HOT TOPICS: Friday, November 2, 2007

HOT TOPICS: Friday , November 2, 2007 

These are just some of the 'Hot Topics' in the news today that are inspiring conversation.  Please discuss in the comment thread below if you would like to write about any of the following topics or would like to pursue another current event.  If you post to the appropriate Essential, you will have a chance to be featured on the homepage.

Daily Quotation:

William Cowper

On This Day In History: 

• 0676 - Donus begins his reign as Catholic Pope replacing Pope Adeodatus II
• 1355 - English invasion army under king Edward lands at Calais
• 1749 - English Ohio Trade Company forms 1st trade post
• 1721 - Peter the Great ( PeterI) ruler of Russia, changed his title to emperor.
• 1734 Daniel Boone was born. American pioneer and frontiersman.
• 1776 - During the American Revolutionary War, William Demont, became the first traitor of the American Revolution when he deserted.
• 1811 - Battle of Tippecanoe: Gen Jackson vs indians
• 1851 - Louis Napoleon takes power in France
• 1917 - 1st US soldiers killed in combat in WW I
• 1922 - Australian Qantas airways begins service
• 1947 - Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" flies for 1st (and last) time
  

Book Essential : 

• Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has written a new book, her first since the final best-seller about the boy wizard came out earlier this year
•   1960 - In London, the novel "Lady Chatterly's Lover," was found not guilty of obscenity.

A&E Essential :

•  Naomi Campbell has met Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez while on a charity trip to the country
• 1903 - New Amsterdam Theater opens at 214 W 42nd St NYC
• 1920 - The first commercial radio station in the US KDKA of Pittsburgh, PA, began regular broadcasting.
• 1921 - Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie," premieres in NYC
• 1931 - Warren, Dixon and Young's musical "Laugh Parade," premieres in NYC
• 1937 - The play "I'd Rather be Right" opened in New York City.

Family Essential :

• Millions wasted on Teaching Reading
• 1921 - Margaret Sander's National Birth Control League combined with Mary Ware Denetts Voluntary Parenthood League to form the American Birth Control League.

Food Essential :

• 1755 Marie Antoinette, Queen consort of Louis XVI of France. She would sometimes wear potato blossoms as a hair decoration. Attributed quote: "If they have no bread, let them eat cake."
• 1949 - Textile/meat/cheese/rijstdistributie disbands
• 1978 The largest squid ever caught was taken in Thimble Tickle Bay, Newfoundland. It was 55 feet long and weighed two tons.
• 1995 The Soup Nazi first appears on the ‘Seinfeld’ TV show.

Health Essential :

• Drug Stents not good value for many patients
• 1794 - John Dalton read a paper identifying the condition that he himself had inherited. Color vision deficiency, a hereditary optical disease
• 1842 - Dr. William Morton was  born he is usually associated with the use of ether

Money Essential :

• UN urges accountability for security firms
• 1922 - Allies deliberate over German mark

Movies Essential :

• Following the success of "Knocked Up" and "Superbad," director Judd Apatow steps into the realm of the Rutles and Spinal Tap with "Walk Hard.
• Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe go head to head in their new film American Gangster.
• 1986 - The 12-by-16-inch celluloid of a poison apple from Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"" was purchased for $30,800.
• 1962 - Elvis Presley film ``Girls! Girls! Girls!'' premieres.
• 2001 - The computer-animated movie "Monsters, Inc." opened. The film recorded the best debut ever for an animated film and the 6th best of all time.

Music Essential :

• Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne stole the thunder from U.S. rival Justin Timberlake by taking two top prizes at the MTV Europe Music Awards
• Led Zeppelin have postponed a  comeback concert in London because guitarist Jimmy Page has broken his finger. The concert will now take place on December 10
• Amy Winehouse is expected to scoop more music industry gongs at the MTV awards hosted by Snoop Dogg.
• 1944 - Keyboardist Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer is born in the U.K
• 1971 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: ``Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,'' Cher.
• 1981 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: ``Private Eyes,'' Daryl Hall & John Oates.
• 1985 - Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time Lover " reaches the No. 1

News Essential :

• Britain's Princess Beatrice visited Peru's ancient Inca site of Machu Picchu on Wednesday, the second day of her visit to the mountainous Andean natio
• 1883 - Thomas Edison executed a patent application for an electrical indicator using the Edison effect lamp
• 1889 - North Dakota and south Dakota  were admitted into the union as the 39th and 40th states
• 1930 - The DuPont Company announced the first synthetic rubber. It was named DuPrene.

 Politics Essential :

• The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany will discuss imposing a third round of sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear programme
• Rice promises action against PKK
• 1948 - Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey for the US  presidency. The Chicago Tribune published an early edition that had the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." The Truman victory surprised many polls and newspapers.
• 1962 - US President Kennedy announced that the U.S.S.R. was dismantling the missile sites in Cuba.
• 1966 - The Cuban Adjustment Act allows 123,000 Cubans to apply for permanent residence in the US

Travel Essential :

Writing Essential :

• 1867 - "Harpers Bazaar" magazine was founded.
• 1904 - British newspaper, "Daily Mirror," begins publishing
• 1924 - Sunday Express publishes 1st British crossword puzzle
  
  

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