Friday, April 15, 2005

 

Spotlight: The Titanic sank on this date in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg. Some 1,500 lives were lost. The British luxury liner was on its maiden voyage, sailing from England to New York City, and was thought to be unsinkable. In 1985, the wreck was located near Newfoundland by Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The blockbuster film Titanic won 11 Oscars and was the largest-grossing film of all time.

Quote: "Brilliantly lit from stem to stern, she looked like a sagging birthday cake." -- Walter Lord, A Night to Remember

Word of the day: dead reckoning: guesswork; a navigational estimation that is made without benefit of instruments or tools (© )

Today's News:

• Connecticut: House says "We do" to same-sex civil unions (story)
• Romania, Bulgaria: must shape up to join EU (story)
• John Lennon: ex-Beatle's life to become a musical, with old favorites plus 2 unreleased songs (story)

Today's History:

• insulin: became available for general use in treatment
  of diabetes, one year after its discovery (1923)
• Ray Kroc: opened the store that started him on the path to leadership of what was to become the McDonald's empire, in Des Plaines, Illinois (1955)
• Botox: anti-wrinkle treatment approved by FDA (2002)

Today's Birthdays:

• Leonardo da Vinci: Italian artist, scientist (1452-1519)
• Jeffrey Archer: English author, politician (65)
• Emma Watson: Hermione in the Harry Potter films (15)