Monday, April 24, 2006

Spotlight
Happy birthday to Barbra Streisand! The mega-star of stage, screen, TV and CD turns 64 today. As an entertainer, Streisand has pretty much done it all: acted on stage (I Can Get it for You Wholesale, Funny Girl) and in films (Funny Girl – for which she won an Oscar, The Way We Were, A Star is Born, Meet the Fockers); directed and produced (Yentl, Prince of Tides); and, of course, sang. She has won two Oscars (for acting in Funny Girl, and for cowriting "Evergreen," from A Star is Born), five Emmys (for My Name is Barbra), and has more gold records than any other performer.

Quote
"I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy, and driven." – Barbra Streisand

Word of the day
topophobia: fear of certain locations, stage fright is a kind of topophobia; Barbra Streisand's severe stage fright kept her from performing publicly for years. (© )

Today's News

• Windows XP: top 10 tips to optimize performance (story)
• baseball: coach may not always know best (story)
• W: finally gets some respect in Sweden (story)

Today's History

• Trojan horse: traditional date of the ancient Greeks' ruse to gain entry into Troy (1184 BCE)
• Library of Congress: was established with $5,000; today it has 17 million books and 100 million other items (1800)
• Easter Uprising: unsuccessful Irish rebellion against British rule began (1916)

Today's Birthdays

• Sue Grafton: author of alphabetical detective novels, starting with A is For Alibi through S is For Silence (66)
• Paula Yates: British television presenter, The Tube, The Big Breakfast (1960-2000)
• Kelly Clarkson: first American Idol winner, in 2002; singer of "Because of You" (24)