10 Nov History: This Date

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Events, deaths, births, of 10 NOV v.8.a0

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^ On a 10 November:
2084 Transit of Earth as seen from Mars.
2008 Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61, religious of the Italian Contemplative Missionary Movement Father de Foucauld, are abducted in the evening at Elwak in the Mandera district of northeast Kenya, by an armed ganh og nearly 200 Somalis on a rampage that started with the plundering of the local police station. Elwak is near the Somali border and the two Sisters were ministering to Somali refugees. —(081128)
2001 On the second day of its meeting in Doha, Qatar, the World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference approves by consensus the text of the agreement for China's entry into the WTO. China will become legally a member (the 143rd) 30 days after the WTO receives notification of the ratification of the agreement by China's Parliament.
2001 In Marrakech, the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change concludes after more than 19 hours of haggling through the night. Delegates of 165 of the 171 represented agree to the institutions and detailed procedures for implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocoll, which requires industrial countries to scale back emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an average of 5% from their 1990 levels by 2012. The United States, the world's biggest polluter, refuses to participate. The Kyoto Protocol will enter into force and become legally binding after it has been ratified by at least 55 Parties to the Convention, including industrialized countries representing at least 55% of the total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions from this group. So far, 40 countries have ratified, including one industrialized country (Romania). Without the US, almost all the other industrial countries would have to endorse the agreement to reach the goal.
The two-week session had been stuck on five points related to mechanisms that countries might employ to ease the task of reducing emissions. Canada, Russia, Japan and Australia rejected a paper submitted on 08 November on how countries could trade pollution "credits," holding out against nearly all the other countries. The deadlock was finally broken with a four-point compromise paper. The mechanisms are designed to help countries meet their targets by buying or selling credits on an international financial market, or by reducing their quota by expanding forests and farmland that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
2000 The battle over Florida's disputed presidential election continues, with George W. Bush's camp pressing Al Gore to concede without pursuing multiple recounts, and Democrats pressing ahead with protests, determined to find enough votes to erase Bush's razor-thin lead in initial counting.

^ 2000 Mystery of tickling solved?
The Daily Telegraph reports that scientists have discovered why you can't tickle yourself [or can you? if so, go and tell the scientists] [but still no answer to why tickling makes you laugh... or cry... or worse]. The secret, they say, lies in the cerebellum, a region at the back of the brain which predicts the sensory consequences of movements and sends signals to the rest of the brain instructing it to ignore the resulting sensation. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore of the University College of London examined six volunteers using magnetic resonance imaging to scan their brains as their palms were tickled by a machine. The scan was repeated while they tickled their own palms. In the first case the machine succeeded in tickling the volunteer because the cerebellum cannot warn the rest of the brain when the stimulus is external, even if the brain knows it is about to be tickled. [palms, shmalms... they've should've done it on the soles of their feet] The mechanism once protected us against predators by distinguishing between stimuli that we created ourselves and those generated externally. [What kind of predators attacked the soles of feet? ants?] But the system can be fooled. When the robot used by the volunteers to tickle themselves delayed the action by a fraction of a second, the tickling sensation was there. “So it is possible to tickle yourself, but only by using robots,” Blakemore said. [Did they try Rube Goldberg devices?]

1999 Winter no deterrent to Russia's Chechnya campaign — Refugees suffer without supplies in frigid conditions (CNN)

1999 Kip Kinkel sentenced, by Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Mattison, to 111 years in prison without a chance for parole the murder of his parents on 980520, and the murder of two students and the attempted murder (i.e. wounding) of 26 others on 980521.

1997 A judge in Cambridge, Mass., changed the second-degree murder conviction of British nanny Louise Woodward in the death of her eight-month-old charge to involuntary manslaughter and sentenced her to prison time already served.
1996 The Bosnian Serbs' new military commander, Maj. Gen. Pero Colic, is sworn in, a day after General Ratko Mladic, accused of war crimes, was dismissed.
1994 Washington announced it would no longer police the arms embargo on the Muslim-led government of Bosnia.
1994 the only privately owned manuscript of Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci was sold at auction at Christie's in New York for $30.8 million, the highest amount ever paid for a manuscript.
1991 Secretary of State Baker visited Japan, South Korea and China. His trip to Beijing marked the first high-level official contact between the United States and China since the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1989 Bulgaria's hard-line president Todor Zhivkov resigned as democratic reform continued to sweep the Eastern Bloc. Zhivkov was longest reigning active ruler in Eastern Europe and second longest in the world.
1989 Guerrillas battle with government forces in El Salvador
1989 Germans begin punching holes in the Berlin Wall
1989 Word Perfect 5.1 is shipped

^ 1988 Battle for the supercollider
In the mid-80s, the smell of money and jobs prompted a number of states to engage in a frenzied competition to become the site for the construction a new, $4.4 billion supercollider. After a "furious" few years of jockeying, jostling and lobbying, Energy Secretary John Herrington announced on this day that Texas had been chosen as the home for the giant atom smasher. The supercollider promised to be an economic bonanza for the Texas and Waxahachie, the town where the supercollider would be built. Along with creating a number of jobs and bringing in a tidy sum for construction, the atom smasher also came with an annual research budget in the neighborhood of $270 million. While the announcement was celebrated in the Lone Star State, officials from some of the competing states derided the selection process as politically motivated, determined more by regional favoritism than merit. Despite assurances from Herrington that the "Texas site best fit our goals," legislators from some of the other states threatened to kill the appropriations bill that would fund the first round of construction. And their wish was fulfilled in 1993, when spiraling costs led the House to put the project on ice.

1986 River Rhine (Germany) polluted by chemical spill
1986 President Ronald Reagan refuses to reveal details of the Iran arms sale.

^ 1983 Reagan in Japan to discuss trade
By the early 1980s, US-Japanese trade relations had grown frosty: Japan had racked up a trade surplus of $6.59 billion, prompting the US to call for tariff reductions and less stringent trade regulations. During a visit to Japan, President Ronald Reagan met with Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone on this day to discuss the nations' economic differences. While the two leaders vowed to work together to even the seeming imbalance, Japan's surplus kept growing, reaching $39.485 billion in 1985 and $59.3 billion in 1993.

^ 1983 Microsoft announces Windows
Microsoft announced its first graphical user interface, to be called Windows 1.0, which would allow users to multitask, on this day in 1983. Microsoft was one of only a few companies racing to develop a graphical interface for the IBM PC. VisiCorp, makers of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet and one of the most popular applications to date, had started shipping VisiOn, a competitive desktop manager that failed to catch on. Although Microsoft said it would ship the product in April, it was in fact two years until Windows appeared, and even then, it was not a hit until the introduction of Windows 3.1 in March 1992.

1978 Israel's top negotiators broke away from Middle East peace talks
1977 It was announced that Pope Paul VI had ended the automatic excommunication imposed on divorced American Catholics who remarried. (The excommunication was first imposed by the Plenary Council of American Bishops in 1884.)

^ 1977 Xerox demonstrate computer, printer, and network
Xerox scientists from the company's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) demonstrate an array of high-end computer technology to a large audience. The demo showcased a personal computer named Alto that boasted a mouse and a graphical user interface, a laser printer, and the use of Ethernet to network machines together. The demonstration, which took two months to produce with the help of Hollywood producers and screenwriters, was the highlight of Futures Day, the last day of a four-day conference for some five hundred Xerox executives. Although the demonstration generated some excitement and interest in the work that PARC scientists were doing, it failed to convince executives that any of the new technology, except the laser printer, was marketable. If Xerox had decided to pursue the Alto aggressively, the machine might have hit the market before the groundbreaking IBM PC and perhaps changed the history of computing, according to some industry observers. Instead, Apple's cofounder Steve Jobs, who saw a working version of Alto during a visit to Xerox PARC in December 1979, adopted many of Alto's ideas into the interfaces for the Apple Lisa and the Apple Macintosh.

1976 The Utah Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for convicted murderer Gary Gilmore to be executed, according to his wishes. (The sentence was carried out in January 1977.)
1975 PLO leader Yasser Arafat addresses UN in NYC
1975 UN General Assembly approves resolution equating Zionism with racism (which would be repealed in December 1991).

^ 1973 Slaughterhouse-Five is burned in North Dakota
Newspapers report the burning of 36 copies of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's book was a combination of real events and science fiction. His hero, Billy Pilgrim, was a World War II soldier who witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, as had Vonnegut himself. Pilgrim becomes "unstuck in time" and thereafter lives a double existence — one life on an alien planet where a resigned acceptance of inevitable doom expresses itself philosophically in the hopeless locution "And so it goes." In his life on Earth, Pilgrim preaches the same philosophy. Some found the book's pessimistic outlook and black humor unsuitable for school children. Vonnegut was born on 11 November 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended Cornell and joined the Air Force during World War II. He was captured by Germans and held in Dresden, where he was forced to dig out dead and charred bodies in the aftermath of the city's bombing. After the war, he studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and later wrote journalism and public relations material. Vonnegut's other novels, including Cat's Cradle (1963), Breakfast of Champions (1973), Galapagos (1985), and others, did not generate as much controversy as Slaughterhouse-Five. His experimental writing style, combining the real, the absurd, the satiric, and the fanciful, attracted attention and made his books popular. Vonnegut is also a gifted graphic artist whose satirical sketches appear in some of his later novels, including Breakfast of Champions.

1972 Hijackers divert a jet to Detroit, demanding $10 million and ten parachutes.

1971 Two women are tarred and feathered in Belfast for dating British soldiers, while in Londonderry, Northern Ireland a Catholic girl is also tarred and feathered for her intention of marrying a British soldier.

1971 Khmer Rouge forces attack Phnom Penh airport
Communist forces bombard the airport at the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, killing 25 persons and wounding 30. This attack was another chapter in the Communist Khmer Rouge war against the government troops of Prime Minister Lon Nol. Nine airplanes were damaged in the attack. At the same time, another Khmer Rouge unit attacked a government radio transmission facility nine miles to the northwest of the city, leaving 19 Cambodians dead. This assault left Phnom Penh without access to international communications networks for several hours.

Vietnam: 1970 No US combat fatalities reported
For the first time in five years, no US combat fatalities in Southeast Asia are reported for the previous week. This was a direct result of President Richard Nixon's Vietnamization program, whereby the responsibility for the war was slowly shifted from US combat forces to the South Vietnamese. This effort began in 1969 and was accompanied by US troop withdrawals that began in the fall of that year. Although American casualties were down, US forces were still involved in significant combat operations at this time. 1964 McNamara says that US has no plans to send combat troops to Vietnam At a news conference, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara says that the United States has no plans to send combat troops into Vietnam. When asked whether the United States intended to increase its activities in Vietnam, he replied, "Wait and see." By 1969, more than 500'000 US soldiers were in South Vietnam.

1964 Australia begins a draft to fulfill its commitment in Vietnam.
1960 Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill
1952 US Supreme Court upholds the decision barring segregation on interstate railways.
1951 Direct-dial transcontinental telephone service starts in the US as the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, talks to the mayor of Alameda, California, for eighteen seconds. Previously, coast-to-coast calls were placed by long-distance operators.
1950 Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán elected President of Guatemala
1945 General Enver Hoxha becomes leader of Albania
1942 Admiral Jean-François Darlan orders French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to the Anglo-American forces. Darlan would be assassinated in Algiers later that year.

^ 1942 Germany invades Vichy France
Germany invades Vichy France, violating the 1940 armistice between the two countries. Vichy France was the French regime established on 02 July 1940, when Germany authorized it as the operative government of the half of France left unoccupied by the Nazis. Its capital was Vichy, a city known for its thermal springs, located 300 km southeast of Paris. The government was established under secret terms with Germany, signed by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain. The secret pact outlined the shared intentions of the two countries: "The Axis Powers and France have identical interest in seeing the defeat of England accomplished as soon as possible. Consequently, the [Vichy] French Government will support, within the limits of its ability, the measures which the Axis Powers may take to this end."
Hitler's decision to invade Vichy France was a reaction to the Allied North Africa invasion just two days before. Soon after the invasion, Admiral Jean-François Darlan, the Vichy France representative in North Africa, agreed to an armistice with the Allies and ordered his troops to cease hostilities. Angered by this concession, Hitler immediately scrapped his agreement with Pétain and invaded Vichy France. Ultimately, though, Hitler's rash decision on November 10 came to little end. From that point on through the beginning of the liberation of France in June 1944, the Vichy regime was ignored by Germany.

1941 Churchill promises to join the US "within the hour" in the event of war with Japan.
1938 Fascist Italy enacts anti-Semitic legislation.

^ 1928 Hirohito enthroned as Emperor of Japan
Showa Tenno Hirohito, the 124th Japanese monarch along an imperial line dating back to 660 B.C., is enthroned as Emperor of Japan, two years after his ascension to the throne. Emperor Hirohito presides over a turbulent era in his nation's history. From rapid military expansion beginning in 1931, to the crushing defeat of 1945, Hirohito stands above the Japanese people as an absolute monarch whose powers are sharply limited in practice. After US atomic bombs destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is Hirohito who argues for his country's surrender, explaining to the Japanese people in his unfamiliar court language that the "unendurable must be endured." Under US occupation and postwar reconstruction, Hirohito is formally stripped of his powers and forced to renounce his supposed divinity, but he remains Japan's official figurehead until his death in 1989.

1919 The American Legion held its first national convention, in Minneapolis.
1918 Independence of Poland proclaimed by Jozef Pilsudski
1917, 41 women from 15 states were arrested outside the White House for suffragette demonstrations. US women won the right to vote three years later.
1911 The Imperial government of China retakes Nanking.

1871 Following seven months of searching, foreign correspondent to the New York Herald Henry M. Stanley succeeded at last in locating Scottish missionary David Livingstone in Ujiji near Unyanyembe, Central Africa. Stanley says: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”
1866 Ante la idea de Maximiliano de marcharse de México, el ministro inglés Scarlett y el padre Fisher trataron días antes de convencerlo de que se mantuviera en el trono. Esta petición es reforzada el día de hoy por los generales Leonardo Márquez y Miguel Miramón, quienes ponen sus espadas a los pies del emperador. Esto inclina la balanza y Maximiliano decide quedarse.
1864 Austrian Archduke Maximilian becomes emperor of Mexico
1860 Both South Carolina Senators resign their seats in the US Senate
1836 Louis Napoleon banished to America
1810 Después de ser derrotados por Calleja los insurgentes en Aculco, (Estado de México), ya organizados un poco, toman camino unos hacia Valladolid, al mando de Hidalgo y otros, hacia Guanajuato al mando de Allende.
1808 Osage Treaty signed

^ 1808 Osages forced to cede Missouri and Arkansas lands
      In a decision that would eventually make them one of the wealthiest surviving Indian nations, the Osage Indians agree to abandon their lands in Missouri and Arkansas in exchange for a reservation in Oklahoma. The Osage were the largest tribe of the Southern Sioux Indians occupying what would later become the states of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. When the first Anglo explorers and settlers moved into this region, they encountered a sophisticated society of Native Americans who lived in more or less permanent villages made of sturdy earthen and log lodges. The Osage — like the related Quapaw, Ponca, Omaha, and Kansa peoples — hunted buffalo and wild game like the Plains Indians, but they also raised crops to supplement their diets.
      Although the Southern Sioux warred among themselves almost constantly, Americans found it much easier to understand and negotiate with these more sedentary tribes than with the nomadic Northern Sioux. US negotiators convinced the Osage to abandon their traditional lands and peacefully move to a reservation in southern Kansas in 1810. When US settlers began to covet the Osage reservation in Kansas, the tribe agreed to yet another move, relocating to what is now Osage County, Oklahoma, in 1872.
      Such constant pressure from US settlers to push Native Americans off valuable lands and onto marginal reservations was all too common throughout the history of western settlement. Most Indian tribes were devastated by these relocations, including some of the Southern Sioux tribes like the Kansa, whose population of 1700 was reduced to only 194 following their disastrous relocation to a 1000-square-kilometer reservation in Kansas.
      The Osage, though, proved unusually successful in adapting to the demands of living in a world dominated by Anglo-Americans, thanks in part to the fortunate presence of large reserves of oil and gas on their Oklahoma reservation. In concert with their effective management of grazing contracts to Anglos, the Osage amassed enormous wealth during the twentieth century from their oil and gas deposits, eventually becoming the wealthiest tribe in North America.

^ 1801 Tennessee 1st US state to outlaw dueling
Tennessee becomes the first US state to legislate against dueling when Governor Archibald Roane signs an act passed by the Fourth General Assembly outlawing the "evil practice of duelling." Ironically, future president Andrew Jackson, who would become one of the most notorious duelers in American history, was a leading Tennessee politician at the time. During the 1890s, Jackson, who had moved to Tennessee from South Carolina to practice law, served in the Tennessee Constitutional Convention, as a representative and senator in Congress, and on the Tennessee Supreme Court. In 1806, in Logan County, Kentucky, Jackson participates in his first recorded duel, and although he suffers several broken ribs after his opponent Charles Dickinson fires first, he nevertheless manages to kill his foe. The proud and volatile Jackson called for the duel after his wife Rachel was slandered as a bigamist by Dickinson, who was referring to a legal error in the divorce from her first husband in 1791. It is one of several duels Jackson is said to have participated in during his lifetime, the majority of which were called by Jackson in defense of his wife's honor. In 1829, Rachel dies, and Jackson is elected the seventh president of the United States.

1799 El recaudador Pedro de la Portilla encabeza una rebelión contra las autoridades virreinales de la ciudad de México. Él y sus seguidores cuentan tan solo con dos armas de fuego y cincuenta sables, por lo que el pueblo bautiza a la frustrada rebelión como "la rebelión de los machetes".
1782 In the last battle of the American Revolution, George Rodgers Clark attacks Indians and Loyalists at Chillicothe, in Ohio Territory.
1770 French philosopher François Voltaire, 75, uttered his famous remark: 'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.'
1755 Toma posesión como el 42º virrey de la Nueva España, don Agustín de Ahumada y Villalón, marqués de las Amarillas. Ha de prolongar su mandato hasta el 05 Feb 1760. Morirá en la ciudad de México.
1674 Dutch formally cede New Netherlands (NY) to English, in compliance with the treaty of Westminster (signed in February 1674).

^ 1630 Richelieu et la Journée des Dupes
     A la cour de Louis XIII, le cardinal de Richelieu prend définitivement le dessus sur ses adversaires au cours d'une "Journée des Dupes".
      A la tête du Conseil du roi, ou Conseil d'En Haut, depuis 1624, Armand Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu, a mis au pas la noblesse, prompte aux duels et aux révoltes. Il a aussi combattu avec efficacité les protestants de l'intérieur et leurs alliés anglais. Après le siège de La Rochelle et l'Edit d'Alès, il ne reste plus grand-chose de l'ancienne grandeur des protestants français.
      Pour garantir la tranquillité de la France sur ses frontières, Richelieu voudrait désormais se retourner contre la maison catholique des Habsbourg qui gouverne l'Espagne d'un côté et les Etats autrichiens de l'autre. Il est prêt à s'allier pour cela aux protestants allemands qui font la guerre à l'empereur. C'est plus que n'en peut supporter le parti dévot de la Cour. Celui-ci est regroupé autour de la reine-mère Marie de Médicis et de Gaston d'Orléans, frère cadet du roi.
      Le 10 novembre, en son palais du Luxembourg (l'actuel siège du Sénat), la reine-mère sermonne son fils et l'adjure de se séparer de Richelieu. Celui-ci entre dans la pièce par une porte dérobée. Il écoute les injures que lui adresse la reine et s'agenouille devant le roi. Louis XIII tourne les talons et s'en va à Versailles, où il possède un modeste relais de chasse (son fils Louis XIV en fera le palais que l'on connaît). Les courtisans croient en la victoire de la reine et s'inclinent devant elle.
      Là-dessus, le roi fait appeler Richelieu et lui renouvelle sa confiance, promettant de ne jamais se séparer de lui, en quoi il tiendra parole. Vainqueur du bras de fer, le cardinal oblige la reine-mère à s'exiler aux Pays-Bas. Gaston d'Orléans, qui lorgne sur la succession de son frère, encore sans enfant à 30 ans, est aussi contraint de quitter la Cour. Au nom de la "raison d'Etat", et avec le soutien du roi, Richelieu peut désormais mener la guerre comme il l'entend.
      Il apporte un appui larvé aux protestants dans la guerre religieuse qui ravage l'Allemagne et restera connue sous le nom de Guerre de Trente Ans. Richelieu engagera directement la France dans cette guerre par sa déclaration de guerre à l'Espagne. Le conflit débouchera sur les traités de Westphalie et la marginalisation de l'Allemagne pour deux siècles.

1555 Le rêve avorté d'une France australe huguenote
L'amiral Nicolas Durant de Villegagnon relâche dans la baie de Guanabara, au Brésil. Il amène avec lui 600 colons français. Il a mission de créer une colonie protestante et construit pour cela l'établissement de Fort-Coligny, du nom du chef des protestants français. Il projette d'en faire la capitale d'une "France australe". L'utopie se terminera dans le sang deux ans plus tard, lorsque l'amiral, devenu catholique, se heurtera à ses anciens compagnons. L'un des membres de l'expédition, le moine André Thévet, rentre au pays avec dans ses bagages une herbe inconnue: le tabac. Les restes de l'établissement seront détruits par les Portugais en 1567. Ils fonderont à la place la capitale du Brésil colonial, Rio de Janeiro.

1493 Christopher Columbus discovers Antigua during his second expedition.

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^ Deaths which occurred on a 10 November:

2006 (Friday) boy Umar Maqbool Ganie,13; girl Mohammed Maqbool Salima Akhter, 13; girl Bisma Jan Bashir, 10; boy Nissar Ahmad Ganie, 18; and girl Sheeraza Akhter, 18; who are among a group of youths arriving at the Jamia Masjid Tahab mosque in villlage Tahab, Pulwama district, Indian-occupied Kashmir, at 13:20 (07:50 UT) when a hand grenade is thrown (by Riyaz, of the Hizbul Mujahideen, according to the Indian police; by an Indian agent, according to the Hizbul Mujahideen), which also injures 26, including the mosque's cleric, Moulvi Abdul Rashid Dawoodi.. —(061111)
2006 Arumugam Vignarajah, 50, President of the Koddady Fisheries Society, is bicycling to his home in Vadamarachchy, Sri Lanka, when he is is shot dead at 10:00 (04:30 UT) by soldiers. He had organized protest marches against the Sri Lankan Army, which at worst may have caused some property damage. —(061110)
2006 His bodyguard and Nadarajah Raviraj [25 Jun 1962–], lawyer and parlamentarian belonging to the Tamil National Alliance, is murdered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at 08:30 (03:00 UT) as he leaves home to go to court. —(061110)
dies tryin'

2005 Sheldon Flowers, 30, dies a few hours after tryin', not to get rich but to win an argument with three other persons, with one of whom, at 23:06 on 09 November (04:06 UT on 10 Nov), he exchanged gunshots, three of which hit him, in the lobby of the Loews Cineplex at West Homestead, near Pittsburgh PA. In one of its 22 theaters Flowers had just seen Get Rich or Die Tryin', a movie starring ex-convict and drug dealer rap star Curtis Jackson “50 Cent” [06 Jul 1975~] as Marcus, a drug dealer aspiring to be a rapper. The movie has been attacked as promoting violence, most visibly by billboards showing from the back the shirtless star holding out a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other. —(051112)
2005 Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, Iraqi responsible for war crimes and genocide, born on 01 July 1942, dies of leukemia while in hiding in Iraq. He was a military commander, vice-president, and deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council until the fall of the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein [28 Apr 1937~] on 09 April 2003, following the 20 March 2003 US invasion of Iraq. —(051112)

2004 At least 10 civilians, and suicide car bomber, at 20:00 (17:00 UT) on Al-Rubaei Street in the eastern Zaytouna neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, 20 yards from a police checkpoint, but none of the policemen are hurt. Some 15 other persons are injured.

2004 Erna Rosenstein, Jewish Polish Surrealist painter and poet, born on 17 May 1913. — more with links to images.

2003 Rev. Canaan Sodindo Banana, born on 05 March 1936, a Methodist minister who gave new meaning to the expression “Banana Republic” as the largely ceremonial President of Zimbabwe from its 18 April 1980 independence to 31 December 1987 when the prime minister since independence, Robert Gabriel Mugabe [21 Feb 1924~] took over the presidency too and became a dictator. In May 2000, the Zimbabwe Supreme Court upheld Banana's conviction for sodomy and jailed him for a year. — Banana earned a diploma in theology at a college in Epworth and was ordained in 1962. He became involved in politics and rose to be vice-president of the African National Council. When many Council members were arrested in the late 1960s, Banana and his family fled to the United States and did not return until 1975. Banana was arrested upon his return and remained in prison until 1979, after the Lancaster House agreement. Banana played a big role in bringing the two major groups of freedom fighters ZANU and ZAPU together to form Zanu(PF). This was essential in order for the agreement to be signed. Under the new constitution Banana became the first president, a largely ceremonial role. In 1987 his post was taken over by Mugabe, who made himself executive president. Banana became a diplomat for the Organisation of African Unity and head of the religious department at the University of Zimbabwe. In 1996 he was arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of sodomy, following accusations made during the murder trial of his former bodyguard, Jefta Dube. Banana was found guilty of eleven charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault in 1998. He fled to South Africa while on bail before he could be imprisoned, apparently believing Mugabe was planning his death. He returned to Zimbabwe in December 1998, after a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Banana was sentenced on 18 January 1999 to ten years in jail, nine years suspended and he was also defrocked. He served two years in prison before being released in January 2001. He died of cancer.
2003 A US military policeman, in a patrol attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade in Iskandariyah, 60 km south of Baghdad, Iraq.
2002 Tirza Damari, 42, Dori Yitzhak, 44, Revital Ohayoun, 34, and her sons Noam, 4, and Matan, 5, [photo: Noam, left, and Matan, right >] shot in the evening by Palestinian intruder Sirhan Sirhan, a Fatah activist (distant cousin of Robert Kennedy's murderer), in Kibbutz Metzer, Israel, close to the West Bank border. Damari, a visitor from Elichin, was walking near the dining hall when the intruder shot her. Yitzhak, the kibbutz secretary was on guard duty, and he was shot when he rushed to the scene. The gunman then entered the Ohayouns' home, where Revital was on the phone with her ex-husband Avi Ohayoun, and shot them, the children in their beds, then escaped. The kibbutz, founded by the leftist Hashomer Hatzair movement, was known for its advocacy of reconciliation with the Palestinians and support a peace including an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
2002 Vinalene Leopper, 93, her grandson Bryan Leopper, 45; Margie Williams, 73, her son Joey Michael Williams, 47; Russell Hines, 55, and his 3-month-old granddaughter Madison Goode; Connie Asbury, 36; Charles "Chick" Templeton, 81; and 28 others by tornadoes, that evening and past midnight into the next day, as 88 tornadoes cause devastation from Arkansas to Pennsylvania. The Leoppers lived in Joyner, Tennessee, where Brian's parents, Henry and Faye Leopper, are badly injured. The Williams lived in separate homes in Mossy Grove, Tennessee (60 km west of Knoxville); Mike Williams was a transportation officer at Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros. Hines was driving his Blazer vehicle on Matt Edmond Road in Mossy Grove, to seek shelter. Asbury was from the same area. Templeton lived in Clark, Pennsylvania. — Also in Mossy Grove, Quentin Woody, 11, is taking a shower in his mobile home, in the evening. A tornado strikes, pulverizes the home, scattering as far as 1 km away its debris and contents, including Quentin, who lands 300 m away, unconscious but almost unhurt (he did need a few stitches). Other members of his family are not so lucky: his mother has a broken back, his father badly injured shoulders, his sister Sarah, 13, a broken arm. The tornado is one of 88 which, that same night, kill 36 persons from Arkansas to Pennsylvania, and inflict enormous damages

^ 2001 Ken Kesey, 66, author.
      He dies two weeks after cancer surgery to remove 40% of his liver, author. Kesey was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992. Born in La Junta, Colo., on 17 September 1935, Kesey moved in 1943 from the dry prairie to his grandparents' dairy farm in Oregon's lush Willamette Valley. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oregon, where he also was a wrestler. After serving four months in jail for a marijuana bust in California, he set down roots in Pleasant Hill in 1965 with his high school sweetheart, Faye, and reared four children. He wrote novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1962), "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1964),
      "Sometimes a Great Notion," considered Kesey's greatest book, told the saga of the Stamper clan, rugged independent loggers carving a living out of the Oregon woods under the motto, "Never Give A Inch." It was made into a movie.
      "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" tells the story of R.P. McMurphy, who feigned insanity to get off a prison farm, only to be lobotomized when he threatened the authority of the mental hospital, from the viewpoint away of the schizophrenic Indian, Chief Bromden. Kesey based the story on experiences working at the Veterans Administration hospital in Palo Alto, while attending Wallace Stegner's writing seminar at Stanford. Kesey also volunteered for experiments with LSD. While Kesey continued to write a variety of short autobiographical fiction, magazine articles and children's books, he didn't produce another major novel until "Sailor Song" in 1992, his long-awaited Alaska book, which he described as a story of "love at the end of the world."
      A graduate of the University of Oregon, Kesey returned there in 1990 to teach novel writing. With each student assigned a character, the class produced "Caverns," under the pen name OU Levon, or UO Novel spelled backward.
     One of his children's books was "Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear," which he wrote from an Ozark mountains tale told by his grandmother.
      Other works include "Kesey's Garage Sale" and "Demon Box," collections of essays and short stories, and "Further Inquiry," another look at a psychedelic 1964 bus trip in which the soul of Cassidy is put on trial. "The Sea Lion" was another children's book, telling the story of a crippled boy who saves his Northwest Indian tribe from an evil spirit by invoking the gift-giving ceremony of potlatch.

2001 Ashiq Ali, a Sindh High court Lawyer, shot by unidentified gunmen near Schon Circle in Karachi as he drives to his office.
2001 Mara, 14, lioness at New Zealand's Wellington Zoo, deliberately killed by staff because of a kidney disorder irremediably aggravated by eating meat accidentally tainted.at the supplying petfood-processing company with huge amounts of a tranquilizing drug. Jambi, a rare Sumatran tiger, died at the zoo 10 days earlier — four days after eating from the same batch of contaminated meat.
2001 Brian Lykins, 23, of infection caused by contaminated cartilage transplanted into his knee in 07 November 2001 surgery. On 07 November Lykins entered a Minnesota hospital, where he underwent reconstructive surgery in which bone cartilage taken from a cadaver was implanted into his knee. After surgery, he developed an infection and went into shock. A blood culture taken postmortem showed Clostridium sordellii in Lykins bloodstream. The death prompted the Center for Disease Control to investigate, and on 14 March 2002 the agency released a report revealing 26 cases, including Lykins, in which allograft recipients developed infections following surgery. Half of those patients were infected with Clostridium, and of those cases, 11 grafts were traced backed to a single tissue bank: CryoLife Inc., a medical tech company based in Kennesaw, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC report found that the corpse that donated Lykins’ tissue had been left at room temperature for 19 hours after death, whereas industry standards call for refrigeration after 12 hours. CryoLife has been in the tissue business since 1984. The company was instrumental in developing pediatric heart valve replacement technology, and is considered the leader in the development and commercialization of implantable human tissue. Having provided 150,000 soft tissue implants, CryoLife is considered to be the leader in human tissue processing and preservation. On 14 August 2002 the the FDA issues an order to Cryolife to recall and to cease processing of tissues because of concerns that they may be infected by bacteria or fungus.
2000 Mark Jaimes, 22, shot in Maywood CA, then his body is placed in the trunk of a stolen car, where it is found by the Los Angeles owner when police return the car to him on 17 November.
1996 Fourteen persons by a bomb exploding in a crowd of mourners in a Moscow cemetery. Nearly fifty are wounded. Authorities later charged the head of an Afghan war veterans fund with masterminding the bombing, saying the target was a rival veterans group.
1996 Paul Mills, cancer patient, at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Science Centre in Halifax. Nurse Lynn MacInnis later testifies that she saw respirologist Dr. Nancy Morrison inject potassium chloride into Mills's intravenous line a few minutes before he died.

^ 1995 Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 other activists, hanged in Nigeria
The Nigerian playwright and environmental activist, is hanged in Nigeria along with eight other activists from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop). Saro-Wiwa, an outspoken critic of Nigeria's military regime, was charged by the government with the murder of four members of his own movement. Saro-Wiwa maintained that he was being unlawfully silenced for his criticism of the exploitation of the oil-rich Ogoni basin by the Nigerian ruling government and the Shell Petroleum Development Company. Most of the international community agreed, but Nigerian leader General Sani Abacha refused to grant the defendants an appeal, and would not delay the executions. Before his death, Saro-Wiwa had won Sweden's prestigious Right Livelihood Award, and had also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In reaction to the executions, US president Bill Clinton recalls the US ambassador from Lagos and imposes an arms ban, although trade with oil-rich Nigeria continues.

^ 1982 Leonid I. Brezhnev, 75, Soviet ruler, of a heart attack.
After 18 years as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev's death signals the end of a period of Soviet history marked by both stability and stagnation. Brezhnev came to power in 1964 when, along with Alexei Kosygin, he was successful in pushing Nikita Khrushchev out of office. For the next 18 years, he brought a degree of stability to Soviet politics unknown since the Stalinist period. However, his time in office was also marked by forceful repression of political opponents and dissidents, a massive military buildup that bankrupted the Russian economy, and a foreign policy that seemed confusing at best.
During Brezhnev's reign political repression took on more and more ominous overtones. Dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov were harassed and sometimes sentenced to internal exile. His program to bring the Soviet military to parity with the United States drove the Russian economy to the breaking point; by the late 1970s economic growth was almost at a standstill. His foreign policy was often confusing for US officials. On the one hand, he seemed to approve of the idea of "peaceful coexistence," pushed for control of nuclear weapons, and helped the United States in its negotiations with North Vietnam. On the other, he unleashed Soviet forces against Czechoslovakia in 1968, became involved with revolts in Ethiopia and Angola in the 1970s, reacted in a threatening manner during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1973, and ordered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. By the end of his rule, discussions about nuclear arms control had almost completely lapsed. Upon his death in November 1982, Yuri Andropov took control of the Soviet Union.

1975 The crew of 29 on the ore-hauling ship Edmund Fitzgerald which disappears during a storm on Lake Superior.
1970 Charles De Gaulle meurt soudainement dans sa maison de La Boisserie, à Colombey-les-deux-Eglises (Haute-Marne). L'ancien président de la République est né 80 ans plus tôt, le 22 novembre 1890, à Lille. Il s'est retiré de la vie politique le 28 Apr 1969.

^ 1938 Mustafa ‘Kemal’ “Atatürk” [< portrait], born in the spring of 1881 in Salonika, Ottoman-ruled Greece.
     Mustafa was a soldier, statesman, and reformer who was the founder and first president (1923-38) of the Republic of Turkey. He modernized the country's legal and educational systems and encouraged the adoption of a European way of life, with Turkish written in the Latin alphabet (1928), with the law requiring European-style names, etc. He was responsible for the abolition of the Sultanate (01 November 1922), the proclamation of the Republic (29 October 1923), the abolition of the Caliphate (03 March 1924)— Cumhuriyetin nasil ilan edildigini gelin Ataturk'ten dinleyelim. Nutuk'un ilgili kisimlarini asagida bulacaksiniz. Ataturk'u anlamanin O'nun ilkelerini, devrimlerini bilmekle mumkun olacagi gerceginden yola cikarak sizler icin Ataturk Ilkelerini ve Turk Devrimini anlatan sayfalar hazirladik. Zevkli okumalar dileriz.
     When Mustafa was 12 years old, he went to military schools in Salonika and Monastir, centers of anti-Ottoman Greek and Slavic nationalism (where he added the name Kemal). In 1899 he attended the military academy in Istanbul, graduating as staff captain on 11 January 1905.
      Because of his activities in the secret Young Turk movement against the autocratic government of the Ottoman Empire, which was centered in what is now Turkey, Mustafa Kemal was posted to Syria, then also a part of the empire, in virtual exile . There he founded the secret Fatherland and Freedom Society (October 1906). Transferred to Salonika in September 1907, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) that carried out the Young Turk Revolution in July 1908. He was not, however, in the inner circle of the CUP and therefore played no role in the actual revolution.
      Mustafa Kemal fought in Libya against Italy in 1911 and 1912 and was promoted to major in November 1911. He organized the defense of the Dardanelles during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and was appointed military attaché in Bulgaria on 27 October 1913. During World War I, in which the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany, Atatürk made his military reputation in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, where he played a crucial role in repelling the Allied invasion. He then served in the Caucasus and Syria, where he was given command of a special army group just before the armistice was signed in October 1918. Returning to Istanbul, he watched anxiously as the victorious Allied powers prepared to partition Anatolia.
      A Greek army occupied Izmir on the Anatolian coast on 15 May 1919. Mutafa Kemal, who had been appointed inspector of the Third Army in Anatolia, reached Samsun on 19 May 1919, date considered the start of War of Independence of Turkey. He immediately set about uniting the Turkish national movement and creating an army for defense. First, however, the nationalists had to wage a struggle against the Ottoman sultan's regime in Istanbul, which seemed willing to allow the dismemberment of the national territory. By 1920 the Istanbul government had been discredited for acquiescing to the Allied occupation of the capital and signing the Treaty of Sèvres, which recognized Greek control over parts of Anatolia. Atatürk, meanwhile, had set up a provisional government in Ankara on 23 April 1920. After initial setbacks, he won decisive battles against Greek forces at Sakarya (23 August 1921 – 13 September 1921; photos) and Dumlupinar (30 August 1922), reoccupying Izmir in September.
     Having dealt with the external threat, Atatürk turned to the internal one posed by the conservative forces around the sultan. The sultanate was abolished on 01 November 1922. The Government of the Turkish Grand National Assembly saved the country from being partitioned and occupied with the National War of Independence. A few months following the 24 July 1923 signing of the Lausanne Treaty, in which the Allied powers and the world recognized the independence and sovereignty of Turkey, the People's Party (renamed Republican People's Party in 1924) was established on 09 September 1923 and Mustafa Kemal was elected as its chairman. The administrative staff of the party was composed of the military staff who directed the national struggle and high-level bureaucrats. The party led by the leader and the hero of the Turkish War of Independence stood for modernizing and westernizing reforms in the political, judicial and educational fields. These developments, however, disturbed the conservative elements in the National Assembly. The discussions flared up on such issues as what would happen now that the sultanate was abolished and how the parliament would now act, with which authorities and on whose behalf. The institutions and the office of the Caliphate, meanwhile stood in stark contradiction to the new administration.
      All these developments made a radical transformation compulsory. Thus, the Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923. Mustafa Kemal, the leader of the national struggle for independence, was elected unanimously as the first President of the Republic of Turkey. He appointed Ýsmet Ýnönü as the first Prime Minister. Thus, the discussions and doubts about the Presidency were ended. Four months later, the Caliphate, which was incompatible with the principle of republicanism, was abolished and the members of the Ottoman Dynasty were expatriated on 03 March 1924.

      Being aware of the fact that the separation of religious and state affairs and the provision of freedom of religion and conscience for individuals were among the prerequisites of forming a modern society, Mustafa Kemal initiated in the framework of the "principle of secularity" the most important changes. After the abolition of the Caliphate, a series of radical reforms were made in the institutions and mentality connected to the Caliphate. The Ministry of Shariah and Foundations was replaced by the Chairmanship of Religious Affairs and the Directorate of Foundations, both connected to the Prime Ministry. The religious school order was abolished on 3 March 1924 with the Unification of Education Law and all schools and educational matters were united under the Ministry of National Education. The Shariah Courts were replaced by secular courts with the Judicial Organization Law. The wearing of the turban and fez that were symbols of the former order were banned and the "hat" became the official headgear, following the promulgation of the Hat Law on 25 November 1925. Thus, the traditional symbols in attire, indicating differences of class, rank and religious order were removed. The international hour and calendar systems were adopted on 26 November 1925. The dervish lodges and tombs and the titles of tariqahs (sects) were abolished on 25 November 1925. A Turkish Civil Code was accepted on 17 February 1926 to replace the old civil code and the Shariah Laws which were the foundation stones of Ottoman law. The acceptance of the Turkish Civil Code made it necessary to secularize all legislation and the Code of Obligations, the Criminal Code and the Commercial Code were also rewritten according to contemporary principles.
      Important steps were taken concerning women's rights. Polygamy was forbidden and marriages, to be officially recognized, had to be performed in accordance with the civil code, not according to religious ceremonies as in the past. Also, a law was promulgated which made it necessary to get a court decree to get a divorce. Women obtained the right to vote and be elected in the municipal elections in 1930, in elections held for village councils in 1933 and in 1934, they obtained the right to vote and be elected into the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
      One of the most important reforms initiated by Atatürk was the preparation of a new Turkish alphabet by a board of linguists and academicians and the law which envisaged the use of Latin letters was adopted by the TGNA on 1 November 1928. The adoption of this new phonetic alphabet was an important step taken to help increase the literacy rate which had been very low.
      The old units of measurement and weight were changed in 1931. Commercial and economic transactions were facilitated with the acceptance of the metric system and a standard system of measurement was established throughout Turkey.
      The Surname Law was adopted on 21 June 1934. Mustafa Kemal was given the surname of "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks) on 24 November 1934 by the TGNA. The efforts to create a modern country based on secular foundations was also reflected in the Constitution. An amendment made to the Constitution in 1928 removed the clause which had stated that the religion of the state is Islam. A clause was put in the Constitution in 1937 stating that Turkey is a secular state. Along with these developments, Atatürk established the Turkish Historical Society in 1925 and Turkish Linguistic Society in 1932 in order to strengthen the foundations of the new national state and contribute to the development of a national consciousness among the Turkish people.
      Atatürk realized the reforms with the leadership of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which had been established as a party of all the people, and these reforms were adopted by the people. A short time after the CHP was established, the first experiment for a transition to a multiparty system was made. The opponents of the secular and modernizing policies of the government, including a group of commanders from the National War of Independence, such as Rauf Orbay, Kazim Karabekir and Ali Fuat Cebesoy, resigned from the CHP and established the Progressive Republican Party on 17 November 1924. Kazim Karabekir was elected as the chairman of this first opposition party. The Party was "conservative", not "reactionary" both regarding its program and the mentality of its founders. However, because it was the only opposition party, those whose interests were harmed by the reforms, supported this party. Meanwhile, the reactionary Sheik Said rebellion broke out in Southeastern Anatolia and the government closed the Progressive Republican Party on 03 June 1925.
      The second experiment with multiparty democracy in the Atatürk period started with the establishment of the Free Republican Party on 12 August 1930. The Free Party was established with the approval of Atatürk himself. The party was established by Fethi Okyar, the former Prime Minister who was known for his opposition to Ýsmet Ýnönü. However, the new party grew at an unexpectedly rapid pace. But, due to the unfortunate events which occurred during Fethi Okyar's trip to Izmir, the party dissolved itself on 17 November 1930.
      The Republic's administration at first of all adopted a model based on private enterprise for developing the backward economy it had inherited, but later it reverted statism to an increasing degree.
      During the Atatürk period, a foreign policy was followed based on the borders of the National Pact of 1920 and on peace. The Montreux Agreement was signed in 1936, ensuring that the Istanbul and the Dardanelles (Çanakkale) Straits were included in the national defense system. Friendship with the neighboring countries was embodied in the Balkan Pact in 1934 and the Sadabad Pact in 1937. Hatay, which had previously been given to the French, was first given independence and then it was reunited to Turkey as the result of a referendum. Meanwhile, the League of Nations, refusing the Turkish requests, decided that the Mosul and Kirkuk regions should stay under British control. Hatay was the final foreign policy problem in which Atatürk was involved. At his death, Atatürk left a Turkey with reformed and modernized institutions, closer to the Western model.

1931 Scott, mathematician.
1922 José Villegas y Cordero, Spanish artist born on 24 August 1848.
1914 Peter Moran, US artist born on 04 March 1841.
1900 Ferdinand Mallitsch (or Malitsch), Austrian artist born on 07 March 1820.
1898 Eight Blacks in race riot in Wilmington NC.
1891 Charles Robertson, British artist born in 1844.

1887 Louis Lingg,
suicide by lighting a stick of dynamite in his mouth on the eve of the hanging scheduled for him and the other four "Haymarket martyrs".

^ 1865 Henry Wirz, hanged for war crimes against Union prisoners as Confederate prison superintendent.
     Henry Wirz, a Swiss immigrant and the commander of Andersonville prison in Georgia, is hanged for the murder of soldiers incarcerated at his prison. Wirz was born in Switzerland in 1823 and immigrated to the United States in 1849. He lived in several Southern locations, mostly in Louisiana, and studied medicine. Eventually, he became a physician to slaves. When the war broke out, he joined the Fourth Louisiana Battalion. After the First Battle of Bull Run, Wirz guarded prisoners in Richmond and was noticed by Inspector General John Winder. Winder had Wirz transferred to his department, and Wirz spent the rest of the war working with prisoners of war. He commanded a prison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; escorted prisoners around the Confederacy; handled exchanges with the Union; and was wounded in a stagecoach accident. After returning to duty, he traveled to Europe and likely delivered messages to Confederate envoys. When Wirz arrived back in the Confederacy in early 1864 he was assigned the responsibility for Andersonville prison.
      While both sides incarcerated prisoners under horrible conditions, Andersonville deserves special mention for the inhumane circumstances under which its inmates were kept. A stockade held thousands of men inside a barren and polluted patch of ground. Barracks were planned but never built; the men slept in makeshift housing, called "shebangs," constructed from scrap wood and blankets that offered little protection from the elements. A small stream flowed through the compound and provided water for the Union soldiers, but this became a cesspool of disease and human waste. Erosion caused by the prisoners turned the stream into a huge swamp. The prison was designed to hold 10'000 men but the Confederates had packed it with more than 31'000 inmates by August 1864.
      Wirz oversaw an operation in which nearly a third of its 46'000 inmates died. Partly a victim of circumstance, Wirz was given few resources with which to work, and the Union ceased prisoner exchanges in 1864. As the Confederacy began to dissolve, food and medicine for prisoners were difficult to obtain. When word about Andersonville leaked out, Northerners were understandably horrified. Poet Walt Whitman saw some of the survivors of the camp and wrote, "There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven, but this is not among them."
      Wirz was charged with conspiracy to injure the health and lives of Union soldiers and murder. His trial began on 23 August 1865, and ran for two months. During the trial, 160 witnesses were called to testify. Though Wirz did demonstrate indifference towards Andersonville's prisoners, he was, in part, a scapegoat: some evidence against him was fabricated entirely. On the scaffold, Wirz said to the officer in charge, "I know what orders are, Major. I am being hanged for obeying them." He was found guilty on 24 October and sentenced to die. Wirz was the only person executed for crimes committed during the war.

1850 Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard, French artist born on 26 October 1780. — MORE ON FRAGONARD AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to images.
1843 John Trumbull, US painter specialized in historical subjects, born on 06 June 1756. — MORE ON TRUMBULL AT ART “4” NOVEMBER with links to images.
1730 Gregorio Lazzarini, Venetian academic painter born in 1655. — more with link to an image.
1691 (buried) Johan Werner the younger, German artist born in 1630. — more
1683 Collins, mathematician.
1556 Richard Chancellor, British seaman, drowns off Aberdeenshire on his return from a second voyage to Russia, where he had already gone in 1553-1554 and laid the foundations for English trade with Russia.
1444, Ladislas III, roi de Hongrie, dans la bataille de Varna, sur les bords de la mer Noire, où son armée de croisés hongrois est battue par les envahisseurs ottomans, qu'elle avait battu auparavant. Pour le sultan Mourad II, plus rien (sauf la mort) ne s'oppose désormais à la conquête de Constantinople.

^ 1444 The dead of the Battle of Varna, including king Ulászló I of Hungary = Wladyslaw III of Poland.
     Wladyslaw III Warnenczyk, born on 31 October 1424, succeeded to the throne of Poland on the death of his father, Wladyslaw II Jagiello [1351 – 31 May 1434]. During his 10 years as king, however, most of the major decisions were either made or manipulated by his adviser, Zbigniew Olesnicki [1389 – 01 Apr 1455], who was a powerful Polish noble, bishop of Kraków, the first Polish cardinal, and also a close adviser to his father. Working successfully to bring the crown of Hungary to the young king, Olesnicki set up Wladyslaw's election through the anti-Habsburg faction within the Hungarian nobility, and in July 1440 Wladyslaw was crowned Ulászló I of Hungary at Buda. Three years of warfare followed, however, as supporters of the Habsburg king Albert's widow sought to gain control of the kingdom. Finally Pope Eugenius IV made peace between the rivals so that Wladyslaw could lead a crusade against the Turks. In 1443 Wladyslaw and János Hunyadi, his chief Hungarian supporter, led an army of 40'000 into the Balkans. They forced Sultan Murad II to conclude the Peace of Szeged on 01 July 1444. Under its terms Turkey was to evacuate Serbia and Albania along with any other territory taken from Hungary as well as to pay an indemnity of 100'000 florins in gold. Two days after the peace was signed Wladyslaw broke it in the name of religion and continued his invasion of the Balkans, but the whole campaign ends in disaster when the Poles and Hungarians are defeated by the Turks in the Battle of Varna. Wladyslaw dies in the fighting.
     In the early 1440s Ulászló I sponsored a campaign against Sultan Murad II [Jun 1404 – 03 Feb 1451] of the Ottoman Empire to reduce the Turkish threat to Constantinople and to restore Serbia to its prince, George Brankovic. The Hungarian forces, commanded by Hunyadi [1407 – 07 Aug 1456], were supported by Pope Eugenius IV and allied with Prince George as well as with Prince János Vlad of Walachia. Together they compelled Murad to conclude a 10-year truce (June 1444), by which he restored a tributary Serbian state and pledged not to cross the Danube River.
      Nevertheless, Ulászló, influenced by the pope's legate Julian Cesarini, soon took advantage of the sultan's preoccupation in Anatolia by breaking the truce and renewing his campaign against the Ottomans. Hunyadi resumed his command only with reluctance, and Prince George refused to join Ulászló's crusade. Reinforced only by a Walachiancontingent, the Hungarian army marched to Varna, where on 10 November 1444, it clashed with Murad, who had returned from Anatolia with a force three times larger than Ulászló's. Although the Hungarians gained an initial advantage, the Turks eventually killed Ulászló, almost annihilating the Christian army, and forced Hunyadi to flee.
      Following the battle, Poland remained without a king for three years. Unhindered by further major interference from the central European powers, the Turks extended their control over the Greek rulers in the Peloponnese, who had cooperated with the crusaders. The Turks also conquered Constantinople (1453) and reabsorbed Serbia (by 1459).

0461 Saint Leo I “the Great”, Pope consecrated on 29 September 440, as successor to Saint Sixtus III [–19 Aug 440]. —(071110)

< 09 Nov

11 Nov >

^ Births which occurred on a 10 November:

1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial opens to its first visitors in Washington DC.
1954 The Iwo Jima Memorial is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1940 Russell Means, Amerindian rights activist.
1919 Moise-Kapenda Tshombe, President of seceded Katanga, then premier of the Congo, who died in exile on 29 June 1969.
1919 Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, in the village of Kurya, Altai Territory. Kalashnikov would grow up to be a Soviet army officer and inventor of weapons, notably in 1947 the AK-47 assault rifle [image >]. On 27 July 2002, Kalashnikov told the German Bild newspaper: “I am proud of it. And sad, too, that the weapon is used by terrorists.” and: “I would have preferred to invent something which helps people and makes life easier for farmers. A lawnmower, for example.” The AK-47, which can fire 400 rounds per minute and is light and easy to maintain, has become the weapon of choice for guerrillas and insurgents.
1896 Prüfer, mathematician.
1895 John Knudsen Northrop, US aircraft designer who died on 18 February 1981.
1879 Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, US poet who died on 05 December 1931. — LINDSAY ONLINE: The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems, The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems — The Congo and Other Poems — General William Booth Enters Into Heaven and Other Poems, General William Booth Enters Into Heaven and Other Poems — Johnny Appleseed.
1878 (14 Nov 1883?) Louis Casimir Ladislas “Marcoussis” (originally Markus), Polish French Cubist painter and printmaker who died on 22 October 1941. — more with links to images.
1859 Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Swiss French painter specialized in cats.He died on 14 December 1923. — MORE ON STEINLEN AT ART “4” NOVEMBER with links to images.

^ 1852 Henry Van Dyke, US short-story writer, poet, and essayist who died on 10 April 1933. He was popular in the early decades of the 20th century.
Educated at Princeton, Van Dyke graduated from its theological seminary in 1877 and became a Presbyterian minister. His early works, “The Story of the Other Wise Man” (1896) and “The First Christmas Tree” (1897), were first read aloud to his congregation in New York as sermons. These quickly brought him recognition. Other stories and anecdotal tales were gathered at regular intervals into volumes.

VAN DYKE ONLINE:
Among the collections of short stories: — The Ruling Passion (1901) — The Blue Flower (1902) — The Valley of Vision: A Book of Romance, and Some Half-Told Tales (1919) — The Unknown Quantity (1912) — The Golden Key (1926).
Van Dyke's popularity also extended to his verse — Music, and Other Poems — The Red Flower: Poems Written in War Time — The White Bees and Other Poems
Not mentioned above: — The Americanism of Washington — The Broken Soldier and the Maid of France — Days Off and Other Digressions — Fisherman's Luck and Some Other Uncertain Things — Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness — The Lost Word — The Mansion (1901) — Ships and Havens

1847 Frederick Arthur Bridgman, US painter specialized in orientalism, who died in 1928. — MORE ON BRIDGMAN AT ART “4” NOVEMBER with links to images.
1844 John Sparrow David Thompson (C), 4th PM of Canada, from 1892 to his 12 December 1894 death.
1829 Elwin Christoffel, mathematician.
1806 Franz August Schubert, German artist who died in 1893.
1785 or 1786 Karl-Gottfried-Traugott Faber, German artist who died on 25 July 1863.

^ 1775 The US Marine Corps
During a meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces for the US naval fleet. This resolution, sponsored by future US president John Adams, establishes the Continental Marines and is considered the birth of the United States Marine Corps. Less then two weeks later, Samuel Nichols of Philadelphia is commissioned captain, and becomes the first marine commandant. Serving on land and at sea during the War for Independence, the original marines distinguished themselves in a number of significant operations, including an amphibious raid into the Bahamas under the command of Captain Nicholas in March of 1776. In 1783, with the end of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy and thus the US Marines temporarily go out of existence. However, on 11 July 1798, Congress passes an act calling for the establishment of a permanent US Marine Corps, and the next day William Ward Burrows of South Carolina is named the first major of the modern US Marines.

1759 Friedrich von Schiller Germany, poet/lyricist (Ode to Joy) SCHILLER ONLINE: (in English translations): History of the Thirty Years' War, Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man, Song of the Bell, Wilhelm Tell, William Tell, William Tell.
1753 Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust, French artist who died on 19 July 1817.
1730 Oliver Goldsmith, English eccentric essayist, poet, novelist, and dramatist, who died on 04 April 1774. — GOLDSMITH ONLINE: The Deserted Village — The Rising Village, With Other Poems — She Stoops to Conquer — The Vicar of Wakefield, The Vicar of Wakefield, The Vicar of Wakefield.
1697 William Hogarth, in London, British satiric painter and etcher who died on 26 October 1764. — MORE ON HOGARTH AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to images.
1683 George II, king of Great Britain and elector of Hanover from 1727 to his 25 October 1760 death.
1668 Franois Couperin, French, composer and organist (Concerts Royaux) , who died on 12 September 1733.

^ 1483 Martin Luther, in Eisleben, Saxony. He would become an Augustinian priest, be unfaithful to his vows, start the Protestant heresy on 31 October 1517, marry in June 1525 Katherina von Bora, a nun also unfaithful to her vows, and die on 18 February 1546.
— Martin Luther est né à Eisleben, en Thuringe. Fils d'un mineur aisé, il étudie à l'Université d'Erfurt et entre au couvent des Augustins en 1505. Après la prêtrise, il commence d'enseigner la théologie à Wittenberg et ne tarde pas à s'interroger sur la grâce divine et les moyens d'accéder à la vie éternelle. Il arrive à la conviction que l'homme ne peut être sauvé que par sa Foi et non par ses oeuvres. Il s'indigne de la prétention du clergé de son époque à accorder des indulgences, c'est-à-dire une réduction de la peine de purgatoire après la mort, en échange d'aumônes sonnantes et trébuchantes, que l'on appelle Indulgences. Ses qualités intellectuelles et humaines et ses aptitudes au prêche lui valent d'entraîner les foules allemandes dans la dénonciation des excès de l'Eglise romaine. Son oeuvre réformatrice débute avec l'affichage de ses 95 Thèses sur le portail de l'église du chateau de Wittenberg (31 oct 1517).

Holidays India : Guru Nanak's Day-1st teacher of the Sikhs / Indonesia : Hero Day/Youth Day / Iran : Death of Iman Ali Day

Religious Observances RC: St Andrew Avellino, confessor / Ang, RC: St Leo the Great, bishop of Rome, pope/dr — Le pape Léon 1er le Grand (440-461) a joué un grand rôle dans la chrétienté des premiers siècles. L'empereur romain de Constantinople ayant officialisé l'hérésie monophysite en 449 au concile (ou "brigandage") d'Ephèse, Léon 1er réunit le concile de Chalcédoine qui affirme la double nature du Christ en une personne. L'année suivante, en 452, le pape va au-devant d'Attila, le roi des Huns, et le convainc de rebrousser chemin sans entrer dans Rome. Il a moins de chances avec les Vandales qui pillent la Ville éternelle en 455. Le pape obtient néanmoins de Genséric, leur roi, qu'il épargne la vie des habitants

COME AGAIN? Department:
“ These are not my figures I'm quoting. They're from someone who knows what he's talking about.” — US Congressman in debate
“The time is here, and is rapidly approaching...” — William Field, Member of Parliament of the UK.

Thoughts for the day:
“Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.” — Henry van Dyke, US writer [10 Nov 1852 – 10 Apr 1933].
“A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can see from a mountaintop.”
"A wise man avoids the bottom of a well as well as a mountaintop."
"A wise man can see more ore at the bottom of a well than a fool can see on a mountaintop."
"A wise man can seem a fool if he lives at the bottom of a well or on a mountaintop."
"A wise man can see more frogs at the bottom of a well than a fool can see on a mountaintop."
"A wise man from the bottom of a well cannot see a fool on a mountaintop." {and vice-versa}
"A wise man is not such a fool as to try to see more from the bottom of a well than he could from a mountaintop."
"A wise man cannot breathe as well at the bottom of a well as a fool can on a mountaintop."
"A wise man can can cans at the bottom of a well better than a fool can can cans on a mountaintop."
"A wise man cannot cancan at the bottom of a well as well as a fool can cancan on a mountaintop."
"A wise man can fool a fool, but doesn't, while a fool cannot fool a wise man, but keeps trying.”
“Midday Mayday may be followed by morning mourning.”
"The mind will ever be unstable that has only prejudices to rest on” — Mary Wollstonecraft [27 Apr 1759 – 10 Sep 1797], English author, who died 11 days after giving birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley [30 Aug 1797 – 01 Feb 1851], author of Frankenstein.
“To generalize is to be an idiot." — William Blake [28 Nov 1757 – 12 Aug 1827] British Romantic writer and printmaker.

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http://www.safran-arts.com/42day/history/h4nov/h4nov10.html
http://www.intergate.com/~canu/history/h4nov/h4nov10.html
http://www.freewebtown.com/canu/history/h4nov/h4nov10.html
updated Friday 28-Nov-2008 18:07 UT
Principal updates:
v.7.a1 Saturday 10-Nov-2007 16:13 UT
v.6.91 Saturday 11-Nov-2006 14:46 UT
v.5.a1 Saturday 12-Nov-2005 17:11 UT
Sunday 21-Nov-2004 4:31 UT
Thursday 13-Nov-2003 2:18 UT

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