L.K. Peterson's Site of Writings, Random Thoughts & Doodles
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1845: The New York Mirror first publishes Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven; when Poe asks when he'll see any royalties, the response is, "Nevermore!"
1958: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward marry.
1737: Thomas Paine
1843: William McKinley
1878: Barney Oldfield
1880: W.C. Fields
1911: Bernard Herrmann
1912: Professor Irwin Corey
1913: Victor Mature
1942: Katharine Ross
1945: Tom Selleck
1952: Tommy Ramone
1954: Oprah Winfrey
1975: Sara Gilbert
It's National Kazoo Day! Toot le monde!
1613: Galileo unknowingly views the as-yet unknown planet Neptune; his neighbors suspect he's really using his telescope to peek into the window of the well-known saucy wench across the courtyard.
1912: Jackson Pollock
1936: Alan Alda
1955: Nicholas Sarkozy
1981: Elijah Wood
Although sketchy about the amount or manner of remuneration, word is that during tonight's speech, and only hours after it was unveiled by Steve Jobs, the president will have with him a new iPad.
According to the rumored deal's rumored terms and conditions, the president will, "Personally carry the iPad to the podium," and do so in "...a strategic manner that makes the device and its logo visible from several camera angles"
Furthermore, it is stipulated that during his speech the president, "Glance down at his iPad as if referring to notes at least twice," and at some point, "Smile contentedly and remark, 'This thing is great; everybody should get one' and 'I wish we'd invested in these instead of GM'".
Inside-the-Beltway bloggers are also reporting that John Hodgeman, who plays the hapless PC in Apple's ad campaign, will be in attendance and will shout, "You lie!" from the gallery when the president makes his flattering remarks about the iPad.
1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1832: Lewis Carroll
1850: Samuel Gompers
1885: Jerome Kern
1918: Skitch Henderson
1921: Donna Reed
1936: Troy Donahue
1957: Frank Miller
1959: Keith Olbermann
1964: Bridget Fonda
1888: The National Geographic Society is organized; appropriately, this happens in a doctor's office waiting room.
1784: Ben Franklin notes his disappointment over the choice of the bald eagle as America's official bird symbol; he'd been lobbying for Chicken Cordon Bleu.
1925: Paul Newman
1928: Philip José Farmer
1928: Eartha Kitt
1928: Roger Vadim
1929: Jules Feiffer
1935: Bob Uecker
1942: Scott Glenn
1946: Gene Siskel
1950: David Strathairn
1953: Lucinda Williams
1957: Eddie Van Halen
1958: Ellen DeGeneres.
Phenomenot: Something that doesn't live up to its hype.
Pundit: Having successfully made a pun.
1863: General Joseph Hooker replaces General Ambrose Burnside as head of the Union Army; women of easy virtue quickly replace growing wacky facial hair as soldiers' favorite hobby.
1890: Intrepid "Girl Reporter" Nellie Bly circles the globe in 72 days, beating Phileas Fogg's around the world in 80 days-record; when she's told that Fogg is a fictional character and his whole trip was made up, the look on her face is just priceless.
1989: New York Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner meets with Pope John Paul II; the pontiff agrees to throw out the first pitch at the next game, but turns down the offer to replace Billy Martin as manager.
1997: Renowned psychic Jeanne Dixon dies at the age of 79, while in the middle of dictating her newspaper column; her last words are, "Someone very close to me will... ack!" [thud]
1840: First British colonists reach New Zealand; they immediately begin scouting locations for Lord of the Rings.
1938: Our Town is performed for the first time; at any given moment since then, somewhere in America, it is being produced at a high school or community theater.
1984: The revolutionary Apple Macintosh (with a revolutionary mouse!) is introduced in a revolutionary Super Bowl XVIII ad that features a (presumably revolutionary) hot babe in short-shorts and a tank-top breaking some soon-to-be-revolutionary prisoner/zombie peoples' big-screen TV with a sledgehammer of freedom... or some damn thing.
1875: D.W. Griffith
1907: Marie Dressler
1909: Ann Southern
1931: Sam Cooke
1932: Piper Laurie
1934: Bill Bixby
1934: Graham Kerr
1937: Joseph Wambaugh
1959: Linda Blair
1963: Diane Lane
1924: Benny Hill born as delivery room staff chases buxom nurse around in fast-motion to the tune of Yakety Sax.
1926: Steve Reeves
1939: Wolfman Jack
1940: Jack Nicklaus
1941: Placido Domingo
Today is (really) Squirrel Appreciation Day. What we're supposed to appreciate them for, exactly, is not entirely clear. Yeah, the whole thing's nuts.
1963: Snow falls in San Francisco; Jerry Garcia panics, thinking that somehow all of his cocaine has got blown outside.
Today is "Hat Day". That makes tomorrow "Hat Hair Day". Dress accordingly.
1885: Roller Coaster is patented.
1930: First radio broadcast of The Lone Ranger.
1949: J. Edgar Hoover gives Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen; she later makes good use of it on Mr.-Grabby-Hands Darryl Zanuck at an Oscar after-party.
1964: Meet the Beatles is released in the U.S.
1889: Leadbelly
1896: George Burns
1920: Frederico Fellini
1920: DeForest Kelley
1926: Patricia Neal
1929: Arte Johnson
1929: Martin Landau
1930: Buzz Aldrin
1942: Slim Whitman
1946: David Lynch
1947: Malcolm McLaren
1956: Bill Maher
1970: Skeet Ulrich
1807: Robert E. Lee
1809: Edgar Allan Poe
1839: Paul Cezanne
1921: Patricia Highsmith
1923: Jean Stapleton
1938: Phil Everly
1942: Shelley Fabares
1943: Janis Joplin
(her parents wanted a Mercedes Benz, but, whatcha gonna do?)
1954: Katey Sagal
Today is National Popcorn Day. Oddly, Caramel Popcorn Day is April 7 and National Popcorn Month is October.
1937: Howard Hughes sets transcontinental air record of 7 hours, 28 hours and 25 seconds. His luggage arrives the following Tuesday.
1939: Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin sets a chicken-plucking record at 4.4 seconds; the second-place finisher cries fowl.
1892: Oliver Hardy
1904: Cary Grant
1955: Kevin Costner