Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Updated April 27, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 28, 1947, a six-man expedition sailed from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia.
Go to article »On April 28, 1878, Lionel Barrymore, who was one of the most important American character actors in the early 1900s, was born. Following his death on Nov. 15, 1954, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1788 Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1789 The crew of the British ship Bounty mutineed, setting Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. 1937 Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was born near the desert town of Tikrit. 1945 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed. 1947 A six-man expedition sailed from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia. 1967 Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army. 1980 Secretary of State Cyrus Vance resigned over his opposition to the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing American hostages in Iran. 1990 The musical “A Chorus Line” closed after 6,137 performances on Broadway. 1994 Former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had betrayed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 1996 President Bill Clinton gave 4 1/2 hours of videotaped testimony as a defense witness in the criminal trial of his former Whitewater business partners. 2001 A Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia bearing the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito. 2003 Apple Computer Inc. launched the iTunes store. 2004 The first photos of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal were shown on CBS’ “60 Minutes II.” 2009 Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party. 2011 President Barack Obama reshuffled his national security team, with CIA Director Leon Panetta succeeding Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. David Petraeus replacing Panetta at the CIA. 2011 Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted in California in 1991 at age 11 and rescued 18 years later. (The Garridos were sentenced to up to life in prison.) Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Penelope Cruz turns 38 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Talk show host Jay Leno (“The Tonight Show”) turns 62 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1926 Harper Lee, Author (“To Kill a Mockingbird”), turns 86 1930 James A. Baker III, Former secretary of state, turns 82 1941 Ann-Margret, Singer, actress, turns 71 1948 Marcia Strassman, Actress (“Welcome Back, Kotter”), turns 64 1949 Paul Guilfoyle, Actor (“CSI”), turns 63 1953 Kim Gordon, Rock musician (Sonic Youth), turns 59 1953 Mary McDonnell, Actress, turns 59 1960 Elena Kagan, Supreme Court justice, turns 52 1964 Barry Larkin, Baseball player, turns 48 1966 John Daly, Golfer, turns 46 1973 Jorge Garcia, Actor (“Lost”), turns 39 1973 Elisabeth Rohm, Actress (“Law and Order”), turns 39 1978 Nate Richert, Actor (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”), turns 34 1981 Jessica Alba, Actress (“Dark Angel”), turns 31 1982 Harry Shum Jr., Actor (“Glee”), turns 30 1986 Jenna Ushkowitz, Actress (“Glee”), turns 26
Historic Birthdays
Lionel Barrymore 4/28/1878 – 11/15/1954 American stage and screen character actor.Go to obituary »
73 James Monroe 4/28/1758 – 7/4/1831
5th president of the United States (1817-25)47 Marie-Joseph Chenier 4/28/1764 – 1/10/1811
French poet, dramatist, politician and revolutionary75 Tobias Asser 4/28/1838 – 7/29/1913
Dutch jurist; won Nobel Prize for Peace (1911) for his role in The Hague treaties58 Erich Salomon 4/28/1886 – 7/7/1944
German photographer; a founder of photojournalism77 Johan Borgen 4/28/1902 – 10/16/1979
Norwegian novelist, dramatist, essayist and short-story writer77 Bart Jan Bok 4/28/1906 – 8/7/1983
Dutch-born American astronomer; expert on the Milky Way72 Kurt Godel 4/28/1906 – 1/14/1978
Austrian-born American mathematician and logician77 Ferruccio Lamborghini 4/28/1916 – 2/20/1993
Italian car manufacturer53 Carolyn Jones 4/28/1930 – 8/3/1983
American motion-picture, television and stage actress
MORNING
“Thou art my hope in the day of evil.”
Jeremiah 17:17The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be “As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters,” but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.” Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God’s saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of his children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.
EVENING
“The Lord taketh pleasure in his people.”
Psalm 149:4How comprehensive is the love of Jesus! There is no part of his people’s interests which he does not consider, and there is nothing which concerns their welfare which is not important to him. Not merely does he think of you, believer, as an immortal being, but as a mortal being too. Do not deny it or doubt it: “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.” It were a sad thing for us if this mantle of love did not cover all our concerns, for what mischief might be wrought to us in that part of our business which did not come under our gracious Lord’s inspection! Believer, rest assured that the heart of Jesus cares about your meaner affairs. The breadth of his tender love is such that you may resort to him in all matters; for in all your afflictions he is afflicted, and like as a father pitieth his children, so doth he pity you. The meanest interests of all his saints are all borne upon the broad bosom of the Son of God. Oh, what a heart is his, that doth not merely comprehend the persons of his people, but comprehends also the diverse and innumerable concerns of all those persons! Dost thou think, O Christian, that thou canst measure the love of Christ? Think of what his love has brought thee–justification, adoption, sanctification, eternal life! The riches of his goodness are unsearchable; thou shalt never be able to tell them out or even conceive them. Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ! Shall such a love as this have half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love in return? Shall Jesus’ marvellous lovingkindness and tender care meet with but faint response and tardy acknowledgment? O my soul, tune thy harp to a glad song of thanksgiving! Go to thy rest rejoicing, for thou art no desolate wanderer, but a beloved child, watched over, cared for, supplied, and defended by thy Lord.
Listening to this lovely raag Yaman by Lata Mangeshkar while cooking a Pasta Primavera Bake, reviewing a paper to submit, contemplating sorting the laundry, and nibbling on almonds is my idea of the height of multitasking. Oh, and blogging about it too!
Check out Lataji’s rendition of the raag and my badaam, aka, almonds!
Updated April 26, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 27, 1947, “Babe Ruth Day” at Yankee Stadium was held to honor the ailing baseball star.
Go to article »On April 27, 1822, Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States and commander of the Union armies during the American Civil War, was born. Following his death on July 23, 1885, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1521 Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines. 1896 Baseball Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby was born in Winters, Texas. 1947 “Babe Ruth Day” was held at Yankee Stadium to honor the ailing baseball star. 1965 Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow died at age 57. 1972 Apollo 16 returned to Earth after a manned voyage to the moon. 1982 John W. Hinckley Jr. went on trial in Washington, D.C., in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan. (He was acquitted by reason of insanity.) 1987 The Justice Department barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. 1992 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Belgrade by the Republic of Serbia and its lone ally, Montenegro. 1992 Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics won entry into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 2006 Construction began on a 1,776-foot building on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. 2011 More than 120 tornadoes raked the South and Midwest, resulting in 316 deaths across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. 2011 President Barack Obama produced a detailed Hawaii birth certificate in an extraordinary attempt to bury the issue of where he was born. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter turns 37 years old today.
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
Rock musician Jim James (My Morning Jacket) turns 34 years old today.
AP Photo/William Philpott
1922 Jack Klugman, Actor (“The Odd Couple,” “Quincy”), turns 90 1932 Casey Kasem, Radio announcer, turns 80 1942 Jim Keltner, Rock musician, turns 70 1948 Kate Pierson, Rock singer (B-52s), turns 64 1951 Ace Frehley, Rock musician (Kiss), turns 61 1954 Herm Edwards, Football coach, turns 58 1959 Sheena Easton, Singer, actress, turns 53 1978 Patrick Hallahan, Rock musician (My Morning Jacket), turns 34 1984 Patrick Stump, Rock musician (Fall Out Boy), turns 28 1992 Allison Iraheta, Singer (“American Idol”), turns 20
Historic Birthdays
Ulysses S. Grant 4/27/1822 – 7/23/1885 18th president of the United States (1869-77) and Civil War general.Go to obituary »
49 Claude Gillot 4/27/1673 – 5/4/1722
French painter, engraver and theatrical designer74 Nikolay Novikov 4/27/1744 – 7/31/1818
Russian writer, philanthropist and social critic38 Mary Wollstonecraft 4/27/1759 – 9/10/1797
English writer and women’s rights advocate81 Samuel Morse 4/27/1791 – 4/2/1872
American painter and developer of the telegraph83 Herbert Spencer 4/27/1820 – 12/8/1903
English sociologist and philosopher71 Edward Whymper 4/27/1840 – 9/16/1911
English artist and mountaineer; first man to climb the Matterhorn67 Rogers Hornsby 4/27/1896 – 1/5/1963
American professional baseball player41 Wallace Hume Carothers 4/27/1896 – 4/29/1937
American chemist; developed nylon95 Walter Lantz 4/27/1899 – 3/22/1994
American film animator; creator of “Woody Woodpecker”
MORNING
“Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”
Psalm 119:49Whatever your especial need may be, you may readily find some promise in the Bible suited to it. Are you faint and feeble because your way is rough and you are weary? Here is the promise–“He giveth power to the faint.” When you read such a promise, take it back to the great Promiser, and ask him to fulfil his own word. Are you seeking after Christ, and thirsting for closer communion with him? This promise shines like a star upon you–“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Take that promise to the throne continually; do not plead anything else, but go to God over and over again with this–“Lord, thou hast said it, do as thou hast said.” Are you distressed because of sin, and burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities? Listen to these words–“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will no more remember thy sins.” You have no merit of your own to plead why he should pardon you, but plead his written engagements and he will perform them. Are you afraid lest you should not be able to hold on to the end, lest, after having thought yourself a child of God, you should prove a castaway? If that is your state, take this word of grace to the throne and plead it: “The mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but the covenant of my love shall not depart from thee.” If you have lost the sweet sense of the Saviour’s presence, and are seeking him with a sorrowful heart, remember the promises: “Return unto me, and I will return unto you;” “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.” Banquet your faith upon God’s own word, and whatever your fears or wants, repair to the Bank of Faith with your Father’s note of hand, saying, “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”
EVENING
“All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.”
Ezekiel 3:7Are there no exceptions? No, not one. Even the favoured race are thus described. Are the best so bad?–then what must the worst be? Come, my heart, consider how far thou hast a share in this universal accusation, and while considering, be ready to take shame unto thyself wherein thou mayst have been guilty. The first charge is impudence, or hardness of forehead, a want of holy shame, an unhallowed boldness in evil. Before my conversion, I could sin and feel no compunction, hear of my guilt and yet remain unhumbled, and even confess my iniquity and manifest no inward humiliation on account of it. For a sinner to go to God’s house and pretend to pray to him and praise him argues a brazen-facedness of the worst kind! Alas! since the day of my new birth I have doubted my Lord to his face, murmured unblushingly in his presence, worshipped before him in a slovenly manner, and sinned without bewailing myself concerning it. If my forehead were not as an adamant, harder than flint, I should have far more holy fear, and a far deeper contrition of spirit. Woe is me, I am one of the impudent house of Israel. The second charge is hardheartedness, and I must not venture to plead innocent here. Once I had nothing but a heart of stone, and although through grace I now have a new and fleshy heart, much of my former obduracy remains. I am not affected by the death of Jesus as I ought to be; neither am I moved by the ruin of my fellow men, the wickedness of the times, the chastisement of my heavenly Father, and my own failures, as I should be. O that my heart would melt at the recital of my Saviour’s sufferings and death. Would to God I were rid of this nether millstone within me, this hateful body of death. Blessed be the name of the Lord, the disease is not incurable, the Saviour’s precious blood is the universal solvent, and me, even me, it will effectually soften, till my heart melts as wax before the fire.
