8-18-14

     

Tucson Weather Today

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"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant."
--Harlan Ellison

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Did You Know . . .?

The Empire State Building took 1 year and 45 days to build.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler ordered that the systematic murder of the mentally ill and handicapped be brought to an end because of protests within Germany. In 1939, Dr. Viktor Brack, head of Hitler's Euthanasia Department, had overseen the creation of the T.4 program, which began as the systematic killing of children deemed mentally defective. The victims were either injected with lethal substances or were led to "showers" where the children sat as gas flooded the room through water pipes. The program was then expanded to adults. In 1941, Bishop Count Clemens von Galen denounced the euthanasia program from his pulpit. Hitler did not need such publicity. He ordered the program suspended, at least in Germany. But 50,000 people had already fallen victim to it. It would be revived in occupied Poland.

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WORD FOR TODAY

stentorian
adjective
very loud or powerful in sound
Word Origin
Stentor was a legendary Greek. herald in the Trojan War, whose voice (described in the Iliad) was as loud as 50 men.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Charles Robert Redford Jr.

(born August 18, 1936)

Robert Redford is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Academy Awards: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002.

Kaitlin Olson

(born August 18, 1975)

Kaitlin Olson is an American actress. She is best known for playing Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds in the television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Edward Harrison Norton

(born August 18, 1969)

Edward Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. Norton first came to prominence for his debut film role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear. This was followed two years later with a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he was awarded for his lead role as reformed white power skinhead Derek Vinyard in American History X. His other performances include The People vs. Larry Flynt, Everyone Says I Love You, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fight Club, 25th Hour, The Illusionist, Leaves of Grass, The Italian Job, and Kingdom of Heaven.

Elizabeth Chambers

(born August 18, 1982)

Elizabeth Chambers is an American model, television host/news reporter and actress. She is most known for her television work.

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"Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry..."
--Thomas Jefferson

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