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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2011 14:27:22 GMT
The main talk in France is that it is International Woman's Day and that things are still far from ideal.
I do know that in Taiwan, women have the day off (my former Chinese colleague repeated this to us every year) -- perhaps in some other countries as well.
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Post by onlymark on Mar 8, 2011 14:32:46 GMT
I hope all the women who have a day off today make up for it by working harder tomorrow.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 8, 2011 15:29:42 GMT
Thanks for that sobering video, Annie. It's ironic that many of the women who get the day off today are the ones who already have some autonomy and "equality".
Until the day that all people learn to respect others, in the most profound "love thy neighbor" sense, there won't be true equality for anyone.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 11, 2011 17:53:05 GMT
Today will become an anniversary that is recognized but not celebrated in Japan for a long time.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 18, 2011 13:42:34 GMT
March 18 ~~ Birthday of Rudolf Diesel (3/18/1858 - 9/29/1913), German thermal engineer who invented the internal-combustion engine. (more here) 1959: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill. (go here ) 1965: the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod 2 capsule and remained outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes, secured by a tether.
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Post by hwinpp on Mar 19, 2011 5:17:33 GMT
Oh, didn't know Diesel's birthday was the same as mine!
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 19, 2011 5:31:30 GMT
Didn't know either. Belated birthday greetings to you, dear HW. Hope it was a happy one.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 21, 2011 14:30:54 GMT
Benito Juárez (March 21, 1806 - July 18, 1872) was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872. He was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and also the first indigenous national ever to serve as President of Mexico. He resisted the French occupation, overthrew the Empire, restored the Republic, and used liberal efforts to modernize the country. Juárez was born in the village of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, located in the mountain range now known as the "Sierra Juárez". His parents were peasants who died when he was three years old. Shortly after, his grandparents died as well, and his uncle then raised him He worked in the corn fields and as a shepherd until the age of 12, when he walked to the city of Oaxaca to live with a sister who worked as a cook there. At the time, he was illiterate and could not speak Spanish, only Zapotec. cribbed from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Juarez This article, shorter than the one above, will still tell you most of what you need to know: www.notablebiographies.com/Jo-Ki/Ju-rez-Benito.html
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2011 21:19:54 GMT
No reason for celebration: Exxon Valdez, 23 March 1989. Nuff sed.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 5, 2011 3:56:02 GMT
Not celebrating, but remembering what happened on this day, April 4, in 1968. Apologies for posting so late.
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Post by mickthecactus on Apr 5, 2011 12:41:28 GMT
Back to work today for me having been off sick for a week. Very glad to be here.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2011 13:22:36 GMT
That's definitely something to celebrate.
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Post by tod2 on Apr 5, 2011 14:31:07 GMT
Sorry to hear you have been poorly Mick Hope there was someone to bring you the required hot chicken soup!
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Post by mickthecactus on Apr 5, 2011 16:29:41 GMT
Oh Yes. Mrs Cactus did me proud.
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Post by foreverman on Apr 6, 2011 4:56:48 GMT
1896 Summer Olympics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era. Because Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress.
Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. The Panathinaiko Stadium, the only Olympic stadium used in the 19th Century, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four events.
After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures including Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics, some 108 years later.
The stories surrounding the events and personalities of these Games were chronicled in the 1984 NBC miniseries, The First Olympics: Athens, 1896 – starring David Ogden Stiers as William Milligan Sloane and Louis Jourdan as Pierre de Coubertin.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 8, 2011 4:58:00 GMT
Interesting, Foreverman ~~ thanks.
Just noticed this, down in the info center --
Forum age: 2 years, 2 months, 2 days.
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Post by Kimby on Apr 9, 2011 22:14:52 GMT
Back to work today for me having been off sick for a week. Very glad to be here. Amazing how being sick as a dog for an extended period can give you a new appreciation of life, isn't it?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2011 10:39:30 GMT
On 14 April 1912, the Titanic sank, giving rise to a whole new film genre.
100th anniversary next year -- imagine the hoopla there will be.
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Post by Kimby on Apr 15, 2011 15:31:29 GMT
99 years ago my Austrian grandfather was on a ship that passed through the flotsam and jetsam from the Titanic, on his way to NYC where he jumped ship and began his new life.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 15, 2011 15:34:41 GMT
Wow, that's an interesting brush with history, Kimby. Were the passengers on your grandfather's ship aware of what the wreckage was they were seeing?
Was he a seaman or a passenger?
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Post by Kimby on Apr 15, 2011 16:29:30 GMT
I believe they were aware.
Grandpa was a seaman till he jumped ship in New York. He'd lied about his age to get on a merchant ship's crew in order to escape a wicked stepmother. Once in America he made his way to the Chicago area and found work as a personal servant to a wealthy man who had a mansion on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. My grandmother was a serving girl at the adjacent mansion. They met, got pregnant, married, and the rest is history! Interestingly, though she was an American citizen, she lost her citizenship when she married him and they both had to go through the naturalization process to become Americans.
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Post by bjd on Apr 15, 2011 16:34:31 GMT
Strange. Was she given Austrian citizenship, or was she considered stateless until the naturalization process was finished?
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Post by Kimby on Apr 15, 2011 16:50:45 GMT
She was born in America to Swedish immigrants, making her a citizen. However, marrying an Austrian might have been perceived as treasonous due to events leading up to the first World War. I'm not really sure, and I admit that my handle on history is really weak. I guess I should ask my mom (their daughter) next time I see her.
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Post by onlymark on Apr 15, 2011 18:28:12 GMT
I'm going to cheat a bit here. Normally on February 12th the family on my fathers side remember a troop ship that was sunk on that date in 1944 - the SS Khedive Ismail. On that date this year though we were distracted with what was happening in Egypt and it got left by the wayside. So today I thought I'd raise a glass to them. On the ship was my uncle (who I obviously never met as it happened before I was born) but my father remembers the incident well and the affect it had on his parents and siblings. My uncle was a soldier being transported by ship that was sunk by a Japanese submarine. What made the whole incident more traumatic was the result of the submarine 'hiding' beneath the survivors. The Captain of a Royal Navy ship had to make a decision that apparently preyed on his mind and sometime afterwards committed suicide. Did he leave the submarine as a threat to the rescue operation and other subsequent convoys, or did he sail through the pack of survivors releasing depth charges while he had it in a known location? But knowing that the sub "I-27, under Commander Fukumura, had a history of machine-gunning survivors of ships she had sunk...." What would you have chosen to do? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Khedive_Ismail
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2011 1:09:30 GMT
Well, it's late in the day, but I just went to Google for the first time today & saw this: Anyone who saw my Home Town thread knows that I'm from Audubon's Happy Land , so happy birthday, John James. (his 226th)
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Post by Kimby on Apr 28, 2011 5:06:42 GMT
Thanks for this, bixa. I'd heard about Google's Audubon tribute, but didn't go looking for it.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2011 10:09:08 GMT
On 2 May 1998, the European Central Bank was created by 11 EU countries to prepare for the implementation of a common currency. It now administers the monetary policy of 17 countries. For some reason, the United Kingdom keeps demanding a seat on the governing board (and keeps getting rejected).
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Post by bixaorellana on May 7, 2011 17:39:33 GMT
Born on this day in 1909, Edwin H. Land, an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Among other things, he invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and his retinex theory of color vision. His Polaroid instant camera, which went on sale in late 1948, made it possible for a picture to be taken and developed in 60 seconds or less. read more hereHow the film works
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2011 10:12:54 GMT
It's Mothers Day here in the U.S.,perhaps in some other countries as well,I'm not sure. I am going to commemorate my first Mother's Day with out my mother by planting some 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory seeds I harvested from her trellis right before I left N.Y. They were one of her favorite flowers. These were hers from a pic I took there last September. Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.
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Post by mich64 on May 8, 2011 18:52:20 GMT
Casi those photos of the morning glories are so beautiful, on of my favorites to plant. Still too early here but I will be soaking my seeds soon! Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mom's here on Any Port! Cheers, Mich
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