Friday, April 29, 2005

 

Spotlight: Happy 51st birthday to comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The stand-up comedian became a household name when his TV series, Seinfeld, became a long-running hit. Also starring Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the show prided itself on being about "nothing." After nine years, Seinfeld decided to end the show in 1998, and returned to performing on stage, and writing.

Quote: "I am so busy doing nothing... that the idea of doing anything -- which as you know, always leads to something -- cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything." -- Jerry Seinfeld

Word of the day: minutia: small detail, triviality; Seinfeld episodes were made up of the minutiae of everyday life. (© )

Today's News:

• Schwarzenegger: losing fans in California (story)
• melanoma: rising threat to youngsters (story)
• ivory-billed woodpecker: 'extinct' bird rediscovered in Arkansas (story)

Today's History:

• Joan of Arc: led in victory over the English in Orleans (1429)
• Peter Roget: published the first edition of his Thesaurus (1852)
• race riots: erupted over acquittal of LA police accused of beating Rodney King (1992)

Today's Birthdays:

• musicians: Duke Ellington (1899-1974), Zubin Mehta (69), and Carnie Wilson (37)
• competitive sports: Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001) and Andre Agassi (35)
• actors: Celeste Holm (85), Kate Mulgrew (50), Daniel Day-Lewis (48), Eve Plumb (47), and Uma Thurman (35)