INSPIRATION OF THE DAY

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Monday, July 27, 2009
Walk on Stilts Day

Stilt-walking isn't something you see every day. Most often seen in parades and at the circus, stilt-walking is an ancient art that only requires a pair of stilts and lots of practice (and maybe some extra padding in case you take a tumble). Always wanted to give it a try? Order a pair of stilts online and give it a whirl on Walk on Stilts Day!

Walk on Stilts Day

Holidays Around the World

	Cuba	Revolution Anniversary Holiday
	Liberia	Independence Day Holiday
	Maldives	On the Occasion of Independence Day [Government]
	North Korea	Victory Day (1953)
	Peru	Public Sector Holiday [Government]
	Puerto Rico	Jose Celso Barbosa's Birthday [Banks/Government]
	US Virgin Islands	Hurricane Supplication Day [Regional]

Today's Birthdays

Born	Age	Name	Profession
1922	87	Norman Lear	American television writer and producer
1927	82	Sat Mahajan	Indian politician
1929	80	Jack Higgins	British novelist
1930	79	Shirley Williams	British politician
1931	78	Jerry Van Dyke	American actor
1931	78	Khieu Samphan	Cambodian politician
1933	76	Nick Reynolds	American folk singer
1935	74	Billy McCullough	Northern Irish footballer
1936	73	J. Robert Hooper	American politician
1937	72	Don Galloway	American actor
1938	71	Isabelle Aubret	French singer
1939	70	Michael Longley	Northern Irish poet
1940	69	Pina Bausch	German dancer and choreographer
1941	68	Christian Boesch	Austrian baritone
1942	67	Dennis Ralston	American tennis player
1942	67	John Pleshette	American actor
1942	67	Édith Butler	Canadian singer and songwriter
1944	65	Jean-Marie Leblanc	French cyclist
1944	65	Bobbie Gentry	American singer and songwriter
1946	63	Rade Šerbedžija	Croatian actor
1948	61	Betty Thomas	American actor and film director
1948	61	Peggy Fleming	American figure skater
1949	60	André Dupont	Quebec ice hockey player
1949	60	Maureen McGovern	American singer
1950	59	Simon Jones	English actor
1952	57	Hannu-Pekka Hänninen	Finnish sports commentator
1953	56	Yahoo Serious	Australian comedian
1954	55	G. S. Bali	Indian politician
1954	55	Philippe Alliot	French racecar driver
1955	54	Cat Bauer	American novelist
1955	54	Allan Border	Australian cricketer
1956	53	Carol Leifer	American actress
1957	52	Bill Engvall	American comedian
1957	52	Matt Osborne	American professional wrestler
1958	51	Christopher Dean	English figure skater
1959	50	Hugh Green	American football player
1963	46	Karrin Allyson	American Jazz musician & songstress
1963	46	Donnie Yen	Hong Kong film actor
1964	45	Rex Brown	American musician (Pantera)
1965	44	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguayan footballer
1967	42	Juliana Hatfield	American musician
1967	42	Sasha Mitchell	American actor
1967	42	Craig Wolanin	Canadian ice hockey player
1967	42	Neil Smith	Former England cricketer
1968	41	Cliff Curtis	New Zealand actor
1968	41	Tom Goodwin	American baseball player
1968	41	Julian McMahon	Australian actor
1968	41	Ricardo Rosset	Brazilian Formula One driver
1968	41	Jorge Salinas	Mexican telenova actor
1969	40	Maria Grazia Cucinotta	Italian actress
1969	40	Timo Maas	German electronica DJ
1969	40	Triple H	American professional wrestler
1969	40	Jonty Rhodes	South African cricketer
1970	39	Nikolaj Coster Waldau	Danish actor
1971	38	Eric Martsolf	American television actor
1971	38	Matthew Johns	Australian rugby league commentator
1972	37	Jill Arrington	American sports reporter
1972	37	Takako Fuji	Japanese actress
1972	37	Maya Rudolph	American actress and comedian
1972	37	Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor	first Malaysian in space
1973	36	Abe Cunningham	American musician (Deftones)
1973	36	Gorden Tallis	Australian rugby league footballer
1973	36	Erik Nijs	Belgian long jumper
1974	35	Eason Chan	Hong Kong singer
1974	35	Pete Yorn	American musician
1975	34	Shea Hillenbrand	American baseball player
1975	34	Fred Mascherino	American musician
1975	34	Alex Rodriguez	American baseball player
1975	34	Alessandro Pistone	Italian footballer
1975	34	Grégoire Colin	French actor
1975	34	Ara Abrahamian	Armenian-Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler
1977	32	Jonathan Rhys-Meyers	Irish actor
1977	32	Foo Swee Chin	Singaporean comic book artist
1978	31	Diarmuid O'Sullivan	Cork Hurler
1979	30	Shannon Moore	American wrestler
1979	30	Jorge Arce	Mexican boxer
1979	30	Craig Newby	New Zealand rugby union footballer
1980	29	Nick Nemeth	American professional wrestler
1980	29	Allan Davis	Australian cyclist
1981	28	Susan King Borchardt	American basketball player
1981	28	Collins Obuya	Kenyan cricketer
1981	28	Rafael Verga	Brazilian model
1983	26	Alsou	Russian pop-star and actress
1983	26	Goran Pandev	Macedonian footballer
1985	24	Benedita Pereira	Portuguese actress
1985	24	Lou Taylor Pucci	American actor
1985	24	Matteo Pratichetti	Italian rugby player
1986	23	Courtney Kupets	American gymnast
1986	23	Ryan Griffen	Australian rules footballer
1988	21	Adam Biddle	Australian footballer
1989	20	Charlotte Arnold	Canadian actress
1990	19	Cheyenne Kimball	American musician
1990	19	Nick Hogan	American reality TV star
1990	19	Indiana Evans	Australian actress
1994	15	Spencer Achtymichuk	Canadian actor
1994	15	Princess Mafalda-Ceceilia of Bulgaria
1994	15	Ariel Moore	American singer, former Clique Girlz member
2000	9	Kali Rodriguez	American actress

Jerry Van Dyke

Bill Engvall

Christopher Dean (with Jayne Torvill)

Donnie Yen

Rex Brown

Sasha Mitchell

Cliff Curtis

Julian McMahon

Jorge Salinas

Triple H

Nikolaj Coster Waldau

Eric Martsoff

Matthew Johns

Pete Yorn

Alex Rodriguez

Grégoire Colin

Ara Abrahamian

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

Shannon Moore

Allan Davis

Rafael Verga

Goran Pandev

Lou Taylor Pucci

Matteo Pratichetti

Ryan Griffen

Nick Hogan

Weekend Box Office

G-Force

TW LW Title Studio Wkend Gross % Chg Theaters Chg Average Total Gross Budget Wk #

1 N G-Force BV $32,152,000 - 3,697 - $8,697 $32,185,000 - 1

2 1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince WB $30,000,000 -61.50% 4,325 - $6,936 $221,834,000 $250 2

3 N The Ugly Truth Sony $27,000,000 - 2,882 2,717 $9,368 $27,000,000 $38 1

4 N Orphan WB $12,770,000 - 2,750 - $4,644 $12,770,000 - 1

5 2 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Fox $8,200,000 -53.30% 3,300 -517 $2,485 $171,291,000 $90 4

6 3 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen P/DW $8,000,000 -41.60% 3,237 -620 $2,471 $379,090,000 $250 5

7 6 The Hangover WB $6,465,000 -20.90% 2,285 -382 $2,829 $247,077,000 $35 8

8 5 The Proposal BV $6,423,000 -22.50% 2,779 -264 $2,311 $140,086,000 $40 6

9 7 Public Enemies Uni. $4,170,000 -46.20% 2,291 -827 $1,820 $88,096,000 $100 4

10 4 Bruno Uni. $2,719,000 -67.30% 1,895 -864 $1,435 $56,516,000 - 3

11 12 (500) Days of Summer FoxS $1,630,000 95.30% 85 58 $19,176 $3,004,000 - 2

12 8 Up BV $1,609,000 -49.30% 1,070 -636 $1,504 $283,612,000 $175 9

13 14 The Hurt Locker Sum. $1,457,000 96.80% 238 144 $6,122 $4,034,000 - 5

14 9 My Sister's Keeper WB $1,285,000 -54.60% 1,258 -709 $1,021 $45,026,000 $30 5

15 10 I Love You Beth Cooper Fox $735,000 -73.40% 730 -1,142 $1,007 $13,393,000 $18 3

16 13 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $635,000 -16.40% 396 -119 $1,604 $173,003,000 $150 10

17 15 Star Trek Par. $425,000 -38.50% 307 -198 $1,384 $254,006,000 $150 12

18 16 Moon SPC $406,000 -22.80% 201 -50 $2,020 $3,385,000 - 7

- 18 Whatever Works SPC $316,000 -32.90% 176 -52 $1,795 $4,136,000 - 6

- 17 Away We Go Focus $284,000 -42.80% 206 -93 $1,379 $8,867,000 $17 8

- N In the Loop IFC $201,000 - 8 - $25,125 $201,000 - 1

- 26 Land of the Lost Uni. $190,000 -20.90% 243 -24 $782 $48,969,000 $100 8

- 24 Cheri Mira. $185,000 -32.90% 188 -3 $984 $2,347,000 - 5

- 31 Imagine That Par. $165,000 44.50% 221 77 $747 $15,528,000 $55 7

- 29 Monsters Vs. Aliens P/DW $127,000 -31.40% 210 -20 $605 $197,770,000 $175 18

- 30 Drag Me to Hell Uni. $119,000 -21.00% 151 -41 $788 $41,913,000 $30 9

- 34 The Stoning of Soraya M. RAtt. $42,800 -41.80% 29 -5 $1,476 $514,000 - 5

- 39 Easy Virtue SPC $36,000 -24.50% 34 -14 $1,059 $2,544,000 - 10

- 47 The Brothers Bloom Sum. $30,000 -12.40% 49 -19 $612 $3,478,000 - 11

- 50 Every Little Step SPC $27,000 -7.50% 30 -5 $900 $1,613,000 - 15

- 51 Tetro AZoe. $20,300 -28.00% 16 - $1,269 $346,000 - 7

- N Shrink RAtt. $17,000 - 2 - $8,500 $17,000 - 1

- 58 Unmistaken Child Osci. $15,200 3.90% 6 - $2,533 $155,000 - 8

- N The Answer Man Magn. $13,000 - 6 - $2,167 $13,000 - 1

- 55 Soul Power SPC $13,000 -34.80% 7 -2 $1,857 $82,000 - 3

- 63 War Eagle, Arkansas EmpF $11,700 -15.30% 2 - $5,850 $74,300 - 7

- - Herb & Dorothy Arth. $3,620 - 5 - $724 $129,000 - 7

- 86 Treeless Mountain Osci. $1,550 -49.40% 1 -1 $1,550 $56,600 - 13

Today ...

Sacramento French Film Festival
July 19-28, 2009
Sacramento, California

The Sacramento French Film Festival (SFFF) is a unique cultural event that brings people together around films and French culture in a festive atmosphere. The SFFF celebrates the artistic, cultural, social and historical values of film. The SFFF fosters friendly relations between American and French people through the universal language of the 7th Art.

The SFFF is an annual summer event, held at the Crest theatre in Downtown Sacramento. It is dedicated to celebrating the present as well as the rich history of French cinema by premiering new films, rarely seen classics and French short films. The SFFF has also, since its inception, involved the Sacramento art community by including short films with a « French flavor » produced by Sacramento artists. The talented creator of the SFFF original posters is Sacramento photographer Kent Lacin., and local shorts with a « French flavor » produced by Sacramento artists.
By choosing the Crest Theatre, the only independent and locally-owned movie theatre in Sacramento, the Festival plays an important part in the revitalization and cultural development of Downtown Sacramento.

In just a few years, the Sacramento French Film Festival has become an acclaimed, popular and anticipated cultural event. It was described in the Sacramento Bee in July 2003, as "the Cinematic Highlight of Sacramento's Summer". The Festival presents inventive, courageous and inspiring films. By the diversity of its programming, it appeals to a large audience.

Sacramento French Film Festival

On This Day...

in 1940 ... The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

A Wild Hare

Video

Miles Away

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Eclipse over Chongqing, China
Credit & Copyright: Stephan Heinsius
click above image for a higher-resolution graphic

The daytime sky grew dark, the temperature dropped, and lights came on as Chongqing, China, was plunged into the Moon's shadow during the July 22nd total solar eclipse. This serene, wide-angle view of the event looks to the east over the large, populous city from a newly constructed park. Despite thin clouds, it captures the shimmering solar corona just before the end of the eclipse total phase. This total solar eclipse occurred near Aphelion, the point in Earth's elliptical orbit farthest from the Sun, and so the Sun was near its smallest apparent size. It also occurred when the New Moon was near Perigee, the closest point to Earth in the Moon's elliptical orbit, making the Moon near its largest apparent size. The small Sun and large Moon made this the longest solar eclipse of this century.

Photo Of The Day

Photo of the Day
One for the road

Seven-time Tour de France winner and Kazakh cycling team Astana (AST)'s Lance Armstrong of the United States rides with a glass of champagne on July 26, 2009 in the 160 km and last stage of the 2009 Tour de France cycling race run between Montereau and Paris Champs-Elysees. (PATRICK HERTZOG, AFP/GETTY IMAGES / July 26, 2009)

Daily Inspirations

I'd like to learn to walk on stilts

Walk on Stilts Day

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

Fin

Today's Mostly Useless Fact
It costs more to buy a new car today in the United States than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake three voyages to and from the New World.