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Today in History: January 29

1813 Jane Austin publishes Pride and Prejudice.

1861 Kansas is admitted into the Union as the 34th state.

1929 The Seeing Eye, America's first school for training dogs to guide the blind, founded in Nashville, Tennessee.

1942 German and Italian troops take Benghazi in North Africa.

1944 The world's greatest warship, Missouri, is launched.

1979 President Jimmy Carter commutes the sentence of Patty Hearst.

1984 President Ronald Reagan announces that he will run for a second term.

1984 The Soviets issue a formal complaint against alleged U.S. arms treaty violations.

1991 Iraqi forces attack into Saudi Arabian town of Kafji, but are turned back by Coalition forces.


Born on January 29

1737 Thomas Paine, political essayist (The Rights of Man, The Age of Reason).

1880 W.C. Fields, comedian and actor (David Copperfield, My Little Chickadee).

Joke of the day
A newlywed farmer and his wife were visited by her mother, who immediately demanded an inspection of the place. While they were walking through the barn, the farmer's mule suddenly reared up and kicked the mother-in-law, unfortunately killing her instantly.

At the funeral service, the farmer stood near the casket and greeted folks as they walked by. The pastor noticed that whenever a woman would whisper something to the farmer, he would nod his head "yes" and say something. Whenever a man walked by and whispered to the farmer, he would shake his head "no" and mumble a reply.
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Curious, the pastor later asked the farmer what that was all about. The farmer replied, "The women would say, 'What a terrible tragedy,' and I would nod my head and say, 'Yes, it was.' The men would ask, 'You wanna sell that mule?' and I would shake my head and say, 'Can't. It's all booked up for a year.'"