Thursday Thirteen - 13 things that happened in the news and entertainment the year I was born

Thirteen Things about 1959, the year Ashley Ladd was born 1. THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED: Buddy Holly, 22, Jiles P Richardson - known as the Big Bopper -28, and Ritchie Valens, 17, died in a crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa at 0100 local time. 2. Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro becomes Prime Minister of Cuba. 3. Soviet Union's Luna 2 is first spacecraft to impact moon and the Soviet Union's Luna 3 takes first pictures of the far side of the moon. 4. The first Barbie Doll was produced. 5. Alaska and Hawaii admitted to the Union as U.S. states. 6. Xerox manufactures the Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier. 7. Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS. 8. Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards 9. Pantyhose are introduced by Glen Raven Mills. 10. The first known human with HIV dies in Congo. 11. The number one hit of the year was Bobby Darin's Mack the Knife. 12. In Detroit, Berry Gordy, Jr. started a small company which he called Motown Records. 13. Confederate Walter Williams is the last veteran of the Civil War to die. Albert Woolson, the last Union soldier of the Civil War died in 1956.

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In the news tonight for Florida (my state if you're new to my blog), a 7 foot alligator was found in the back seat of a car pulled over for a traffic stop. Yes, it was alive. No, it wasn't driving. No, it's not a common occurrence in Florida. Yes, it would be even more uncommon in my home state of Ohio.

In the SAME car, they found a 6 foot water moccasin (snake). The news didn't say WHY the driver was driving around with loose dangerous animals.

Now WHY would someone want to put either an alligator or a poisonous snake in a car, much less unrestrained in a car with them??? The logic eludes me. Call me stupid, but I just don't get it.

The car's driver was bitten by the snake, but I suppose he was saved as nothing more was said and I can't find it on the Internet. Supposedly, they apprehended the alligator without injury.

I also don't get why people walk along railroad tracks. And yet, a young man tragically died today, also in South Florida when he and his father walked on them, or perhaps within a couple feet. My heart goes out to the young man and his family. I have to wonder, though, WHY they walked there and not on a sidewalk.

You'll want to check out Amarinda's blog and find out why she took off her shirt in the middle of traffic, today. LOL. And also Brynn's, Kelly's, and Anny's blogs to see what they're up to at the RT convention. Or you can also hang out with Sandra and Molly who are home and not at RT like yours truly.

Romantic Times Convention

I'm jealous. I'm envious. And I have no right to be. This week authors and readers are going to the RT (Romantic Times Convention) and I'm not. I made the choice not to go. I think it had something to do with lack of $. It might have been also lack of vacation time and wanting to see my dad and have ear surgery so I could hear better, and also that I'm going to Lori Foster Readers and Writers Get Together in Cincinnati while I visit my dad and go to my 30th high school reunion. Guess I can't have it all. But now that the week is here and everybody's been so excited and all they can do is talk about it, and blog land (at least in writer's world) is pretty barren and deserted already and most don't leave on their planes till tomorrow, I'm wishing I'd signed up to go anyway. Like I read in Carol's blog today at TEB, I'm shy and don't do too well mingling with people I've never met before, even in blogland and cyber space, much less at all. I worry too much, too, about what people with think. Worse, my mind often goes blank when I meet someone new and I can't think of anything to say, much less something witty and eloquent. I still have no clue why the day job ever thought they wanted to put me on a telephone with donors. I did try to warn them. I guess I got over that as I did work my way up to manager, but then of course, I'm surrounded by a group of people I've known for years, some of them for ten years, that I see 5 days a week - my second family. It's even very likely, that after all this, I'll do the same thing next year - go to Lori Foster's event in Cincinnati (if it works out well this summer, that is) so I can also see my dad and my family and have my vacation from the day job do double duty. I'll probably not get to too many RT's until I can retire from the 9-5 world, in say, 15 or 20 years. I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing... To all my friends, blogging buddies, fellow authors, and readers, have a great time and bring back lots of pictures to share.