Xuxa's blog: "Current Events"

On this day... 235 St Anterus begins his reign as Catholic Pope 496 St Gelasius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope 1654 Richard Johnson, a free black, granted 550 acres in Virginia 1783 Pilstre de Rozier & Marquis d'Arlandes make 1st free balloon flight 1787 Andrew Jackson admitted to the bar 1789 North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state 1794 Honolulu Harbor discovered 1818 Russia's Czar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine 1824 1st Jewish Reform congregation established, Charleston, SC 1837 Thomas Morris of Australia skips rope 22,806 times 1847 Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200 1848 Cincinatti Turngemeinde founded 1871 Moses Gale patents a cigar lighter 1877 Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention 1895 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Bruce Partington Plans" (BG) 1902 1st night football game, Philadelphia Athletics beats Kanaweola AC, 39-0 1914 Billy Mallett of Hamilton Tigers kicks 9 singles in a game 1925 Red Grange plays final Univ of Illinois game, signs with Chicago Bears 1933 1st US ambassador to USSR, W.C. Bullitt, begins service 1934 Yanks buy Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco Seals 1935 1st commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper) 1945 General Motors workers go on strike 1946 Harry Truman becomes 1st US President to travel in a submerged sub 1952 1st US postage stamp in 2 colors (rotary process) introduced 1953 "Pitdown Man," discovered in 1912 proved to be a hoax 1959 Jack Benny (violin) & Richard Nixon (piano) play their famed duet 1964 World's longest suspension bridge "Verrazano Narrows" opens (NYC) 1967 Phillip & Jay Kunz fly a kite a record 28,000 feet 1968 Supremes & Temptations release "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" 1968 Yoko Ono suffers a miscarriage 1970 NY Knicks 1st game against Cleveland Cavalier, Knicks win 102-94 at MSG 1971 NY Rangers scores a NHL record 8 goals in 1 period 1975 Linda McCartney drug charges in US are dropped 1977 1st flight of the Concorde (London to New York) 1980 Dallas' "Who Shot JR?" episode (Kristen) gets a 53.3 rating 1980 Fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas kills 84 1980 Gene Michaels replaces Dick Howser as Yankee's 25th manager 1980 John & Yoko pose nude for photographer Allan Tannenbaum 1981 Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," single goes #1 & stays for 10 weeks 1990 Michael Milken is sentenced to 10 years for security law violations 1990 Signing of Declaration of "End of Cold war" in Paris

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A small-town bank that drew $2.2 million in deposits from around the country because of its unusual name will close Jan. 31. The Tightwad Bank opened on a shoestring 22 years ago in the small community along Missouri 7 halfway between Clinton and Warsaw. Now, UMB Bank Warsaw, which operates the bank, is cutting costs and has urged customers to do their banking at its branches in Clinton and Warsaw. Officials at UMB, a subsidiary of UMB Financial Corp, would not elaborate on the decision. "I don't like it at all," said Tightwad resident Linda Houk. "I'm not sure I'll leave my accounts at UMB." Two months after the Tightwad Bank opened in May 1984, an article on it appeared in The Kansas City Times. Word began to spread. "We were discovered," said Gene Henry, a Clinton banker who helped open the Tightwad Bank. "People would just mail us a check, Tightwad Bank, Tightwad, Missouri, sometimes with no ZIP code, and the post office, to its credit, found us." Up to a dozen checks would arrive daily, each with a note asking for an account and a batch of Tightwad Bank checks, Henry said. In two years, customers from near and far gave the bank $2.2 million in deposits. The bank started as a branch of a Windsor bank whose chairman foresaw growth fueled by development around the then-new Truman Lake. Henry said some even envisioned Tightwad as becoming the next Branson. But growth never came. Tightwad, population 63, has eight more residents now than when the bank opened.

November 19 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address on this day in 1863. The speech was considered so insignificant at the time that coverage was limited to the inside pages of the newspapers (page one coverage went to a speech by Edward Everett). 1895 - Frederick E. Blaisdell of Philadelphia, PA patented what he called the paper pencil -- a paper-wrapped pencil with a string for revealing more lead, like those china markers you buy these days. 1928 - After five years of publication, TIME magazine presented a cover portrait for the first time. Japanese Emperor Hirohito was the magazine’s first cover subject. 1932 - Halfback Joe Kershallo scored 71 points to lead West Liberty State College of West Virginia to a staggering 127-0 win over Cedarville College, Ohio. Heck, Kershallo was in the highlight film; he should have won an Academy Award! 1943 - Stan Kenton and his orchestra recorded Artistry in Rhythm, the song that later become the Kenton theme. It was Capitol record number 159. The other side of the disk was titled, Eager Beaver. 1954 - Sammy Davis, Jr. was involved in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino, CA. Three days later, Davis lost the sight in his left eye. He later referred to the accident as the turning point of his career. 1954 - Two automatic toll collectors were placed in service on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. The nation’s first automatic toll collector accepted only correct change. One needed a quarter to activate the green light. 1959 - The last Edsel rolled off the assembly line. Ford Motor Company stopped production of the big flop after two years and a total of 110,847 cars. 1961 - A year after Chubby Checker reached the #1 spot with The Twist, the singer appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing the song again. The Twist became the first record to reach #1 a second time around -- on January 13, 1962. 1962 - For the first time, a jazz concert was presented at the White House. Jazz had previously been served as background music only. 1966 - Six weeks before his 31st birthday, LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, plagued by arthritis, announced his retirement from baseball. Koufax compiled a 12-season record of 165 wins, 87 losses and 2,396 strikeouts. 1984 - 20-year-old Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the youngest major-league pitcher to be named Rookie of the Year in the National League. The Mets pitcher led the majors with 276 strikeouts. 1986 - Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt became only the third player in National League history to win the Most Valuable Player award three times. Roy Campanella of the Dodgers and Stan Musial of the Cardinals also won three National League MVP honors. 1994 - Nirvana’s album, MTV Unplugged in New York, was number one in the U.S. for the week. The album featured these tracks: About a Girl, Come as You Are, Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam, The Man Who Sold the World, Pennyroyal Tea, Dumb, Polly, On a Plain, Something in the Way, Plateau, Oh, Me, Lake of Fire, All Apologies and Where Did You Sleep Last Night. 1997 - The world’s first surviving septuplets were born by Cesarean section to Bobbi McCaughey of Carlisle, Iowa. She claimed her place in the record books by giving birth to septuplets: four boys (Kenneth, Brandon, Nathan and Joel) and three girls (Alexis, Natalie and Kelsey). The seven newcomers joined a family that already included one daughter, Mikayla. The infants ranged in weight from 2 pounds, 5 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces and were born over a period of six minutes. The father was Kenny McCaughey, a billing clerk at a car dealership. 1999 - The films were new to U.S. theatres this day: Liberty Heights (“You’re only young once, but you remember forever.”), starring Adrien Brody, Bebe Neuwirth and Joe Mantegna; Sleepy Hollow (“Close Your Eyes. Say Your Prayers. Sleep If You Can.”), with Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Miranda Richardson; and The World is Not Enough (“Bond is Back”), starring Pierce Brosnan as 007, Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, Robbie Coltrane, Dame Judi Dench as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, John Cleese as R and Samantha Bond as Moneypenny.

1541 In Switzerland French reformer John Calvin (1509–1564) established a theocratic government at Geneva, thereby creating a home base for emergent Protestantism throughout Europe. 1572 The first Presbyterian meeting house in England was established in Wandsworth, Surrey. 1580 The Book of Concord was published. 1620 Peregrine White, son of William and Susanna White, was the first child born on the Mayflower (d. 29 July 1704). 1648 Sigismund von Birken (Betulius, 1626–1681), tutor and poet, was reemployed as a private tutor after the Peace of Westphalia was concluded. 1806 Baptist preacher Isaac Backus, an influential voice in arguing for religious liberty in Massachusetts and later the United States, died (b. 9 January 1724). 1838 The first group of Prussian Lutheran immigrants arrived in Australia, forming the Klemzig settlement near what is today Adelaide. 1839 John Williams, "Apostle to the South Seas," died (b. 1796). 1847 Henry Francis Lyte, Scottish clergyman and hymnist, died at Nice (b. 1 June 1793). 1850 Blind American hymn writer Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) underwent a dramatic conversion experience at a Methodist revival meeting. 1866 A colloquy between the Missouri Synod and the Buffalo Synod began in Buffalo, New York (through 5 December). 1867 The General Council was organized at a meeting in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that lasted through 26 November. 1872 The hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour” by Annie Sherwood Hawks (1836–1918) was first sung at a National Baptist Sunday School Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1879 Georg Philipp Speckhard, first director of the Lutheran School for the Deaf in Michigan, died (b. 22 January 1821, Wersau, Hesse). 1883 Johannes Sandegren, Swedish Lutheran missionary to India, was born in Madura, South India (d. 15 November 1962). 1894 Classes began at Concordia Teachers College (Seward, Nebraska) with a faculty of one, Professor J. G. Weller, and thirteen students, who lived in the same building with Weller. 1913 Philip Studt, president of Iowa District of the Missouri Synod, died (b. 7 January 1841, Belleville, Illinois). He studied theology at Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) during the Civil War years and was sent to Iowa in 1865 as a vicar under the pioneering pastor J. F. Doescher. Because of the urgent need for pastors, he did not return to the seminary to complete his studies but was colloquized for the pastoral office and ordained and installed on 7 May 1866 to serve as pastor of Saint Paul Lutheran Church (Luzerne, Iowa), continuing in that position until 1905. He is buried in the church cemetery there. He was also a mission pioneer in Iowa, traveling far and wide and organizing several congregations. He served in various leadership positions in the Iowa District, culminating in the district presidency. 1945 In Nürnberg, Germany, the trial of twenty-two German Nazi war leaders began. 1956 The Nagercoil District of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized. 1961 The Russian Orthodox Church joined the World Council of Churches. 1965 Elmer H. Thode, missionary to the Chinese for thirty-nine years, died (b. 2 September 1902, LaPorte, Indiana). He was educated at Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis). In 1926 he was called to serve in China, working first in Hankow and Shasi, then Shanghai and Ichang. When the Japanese captured Ichang during World War II, he returned to Shanghai and then to the U.S., where he served as a pastor in Fredericksburg, Iowa for three years. In 1946 he returned to Hankow but soon had to leave that area. He moved to Hong Kong in July 1952. 1987 Gerhard I. Aho, professor of pastoral theology at Concordia Theological Seminary (Fort Wayne, Indiana), died in Fort Wayne (b. 22 April 1923).

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter. But they don't want you marching in the streets. They'd much rather you just stay home. The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace. "The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change." The couple are no strangers to sex and social activism. Sheehan, no relation to anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, brought together nearly 50 women in 2002 who stripped naked and spelled out the word "Peace." The stunt spawned a mini-movement called Baring Witness that led to similar unclothed demonstrations worldwide. The couple have studied evolutionary psychology and believe that war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of "my missile is bigger than your missile," as Reffell put it. By promoting what they hope to be a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to get people to channel their sexual energy into something more positive. The couple said interest appears strong, with 26,000 hits a day to their Web site, http://www.globalorgasm.org . "The dream is to have everyone in the world (take part)," Reffell said. "And if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better." Who's gonna join in? Leave a comment.

A Detroit college student kidnapped twenty frogs from an area zoo. The frogs were reported missing, and apparently, out of guilt, the young man returned the frogs and turned himself in. Officials aren’t clear on why the man committed this act, but one thing is certain, he will go down as having one unique criminal record!

Today is my friend Eurisko's Birthday. Please go and show her luv.  Click here to visit her page.