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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ 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