Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Round Table for Friday, August 17th, 2007

1999 - More than 17,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Turkey, close to the town of Izmit. Tens of thousands of people were injured or killed. No one knows exactly how many.





Today In History~

1807 - Fulton’s Folly, the Clermont (although it wasn’t named at the time), made its first journey. Robert Fulton’s steamboat traveled between Albany, New York and New York City, a 150-mile journey. The trip took 32 hours.

1815 - Napoleon arrived at Saint Helena for the beginning of his exile.







1835 - Solyman Merrick of Springfield, MA patented the wrench. And the design is pretty much the same today as it was back then...

1859 - A hot air balloon became a mail carrier, as John Wise left Lafayette, IN with over 100 letters for people in New York City. Once again, the mail was late, as Mr. Wise only got 27 miles out of town before being forced to land.







1877 - Blacksmith, F.P. Cahill became the first man to be mortally wounded by Billy the Kid -- notch number 1 for the Kid.

1894 - Pitcher John Wadsworth of Louisville gave up 28 base hits, all singles, in a single game. John set a National League and major-league record.







1903 - The first Pulitzer Prize was awarded, as Joseph Pulitzer made a million-dollar donation to Columbia University. This provided the funding for the Pulitzer Prize awards to be made in Joseph Pulitzer’s name.

1915 - Charles F. Kettering of Detroit, MI patented the electric, automobile self-starter. And it’s a good thing he did -- or we’d still be cranking our cars by hand.







1918 - The famous race horse, Man o’ War, was sold at auction for $5,000. Samuel Riddle became the thoroughbred’s new owner.

1938 - Henry Jackson Armstrong defeated Lou Ambers at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Armstrong won the lightweight boxing championship and became the first fighter to hold three titles at one time: The feather, welter, and lightweight crowns.







1943 - Writer Norman Corwin’s first success debuted on CBS radio. It was Passport for Adams, starring Robert Young who played a small town newspaper editor. Corwin would have many other radio successes. He wrote and produced such radio classics as This is War, An American in England and We Hold These Truths.

1963 - Dick Hall, a relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, retired his 28th batter in a row. Halls’s string of success began on July 24th and covered five games.







1973 - Lee Trevino got the first hole in one of his career at the U.S.I. Golf Classic, in Sutton, MA.

1978 - A transatlantic trip by air was not uncommon in 1978, unless you made the trip by hot-air balloon. Three American men had left Presque Isle, Maine six days earlier. After traveling 137 hours, 18 minutes and approximately 3,200 miles, Max Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed at Miserey, France on this day. The balloon that carried the three for this, the first completed transatlantic flight by balloon, was named the Double Eagle II.



Double Eagle II




1984 - On this, the first night of his Breaking Hearts Tour, Elton John announced that he was retiring from touring.

1987 - Steffi Graf replaced Martina Navratilova as the number one tennis player in the Women’s International Tennis Association. The 18-year-old had won eight tournaments in 1987, including the French Open.







1993 - Allegations of child abuse prompted Los Angeles police to investigate entertainer Michael Jackson. This, after the 13-year-old son of a Beverly Hills dentist told his therapist that Jackson had sexually abused him. Jackson claimed the allegations followed a failed attempt by the dentist to extract 20 million dollars from the singer. No criminal charges were filed against Jackson, but a civil suit was. It was settled out of court in January 1994. Michael Jackson, meanwhile, cancelled or postponed several dates on his Dangerous world tour, citing illness or exhaustion.

1997 - Davis Love III won the 79th PGA Championship at Mamaroneck, NY. It was his first major title and he finished five strokes ahead of Justin Leonard with a 72-hole total of 11-under 269 (which included 3 rounds of 66).







1997 - The old CN (Canadian National) train station in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, home town of country singing legend Hank Snow, was dedicated as the Hank Snow Country Music Centre. The Centre features personal memorabilia of Nova Scotia’s "native son", including his 1947 Cadillac and pieces from other Canadian country music stars (including Carroll Baker, Wilf Carter, Ronnie Prophet, George Hamilton IV, Lucille Starr). Snow died December 20, 1999 at the age of 85.


Quote For The Day~

Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.
Hypatia of Alexandria


[img]http://www.librarising.com/spirituality/images/hypatia.jpg[/img]


Chuckle For The Day~


[img]http://www.gii.in/fun/images/dentist_jokes.gif[/img]


[img]http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/media/images/other/jokes_1.jpg[/img]


Picture For The Day~


[img]http://www.craigr.com/images/London%20Tower%20Bridge.jpg[/img]
London Bridge



A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph.


[img]http://hometown.aol.com/williamvollinger/images/sneeze.gif[/img]