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2009: Day 171

In like Flynn -- film star Errol Flynn would have hit the century mark today! (I never knew he was Australian!) Martin Landau turns 78 today -- which surprised me a little, as I tend to think of him as being older. Danny Aiello came along two years later. John Mahoney, most widely known for playing the father on tv's Frasier, hits 69 today; you'll have to take up any jokes with him.

Pop musical force at the center of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, turns 67 today; at the risk of coming off as preachy, there's a life path with a big ol' Just Say No to Drugs message stamped on it. So many years lost.

Sixty three years ago (1946) one of the greatest menaces to home safety was born: Bob Vila! The much more entertaining John Goodman turns 57 today. Hitting 42 is Nicole Kidman.

Several communications firsts today, ranging from the patent of the telegraph (1840), to the first commercial telephone service (Ontario, 1877) and the "red telephone"/hot line between the White House and Kremlin being installed (1963) in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Cowabunga! It's International Surfing Day too!

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