INSPIRATION OF THE DAY

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Friday, July 17, 2009
“Wrong Way” Corrigan Day

Douglas Corrigan became a legendary aviator, not because of his accomplishments as a pilot but rather because of a supposed navigational error. In 1938, Corrigan "mistakenly" flew from New York to Ireland--when he was supposed to be flying from New York to California--because he seemingly misread his compass. For Americans, who were caught in the midst of the Great Depression, Corrigan's antic provided a great deal of humor and uplift and he became a national folk hero. To this day, Corrigan's nickname, "'Wrong Way' Corrigan," remains a stock colloquial phrase in popular culture. People use it to describe anyone who blunders and goes the wrong way, particularly in sporting events. Nevertheless, as much fun as Corrigan's incident provides, many people do not understand all the complexities of his story, nor do they appreciate the fact that he was a sound and accomplished pilot.

More of "Wrong Way" Corrigan's story here.

"Wrong Way" Corrigan

Holidays Around the World

	Kiribati	Unaine Day (Elderly Women Day)
	Lesotho	King Letsie III's Birthday

Today's Birthdays

Born	Age	Name	Profession
1917	92	Phyllis Diller	American comedian
1920	89	Juan Antonio Samaranch	Spanish chairman of the International Olympic Committee
1921	88	František Zvarík	Slovakian actor
1925	84	Jimmy Scott	American jazz singer
1926	83	Édouard Carpentier	French-born professional wrestler
1926	83	Charles Champlin	American film critic and writer
1929	80	Sergei K. Godunov	Russian mathematician
1935	74	Diahann Carroll	American actor
1935	74	Peter Schickele	American author and radio host
1935	74	Donald Sutherland	Canadian actor
1939	70	Ali Khamenei	Supreme Leader of Iran
1939	70	Andrée Champagne	French Canadian actress and politician
1939	70	Spencer Davis	British singer and guitarist (Spencer Davis Group)
1940	69	Tim Brooke-Taylor	English comedian
1941	68	Daryle Lamonica	American football player
1941	68	Achim Warmbold	German rally driver
1941	68	Bob Taylor	Former English Cricketer
1942	67	Gale Garnett	Canadian singer
1942	67	Don Kessinger	American baseball player
1942	67	Peter Sissons	British newsreader
1944	65	Carlos Alberto	Brazilian football player
1944	65	Catherine Schell	Hungarian born British actress
1944	65	Mark Burgess	Former New Zealand Cricketer
1945	64	Alexander	Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
1946	63	Alun Armstrong	English actor
1947	62	Camilla	Duchess of Cornwall
1947	62	Wolfgang Flür	German musician (Kraftwerk)
1948	61	Luc Bondy	Swiss theatre and opera director
1949	60	Terence "Geezer" Butler	British musician and lyricist (Black Sabbath)
1949	60	Charlie Steiner	American sports broadcaster
1951	58	Lucie Arnaz	American actress
1950	59	Derek de Lint	Dutch actor
1950	59	P.J. Soles	German-born American actress
1952	57	David Hasselhoff	American actor and musician
1952	57	Phoebe Laub	American singer and songwriter
1954	55	Angela Merkel	Chancellor of Germany
1954	55	J. Michael Straczynski	American author
1955	54	Paul Stamets	American mycologist and environmentalist
1955	54	Christopher Chappell	Former Canadian Cricketer
1956	53	Robert Romanus	American actor
1956	53	Bryan Trottier	Canadian ice hockey player
1957	52	Fern Britton	British television presenter
1958	51	Wong Kar-wai	Chinese film director
1960	49	Mark Burnett	English-born television producer
1960	49	Nancy Giles	American actress
1960	49	Robin Shou	Hong Kong actor
1960	49	Jan Wouters	Dutch football player and manager
1960	49	Dawn Upshaw	American soprano
1960	49	Kim Barnett	former English cricketer
1961	48	Jonathan Potts	Canadian actor
1961	48	Roy Pienaar	former South African cricketer
1962	47	Bill Sage	American actor
1963	46	Matti Nykänen	Finnish ski jumper
1963	46	Letsie III	King of Lesotho
1963	46	Regina Belle	Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter
1963	46	John Ventimiglia	American actor
1965	44	Craig Morgan	American singer
1965	44	Alex Winter	English film director
1965	44	Santiago Segura	Spanish film director and actor
1966	43	Sten Tolgfors	Swedish politician
1966	43	Lou Barlow	American alternative rock singer
1966	43	Guru	American rapper
1967	42	Susan Ashton	Christian singer
1968	41	Beth Littleford	American comedian
1968	41	Bitty Schram	American actress
1968	41	Andre Royo	American actor
1968	41	Darren Day	English actor and television presenter
1970	39	Mandy Smith	English model and singer
1971	38	Calbert Cheaney	American basketball player
1971	38	Cory Doctorow	Canadian author and activist
1971	38	Nico Mattan	Belgian cyclist
1972	37	Jason Rullo	American drummer (Symphony X, Redemption)
1972	37	Jaap Stam	Dutch footballer
1973	36	Eric Moulds	American football player
1973	36	Tony Dovolani	Albanian ballroom dancer
1973	36	Liam Kyle Sullivan	American comedian and actor
1974	35	Laura Macdonald	Scottish jazz musician
1974	35	Andrew Leoncelli	Australian rules footballer
1975	34	Elena Anaya	Spanish actress
1975	34	Cécile de France	Belgian actress
1975	34	Paul Hinojos	American guitarist (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta)
1975	34	Konnie Huq	English television presenter
1975	34	Terence Tao	Australian-Chinese mathematician
1975	34	Gino D'Acampo	Italian celebrity chef
1975	34	Andre Adams	Former New Zealand Cricketer
1975	34	KC Armstrong	American actor, former producer of Howard Stern
1975	34	Carey Hart	American freestyle motorcycle racer
1976	33	Luke Bryan	American musician
1976	33	Dagmara Dominczyk	Polish actress
1976	33	Eric Winter	American actor
1976	33	Matthew Holmes	Australian actor
1976	33	Anders Svensson	Swedish football player
1977	32	Lehmber Hussainpuri	Famous Indian Singer
1977	32	Marc Savard	Canadian hockey player
1977	32	Tiffany Taylor	American model
1978	31	Mike Hettinga	American professional wrestler
1978	31	Ricardo Arona	Brazilian mixed martial artist
1978	31	Émilie Simon	French singer
1978	31	Katharine Towne	American actress
1978	31	Noah Lennox	American musician
1979	30	Mike Vogel	American actor
1979	30	Rudolf Skácel	Czech footballer
1980	29	Ryan Miller	American hockey player
1980	29	Javier Camuñas	Spanish footballer
1980	29	Travis Johnstone	Australian rules footballer
1981	28	Elpida Romantzi	Greek archer
1982	27	Natasha Hamilton	British singer (Atomic Kitten)
1982	27	Omari Banks	West Indian Cricketer
1983	26	Ryan Guettler	professional Australian BMX rider
1983	26	Sarah Jones	American actress
1983	26	Brooke Kinsella	British actress
1983	26	Adam Lind	American baseball player
1984	25	Sotiris Leontiou	Greek footballer
1984	25	Asami Kimura	Japanese singer (Country Musume)
1984	25	Ingmar Berga	Dutch speed skater
1985	24	Neil McGregor	Scottish footballer
1985	24	Tom Fletcher	British singer (McFly)
1986	23	Dana	Korean singer and actress (TSZX)
1987	22	Darius Boyd	Australian rugby player
1987	22	Jan Charouz	Czech racing driver
1987	22	Moussa Dembélé	Belgian footballer
1988	21	Summer Bishil	American actress
1988	21	Giovanni Codrington	Dutch sprinter
1989	20	Marko Todorović	Swiss swimmer
1998	11	Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y de Borbón, Spanish Royal

Phyllis Diller

Juan Antonio Samaranch

Diahann Carroll

Donald Sutherland

Ali Khamenei

Camilla

Derek de Lint

David Hasselhoff

Alex Winter

Darren Day

Jaap Stam

Andrew Leoncelli

KC Armstrong

Carey Hart

Eric Winter

Anders Svensson

Ricardo Arona

Mike Vogel

Rudolf Skacel

Ryan Miller

Travis Johnstone

Ryan Guettler

Ingmar Berga

Tom Fletcher

Darius Boyd

Jan Charouz

Giovanni Codrington

Television Ratings

NEW IN THEATERS ACTORS DISTRIBUTOR RELEASE

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (on Wed.)
Fantasy Daniel Radcliffe
Emma Watson
Rupert Grint Warner Bros. 4,325

500 Days of Summer
Romance Zooey Deschanel
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Fox Searchlight 27

Today ...

Great Wellsville Balloon Rally
July 17-19, 2009
Grass Valley Fairgrounds

The first rally was a small group of balloonists from a variety of backgrounds. They were very interesting and likeable folks. We had one of Malcolm Forbes balloons join us along with the official State of Conn balloon. A balloon from Ireland. Yes, George met a balloonist who was visiting the US and had his balloon with him. He invited him to come to Wellsville and he agreed. A really nice guy.

One of his favorite balloons was the Great Pumpkin Balloon (a favorite of Charley Brown as well)

A story about the Great Pumpkin Balloon. One of the mornings of the rally, with the fog thick in the valley, the pilot decided to take off through the fog and see just how thick it really was. As the Great Pumpkin Balloon was rising up through the fog, here comes a pilot from the Wellsville Airport flying by, That was one surprised pilot to all of a sudden see this giant orange pumpkin, complete with black eyes and jagged mouth, coming up through the fog. If only we had a picture.

Great Wellsville Balloon Rally

On This Day...

in 1955 ... Disneyland opened.

Disneyland

Video

Testicles 2

Astronomy Picture of the Day

The Hercules Cluster of Galaxies
Credit & Copyright: Tony Hallas
click above image for a higher-resolution graphic

These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster, an archipelago of island universes a mere 500 million light-years away. Also known as Abell 2151, this cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star-forming spiral galaxies but has relatively few elliptical galaxies, which lack gas and dust and the associated newborn stars. The colors in this remarkably deep composite image clearly show the star forming galaxies with a blue tint and galaxies with older stellar populations with a yellowish cast. The sharp picture spans about 3/4 degree across the cluster center, corresponding to over 6 million light-years at the cluster's estimated distance. In the cosmic vista many galaxies seem to be colliding or merging while others seem distorted - clear evidence that cluster galaxies commonly interact. In fact, the Hercules Cluster itself may be seen as the result of ongoing mergers of smaller galaxy clusters and is thought to be similar to young galaxy clusters in the much more distant, early Universe.

Photo Of The Day

Photo of the Day
Space Shuttle External Tank

The STS-127 external fuel tank falls to earth as it begins its relative separation from the Space Shuttle Endeavour following launch Wednesday July 15. Shuttle program manager John Shannon said the thin layer of foam insulation on the central area of the tank peeled away in approximately 6-inch strips as Endeavour blasted toward orbit Wednesday. Three of these strips can be clearly seen in this photo to left of the lower pipe. (NASA)

Daily Inspirations

Hey "wrong way" ... the boys are in the other direction.

"Wrong Way" Corrigan Day

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

Fin

Today's Mostly Useless Fact
Each of us generates about 3.5 pounds of rubbish a day, most of it paper.