Friday, October 28, 2005

Spotlight
Happy 50th birthday to mogul Bill Gates. The computer geek and Harvard's most famous drop-out joined forces with Paul Allen to found Microsoft in 1974 and sold the MS-DOS operating system to IBM. Both men now number among the world's richest people. Their corporation went on to create the Windows operating systems and became the world's largest producer of software for microcomputers. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates millions of dollars to global health care, education, libraries and the Pacific Northwest.

Quote
"Life is not fair; get used to it." – Bill Gates

Word of the day
Eristalis gatesi: a type of fly named for Bill Gates for his contributions to dipterology (© )

Holiday
Oxi Day: commemorates the day Greece just said no to Italy in 1940, during WWII

Today's News

• AIDS: DIY test may soon be available OTC (story)
• Google: new service may compete with eBay (story)
• Antonio Banderas: says he was exhausted filming stunts of The Legend of Zorro (story)

Today's History

• Statue of Liberty: gift from France to the US was dedicated by president Grover Cleveland (1886)
• Prohibition: US Congress passed the Volstead Act over president Woodrow Wilson's veto, banning manufacture, sale or transport of alcoholic beverages (1919)
• Nostra Ætate: the Second Vatican Council under Pope Paul VI absolved the Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus (1965)

Today's Birthdays

• Jonas Salk: developer of a polio vaccine (1914-1995)
• Andy Richter: comedian/actor (39)
• Julia Roberts: Oscar-winner for Erin Brockovich (38)