Ed Danahue

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is 76 today

The Silence of the Lambs, 1991

Manually operated windshield wiper

(FoxNews) – The reign of the windshield wiper could be coming to an end.

The McLaren automobile company is working on a vibrating windscreen
designed to clear away water and debris,

McLaren chief designer Frank Stephenson says the design is based on
fighter plane technology that uses high frequency sound waves to repel
rain, bugs and other potential obstructions.

The windshield wiper was invented in 1903, and the concept has changed
very little since its introduction.

Originally a hand-cranked device, electric motors were soon added, but
major advancements since have been limited to intermittent systems and
rain-sensing capabilities, none of which has affected the basic idea of the
wiper blade itself.

By removing traditional wipers, the aerodynamics of a vehicle can be greatly 
improved and its weight reduced.

But while it sounds very advanced, one expert tells the Times that it could
require only a small transducer to send 30 kHz sound waves across the
glass and cost as little as $15 per car.

No word on when it will be put into production, or details if it would work
effectively at low speeds or just on the highway and racetracks, but the
first cars that use it aren’t likely to be cheap.

McLaren’s current lineup of supercars runs from around $230,000 to
$1.15 million, although it is working on one said to be in the $125,000
range.

Mary Anderson (1866- 1953)

The Inventor is credited with devising the first
operational windshield wiper in Nov. of 1903. 

A Greek vase painting from 500 BC shows a boy playing terracotta yo-yo. 

The yo-yo was first invented in ancient Greece. The terra cotta disks were used
to ceremonially offer the toys of youth to certain gods when a child came of age,
discs of other materials were used for actual play.

In 1928, Pedro Flores opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California. The business started with a dozen handmade toys; by November 1929,
Flores was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which
had 600 workers, producing 300,000 units daily.

Shortly after 1929, an entrepreneur named Donald F. Duncan recognized the
potential of this new fad and purchased the Flores Yo-yo Corporation and all its
assets, including the Flores name, which was transferred to the new company in
1932 – the same year that the name "Yo-yo" was first registered as a trademark.^.In
1946, the Duncan Toys Company opened a yo-yo factory in Luck, Wisconsin.

The Duncan yo-yo was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong
in Rochester, New York, in 1999.

                       
                 Mike Gracia

Proud parents Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
with their daughter Carrie

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Star Wars

 
Carrie Frances Fisher is 57 today