4-26-13

    

Tucson Weather Today

 

___________________________

On this day, April 26, in 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident to date occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in Ukraine. The full toll from this disaster is still being tallied, but experts believe that thousands of people died and as many as 70,000 suffered severe poisoning. In addition, a large area of land may not be livable for as much as 150 years. The 18-mile radius around Chernobyl was home to almost 150,000 people who had to be permanently relocated.

LINK

_____

WORD FOR TODAY
clade
noun
A group of organisms, such as a species, whose members share homologous features derived from a common ancestor.

A clade or monophylum (see monophyletic) is a group consisting of an ancestor and all its descendants, a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The ancestor may be an individual, a breeding pair, a population or even a species (extinct or extant). Many familiar groups, the rodents and the insects for example, are clades; others, like the lizards and the monkeys, are not.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Kevin James
(born April 26, 1965)

 

 

Kevin James (born Kevin George Knipfing) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is widely known for playing Doug Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. James is also known for his lead roles in the comedy films I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups, and Zookeeper. He also starred in 2005 romantic comedy film Hitch alongside Will Smith.

Carol Burnett
(born April 26, 1933)

 

 

Carol Burnett is an American actress, comedienne, singer, and writer. She is best known for her long-running TV variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, for CBS. She has achieved success on stage, television, and film in varying genres including dramatic and comedy roles.

Jet Li
(born April 26, 1963)

 

 

Jet Li (born Li Lianjie) is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and wushu champion who was born in Beijing. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. After three years of intensive training with Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring from Wushu at age 19, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went on to star in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films, most notably the Once Upon A Time In China series, in which he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei-hung.

Li's first role in a Hollywood film was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), but his first Hollywood film leading role was in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, including Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed. He co-starred in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) with Jackie Chan, The Expendables (2010) with Sylvester Stallone, and as the title character villain in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008) opposite Brendan Fraser. He also appeared in the Hong Kong film Ocean Heaven (2010), directed and written by Xue Xiaolu.

Bobby Rydell
(born April 26, 1942)

 

 

Bobby Rydell (born Robert Louis Ridarelli) is an American professional singer, mainly of rock and roll music. In the early 1960s he was considered a "teen idol". According to Allmusic music journalist Kim Summers, Rydell, whose interest in show business began at the age of four years, "is one of the most sought-after nightclub and concert acts in the US. His performance in Bye Bye Birdie and his recordings "Wild One" and "Volare" made him a famous performer in the 1960s.

__________

Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism.
--Noam Chomsky