For Marc "CigarBaron" Schneiderman, since he's such a swell guy. Plus,
it's his birthday.
Elsewhere in history...
Apr 12 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president ever elected to four terms of
office, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, GA. The following
day, Vice President Harry S. Truman assumes the post and is told for the
first time about the Manhattan Project.
Apr 12 1960
Eric Peugeot, 4-year-old son of the auto manufacturer, is kidnapped in
Paris. The child is later freed after a $300,000 ransom is paid.
Ultimately, the perpetrators are caught and sent to prison.
Apr 12 1961
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexeyevich Gargarin is the first man in space,
aboard Vostok I.
Apr 12 1988
U.S. patent 4,736,866 is granted to Harvard University for a
genetically-modified mouse, engineered to be particularly susceptible to
carcinogens. The cancer-prone "Harvard Oncomouse" is the world's first
patented creature, and perhaps also the most screwed.
Apr 12 1989
1960s counterculture icon Abbie Hoffman kills himself by overdosing on
barbituates.
Apr 12 1992
EuroDisney opens to the public, attracting a meager 50,000 visitors.
Expectations had been about ten times as many. This underwhelming
response by the European public will continue for more than a year.
Finally, after 18 months of retooling, the resort is ultimately
rechristened Disneyland Paris.
Apr 12 1994
The US Tax Court rules that Indiana exotic dancer Chesty Love can claim
a $2,088 tax credit for depreciation on her 56FF breast implants. The
judge found that Love's surgical augmentation did in fact increase her
income, also that she was unable to derive any personal benefit from
them, as the oversized mammaries "contorted her body into a grotesque
appearance."
Apr 12 1995
To celebrate David Letterman's 49th birthday, actress Drew Barrymore
climbs atop the Late Night desk and flashes her bosomy protuberances at
the man.
Apr 12 1995
The Hong Kong Eastern Express reports that China sanctions the
consumption of aborted human fetuses as a "health benefit." One
practitioner willing to admit a taste for this is Dr. Zou Qin of the Luo
Hu Clinic, who boasts having consumed more than 100 meals of human veal
-- stew and soup, mostly.
--
Please take off your pants or I won't read your e-mail.
I will not, no matter how "good" the deal, patronise any business which sends
unsolicited commercial e-mail or that advertises in discussion newsgroups.