A Garden Variety Muse

Good Morning! It's another Monday - April 12th today just a few more days until you have to give the taxman the clothes off your back. But you can still celebrate - this week is organize your files week. And today you can celebrate
Russian Cosmonaut Day Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space on April 12, 1961 aboard Vostok 1. He spent 108 minutes in space. This day was decreed by the USSR's Supreme Council on April 9th, 1962.

Things that Happened today: 1833 - Charles Gaylor patented the fireproof safe.

1861 - Fort Sumter was shelled by Confederacy, starting America's Civil War.
1877 - A catcher's mask was used in a baseball game for the first time by James Alexander Tyng.
1955 - The University of Michigan Polio Vaccine Evaluation Center announced that the polio vaccine of Dr. Jonas Salk was "safe, effective and potent."

1985 - Federal inspectors declared that four animals of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus were not unicorns. They were goats with horns that had been surgically implanted. Duh-this happened in 1985? Did you not see the name Barnum (King of Hokum) in the name? Did you really truly think there were unicorns and if you did, why did you call in the government to burst your bubble?
1988 - Harvard University won a patent for a genetically altered mouse. It was the first patent for a life form. Now the mouse has a horn growing out of it's head, but where are the federal inspectors?

2000 - Robert Cleaves, 71, was convicted of second degree murder and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Cleaves had repeatedly run over Arnold Guerreiro on September 30, 1998 with his car after the two had an argument.
2002 - It was announced that the South African version of "Sesame Street" would be introducing a character that was HIV-positive.

Birthdays: Henry Clay 1777 - "The Great Pacificator", U.S. Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams, three time unsuccessful candidate for president of United States. Quote: "I would rather be right than president."
Ann Miller (Lucille Ann Collier) 1923 - Actress ("Sugar Babies", "Hit the Deck"), dancer
Tiny Tim (Herbert Khaury) 1930 - Ukulele playing, falsetto singer ("Tiptoe Through the Tulips")
Herbie Hancock 1940 - Jazz/fusion musician, composer
Tom Clancy 1947 - Writer
David Letterman 1947 - TV host, comedian ("Late Night With David Letterman")
David Cassidy 1950 - Singer, actor ("The Partridge Family")

Deaths: 1945 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Spring, GA. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Harry S Truman became president.

Stupid Criminal of the day: Cheerleaders at Saginaw High School in Fort Worth, Texas, have a strange way of spreading school spirit.

A handful of girls have been disciplined for giving their teammates sodas that contained urine, reports the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

According to a parent of one of the students who drank the tainted beverages, one girl peed into a cup, then mixed in it with the sodas. The other girls then got the idea to distribute the drinks to teammates at the basketball game.

When the prank victims complained the drinks tasted funny, the cheerleaders said it was tart candy.

District officials told the Star Telegram two of the girls have received in-school suspensions and the others got lesser punishments.

The culprits have also been banned from all cheerleading events for the rest of the school year.

Word of the day: neologism\nee-OLL-uh-jiz-um\ , noun;
1.A new word or expression

Today's weather for Adrian, MI: Mostly sunny during the morning. Partly sunny during the afternoon. Highs 61 to 65.
Tonight
Partly cloudy during the evening. Mostly cloudy overnight. A slight chance of rain. Lows 40 to 44.

Quote of the day: Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.
C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)