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]

Awesome opening Miss Scout


Mornin' everybody!!


...another gloriously beautiful Bay Area day ahead

Jamaica is a direct hit mon!

Should Dean veer north and not hit the Mexican peninsula, Houston become's a direct hit as well.

Morning everyone and happy Friday to those of you who are at the end of your work week. I've been retired for over 2-1/2 years but part of me still wants to say TGIF. Even though weekends are now often my busiest times because I do dog rescue transports. I'll be helping with one this weekend, driving and overnighting 8 dogs as they travel from AL, GA and TN up to CT, NH and VT. With a total of 16 dogs on this transport it will take 72 drivers to get them from high kill shelters to rescues and new homes.

Last nght, I talked to my youngun' who live in Houston, they are doing well. They live in the older sections of Houston which must be on higher ground than some other areas. They said the streets near them were flooded for about two hours and then the water ran off or was absorbed.

I hope a depleted Erin comes eastward and gives us some much needed rain.

Kathy

COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!

FROM THE CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:

a) false promises, faux safety, more lost lives
PResident Murray comes on Tee Vee everyday, and refuses to answer questions about previous mine problems and disasters, even in the same Utah mine.
THREE MORE MINORS DIED, trying, in vain to reach 6 dead.
- - -

b) IraqNam
THe US (belatedly) admits two more US troops died on Wednesday. No explanation for the delay, other than trying to put lipstick on the face of a pig ugly surge. They refused to mention any Thursday casualties, even tho many mortars fell in the green zone, many bombs blew up in Baghdad, Basra, Anwar, etc.
Even the US now admits that perhaps 400 died in the Kurdish attack on a peaceful village. Other estimates are over 600. and you would believe who?
- - -

c) Discount rate
Given the huge scare that passed through all financial sectors, you expected some action, even from the "academic, head in the clouds, Bush-based, closed-minded, deaf dumb and blind, Chairman Bernanke" but dropping the discount rate .50 points shows just how desperate he and pretty much everyone else is.
This is a pure, unabated, mindless, panic. 400 Billion have already been injected.
Watch for inflation to soar, at the same time as the financials continue to collapse. Too little too late, combined with throwing fuel at the fire and you have thousands of financial specialists losing their jobs this weekend, the consumer still stuck with no ability to get mortgages or equity loans, and a general market condition that has all eyes looking down and wondering how far.
- - -

d) refinery problems
Watch gas prices to blossom like a turd as a mississippi refinery caught fire last night.
- - -

e) more financial disasters and clusters of sexual activity
CountryWide managed to beg, borrow and steal 12 BILLION DOLLARS from banks, in an effort to keep its doors open.
No word on whether they were forced to remove those irritating, disgusting and misleading TeeVee Ads in exchange.

Hank Snow was one of the greatest Country artists ever. I know because I listen to both types of music, Country and Western!

I may be mistaken (wouldn't that be a first! :D), but I don't think this is Steffi Graf in this picture. It looks more like another woman tennis player, Mary Pierce. Not that it really matters...

Thank you, Rigel Morgan, for all you do to help the plight of homeless animals. People such as yourself should be admired for your selfless actions to help animals in need. I salute you!

That is a noble thing to do. Bless you!