Merrell In The Morning Fun You May Have Missed

Today's Celebrations

Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting: 4 (First Wednesday after Thanksgiving)
National Cookie Day
National Dice Day
Special Kids Day
World Wildlife Conservation Day

Celebrity Birthdays

1858 - Chester Greenwood - inventor: ear muffs; died Jul 5, 1937

1934 - Wink (Winston Conrad) Martindale (79) - TV host: Tic Tac Dough, Can You Top This?; singer?: Deck of Cards

1937 - Max Baer Jr. (76) - actor: The Beverly Hillbillies, Macon County Line; producer: Ode to Billy Joe; son of boxing great Max Baer, Sr.

1942 - Chris Hillman (71) - musician: guitar, bass, mandolin: groups: The Byrds: Turn! Turn! Turn!; Golden State Boys, Hillmen, Green Grass Group, Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, Desert Rose Band; solo: LPs: Slippin’ Away, Clear Sailin’, The Hillman, Morning Sky, Desert Rose, Ever Call Ready

1944 - Dennis Wilson - musician: drums, keyboard; singer: group: The Beach Boys: I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, Good Vibrations, California Girls, Surfin’ USA, Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl, Be True to Your School; died in drowning accident Dec 28, 1983

1949 - Jeff Bridges (64) - actor: White Squall, Wild Bill, Blown Away, The Vanishing, American Heart, The Fisher King, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Starman, Against All Odds, The Last Picture Show, The Company She Keeps, Fearless, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, Sea Hunt; songwriter; son of actor Lloyd Bridges; brother of actor Beau Bridges

1951 - Gary Rossington (62) - musician: guitar: group: Lynyrd Skynyrd: Freebird, Sweet Home Alabama; Rossington Collins band: LPs: Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, This is the Way

1964 - Marisa Tomei (49) - Academy Award-winning actress: My Cousin Vinny [1993]; Chaplin, Oscar, The Paper, Untamed Heart, A Different World, The Flamingo Kid, As the World Turns

1973 - Tyra Banks (40) - actress: Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Higher Learning; model: Cover Girl cosmetics

1955 - Drummer Brian Prout (58) is born in Troy, New York. He joins Diamond Rio, whose ace musicianship and strong harmonies lead to numerous Vocal Group of the Year awards and a bevy of hits during the 1990s and early 2000s

1981 - Lila McCann (32) is born in Puyallup, Washington. She breaks through in 1997 at age 15, netting a hit with "I Wanna Fall In Love" and a nomination from the Academy of Country Music for Top New Female. Each of her first two albums goes gold

Tabloid News

Shoot Down An Amazon Drone, Get A $100 Bounty

From nationaljournal.com -

In the wake of the “60 Minutes” story about Amazon developing a “Drone” delivery system, Phillip Steel of Deer Trail Colorado has taken action. If an Amazon drone were to stumble into the airspace above Mr. Steel's yard, he knows exactly what he'd do: Grab his shotgun. "I would shoot it down, ordinance or no, I would shoot it down, I will shoot it down and go to jail with a smile over my face."
Deer Trail is one place Amazon probably won't pilot its "Air Prime" drone delivery system. The town is poised to vote in the next week and a half on an ordinance that will allow drone hunting, an ordinance Steel authored.
That is, the measure will allow citizens of Deer Trail to purchase $25 drone-hunting licenses and then bring pieces of shot-down drones back for a bounty of up to $100. The text of the ordinance oozes with a not-on-my-lawn disdain for the copters. "As such, every unwanted unmanned aerial vehicle is hereby declared a threat to ... precious freedom," it reads. And, yeah, the kids can get in on the drone shooting too. "There shall be no age requirement or restriction for issuance of the hunting license." No background investigations will be needed to obtain a drone hunting license. It's that essential of a right.