Recently Maryanne Satrapi's Oscar nominated film PERSEPOLIS was screened in Teheran, Iran. How was it recieved? Better than 300 was.
http://www.irandokht.com/news/readnews.php?newsID=38492

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HAPPY U.S. PRESIDENT’S DAY-[ Up until the 1960s you got Feb 12th Lincoln’s Birthday and Feb 22nd, Washington’s Birthday off. I recall my mother buying us all a Brachs Milk Chocolate Axe with cherries studded into it. In 1970 President Nixon combined them both into one three day weekend with no emotional connection to anyone.
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Quiz: For U.S. President’s Day, when you meet the President, what do you call him? Now, keep it clean….

Yesterdays’ question answered below: Was Cyrano a real person?
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History for 2/18/2008
Birthdays: Queen Mary I Tudor -Bloody Mary, Pietro Guarnieri the violin maker, Harry Grover- Seeley one of the founders of Paleontology, Louis Tiffany, Andre Segovia, Wendell Wilkie, Billy de Wolfe, Enzo Ferrarri, Yoko Ono, Jack Palance, Milos Forman, Bobby Bachman of the Bachman Turner Overdrive, cartoonist Gahan Wilson,cartoonist Johnny Hart, Matt Dillon, John Travolta, John Hughes, Dr. Dre

1878- THE LINCOLN COUNTY WARS- John Tunstall, a Scottsman who gave a number of young cowboys work on his ranch in New Mexico, was murdered while his bodyguards were hunting wild turkeys. Tunstall was buried in his clan tartan kilt. This murder sparked a running gun battle between Tunstall's group led by his attorney John McSweeny, a town merchant named Murphy, rancher John Chisum and most of the county. One of Tunstall's hired hands turned this range war into a personal vendetta that would make his name famous- Billy the Kid.

1885-Mark Twain's 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' published.

1888- The Hotel Coronado in San Diego Cal. opened for guests. It remains one of the largest remaining wood structures in the U.S.. Several presidents stayed there, the Duke of Windsor may have met Mrs. Simpson there and films like the Marilyn Monroe film Some Like it Hot and The Stuntman were shot there.

1930- The planet Pluto discovered- in 1909 Scientist Lord Percival Lowell had detected signs of a planet at the edge of our Solar System beyond Neptune but could not definitely confirm or identify it. They named it for the time being 'Planet X' The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona had searched in vain for decades until Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tumbaugh, an amateur astronomer who was allowed to occasionally use Lowell’s telescope to justify the public grants they got. Lord Lowell had just passed away before the discovery he had dedicated his life to. Recently a consortium of scientists demoted Pluto from a planet back to just a big-ass asteroid status.

1950- First Mr. Magoo cartoon "Ragtime Bear".

1953- First 3-D movie "B'wana Devil" starring Robert Stack.

1970- The Chicago 7, Yippie leaders of the anti-war rioting in front of the Democratic presidential convention of 1968 were found innocent of all charges. David Dillinger, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden and the other guys. One of their offenses was trying to get a 250 pound pig onto the floor of the Convention so they could get it nominated for President.

1972- President Richard Nixon and Pat Nixon land in China.

1973- Richard Petty the Stock Car King won his first Daytona 500 race . He would go on to win 6 more and prove that NASCAR racing was one of America’s favorite though most underreported sports.

2001- Dale Earnhardt Sr, the reigning NASCAR racing car champion, died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. His eldest son Dale Jr. placed second.
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Yesterday’s Question: Was Cyrano De Bergerac once a real person?

Answer: Yes. Cyrano de Bergerac-Servignan (1619-1655) was a poet in Paris who had a reputation as a duelist. One story attributed to him was when he was told that Moliere had plagiarized the second act of one of his plays, Cyrano replied:” Well, he has good taste.” The famous play about the guy with the ridiculously long nose who writes love letters for another man to woo his true love, was written by Edmund Rostand in 1897. We are the Cadets of Castel-Jaloux! Free fighters,free thinkers.."