)
Actor Herbert Marshall (1890-1966)
American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002)
Pioneer of electronic music Robert Moog (1934-2005)
"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler 1952
TV comic Drew Carey 1958
Singer/songwriter Jewel 1974

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Something to Think About:
"Love is a beautician. It can create beauty, but also illusion. True love is natural beauty. Everylasting, and never fake." ~ Sarah Bianchi

17 - Brown Vs Board of Education

1733: British Parliament passes the Molasses Act, which gives English producers a monopoly on rum and molasses.

1954: U.S. Supreme Court hands down Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision: Segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional.

1973: U.S. Senate begins its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.

2002: Former President Jimmy Carter ends a historic visit to Cuba sharply at odds with the Bush administration over how to deal with Fidel Castro, saying limits on tourism and trade often hurt Americans more than Cubans.

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Today's Birthdays:
French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Actor Dennis Hopper (1936)
TV personality Bob Saget (1956 )
Sugar Ray Leonard (1956 )

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Something to Think About:
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." ~ Joseph Campbell

15 - U.S. Airmail Begins Service

1918: U.S. airmail begins service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

1940: Nylon stockings went on general sale to the general public for the first time in the United States. Women lined up at stores across the country to obtain the precious goods.

1942: Wartime gasoline rationing, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles, goes into effect in 17 states.

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Today's Birthdays:
Writer Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919)
Singer-songwriter Brian Eno (1948)
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Something to Think About:

14 - Lewis & Clark Begin Expedition

1787: Delegates gather in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution.

1804: the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis.

1948: Israel declares itself an independent country.

1955: The Warsaw Pact is signed by the USSR and seven Communist bloc countries.

1998: Singer-actor Frank Sinatra dies in Los Angeles at age 82.

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Today's Birthdays:

Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686- 1736)
Robert Owen (1771- 1858)
Frederick Borden (1847- 1917)
Kurt Eisner (1867-1919)
Founder of Forbes Magazine B. C. Forbes (1880- 1954)
German conductor Otto Klemperer (1885-1973)
English comedian Eric Morecambe 1926
Song writer and singer Bobby Darin (1936-1973)
Musician Jack Bruce (Cream) (1943)
Director George Lucas (1944)
Musician David Byrne (1952)
Actor Tim Roth (1961)

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Something to Think About:

"And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more." ~ Erica Jong

13 - Blood, Toil, Tears, & Sweat

1607: Jamestown, Virginia is founded; it is the first permanent English settlement in America.

1908: Congress approves $3.1 million for a naval station at Pearl Harbor.

1918: First U.S. airmail stamp, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, is issued to the public with a face value of 24 cents.

1940: Prime minister Winston Churchill rallies the country to war saying, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

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

1981: Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant.

1985: Bruce Springsteen and actress Julianne Phillips marry in Oregon on her 25th birthday. They divorced in 1988.

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Today's Birthdays:
Boxer Joe Louis (1914-1981)
Actress Beatrice Arthur (1926-2009)
Actor Harvey Keitel (1939)
Singer Peter Gabriel (1950)
Singer Stevie Wonder (1950)
Actor-comedian Stephen Colbert (1964)

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Something to Think About:
"The memory of every man is his own private literature." ~ Aldous Huxley

12 - Oahu Plans Second City

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

1965: West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations.

1970: Campbell Estate unveils a 20-year master plan to develop its lands at Ewa into a new "second city" for Oahu and a resort at West Beach.

1993: President Clinton proposes putting all money raised from new taxes and spending cuts into a trust fund dedicated solely to reducing the nation's huge budget deficit.

2006: Tony Snow made his debut as White House press secretary.

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Today's Birthdays:

Illustrator Edward Lear (1812-1888)
English nurse Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)
Poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
Composer Jules Massenet (1842 -1912)
Actress Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra (1925)

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Something to Think About:

"Ego is necessary." ~ Jerry Lewis

11- Kasparov Loses to Computer

1751: Pennsylvania Hospital, the first U.S. hospital, is founded.

1949: Israel is admitted to the United Nations.

1949: Siam changes its name to Thailand.

1960: The FDA approves the contraceptive pill. It will go on sale in December.

1981: Reggae singer/guitarist Bob Marley dies in Miami at age 36.

1997: The "Deep Blue" IBM computer demolishes Garry Kasparov and wins the six-game chess match between man and machine in New York.

2006: Former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson dies in New Paltz, New York, at age 71.

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Today's Birthdays:
Composer Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
Painter Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
Singer Eric Burdon (1941)
Artificial heart inventor Robert Jarvik (1946)
MTV veejay Martha Quinn (1959)
Actress Natasha Richardson (1963-2009)

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Something to Think About:
"Doing what I love to do is like therapy." ~ Jennifer Hudson

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1927: St. Francis Hospital is dedicated in Liliha, Oahu.

1945: In a radio address, President Truman announces that World War II had ended in Europe. He warns Japan it can expect nothing but complete destruction unless it surrenders.

1972: Billy Preston became the first rock performer to headline at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

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7 - Sinking of Lusitania

1915: German U-Boat torpedo sinks British luxury liner Lusitania off the Irish coast. One thousand one hundred nineteen of the 1,924 aboard died. The dead included 114 Americans.

1945: Germany signs an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.

1972: Rolling Stones release the album "Exile on Main Street," featuring the song "Tumbling Dice."

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

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Today's Birthdays:
Composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Educator Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)
Gary Cooper (1901-1961)
Argentina political figure Eva Perón (1919-1952)
Quarterback Johnny Unitas (1933-2002)

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Something to Think About:
"Preach the Gospel at all times! If necessary, use words.” ~ St. Francis

6 - Hindenburg Disaster

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

1937: Hindenburg Disaster-- Called the "Titanic in the Sky," the hydrogen-filled German dirigible caught fire and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.

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

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Today's Birthdays:
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Orson Welles (1915-1985)
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays (1931)
Singer Bob Seger (1945)

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Something to Think About:
"Nothing encourages creativity like the chance to fall flat on one's face." ~ James D. Finley

5 - Scopes Trial

1891: Carnegie Hall, "one of the most beautiful music halls in the world," opens at the corner of 57th and 7th Avenue in New York City.

1925: Schoolteacher John T. Scopes is charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

1961: Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. becomes America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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Today's Birthdays:
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Founder of communism Karl Marx (1818-1883)
U.S. baseball player Charles Bender (1883-1954)

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Something to Think About:
"Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything." ~ Walt Whitman

4 - Four Dead in Ohio

1626: Dutch explorer Peter Minuit lands on present-day Manhattan Island.

1865: President Abraham Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Ill., almost three weeks after he was assassinated in Washington, D.C.

1927: The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Hollywood.

1960: Actress Lucille Ball divorces husband Desi Arnaz.

1970: Four students are killed at Kent State University in Ohio when the National Guard opens fire during protests against America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

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Today's Birthdays:
Harpsichord maker Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori (1655-1731)
Educator Horace Mann (1796-1859)
Advocate of Darwinism Thomas Huxley (1825-1895)
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak (1928)
Golfer Betsy Rawls (1928)
Spanish bullfighter El Cordobés (1936)
Graffiti artist Keith Haring (1958-1990)

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Something to Think About:

"Those few days after Kent State were among the darkest of my presidency." ~ Richard Nixon

3 - Last Dallas Episode

1802: Washington DC incorporated as a city.

1921: West Virginia imposes the first state sales tax.

1991: The last episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.

2003: President Bush says at a Crawford, Texas news conference that it was a matter of when - not if - weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.

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Today's Birthdays:
Israel's fourth Prime Minister Golda Meir (1898-1978)
Folk singer Pete Seeger (1919)
Singer James Brown (1928-2006)

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Something to Think About:
"Wealth is the ability to fully experience life." ~ Henry David Thoreau

2 - Jailhouse Rock Recorded

1519: Artist Leonardo da Vinci dies at Cloux, France.

1863: Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson is accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Va.; he died eight days later.

1932: Jack Benny's first radio show makes its debut on the NBC Blue Network.

1957: Elvis Presley records the song "Jailhouse Rock," the title song to his next movie. In the film, Elvis choreographed the dance sequence that accompanied the song.

1988: Jackson Pollock's "Search" sells for $4,800,000.

1997: Tony Blair, whose new Labour Party crushed John Major's long-reigning Conservatives in a national election, becomes at age 44 Britain's youngest prime minister in 185 years.

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Today's Birthdays:
Baron Von Richthofen (The Red Baron) (1892-1918)
Baby doctor, author Benjamin Spock (1903-1998)
Crooner & actor Bing Crosby (1903-1977)
Wrestler, actor, (The Rock ) Dwayne Johnson (1972 )
Soccer player David Beckham (1975)
Figure skater Sarah Hughes (1985)

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Something to Think About:
"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do." ~ Benjamin Spock

1 - Lei Day in Hawaii

1898: Commodore George Dewey gives the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.

1928: May 1 is designated Lei Day in Hawaii.

1931: New York's 102-story Empire State Building is dedicated. at the time, the skyscraper is the tallest in the world.

1963: James W. Whittaker is the first American to reach the top of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain.

1967: Elvis Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. She was the daughter of an army officer Elvis had met while in Germany. She had been living at Elvis' mansion in Memphis for several years before they were married.

2003: U.S. President George W. Bush declares coalition forces victorious against the regime of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

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Today's Birthdays:
Statesman Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
Painter George Inness (1825-1894)
Actor Glenn Ford (1916-2006)
Novelist Joseph Heller (1923-1999)
Astronaut Scott Carpenter (1925)
Country singer Sonny James (1929)
Singer Judy Collins (1939)
Singer Rita Coolidge (1945)

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Something to Think About:
"My lei of stars is there in the heavens adorning the skies above."
(Aia ku'u lei hoku i ka lani E kahiko ia luna e)
~ Puakea Nogelmeiser

30 - Hawaii Becomes US Territory

1803: United States and France sign the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, "the letter that bought a continent."

1900: President McKinley signs the Organic Act, making Hawaii a territory of the United States.

1945: as Russian troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.

1975: The Vietnam war ends, with the South surrendering to the North.

1997: ABC TV airs "coming out" episode in which Ellen DeGeneres's character "Ellen" acknowledges her homosexuality.

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Today's Birthdays:
Mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)
Naturalist John Lubbock (1834–1913)
Economist Theodore Schultz (1902 -1998)
Actress Cloris Leachman (1926)
Musician Willie Nelson (1933)

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Something to Think About:
"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books." ~ John Lubbock

29 - Zipper Day

1429: Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a victory over the English.

1852: First edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus published.

1913: Zipper Day: Modern zip fastener is patented.

1992: Los Angeles riots break out following the acquittal of four white police officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King.

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Today's Birthdays:
Mathematician Henri Poincare (1854-1912)
Publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Bandleader Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1901-1989)
Director Fred Zinnemann (1907-1997)
Actor Daniel Day Lewis (1957)
Actress Michelle Pfeiffer (1957)

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Something to Think About:

"I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil." ~ Truman Capote

28 - Mutiny on the HMS Bounty

Today is Kiss Your Mate Day. A lovely opportunity to pucker up and smack.

1789: Mutiny on the HMS Bounty--The crew of the British ship, led by Fletcher Christian, set Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in the South Pacific.

1914: W. H. Carrier patents air conditioner.

1947: To prove ancient South Americans sailed to Polynesia, Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmen leave Callao, Peru for a 101-day journey on a balsa-wood raft named the Kon-Tiki.

1967: Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the Army.

1988: Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 roof peeled back during a flight from Hilo to Honolulu, killing a flight attendant and injuring 61 people.

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Today's Birthdays:
U.S. President James Monroe (1758-1831)
Novelist Harper Lee (1926)
Iraq leader Saddam Hussein (1937-2006)
TV talk show host Jay Leno (1950)
Entertainer Ann-Margret (Olsson) (1941)
Actress Penelope Cruz (1974)
Actress Jessica Alba (1981)

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Something to Think About:
"Never forget 'Today, you have 100% of your life left.'" ~ Tom Hopkins

27 - Babe Ruth Day

1907: Over 2,000 Spanish immigrants arrive in Hawaii to work on plantations.

1937: The first U.S. social security checks are distributed.

1947: "Babe Ruth Day" held at Yankee Stadium to honor the ailing baseball star.

1950: Following the institution of apartheid in 1948, South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, formally segregating the country's racial groups.

Macaroni Self-Portrait Day

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Today's Birthdays:
Telegraph inventor Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872)
Civil War General & President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)
"Woody Woodpecker" animator Walter Lantz (1899-1994)
Activist Coretta Scott King (1927-2006)
Laugh-In Sock-it-to-me girl Judy Carne (1939)
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards (1954)
Singer Sheena Easton (1959)

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Something to Think About:
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." ~ Joseph Campbell

26 - Chernobyl Accident

1977 : Studio 54 nightclub opens in New York. Disco rules!

1986: Nuclear reactor accident occurred at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl plant.

1989: Beloved comedian Lucille Ball, star of "I Love Lucy," dies.

2000: Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed the nation's first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.

Hug an Australian Day

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Today's Birthdays:
Artist John James Audubon (1785)
Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 -1951)

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Something to Think About:
"Self respect is the cornerstone of all virtue." ~ John Hersche

25 - Suez Canal Construction

1947: United Airlines begins service to Hawaii.

1859: Construction began on Egypt's Suez Canal. After a deadly cholera epidemic which killed about 120,000 lives, the canal opened in 1869 and marks the border between Asia and Africa.

1961: West Germany pays the U.S. $587 million in partial World War II reparations.

2007: The Dow Jones industrial average topped 13,000 for the first time, ending the day at 13,089.89.

Today's Birthdays:
Leader Oliver Cromwell (1599)
Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky (1840)
Inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874 )
Journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908)
Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)
Actor Al Pacino (1940-)
Actress Renee Zellweger (1969)

24 - La Marseillaise Composed

1792: Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composed "La Marseillaise," the national anthem of France.

1800: U.S. Library of Congress established in Washington, D.C. Capitol building. The national research powerhouse moved to its own quarters in 1897.

1916: Easter Rising launched in Dublin by 1,600 Irish nationalists. Key sites seized. After seven days of fighting, British army suppressed insurrection.

1981: IBM introduces its first personal computer.

Born Today:
Painter Willem de Kooning (1904)
Writer Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989)
Actress Shirley MacLaine (1934)
Novelist Sue Grafton (1940)
Entertainer Barbra Streisand (1942)
Singer Kelly Clarkson (1983)

23 - Shakespeare Born & Died

1564: William Shakespeare born; he died 52 years later, on this day. He used 24,000 different words and his 154 sonnets are considered to be unequaled in their expression of love and beauty.

1872: Charlotte E. Ray becomes first black woman lawyer, joining the District of Columbia Bar.

1954: Hank Aaron hit the first of his 755 major-league home runs.

1963: Bob Dylan performs his first major solo concert at New York City’s Town Hall.

1984: US Health Secretary Margaret Heckler announces the discovery of the AIDS virus.

1998: James Earl Ray, the convicted killer of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, dies in prison.

♥☼.¸.*¸.•*¨*.¸☼¸♥Today's Birthdays:
15th US president James Buchanan (1791-1868)
Scientist Max Planck (1858-1947)
Composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891 -1953)
Writer Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
Designer Halston (1932-1990)
Singer Roy Orbison (1936-1988)
Actor Dev Patel (1990)

♥☼.¸.*¸.•*¨*.¸☼¸♥Something to Think About:
"You don't drown by falling in water; you only drown if you stay there." ~ Zig Ziglar

22 - Earth Day

1509: Henry VIII became king of England.

1864: Congress authorizes use of the motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins because of increased religious sentiment during the Civil War.

1970: The first Earth Day is held internationally to promote environmental awareness and conservation of natural resources.

1993: Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. is dedicated.

2004: Pro football player Pat Tillman, 27, who had traded in a multimillion-dollar contract to serve as an Army Ranger was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.

Today's Birthdays:
Queen Isabella I (Spain) (1451-1555)
Novelist Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Diva Madame de Stael (1766-1817)
English poet Philip James Bailey (1816-1902)
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967)
Violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916 )
Actor Jack Nicholson (1937)

Something to Think About:
"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." ~ Nelson Henderson

21 - Battle of San Jacinto

1836: With the cries of "Remember the Alamo," the Texan army led by Sam Houston defeated the Mexicans in the Battle of San Jacinto.

1922: Hawaii Governor and Mrs. Wallace R. Farrington officially inaugurate Washington Place as the governor's residence.

1945: Russian Red Army enters outskirts of Berlin.

Today's Birthdays:
Naturalist John Muir (1838-1914)
Anthony Quinn (1915 -2001)
Queen Elizabeth II (1926-)
Musician Glen Campbell (1936)
Musician Peter Frampton (1950)

20 - Columbine Massacre

1959: Dolly Parton released her first single "Puppy Love."

1972: Apollo 16 's manned lunar module lands safely on the moon after engine crisis.

1902: Marie Curie isolates radioactive element radium.

1999: Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado. Two students shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.

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Born Today:
Napoleon III 1808-1873
Sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931)
Artist Joan Miro 1893
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
Jazz Musician Lionel Hampton (1908-2002)

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Something to Think About:
"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained." ~ Marie Curie

19 - First Boston Marathon

1775: American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

1897: John J. McDermott wins the first Boston Marathon in 2:55:10.

1933: FDR announces the US will leave the gold standard.

1951: General Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Truman, bid farewell in a Congress address in which he quoted a line from a ballad: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

1995: A truck bomb at the Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, kills 168 and injures 500.

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Born Today:
Crime fighter Eliot Ness (1903-1957)
Sex symbol Jayne Mansfield (1933 -1967)

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Something to Think About:
"Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other." ~ Brian Tracy

18 - San Francisco Earthquake

1775: Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.

1861: Robert E. Lee turns down President Lincoln's offer of command of the Union Army.

1906: Devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

1906: The Hawaii Promotion Committee suggests inviting Mark Twain to the Islands.

Born Today:
Ruthless Renaissance noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519)
Dramatist Thomas Middleton (1580-1627)
French ballet dancer Gaetano Vestris (1729-1808)
Psychologist George Henry Lewes (1817-1878)
Scopes "Monkey Trial" Attorney Clarence Darrow (1857–1938)
Spanish-American War Journalist Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916)
Painter, printmaker Max Weber (1881-1961)
Conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977)
Australian operatic soprano Sylvia Fisher (1910-1996)
Actress Hayley Mills (1946)
Actor James Woods (1947)
US feminist, writer Susan Faludi (1959)
Television personality Conan O' Brien (1963)
Actor Robert Kelker-Kelly (1964)
Ugly Betty actress America Ferrera (1984)

"Science is the systematic classification of experience." ~ George Henry Lewes

17 - Ford Introduces Mustang

1951: Mickey Mantle makes his New York Yankee debut.

1964: Ford Motors introduces the Mustang at the New York World’s Fair ($2,368 base price). It was Lee Iacocca and Donald Frey idea to put a back seat in a sports car.

1969: Los Angeles jury convicts Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

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Today's Birthdays:
Industrialist John P. Morgan (1837-1913)

Soviet Union leader Nikita S. Khrushchev (1894-1971)
Playwright Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)

Movie star William Holden (1918-1981)
Singer Liz Phair (1967)

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Something to Think About:

"If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share." ~ W. Clement Stone

16 - Roll Over Beethoven

1883: Paul Kruger becomes the first President of South Africa

1912: American pilot Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

1956: Chuck Berry records “Roll Over Beethoven” at Chess Studios in Chicago, blasting a guitar riff that forever changes the sound of rock & roll.

Today's Birthdays:

Writer Anatole France (1844-1924)
Aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright (1867-1912)
Silent film actor Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)

Actor and novelist Peter Ustinov (1921-2004)
Actress Ellen Barkin (1955)

15 - Lincoln Assassinated

1850: The city of San Francisco is incorporated.

1865: President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated while attending the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater, Washington, DC.

1912: British luxury liner, RMS Titanic, sinks less than three hours after hitting an iceberg, killing 1,517.

1947: Jackie Robinson put on his first Brooklyn Dodgers uniform (number 42) and breaks Major League Baseball "color line."

Today's Birthdays:
Artist Leonardo da Vinci (1492-1519)
Realism writer Henry James (1843-1916)
Civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979)
Actress Claudia Cardinale (1938)
Novelist Jeffrey Archer (1940)
Actor, comedian Seth Rogen (1982)

Something to Think About:
"A life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives." ~ Jackie Robinson

14 - Apollo 13 Crippled

1775: Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush organize the first American society for the abolition of slavery.

1939: John Steinbeck's great novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was first published.

1956: Ampex Corporation demonstrated the first successful commercial videotape recorder, the VRX-1000 (later renamed the Mark IV), at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters Convention in Chicago.

1970: Apollo 13 is crippled when a liquid oxygen tank explodes on board about 200,000 miles from Earth. Astronauts manage to return safely.

1986: French feminist author Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris at age 78.

♥☼.¸.*¸.•*¨*.¸☼¸♥Today's Birthdays:
Teacher Anne Sullivan (1866-1936)
Architect Peter Behrens (1868-1940)
Philosopher Moritz Schlick (1882-1936)
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (1977)

♥☼.¸.*¸.•*¨*.¸☼¸♥Something to Think About:
"It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him. " ~ John Steinbeck

13 - Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson

1742: Handel's "Messiah" was first performed publicly (in Dublin, Ireland).

1829: The British Parliament passes the Catholic Emancipation Act, granting freedom of religion.

1943: President Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial.

1964: Sidney Poitier becomes first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award for "Lilies of the Field."

1992: Great Chicago Flood takes place as the city's century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River.

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Today's Birthdays:
English rebel Guy Fawkes (1570-1606)
3rd U.S. President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Businessman F.W Woolworth (1852-1919)
Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker) (1866-1908)
Architect, game inventor (Scrabble) Alfred Butts (1899- 1993)
French industrialist Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988)
Writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
Writer Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
Russian world champion chess player Gary Kasparov (1963)

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Something to Think About:

"The soil is the gift of God to the living." ~ Thomas Jefferson

12 - American Civil War Begins

1861: American Civil War begins. Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina for 34 hours.

1912: Hawaii's Queen Lili'uokalani lays the cornerstone for Lili'uokalani School in Kaimuki.

1934: "Tender Is the Night," by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published.

1945: President Franklin Roosevelt, 63, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia. He was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

1955: Salk vaccine against polio is declared safe and effective.

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Today's Birthdays:
Orator/statesman Henry Clay (1777-1852)
Typewriter inventor John T. Underwood (1857-1937)
Photographer Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976)
Nobel Prize winner Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994)
Opera singer Lily Pons (1904-1976)
Austrian-born sculptor Felix de Weldon (1907-2003)
American scientist Benjamin Libet (1916-2007)
American writer Beverly Cleary (1916)
Sri Lankan Politician Lakshman Kadirgamar (1932)
Jazz musician Herbie Hancock (1940)
Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett (1944)
Talk show host David Letterman (1947)
American author Tom Clancy (1947)
American writer Scott Turow (1949)
Finnish architect Kari Palaste (1950)
Teen heartthrob David Cassidy (1950)
Cuban-born actor Andy Garcia (1956)
Actress Shannen Doherty (1971)
Actress Claire Danes (1979)

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Something to Think About:

"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." ~ W. Edwards Deming