Paul E. Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served
as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. He became wealthy
operating coal mines for 20 years, then sold most of his coal interests
in the late 1970s and entered politics. After serving briefly in the
cabinet of Governor John Y. Brown Jr. and chairing the state Democratic
Party, he was elected lieutenant governor in 1991. Four years later, he
was elected governor over the Republican Party's Larry Forgy. The major
achievement of Patton's first term was overhauling higher education,
including making the state's community colleges and technical schools
independent of the University of Kentucky and organizing them into the
Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Because of a 1992
amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor
eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800, and
he was re-elected in 1999.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_E._Patton>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1822:
The deadliest fire in Norwegian history occurred at a church in
Grue, killing at least 113 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue_Church_fire>
1938:
The House Un-American Activities Committee was established to
investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by people or
organizations in the U.S. suspected of having communist or fascist ties.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee>
2002:
Barges being towed destroyed part of a bridge (aftermath
pictured) near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, causing 11 vehicles to fall into
Robert S. Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-40_bridge_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
facticity:
1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being a fact.
2. (uncountable, specifically, philosophy) In existentialism, the state
of being in the world without any knowable reason for such existence, or
of being in a particular state of affairs which one has no control over.
3. (countable) A fact that is not changeable or that is assumed to be
true without further evaluation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facticity>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world
oatmeal. It is my job not to be a hack. It is my job to try to make the
world chew, lest its lazy jaw muscles atrophy and its collective
mandible withers and all its teeth fall out. It is my job, as a writer,
to give the world toffee and peanut brittle and tough steak and celery.
I write peanut butter sandwiches, not oatmeal. And every time some dolt
whines, "I'm confused" or "I don't understand" or "This
doesn't make any
sense," I should smile and know that I'm doing my job. Not because it is
my job to be opaque, but because it is not my job to be transparent.
--Caitlín R. Kiernan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Caitl%C3%ADn_R._Kiernan>