INSPIRATION OF THE DAY

This is the full version. Click here for the almost-OK for work page.

Friday, July 24, 2009
National Drive-Thru Day

This is National Drive-Thru Day - noting the popularity of restaurants that take orders by intercom and then hand them out a window to drivers while they remain behind the wheel. The first such service was the idea of Robert Peterson, at a Jack in the Box restaurant in San Diego in 1951. At the time, drive-in restaurants were very popular, where staff brought food to people who stayed in their parked cars. Some even brought out the food on roller skates, and the order was delivered to a tray attached to the car door. Today, drive-thrus are a feature of many of the nearly 187,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S., which generate $117 billion in sales each year.

National Drive-Thru Day

Holidays Around the World

	Vanuatu	Children's Day
	Venezuela	Simon Bolivar's Birthday

Today's Birthdays

Born	Age	Name	Profession
1918	91	Ruggiero Ricci	American violinist
1919	90	Ferdinand Kübler	Swiss cyclist
1922	87	Madeleine Ferron	French Canadian writer
1929	80	Alfred Binns	West Indian cricketer
1931	78	Ermanno Olmi	Italian director
1933	76	Doug Sanders	American golfer
1933	76	John Aniston	American actor
1934	75	Sante Kimes	American con artist and murderess
1935	74	Pat Oliphant	Australian political cartoonist
1935	74	Derek Varnals	South African cricketer
1936	73	Ruth Buzzi	American actress and comedian
1936	73	Mark Goddard	American actor
1937	72	Manoj Kumar	Indian actor
1938	71	Eugene J. Martin	American painter and artist
1938	71	John Sparling	New Zealand cricketer
1940	69	Stanley Hauerwas	American theologian
1940	69	Dan Hedaya	American actor
1942	67	Chris Sarandon	American actor
1945	64	Hugh Ross	Canadian scientist and Christian apologist
1945	64	Azim Premji	Indian businessman
1947	62	Zaheer Abbas	Pakistani cricketer
1947	62	Robert Hays	American actor
1947	62	Peter Serkin	American pianist
1947	62	David Meyer	English actor
1949	60	Yves Duteil	French singer and songwriter
1949	60	Michael Richards	American comedian
1951	58	Lynda Carter	American actress
1951	58	Chris Smith	British politician
1952	57	Gus Van Sant	American film director
1953	56	Claire McCaskill	American politician
1956	53	Charles Crist	American politician
1956	53	Pat Finn	American game show host and producer
1957	52	Pam Tillis	American singer
1958	51	Joe McGann	English actor
1961	48	Kerry Dixon	English footballer
1962	47	Johnny O'Connell	American race car driver
1963	46	Paul Geary	American musician
1963	46	Julie Krone	American jockey
1963	46	Karl Malone	American basketball player
1964	45	Barry Bonds	American baseball player
1964	45	John Rosengren	American writer and author
1964	45	Banana Yoshimoto	Japanese author
1964	45	Christopher Gudgeon	Professor of history
1965	44	Andrew Gaze	Australian basketball player
1965	44	Kadeem Hardison	American actor
1965	44	Doug Liman	American film director
1966	43	Martin Keown	English footballer
1968	41	Kristin Chenoweth	American singer and actress
1968	41	Colleen Doran	American comic book writer and artist
1968	41	Malcolm Ingram	Canadian director
1968	41	Laura Leighton	American actress
1968	41	Oliver Clemens	German actor
1969	40	Rick Fox	Bahamian basketball player
1969	40	Jennifer Lopez	American actress and singer
1970	39	Stephanie Adams	American model and author
1971	38	Dino Baggio	Italian footballer
1971	38	John Partridge	English singer
1972	37	Kaiō Hiroyuki	Japanese sumo wrestler
1972	37	Rev. Jen Miller	American performance artist
1972	37	Geert Hunaerts	Dutch actor
1974	35	Andy Gomarsall	English rugby union player
1975	34	Jamie Langenbrunner	American ice hockey player
1975	34	Eric Szmanda	American actor
1975	34	Torrie Wilson	American wrestler
1975	34	Dafydd James	Welsh rugby player
1976	33	Rafer Alston	American basketball player
1976	33	Nate Bump	American baseball player
1976	33	Tiago Monteiro	Portuguese racing driver
1977	32	Danny Dyer	English actor and television presenter
1977	32	Mehdi Mahdavikia	Iranian football player
1977	32	Yago Lamela	Spanish long jumper
1978	31	Andy Irons	American surfer
1979	30	Rose Byrne	Australian actress
1979	30	Lee Si-yeon	South Korean actress
1979	30	Stat Quo	American rapper
1979	30	Valerio Scassellati	Italian racing driver
1979	30	Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	French tennis player
1979	30	José Valverde	American baseball player
1979	30	Mark Andrew Smith	American Graphic Novelist
1980	29	Gauge	American pornographic actress
1980	29	Wilfred Bungei	Kenyan runner
1981	28	Summer Glau	American actress
1982	27	Elise Crombez	Belgian model
1982	27	Thiago Medeiros	Brazilian racing driver
1982	27	Anna Paquin	Canadian-born New Zealand actress
1983	26	Daniele De Rossi	Italian footballer
1984	25	John Dhani Lennevald	Swedish singer
1984	25	Patrick Harvey	Australian actor
1985	24	Patrice Bergeron	Canadian hockey player
1985	24	Teagan Presley	American pornographic actress
1986	23	Andrei Lutai	Russian figure skater
1986	23	Megan Park	Canadian actress
1987	22	Mara Wilson	American actress
1988	21	Ricky Petterd	Australian footballer
1988	21	Luke Mitchell	Scottish murderer
1990	19	Daveigh Chase	American actress
1998	11	Bindi Irwin	Australian entertainer

John Aniston

Ruth Buzzi

Mark Goddard

Chris Sarandon

Robert Hays

David Meyer

Michael Richards

Lynda Carter

Gus Van Sant

Joe McGann

Karl Malone

Andrew Gaze

Kristin Chenoweth

Oliver Clemens

Rick Fox

John Partridge

Geert Hunaerts

Andy Gomarsall

Eric Szmanda

Dafydd James (Left with Ian Gough and Alix Popham)

Danny Dyer

Yago Lamela

Andy Irons

Daniele De Rossi

Dhani Lennevald

Patrick Harvey

Andrei Lutai

Ricky Petterd

Bindi Irwin

Movie Releases

G-Force Orphan
The Ugly Truth Shrink
In the Loop

NEW IN THEATERS	ACTORS	DISTRIBUTOR	RELEASE
G-Force Family Adventure	-	Buena Vista	3,697
Orphan Horror	Peter Sarsgaard Vera Farmiga	Warner Bros.	2,750
The Ugly Truth Romantic Comedy	Katherine Heigl Gerard Butler Cheryl Hines	Sony / Columbia	2,882
The Answer Man Comedy	Jeff Daniels Lauren Graham	Magnolia	6
In the Loop Comedy	James Gandolfini Tom Hollander David Rasche	IFC	8
Shrink Drama	Kevin Spacey	Roadside Attractions	2

EXPANDING

(500) Days of Summer Romance	Zooey Deschanel Joseph Gordon-Levitt	Fox Searchlight	85
The Hurt Locker War	Anthony Mackie Guy Pearce Ralph Fiennes	Summit Entertainment	238

Today ...

Sloppy Joe's 29th Annual Papa Look-Alike Contest
July 24-26, 2009
Key West, Florida

Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West will host its 29th Annual Hemingway Look-Alike contest July 23-26, 2009. The contest is one of many events in Key West to celebrate the birthday of Ernest Hemingway and honor his work as author and sportsman.

The competition starts with the first preliminary round on Thursday, July 23rd, second preliminary round on Friday, July 24th, and finals on Saturday, July 25th.

From each preliminary round finalists are chosen. In last year's competition over 141 Look-Alikes took the stage with thirteen contestants from Thursday night and twelve from Friday night going on to the final round.

Look-Alikes are everywhere, it's a load of fun! Come early, get a good seat and watch the competition.

After the finals, the party spills over into the streets, where the Street Fair on Duval continues with food, drinks, entertainment and fun for everyone!

The infamous Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Society invites you to join the Society. They will be at Sloppy Joe's to sign-up new members.

Sloppy Joe's 29th Annual Papa Look-Alike Contest

On This Day...

in 1948 ... Looney Tunes character Marvin the Martian makes his first appearance in the cartoon Haredevil Hare

Marvin the Martian

Video

Gay Education

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Jupiter's New Impact Scar
Credit & Copyright: Anthony Wesley
click above image for a higher-resolution graphic

In July of 1994 pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with planet Jupiter. The explosive impacts sent plumes of debris high into the Jovian atmosphere creating dark markings or scars, visible for a time against the cloud bands. Remarkably, 15 years later, another impact scar was discovered in the Jovian atmosphere by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley as he examined images of the gas giant taken from his home observatory just outside Murrumbateman NSW Australia. Jupiter's south pole is at the top in this July 19 discovery image, with Jupiter rotating from right to left. The dark marking, also likely caused by a comet or asteroid impact, is near the top of the view, left of a pre-existing, whitish, oval-shaped storm. NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility images from Mauna Kea, Hawaii later confirmed the likely impact site's dark scar and plume of particles in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. Since 2006, major discovery observations by amateur astronomers have also included two red spots on Jupiter.

Photo Of The Day

Photo of the Day
Opening Night Of Blink-182 Reunion Tour

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker performs during the first show of the band's reunion tour at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino July 23, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (ETHAN MILLER, GETTY IMAGES)

Daily Inspirations

Can someone get me a map to this drive-thru?

Available for drive-thru service, today only!

National Drive-Thru Day

Click for service

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

Fin

Today's Mostly Useless Fact
It has NEVER rained in Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile.