Thursday, July 29, 2004

 

Spotlight: Topic of the Day: Transcontinental telephone service began with the first phone conversation between New York and San Francisco ninety years ago today.

Word of the day: fissiparous -- factious. Appeared in an article about the good old days of the Democratic conventions. "The Democrats for most of their history have been fissiparous, with factions of widely divergent politics." (story) (© )

Today's News:

• Bin Laden -- Osama's half brother rejects account of Saudi evacuation in Fahrenheit 9/11 (story)
• Ansari X Prize -- SpaceShipOne to compete for $10 million prize in September (story)
• breast cancer -- MRIs recommended in addition to mammography in high risk women (story)

Today's History:

• International Atomic Energy Agency -- was established by the United Nations (1957)
• President Eisenhower -- signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA (1958)
• Prince Charles & Lady Diana Spencer -- married in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London (1981)

Today's Birthdays:

• Peter Jennings -- anchor of ABC's World News Tonight turns 66
• Ken Burns -- director of the TV film The Civil War turns 51
• identical twins -- firefighter/writer Caroline and actress/activist Alexandra Paul turn 41