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Message 835407 - Posted: 29 Nov 2008, 12:10:27 UTC

Japan's Meiji Constitution Goes into Effect (1889)

The Imperial, or Meiji, Constitution was the fundamental law of the Empire of Japan from 1890 until 1947. Enacted after the Meiji Restoration, it provided for a form of constitutional monarchy based on the Prussian model. The constitution allowed the active Emperor to wield considerable political power, but the control was to be shared with an elected assembly


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Message 835877 - Posted: 30 Nov 2008, 22:07:28 UTC

Skeleton of "Lucy" Discovered (1974)

"Lucy," a 3.2 million-year-old female hominid of the species Australopithecus afarensis, was discovered by scientists in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. An unprecedented 40% intact, Lucy was the first fossil hominid to really capture public notice. Although she was 3 feet, 8 inches tall and looked somewhat like a chimpanzee, her bipedal knee structure indicates that she walked upright, like a human


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Message 837234 - Posted: 5 Dec 2008, 17:26:13 UTC

Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin Debuts in US (1926)

Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin was a seminal film in cinematic history and was based on the real-life 1905 uprising aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin. Eisenstein deliberately wrote the film as a revolutionary propaganda piece and used it to test his theories of "montage," a form of movie collage consisting of a series of short shots edited into a coherent sequence


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Message 838190 - Posted: 9 Dec 2008, 7:21:29 UTC


9th December 1993: Astronauts put Hubble back in action
A mission to repair the faulty Hubble telescope in outer space has been declared an unqualified success after astronauts completed the latest of a record five space walks earlier today.

Story Musgrave and Jeff Hofman made the longest space walk of the 11-day mission, spending seven hours and 21 minutes on their final task to unravel the 40 ft (12 metre) solar panels which power Hubble.

The mission is the result of a tiny mistake in the manufacture of the $1.55 billion telescope, which made the mirror flatter than it should be by just one-fiftieth of the width of a human hair.

The telescope, designed to see further into deep space than ever before, was only able to send back out-of-focus images no better than could be seen from Earth.

Defects

The main task for the seven-strong crew of astronauts was to repair the mirror by adding a lens similar to a contact lens which would correct the focus.

Ten other defective parts were also replaced or repaired.

The astronauts were wearing full space suits, and carried out repairs travelling at 17,000 miles per hour (27,358 km/h) at 360 miles (580 km) above the Earth.

The work was compared to fixing a car while hanging upside down and wearing ski gloves.

Some of the repairs were scheduled servicing operations; others, like the solar panels and the mirror correction, were the result of the disastrous faults which overshadowed the launch of Hubble in April 1990.

The telescope will be released from the space shuttle Endeavour early tomorrow morning to continue its orbit around the Earth.

However, scientists expect it to be February before they can assess whether the telescope is now able to see clearly for the first time using its new "spectacles".

Nasa boost

The success of the mission is a massive boost for Nasa, which had been struggling to overcome a series of disasters including the Challenger explosion in 1986 and the loss of the $980 million Mars Observer spacecraft.

The agency is also reeling from the news that this week an undercover FBI sting found deep-rooted corruption and fraud within the space agency. The first criminal charges are expected early next year.

It is expected that the Hubble repairs will boost Nasa's argument for at least $10 billion from Congress to build a permanent space station in orbit.




The in-space repairs on Hubble became one of the landmarks of manned space flight.

The Hubble space telescope was successfully released back into orbit the following day, and in February, Hubble sent back its first pictures.

Crystal clear and spectacular, they were a sure sign that the repairs in deep space had been totally successful.

Since the repair, Hubble has sent back a series of stunning photographs of deep space, and revolutionised thinking about the universe.

Among its most memorable images were startling pictures of Jupiter following the impact of Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 in 1994.

Between 2003 and 2004, instruments on Hubble were directed to a single spot in the sky to obtain the deepest-ever view of the universe.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, as it was called, showed the first stars beginning to shine, shortly after the moment when the universe was created 13.7 billion years ago.

Nasa got its wish for an orbiting space station. The first crew arrived at the International Space Station, a joint venture between the US, Russia and 14 other nations, in 2000.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_4618000/4618415.stm
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Message 838208 - Posted: 9 Dec 2008, 10:59:41 UTC
Last modified: 9 Dec 2008, 11:01:09 UTC


Sunday 7 December 1942, a day that will live in infamy, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.
My late wife was born at 23-00hrs on that day.
Sunday 7 December 2008 at 23-00hrs, my Mum died.


Join the #1 UAE Team.
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Message 838244 - Posted: 9 Dec 2008, 13:39:47 UTC
Last modified: 9 Dec 2008, 13:41:35 UTC

Kecksburg UFO Incident (1965)

Many believe that the large fireball observed in the sky above Ontario, Canada, and six US states in 1965 was nothing more than a passing meteor. However, residents of the small town of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, claim that a car-sized, acorn-shaped object with hieroglyphic-like markings crashed in a nearby wood.


Kecksburg

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Message 839610 - Posted: 13 Dec 2008, 16:33:02 UTC
Last modified: 13 Dec 2008, 16:34:18 UTC

Battle of the River Plate (1939)

The Battle of the River Plate, the first major naval battle of World War II, involved the Admiral Graf Spee, a German pocket battleship. Its crew had been under orders to sink British merchant ships, a practice known as commerce raiding, but avoid combat with enemy forces. During the Royal Navy's attack on the ship, the German vessel suffered some superficial damage and set a course for Montevideo


Battle

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Message 840367 - Posted: 16 Dec 2008, 1:14:14 UTC
Last modified: 16 Dec 2008, 1:14:27 UTC

James Naismith Invents Basketball (1891)

Looking for an activity for his students during indoor gym classes, Naismith nailed a peach basket to each end of a gymnasium, created two teams of nine players, and thus invented basketball. The sport was inspired in part by a game Naismith had played as a child called "Duck on a Rock." One month later, Naismith published rules for the game, which did not allow for what is known today as dribbling.


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Message 842478 - Posted: 20 Dec 2008, 10:51:06 UTC

Louisiana Purchase Completed (1803)


American settlers in the western territories depended on the Mississippi River's port of New Orleans for commerce. When Spain retroceded New Orleans to France in 1800, Americans feared their access to the river would be blocked, so President Thomas Jefferson sent negotiators to broker a deal for the port city. Ultimately, Napoleon sold the entire Louisiana territory, including New Orleans, to the US for approximately 3 cents per acre


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Message 845230 - Posted: 26 Dec 2008, 7:43:39 UTC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/26/newsid_4631000/4631713.stm


2004: Thousands die in Asian tsunami

Massive sea surges triggered by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean have killed over 10,000 people in southern Asia, with many more feared dead.

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake under the sea near Aceh, north Indonesia, at 0759 local time (0059 GMT) generated the biggest tsunami the world has seen for at least 40 years.

The wall of water fanned out across the Indian Ocean at high speed and slammed into coastal areas with little or no warning.

Officials in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India have all reported death tolls in the thousands and the figures are expected to rise sharply over the next few days.


This may be the worst natural disaster in recent history

UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland
Indonesia is thought to be the worst-hit country in the region, with 4,185 confirmed dead.

In Sri Lanka, over 3,500 people have died and one million more have been made homeless. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has declared a national emergency.

Hundreds of fisherman are missing off the southern Indian coast and witnesses have reported scores of bodies being washed up on beaches.

Other countries hit by the tsunami include Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives, the Seychelles and the Indian-owned Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Harrowing stories from the disaster zone are beginning to emerge.

Jayanti Lakshmi, 70, lost her son and twin grandsons while out shopping with her daughter-in-law in Cuddalore, southern India.

She said: "I wish I had died instead of the others, my daughter-in-law would have a life. I can't bear to watch her pain."

And a father in Sri Lanka watched as his entire family was swept away by the sea.

"It dragged my wife away, then my two-month-old twins," he said. "Then I watched my seven-year-old son drown."

Large part of the affected area are popular holiday destinations and many resorts have been badly hit.

In Thailand, hundreds of holiday bungalows have been destroyed on the popular Phi Phi Island. Tourists from all over the world are thought to be among the dead.

Health experts now fear that many more could die as diseases like typhoid, cholera and malaria spread rapidly.

United Nations Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland said many of the affected areas had dense populations living in sub-standard housing.

"This may be the worst natural disaster in recent history," he added.


The tsunami killed more than 200,000 people in 13 countries. At least 128,000 people died in Indonesia alone.

Many months later, bodies were still being discovered in some countries. In Thailand a British forensic team continues its work identifying up to 2,000 victims.

There was a massive international response. Six months after the disaster about $12bn (£7bn) around the world had been pledged in aid.

But rebuilding in many of the stricken areas is slow and thousands of people remain homeless.

The UN has said it expects much of the reconstruction work to take up to five years.

Governments affected by the disaster are now working to build a tsunami early warning system.

The Boxing Day sea surge was triggered when an earthquake caused the sea floor to jolt vertically by about 10m (33ft), which displaced hundreds of cubic kilometres of water.

The resulting waves travelled at speeds of up to 800km/h (497mph).
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Message 845623 - Posted: 27 Dec 2008, 11:11:39 UTC

Charles Darwin Sets Sail on HMS Beagle (1831)

The theory of evolution, which Darwin first expressed in The Origin of Species, was the result of his discoveries as a naturalist on board the HMS Beagle. His book explained evolution through the principles of natural selection and aroused widespread debate among scientists and religious leaders. Darwin spent the rest of his life studying the results of that expedition and developing his theory of evolution


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Message 845759 - Posted: 27 Dec 2008, 20:52:43 UTC - in response to Message 845623.  

A pretty nice vessel:

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Message 846544 - Posted: 29 Dec 2008, 22:55:37 UTC

Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)


The Wounded Knee Massacre was the last major armed conflict between the Lakota Sioux and the US. After the death of Sitting Bull, a band of Sioux, led by Big Foot, fled south, but was captured by the 7th Cavalry on December 28, 1890. The next day, the Sioux were ordered disarmed. During the tension that ensued, a weapon discharged, US troops opened fire, and within minutes almost 200 men, women, and children were dead.


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Message 849109 - Posted: 4 Jan 2009, 5:07:05 UTC

The Curse of the Bambino (1920)

According to baseball lore, a curse was placed on the Boston Red Sox after Babe Ruth, the "Bambino," was sold to the New York Yankees in 1920. Before the sale, the Red Sox had won 5 World Series titles; the Yankees had never even played in a series. Following the sale, the Yankees went on to win 26 World Series titles. The Red Sox, meanwhile, failed to win another series for more than 8 decades, finally breaking the "curse" in 2004.


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Message 850840 - Posted: 8 Jan 2009, 14:18:24 UTC

US President Woodrow Wilson Introduces His Fourteen Points (1918)

Wilson presented his Fourteen Points, a program intended to lay the foundation for peace in Europe after WWI, to the US Congress in 1918. The idealistic message laid the groundwork for the creation of the League of Nations. It successfully encouraged the Central Powers to yield, and thus became the basis for the terms of Germany's surrender.


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Message 851337 - Posted: 9 Jan 2009, 17:06:24 UTC

Joan of Arc Goes on Trial (1431)

Joan of Arc was a French military leader and heroine who was canonized as a saint in 1920, nearly 500 years after she was burned at the stake. Claiming to be inspired by religious visions, Joan organized the French resistance that forced the English to end their siege of Orléans in 1429 and led an army to Reims where she had the dauphin, Charles VII, crowned king. Captured and sold to the English by the Burgundians, she was later tried for heresy and executed.


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Message 853589 - Posted: 15 Jan 2009, 1:46:53 UTC

Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio (1954)

Marilyn Monroe married baseball star Joe DiMaggio after a two-year courtship that captivated America. The marriage lasted just 274 days, collapsing amid reports of her infidelity and his violence and jealousy, but the two became close again after Monroe divorced Arthur Miller. When Monroe was found dead in August 1962, it was DiMaggio who claimed her body and arranged her funeral.


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Message 854328 - Posted: 16 Jan 2009, 19:10:42 UTC
Last modified: 16 Jan 2009, 19:11:05 UTC

Ivan the Terrible Is Tsar of Russia (1547)

Ivan IV was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title "tsar." The early part of his reign saw modernization and peaceful reforms, but after a near-fatal illness and the death of his wife in 1560, his mental state rapidly deteriorated. His later reign was marked by extreme violence in both his personal and political life and bad decisions that led to war and famine in Russia


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Message 855130 - Posted: 18 Jan 2009, 18:47:31 UTC

Jim Thorpe's Olympic Medals Posthumously Restored (1983)

Jim Thorpe, an American Olympian, was considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports history. He won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon but was stripped of his awards after reports surfaced that he had played minor league baseball before participating in the 1912 Olympic Games. At the time, strict rules barred professional athletes from Olympic competition


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Message 855812 - Posted: 20 Jan 2009, 22:58:28 UTC

Iran Releases 52 American Hostages (1981)
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students calling themselves the "Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line" seized the US embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage. Tensions between the US and Iran had intensified following the CIA-backed removal of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, and the students justified the hostage-taking by calling it an act of retaliation. After 444 days, the 52 remaining hostages were released.


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