UniverseSong

2008-10-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

1. Number of players
A match is played between two sides, each of eleven players, one of whom shall be captain.
By agreement a match may be played between sides of more or less than eleven players, but not more than eleven players may field at any time.

2. Nomination of players
Each captain shall nominate his players in writing to one of the umpires before the toss. No player may be changed after the nomination without the consent of the opposing captain.

3. Captain
If at any time the captain is not available, a deputy shall act for him.
(a) If a captain is not available during the period in which the toss is to take place, then the deputy must be responsible for the nomination of the players, if this has not already been done, and for the toss. See 2 above and Law 12.4 (The toss).

(b) At any time after the toss, the deputy must be one of the nominated players.

4. Responsibility of captains
The captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is conducted within the spirit and traditions of the game as well as within the Laws. See The Preamble - The Spirit of Cricket and Law 42.1 (Fair and unfair play - responsibility of captains).

The game of cricket and its objectives

2008-10-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

A cricket match is played between two teams (or sides) of eleven players each on a field of variable size and shape. The ground is grassy and is prepared by groundsmen whose jobs include fertilising, mowing, rolling and leveling the surface. Field diameters of 140–160 yards (130–150 m) are usual. The perimeter of the field is known as the boundary and this is sometimes painted and sometimes marked by a rope that encircles the outer edge of the field. The field may be round, square or oval – one of cricket's most famous venues is called The Oval.

In simple terms, the object of each team is to score more "runs" than the other team and so win the game. However, in certain types of cricket, it is also necessary to completely "dismiss" the other team in order to win the match which would otherwise be drawn.

Before play commences, the two team captains toss a coin to decide which team shall bat or bowl first. The captain who wins the toss makes his decision on the basis of tactical considerations which may include the current and expected pitch and weather conditions.

The key action takes place in a specially prepared area of the field (generally in the centre) that is called the "pitch". At either end of the pitch, 22 yards (20 m) apart, are placed the "wickets". These serve as a target for the "bowling" aka "fielding" side and are defended by the "batting" side which seeks to accumulate runs. Basically, a run is scored when the "batsman" has literally run the length of the pitch after hitting the ball with his bat, although as explained below there are many ways of scoring runs [3]. If the batsmen are not attempting to score any more runs, the ball is "dead" and is returned to the bowler to be bowled again .

The bowling side seeks to dismiss the batsmen by various means until the batting side is "all out", whereupon the side that was bowling takes its turn to bat and the side that was batting must "take the field".

In normal circumstances, there are 15 people on the field while a match is in play. Two of these are the "umpires" who regulate all on-field activity. Two are the batsmen, one of whom is the "striker" as he is facing the bowling; the other is called the "non-striker". The roles of the batsmen are interchangeable as runs are scored and "overs" are completed. The fielding side has all 11 players on the field together. One of them is the "bowler", another is the "wicketkeeper" and the other nine are called "fielders". The wicketkeeper (or keeper) is nearly always a specialist but any of the fielders can be called upon to bowl.

Fielding
All eleven players on the fielding side take the field together.

One of them is the wicket-keeper aka "keeper" who operates behind the wicket being defended by the batsman on strike. Wicket-keeping is normally a specialist occupation and his primary job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He wears special gloves (he is the only fielder allowed to do so), and pads to cover his lower legs. Owing to his position directly behind the striker, the wicket-keeper has a good chance of getting a batsman out caught off a fine edge from the bat. He is the only player who can get a batsman out stumped.

Apart from the one currently bowling, the other nine fielders are tactically deployed by the team captain in chosen positions around the field. These positions are not fixed but they are known by specific and sometimes colourful names such as "slip", "third man", "silly mid on" and "long leg". There are always many unprotected areas.

The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl (and how); and he is responsible for "setting the field", though usually in consultation with the bowler.

In all forms of cricket, if a fielder gets injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of him. The substitute cannot bowl, act as a captain or keep wicket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return.

Cricket

2008-10-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

Cricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries. A cricket match is contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each[1] and is played on a grass field in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20 m) long called a pitch. A wicket, usually made of wood, is placed at each end of the pitch and used as a target.

The bowler, a player from the fielding team, bowls a hard leather, fist-sized, 5.5 ounces (160 g) cricket ball from the vicinity of one wicket towards the other, which is guarded by the batsman, a player from the opposing team. The ball usually bounces once before reaching the batsman. In defence of his wicket, the batsman plays the ball with a wooden cricket bat. Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring runs, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman — if he or she does not get out — may run between the wickets, exchanging ends with a second batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been stationed at the other end of the pitch. Each completed exchange of ends scores one run. Runs are also scored if the batsman hits the ball to the boundary of the playing area. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Cricket is essentially an outdoor sport, certainly at major level, and some games are played under floodlights. It cannot be played in poor weather due to the risk of accidents and so it is a seasonal sport. For example, it is played during the summer months in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, while in the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh it is played mostly during the winter months to escape the hurricane and monsoon seasons.

Governance rests primarily with the International Cricket Council (ICC), based in Dubai, which organises the sport worldwide via the domestic controlling bodies of the member countries. The ICC administers both men's and women's cricket, both versions being played at international level. Although men cannot play women's cricket, the rules do not disqualify women from playing in a men's team.

The rules are in the form of a code known as The Laws of Cricket and these are maintained by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), based in London, in consultation with the ICC and the domestic boards of control.
The game of cricket and its objectives

A typical cricket field.

A cricket match is played between two teams (or sides) of eleven players each on a field of variable size and shape. The ground is grassy and is prepared by groundsmen whose jobs include fertilising, mowing, rolling and leveling the surface. Field diameters of 140–160 yards (130–150 m) are usual. The perimeter of the field is known as the boundary and this is sometimes painted and sometimes marked by a rope that encircles the outer edge of the field. The field may be round, square or oval – one of cricket's most famous venues is called The Oval.

In simple terms, the object of each team is to score more "runs" than the other team and so win the game. However, in certain types of cricket, it is also necessary to completely "dismiss" the other team in order to win the match which would otherwise be drawn.

Before play commences, the two team captains toss a coin to decide which team shall bat or bowl first. The captain who wins the toss makes his decision on the basis of tactical considerations which may include the current and expected pitch and weather conditions.

The key action takes place in a specially prepared area of the field (generally in the centre) that is called the "pitch". At either end of the pitch, 22 yards (20 m) apart, are placed the "wickets". These serve as a target for the "bowling" aka "fielding" side and are defended by the "batting" side which seeks to accumulate runs. Basically, a run is scored when the "batsman" has literally run the length of the pitch after hitting the ball with his bat, although as explained below there are many ways of scoring runs [3]. If the batsmen are not attempting to score any more runs, the ball is "dead" and is returned to the bowler to be bowled again .

The bowling side seeks to dismiss the batsmen by various means until the batting side is "all out", whereupon the side that was bowling takes its turn to bat and the side that was batting must "take the field".

In normal circumstances, there are 15 people on the field while a match is in play. Two of these are the "umpires" who regulate all on-field activity. Two are the batsmen, one of whom is the "striker" as he is facing the bowling; the other is called the "non-striker". The roles of the batsmen are interchangeable as runs are scored and "overs" are completed. The fielding side has all 11 players on the field together. One of them is the "bowler", another is the "wicketkeeper" and the other nine are called "fielders". The wicketkeeper (or keeper) is nearly always a specialist but any of the fielders can be called upon to bowl.

Tamilnadu Religions

2008-10-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

Tamil Nadu was the home of several Hindu movements not in the usual mainstream. These include Shankara's Advaita, Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita, Alwar Vaishnavism, Nayanar Shaivism, Several important Hindu Tamil figures became important figures for Hinduism as a whole (e.g., Shankara and Ramanuja.) In modern times, worldwide important figures for Hinduism were Ramana Maharishi and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Other saints known more locally to Hindus within India are Raghavendra Swami the Dvaita Vaishnava, Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda or the Nithyananda Foundation, Sivananda the expert of yoga and Vedanta.

Popular forms of God include Vishnu, Shiva and Murugan (son of Shiva), although many other forms are also worshiped These other forms of God include, Rama, Krishna, Ganesh, Paravati, Surya, and others. There is even a temple dedicated to the form of Hanuman and Ganesh in one form - Adianta Prabhu[8]. The government emblem of Tamil Nadu contained the popular Hindu temple of srivilliputhur.

Christians and Muslims form roughly over 11% of the population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli. St. Thomas Mount in Chennai, the place where St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, was believed to have been martyred[43], is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians. The Santhome Basilica, supposedly built atop the tomb of St. Thomas, and the Vailankanni Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health — revered churches by the Catholics in India — are good examples of majestic church architectures in Tamil Nadu. The Church of South India is headquartered in Chennai.

Muslims are mainly concentrated in areas like Ambur, Vaniyambadi, Nagore, Melapalayam and Keelakarai, with the state capital Chennai also home to a good number of Muslims. Among Muslims 97.5% are Sunni (Most of the Tamil Muslims, adhere to either Hanafi or Shafi schools of thought) and 1.5% Shia. Nagore, in Nagapattinam district, is an important pilgrimage site for Muslims, while the Thousand Lights Mosque in Chennai is one of the largest mosques in the country.

Charles XII

2008-09-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Charles XII of Sweden

Reign	5 April 1697 – 30 November 1718
Predecessor	Charles XI
Successor	Ulrika Eleonora
Coronation	14 December 1697
Royal house	Hous eof Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Royal motto	Med Guds hjälp ("With the help of God")
Father	Charles XI
Mother	Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark
Born	17 June 1682 Stockholm Palace, Sweden
Died	30 November 1718 (aged 36) Fredrikshald, Norway
Burial	26 February 1719 Riddarholmen Church, Stockholm

Charles XII^[1] (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718) was the King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718.

Charles was the only surviving son of King Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder, and he assumed the crown at the age of fifteen, at the death of his father.

He left the country three years later to embark on a series of battles overseas. These battles were part of the Great Northern War and many of them were fought against Peter I of Russia. Saxony, Denmark-Norway, Poland and Russia joined in a coalition to attack Sweden, starting what would later be known as the Great Northern War.

Charles XII was a skilled military leader and tactician. However, his skills as a politician in making peace were lacking. Charles is quoted by Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the Great Northern War, "I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies." Although Sweden achieved several large scale military successes early on, and won the most battles, the Great Northern War eventually ended in Sweden's defeat which led to downfall of the Swedish Empire.

Royal Title

Charles, like all kings, was styled by a royal title, which collected all his titles into one single phrase. This was:

We Charles, by the Grace of God of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends King, Grand Duke of Finland, Duke of Estonia and Karelia, Lord of Ingria, Duke of Bremen, Verden and Pommerania, Prince of Rügen and Lord of Wismar, and also Count Palatine by the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Count of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, as well as Duke of Jülich, Cleve and Berg, Count of Waldenz, Spanheim and Ravensberg and Lord of Ravenstein

Early Campaigns

In 1700, Denmark-Norway, Saxony, and Russia united in an alliance against Sweden, using the perceived opportunity as Sweden was ruled by the young and inexperienced King. Early that year, all three countries declared war against Sweden. Charles had to deal with these threats one by one.

Charles's first campaign was against Denmark-Norway, ruled by his cousin Frederick IV of Denmark, which threatened a Swedish ally, Charles' brother-in-law Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp. For this campaign Charles secured the support of England and the Netherlands, both maritime powers concerned about Denmark's threats to close the Sound. Leading a force of 8,000 and 43 ships in an invasion of Zealand, Charles rapidly compelled the Danes to submit to the Peace of Travendal in August 1700, which indemnified Holstein.

Having defeated Denmark-Norway, King Charles turned his attention upon the two other powerful neighbors, King August II of Poland (cousin to both Charles XII and Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway) and Peter the Great of Russia, who also had entered the war against him.

Russia had opened their part of the war by invading the Swedish-held territories of Livonia and Estonia. Charles countered this by attacking the Russian besiegers at the Battle of Narva. The Swedish army of ten thousand men was outnumbered four to one by the Russians. Charles attacked under cover of a blizzard, effectively split the Russian army in two and won the battle. Many of Peter's troops that fled the battlefield drowned in the Narva River, and the total number of Russian fatalities reached about 17 000 at the end of the battle, while the Swedish troop lost 667 men.

Charles did not pursue the Russian army. Instead, he then turned against Poland-Lithuania, which was formally neutral at this point, thereby disregarding Polish negotiation proposals supported by the Swedish parliament. Charles defeated the Polish king Augustus II and his Saxon allies at the Battle of Kliszow in 1702 and captured many cities of the Commonwealth. After the deposition of the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Charles XII put Stanisław Leszczyński on the throne.

Part of the Monument to Charles XII in Stockholm, with Charles pointing towards Russia

Charles XII and Mazepa at the Dnieper River after the Poltava by Gustaf Cederström.

Russian resurgence

While Charles won several battles in the Commonwealth, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great embarked on a military reform plan that improved the Russian army. Russian forces managed to retake Ingria and established a new city Saint Petersburg there. This prompted Charles to attack the Russian heartland with an assault on Moscow, allying himself with Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The size of the invading Swedish army altogether was 77 400 men. Charles left the homeland, with a defense of approximately 28 800 men.

Peter the Great defeated Swedish forces near the Baltic coast before Charles could combine his forces, and Charles' Polish ally, Stanisław Leszczyński, was facing internal problems of his own. Charles expected the support of a massive Cossack rebellion led by Mazepa in Ukraine but the Russians destroyed the rebel army before they could aid the Swedish troops. The harsh climate took its toll as well, as Charles marched his troops through Ukraine.

Carolus - the autograph of the king.

By the time of the decisive Battle of Poltava, Charles had been wounded, one-third of his infantry was dead, and his supply train was destroyed. The king was incapacitated by a coma resulting from his injuries and was unable to lead the Swedish forces. The battle was a disaster for the king, and he fled south to the Ottoman Empire, where he set up camp at Bender with about 1000 men who were called Caroleans ("Karoliner" in Swedish). The Poltava Swedish disaster is by some historians considered the point where the Swedish Empire ended and the Russian Empire started to rise.

Exile in the Ottoman Empire

The Turks initially welcomed the Swedish king, who managed to incite a war between the Ottomans and the Russians. His expenses during his long stay in the Ottoman Empire were covered from the Ottoman state budget, as part of the fixed assets (Demirbaş in Turkish), hence his nickname Demirbaş Şarl (Fixed Asset Charles) in Turkey. Demirbaş, the Turkish word for fixed asset, is literally ironhead (demir = iron, baş = head), which is the reason why this nickname has often been translated as Ironhead Charles.

However, the sultan Ahmed III eventually tired of Charles' scheming and besieged the city. The Janissaries did not shoot Charles during the skirmish at Bender, but captured him and put him under house-arrest in Constantinople. During his imprisonment the King played chess and studied the Turkish navy.

Meanwhile, Russia and Poland regained and expanded their territories. Great Britain, an ally of Sweden, defected from its alliance obligations while Prussia attacked Swedish holdings in Germany. Russia seized Finland and Augustus II regained the Polish throne.

Death

The funeral transport of Charles XII. A romanticized painting by Gustaf Cederström, 1884

Charles succeeded in leaving his imprisonment in Constantinople and returned to Swedish Pomerania on horseback, riding across Europe in just fifteen days. His efforts to reestablish the Swedish empire failed. He had two Turkish style war-ships built in Sweden, the Yildirim ("The Lightning") and the Yaramaz or Jarramas ("The Rogue"). He invaded Norway in 1716, occupied the capital Christiania, today Oslo, and laid siege to the Akershus fortress. However, the siege was lifted after the defeat of the Swedish supply fleet by Tordenskjold at the battle of Dynekilen.

In 1718 Charles once more invaded Norway and laid siege to the strong fortress of Fredriksten, overlooking the border town of Halden. While inspecting trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress, he was mortally hit by a projectile on December 11 (November 30 Old Style), 1718. The successful invasion was abandoned, and Charles' body was brought across the border. Another army corps under Carl Gustaf Armfeldt marched against Trondheim, but had to make a retreat, during which most of the 5,000 soldiers perished in a severe winter storm.

The exact circumstances around Charles' death are unclear. The most likely theory is that he was hit by a bullet from a Norwegian musket, but he may also have been killed by a grapeshot bullet from a cannon. Another theory is that he was killed by one of his own uniform buttons that had been re-made into a bullet. The button-bullet theory is coupled with speculation that he was shot from the Swedish side, making his death an assassination, because he should allegedly have been unpopular in Sweden at the time.

The most recent and thorough study was presented in 2005 by Peter From. With the help of expertise from around the world, From argues that the mortal bullet was fired by a Norwegian musket. The theory has gained support by renowned historians Peter Englund and Dick Harrison, among others.

Charles was succeeded to the Swedish throne by his sister, Ulrika Eleonora. As Palatinate-Zweibrücken required a male heir, Charles was succeeded as ruler there by his cousin Gustav Leopold. Von Görtz, Charles' minister, was beheaded in 1719.

Charles XII's last uniform.

Scientific contributions

Apart from being a monarch, the King's interests included mathematics, and anything that would be beneficial to his warlike purposes. He is attributed as having invented an octal numeral system, which he considered more suitable for war purposes because all the boxes used for materials such as gunpowder were cubic. According to a report by contemporary scientist Emanuel Swedenborg, the King had sketched down a model of his thought on a piece of paper and handed it to him at their meeting in Lund in 1716. The paper was reportedly still in existence a hundred years later, but has since been lost. Several historians of science suspect that either the multi-talented Emanuel Swedenborg or the brilliant inventor Christopher Polhem – also present at the meeting in Lund

Adolf Hitler

2008-09-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

Adolf Hitler

1889 - 1945
German Politician Hitler was the leader of the National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi) and the Fuhrer of the Third Reich. Historically he may be called the most destructive man of the 20th century and his reckless war policy contributed greatly to the decline of Europe as the center of world affairs.

In 1933, in the midst of the depression, Hitler's Nazi party won the most seats in the Reichstag (parliament). Shortly after the election the Nazis set the Reichstag building afire and blamed it on the communists. The communists were expelled from parliament, and the remaining deputies granted Hitler dictatorial powers.

Hitler immediately eliminated his political opponents and began rearmament. Hitler had long argued that the future of the German race could only be assured by colonizing large territories in the East and settling them with Germans.

The expansion of German territory began in 1938 when Hitler's army marched first into Austria, and then into Czechoslovakia. The invasion of Poland in 1939 triggered the second World War, a war that lasted for almost five years and cost the lives of nearly fifty million people.

Fascism

The word fascism derives from the ' fasces ', a bundle of rods with an axe in it, which had been a symbol of authority in ancient Rome. It was first used in Italy by Benito Mussolini (1919) in order to contrast his political doctrine from the philosophical trends of the 18th and 19th century.

The spirit of the Enlightenment had enhanced the dignity of the individual and propagated openess in a secularized society.
In contrast, Fascism extolled the supreme sovereignity of the nation as an absolute. The slogans of the French revolution ' liberty, equality, fraternity ' were rejected with Mussolini's slogan ' to believe, to obey, to combat '. Apart from the state there was no scope for independent action either of individuals or of groups. In place of democracy Fascism substituted the figure of 'Il Duce', or ' Leader ' who had to be obeyed unquestioningly.

In international politics, Fascism exalted war instead of peace, maintaining that a nation must have ' a will to power ' and the desire for expansion. Mussolini wrote:

'...war alone brings up to their highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon a people who have the courage to meet it. War is to man what maternity is to woman. I do not believe in peace, but I find it depressing and a negation of all human virtues of man '.

Nazism

The German Nazis adopted the doctrine of fascism, but Hitler added a further element : the myth of racial purity and Aryan superiority. He regarded the Nordic Aryan race as the only source of human greatness, and he despised the 'inferior' Slavs and above all the Jews as un-German. His anti-Semitic campaign resulted during the 1940's in the infamous Holocaust, that is, the extermination of many millions of Jews. ( The Jewish population of Poland, for instance, shrank from a pre-war population of 3,3 Million Jews to 300,000 after the war ).

Hitler's aim was to unite all Germans in a common state, the 'Third Reich' *, inhabited by a ' pure Aryan ' race. That was but the first step, for Hitler believed that a life and death struggle was the substance of history. The future of the German race could only be assured, he argued, by colonizing large territories in the East and settling them with Germans. The Slav leadership class in the East was to be exterminated to secure German domination. Within four years millions of Slavs, especially Russians, Poles and Serbs, were exterminated.

Externally Hitler formed with Mussolini's Italy an alliance called the ' Axis '; to it there was soon added a third member, who was not ' pure Aryan ' as all anti-Semites should be, but was too valuble to refuse. This nation, Japan, was then declared to be the Prussia of Asia.

Hitler's appeal to the Germans as the most elevated race in the world had great attraction to a people disillusioned by a lost war and believing itself surrounded by a hostile world. Hitler wrote that all propaganda must be directed at the least intelligent level of those at whom it is directed and that truth is less important than success.

The racial interpretation of history and the fascist contempt for democracy combined to bring Germany into war against communism and democracy at the same time. For a few brief years it seemed that fascist ideology was victorious - in 1942, Germany ruled over most of Europe and parts of North Africa, while its Japanese allies extended their domain far into China and over most of East Asia. Three years later the three main fascist powers collapsed.

* The Nazis regarded the Roman empire as the first Reich; the second Reich would be the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation; followed by the German Third Reich.

Mahatma Gandhi

2008-09-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

Spiritual/Political Leader and Humanitarian, 1869 - 1948

(Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. He became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 1900's. Gandhi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is honored by his people as the father of the Indian Nation. The Indian people called Gandhi Mahatma, meaning Great Soul.

At age 13, Gandhi joined Kasturba, age 12, in a marriage arranged by their parents. The Gandhis had four sons: Harilal and Manilal, born in India, and Ramdas and Devdas born in South Africa. While Gandhi displayed loving kindness to everyone else, he was quite demanding and severe with his wife and sons. Use the links below to learn more about Gandhi's relationship with his family.

Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. In 1893 he accepted a one year contract to do legal work in South Africa. At the time South Africa was controlled by the British. When he attempted to claim his rights as a British subject he was abused, and soon saw that all Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for 21 years working to secure rights for Indian people. He developed a method of direct social action based upon the principles courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. He believed that the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining political and social goals.

In 1915 Gandhi returned to India. Within 15 years he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. Using the tenets of Satyagraha he lead the campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Gandhi was arrested many times by the British for his activities in South Africa and India. He believed it was honorable to go to jail for a just cause. Altogether he spent seven years in prison for his political activities. More than once Gandhi used fasting to impress upon others the need to be nonviolent.

India was granted independence in 1947, and partitioned into India and Pakistan. Rioting between Hindus and Muslims followed. Gandhi had been an advocate for a united India where Hindus and Muslims lived together in peace. On January 13, 1948, at the age of 78, he began a fast with the purpose of stopping the bloodshed. After 5 days the opposing leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and religion.

Among the tributes to Gandhi upon his death were these words by the great physicist, Alber

INDIAN HISTORY

2008-09-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Origin
India is home to one of the richest and the most ancient civilizations in the world, which existed over 5,000 years ago. This civilization originated in the Indus River Valley, hence the name given to it was Indus Valley civilization. It is the origin of many of the ideas, philosophies and movements which have shaped the destiny of mankind. The civilization with its main cities Mohenjadaro and Harappa flourished for over eight centuries. Its people thought to be Dravidians, whose descendants still inhabit the far south of India.

Aryan and Greek Invasions
The country was influenced by many invasions, the Arya or Aryans (1500BC) as they are known today, are the first invaders. Aryans were a group of nomadic tribes who had originally inhabited the steppes of Central Asia, in particular the region between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Tall, fair haired, with clear cut features, they spoke a group of languages which have become known as Indo-European. They settled in the region to the north west of India, known as the Punjab. They brought with them new ideas, new technology and new gods, this is one of the most important epochs in Indian history. With time, the Aryans were engaged in struggle with the dark skinned people or Dasyus. The Dasyus were the Dravidians. The superiority of the Aryans resulted in the Dravidian submission.

The second great invasion into India occurred around 500 BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius, pushing their empire eastward, conquered the prized Indus Valley. After centuries of obscurity, doubt and conjecture, India came into the full light of recorded history with the invasion of Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 327 BC. Although Alexander crossed the Indus and defeated an Indian king, he turned back without extending his power into India.

Maurya and Gupta Periods
The receding tide of Greek power led to a period of confusion and uncertainty in northern India as various rulers tried to make capital of the vacuum that Alexander had left behind. These circumstances saw the rise of Mauryas, India's first imperial dynasty, founded by Chandragupta Maurya. Maurya dynasty reached its peak around 260 BC under the Emperor Ashoka, the most famous figures in Indian History. He left a series of inscriptions on pillars and rocks across the sub-continent. But after his death, the Mauryan empire gradually fell apart because his descendants were not as strong rulers as he was.

At the beginning of the fourth century AD, India was fragmented into a lot of small kingdoms. They were often invaded by stronger neighbors like Greeks. They conquered Indus Valley again but they didn't stay for long. Out of this seeming Chaos, King Chandragupta II united all of northern India into a great empire again.

The Gupta period has been described as the golden age of Indian history and under their rule of northern India, arts, including poetry and literature, flourished. The exquisite Ajanta and Ellora caves were excavated in this period. Gupta period extended from 320AD to 480AD. But in 455 AD the Huns invaded India from the north and destroyed the Guptan Empire. Again India was split into small kingdoms until the Muslim invasions around 1000 AD.

In South India, great empires rose, entirely independently from those of the north. These included the Kalachuris, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Yadhavas, Hoysalas, Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras and the Vijayanagar kingdom.

September 19

2008-09-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

September 19, 1676 - Jamestown, Virginia, was attacked and burned during a rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon against the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley.

September 19, 1893 - New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote.

September 19-20, 1985 - Mexico City earthquakes killed an estimated 5,000 to 20,000 persons and left more than 100,000 homeless, causing $4 billion in damage. The quakes registered 8.1 and 7.5 on the Richter Scale.

September 19, 1994 - U.S. troops invaded Haiti, with the stated goal of restoring democracy.

Birthday - English author William Golding (1911-1993) was born in Cornwall, England. Best known for Lord of the Flies, he received a Nobel Prize in 1983.
Today in History - February 19
3CE Feb 19, Sadiq Hidajat, Persian writer (Blind Person Owl), was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)

197 Feb 19, Lucius Septimius Severus' army beat Clodius Albinus at Lyon. D Clodius Septimus Albinus, Roman dignitary in England, died in the battle.
(MC, 2/19/02)

356 Feb 19, Emperor Constantius II shut all heathen (non-Christian) temples.
(MC, 2/19/02)

842 Feb 19, The Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1401 Feb 19, William Sawtree, 1st English religious martyr, was burned in London.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1408 Feb 19, Henry IV led a victory in the Battle of Brabham Moor that marked the end of domestic threats. The revolt of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, against King Henry IV, ended with his defeat and death at Bramham Moor.
(MWH, 1994)(HN, 2/19/98)

1414 Feb 19, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, chancellor of England, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1473 Feb 19, The astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) was born in Torun, Poland. He promulgated the theory that the earth and the planets move around the sun.
(WUB, 1994, p. 322)(HN, 2/19/98)(AP, 2/19/98)

1539 Feb 19, Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary, (then Trnava, Czech), were expelled.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1545 Feb 19, Pierre Brully, [Peter Brulius], Calvinist minister, was burned to death.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1634 Feb 19, At the Battle at Smolensk Polish king Wladyslaw IV beat the Russians. [see Mar 1]
(MC, 2/19/02)

1671 Feb 19, Charles-Hubert Gervais, composer, was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1674 Feb 19, Netherlands and England signed the Peace of Westminster. NYC became English.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1687 Feb 19, Johann Adam Birkenstock, composer and sandal designer, was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1701 Feb 19, Philip V of Spain made his ceremonial entry into Madrid.
(HN, 2/19/99)

1736 Feb 19, Georg F. Handel's "Alexander's Feast," premiered.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1743 Feb 19, [Rodolfo] Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer, cellist (Minuet), was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1797 Feb 19, Pope Pius VI ceded papal territory to France in the Treaty of Tolentino.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.353)

1803 Feb 19, Congress voted to accept Ohio's borders and constitution. However, Congress did not get around to formally ratifying Ohio statehood until 1953.
(AP, 2/19/98)

1807 Feb 19, Former Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. He was subsequently tried for treason and acquitted. [see May 22, Sep 1]
(HN, 2/19/98)(AP, 2/19/98)

1817 Feb 19, William III, King of the Netherlands, was born.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1831 Feb 19, The 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive made its 1st trial run in Penn.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1843 Feb 19, Adelina Patti, opera soprano (Lucio), was born in Madrid, Spain.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1846 Feb 19, The Texas state government was formally installed in Austin, with J. Pinckney Henderson taking the oath of office as governor.
(AP, 2/19/07)

1847 Feb 19, Rescuers finally reached the ill-fated Donner Party in the Sierras, where many resorted to cannibalism to survive.
(HN, 2/19/99)

1856 Feb 19, Tin-type camera was patented by Hamilton Smith in Gambier, Ohio.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1858 Feb 19, Alois Basil Nikolaus Tomasini (78), composer, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1859 Feb 19, Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, founder of physical chemistry, was born.
(HN, 2/19/01)
1859 Feb 19, Daniel E. Sickles, NY congressman, was acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity. This was the 1st time this defense was successfully used. Sickles had shot and killed Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key, author of "Star Spangled Banner." He shot Lee, the DC district attorney, in Lafayette Square for having an affair with his wife. Sickles pleaded temporary insanity and the sanctity of a man’s home and beat the murder rap.
(WSJ, 3/29/02, p.W10)(MC, 2/19/02)

1861 Feb 19, Pres.-elect Lincoln traveled through NYC on his way to Washington.
(WSJ, 2/12/04, p.D12)

1876 Feb 19, Gardiner Hubbard submitted Alexander Graham Bell's patent application for a telephone.
(ON, 1/03, p.4)

1877 Feb 19, Louis Francois-Marie Aubert, French composer (Habanera), was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1878 Feb 19, Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for "an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines."
(AP, 2/19/07)
1878 Feb 19, Charles F. Daubigny (61), French restaurateur, painter, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1881 Feb 19, Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
(AP, 2/19/98)

1884 Feb 19, A series of tornadoes left an estimated 800 people dead in 7 US states (Miss, Ala, NC, SC, Tenn., Ky & In).
(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(MC, 2/19/02)

1887 Feb 19, The 49th US Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act. It abolished women's suffrage, forced wives to testify against their husbands, disincorporated the LDS Church, dismantled the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, abolished the Nauvoo Legion, and provided that LDS Church property in excess of $50,000 would be forfeited to the United States.
(http://somemormonstuff.blogspot.com/2007/02/edmunds-tucker-act-chap.html)

1902 Feb 19, Kay Boyle, short story writer (“The White Horses of Vienna”), was born.
(HN, 2/19/01)
1902 Feb 19, Smallpox vaccination became obligatory in France.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1903 Feb 19, The Austria-Hungary government decreed a mandatory two year military service.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1906 Feb 19, W.K. Kellogg & Ch Bolin incorporated the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co. Will Kellogg spent 2/3 of the company budget to advertise Corn Flakes.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.E4)(ON, 2/05, p.10)

1910 Feb 19, English premiere of Richard Strauss' "Elektra."
(MC, 2/19/02)
1910 Feb 19, Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary) was released from 4 years of quarantine on New York’s North Brother Island. In 1914 she caused a typhus outbreak in the Sloane Maternity Hospital. She was again arrested and returned to North Brother Island where she died Nov 11, 1938.
(ON, 7/01, p.12)

1911 Feb 19, Merle Oberon, film actress, was born.
(HN, 2/19/01)

1912 Feb 19, Stan Kenton, [Newcomb], jazz musician (Music 55), was born in Wichita, Ks.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1915 Feb 19, British and French warships began their attacks on the Turkish forts at the mouth of the Dardenelles, in an abortive expedition to force the straits of Gallipoli. Winston Churchill was the architect of the disastrous campaign.
(HN, 2/19/99)(NW, 12/24/01, p.64)

1917 Feb 19, Carson McCuller, writer (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), was born.
(HN, 2/19/01)
1917 Feb 19, American troops were recalled from the Mexican border.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1919 Feb 19, The First Pan African Congress met in Paris, France.
(HN, 2/19/99)

1921 Feb 19, Claude Rene Georges Pascal, composer, was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1921 Feb 19, The U.S. Red Cross reported that approximately 20,000 children died yearly in auto accidents.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1923 Feb 19, Jean Sibelius' 6th Symphony premiered.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1925 Feb 19, President Calvin Coolidge proposed the phasing out of inheritance tax.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1926 Feb 19, Dr. Lane of Princeton estimated the earth’s age at one billion years.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1929 Feb 19, A medical diathermy machine was 1st used in Schenectady, NY.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1930 Feb 19, John Frankenheimer (d.2002), Hollywood film director (Birdman of Alcatraz, The Train), was born in NYC.
(SSFC, 7/7/02, p.A23)(MC, 2/19/02)

1932 Feb 19, Jean-Pierre Ponnele, opera director (Carmina Burana), was born in Paris, France.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1933 Feb 19, Herman Goring, Nazi Prussian minister, banned all Catholic newspapers.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1940 Feb 19, Smokey Robinson, American singer and songwriter, was born. He was famous for his songs "Tears of a Clown" and "Tracks of My Tears."
(HN, 2/19/99)
1940 Feb 19, Saparmurad Niyazov, later president of Turkmenistan (1992-2006), was born.
(www.turkmenistanembassy.org/turkmen/gov/presbio.html)(WSJ, 12/29/06, p.A8)

1941 Feb 19, Nazi police were attacked and driven away from Koco, Amsterdam by young Jews. Nazis raided Amsterdam and rounded up 429 young Jews for deportation.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1941 Feb 19, Hamilton Harty (61), composer, conductor, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1942 Feb 19, Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded "I'll Take Tallulah."
(MC, 2/19/02)
1942 Feb 19, President Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 that gave the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans. The order resulted in the incarceration of more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans living in California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. By the end of March, 1942, the Japanese-Americans were moved to 10 relocation camps throughout the U.S. interior. The mass expulsion of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast ended on January, 2, 1945. [see Feb 20]
(AP, 2/20/98)(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A13)(HNQ, 9/3/99)
1942 Feb 19, Port Darwin, on the northern coast of Australia, was bombed by about 150 Japanese warplanes. General George C. Kenney, who pioneered aerial warfare strategy and tactics in the Pacific theater, ordered 3,000 parafrag bombs to be sent to Australia, where he thought they might come in handy against the Japanese. Darwin was virtually leveled by 64 bombing raids over 21 months.
(AP, 2/19/98)(HN, 2/19/98)(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.T10)
1942 Feb 19, Japanese troops landed on Timor. Australian commandos battled the Japanese with support from local people. Japanese reprisals killed 60,000 civilians, 13% of the population.
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A15)(MC, 2/19/02)

1943 Feb 19, "Mama" Cass Elliot, actress (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday), was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1943 Feb 19, German tanks under brig. general Buelowius attacked Kasserine Pass, Tunisia.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1944 Feb 19, The U.S. Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force began "Big Week," a series of heavy bomber attacks against German aircraft production facilities.
(HN, 2/19/99)
1944 Feb 19, U-264 sank off Ireland.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1945 Feb 19, About 60,000 [75,000] US marines went ashore at Iwo Jima, an 8-sq. mile island of rock, volcanic ash and black sand. During World War II, some 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima, where they began a month-long battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces. The 36-day battle took the lives of 7,000 Americans and about 20,000 of 22,000 Japanese defenders.
(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A20)(HN, 2/19/98)(AP, 2/19/98)(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)
1945 Feb 19, On Ramree Island off the coast of old Burma, some 900 Japanese soldiers retreated from British soldiers into an alligator filled swamp. Only about 20 men survived.
(SFEC, 2/23/96, Z1 p.2)(MC, 2/19/02)
1945 Feb 19, Ivan Kozhedub of the Ukraine became the only Soviet pilot to shoot down a Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter and, on April 19, 1945, he downed two Focke-Wulf Fw-190s to bring his final tally to 62--the top Allied ace of the war. He was the Allies’ top ace and one of only two Soviet fighter pilots to be awarded the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union three times during World War II. Ironically prevented from fighting because his skill as a pilot made him more useful as an instructor, Kozhedub did not fly his first combat mission until March 26, 1943.
(HNQ, 4//01)

1947 Feb 19, CBS radio premiere of Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras No 3."
(MC, 2/19/02)

1949 Feb 19, Ezra Pound won the Bollingen Prize.
(HFA, '96, p.24)
1949 Feb 19, Mass arrests of communists took place in India.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1951 Feb 19, Andre Paul-Guillaume Gide (b.1869), French novelist and critic, died. Andre Gide’s novels included "The Immoralist," "Straight Is the Gate," "Lafcadio's Adventures," "Corydon," "The Counterfeiters" and his explicit memoir "If It Die…" (1926). In 1999 Alan Sheridan published the biography "André Gide: A Life in the Present." Gide won the Nobel Prize in 1947. "There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them." "Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." “The color of truth is gray.”
(AP, 10/31/97)(AP, 3/24/98)(SFEC, 6/28/98, Z1 p.8)(WSJ, 4/6/99, p.A24)(SFEC, 6/13/99, BR p.4)(MC, 11/22/01)

1952 Feb 19, Amy Tan, novelist (The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife), was born.
(HN, 2/19/01)
1952 Feb 19, There was a French offensive at Hanoi.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1953 Feb 19, William Inge's "Picnic," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1953 Feb 19, Georgia approved the 1st US literature censorship board.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1958 Feb 19, Rebecca ("Becky") Hoppe, founder of Soccer Moms of US, was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1958 Feb 19, Hail the size of baseballs was reported with flash lightning over parts of Minneapolis.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1959 Feb 19, A USAF rocket-powered rail sled attained Mach 4.1 (4970 kph) in NM.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1959 Feb 19, An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.
(AP, 2/19/98)

1960 Feb 19, Prince Andrew of Britain, Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York was born.
(HN, 2/19/98)(MC, 2/19/02)

1963 Feb 19, The Soviet Union informed President Kennedy it would withdraw "several thousand" of an estimated 17,000 Soviet troops in Cuba.
(AP, 2/19/98)

1965 Feb 19, Fourteen Vietnam War protesters were arrested for blocking U.N. doors in New York.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1966 Feb 19, Robert F. Kennedy suggested the U.S. offer the Vietcong a role in governing South Vietnam.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1973 Feb 19, Joseph Szigeti (b.1892), Hungarian-born US violinist, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Szigeti)

1976 Feb 19, Britain slashed welfare spending.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1981 Feb 19, The U.S. State Department called El Salvador a "textbook case" of a Communist plot.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1981 Feb 19, George Harrison was ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine."
(http://digital-law-online.info/cases/221PQ490.htm)

1983 Feb 19, A shooting at the Wah Mee gambling parlor in Seattle, Wa., left 13 men dead. Kwan-Fai Mak and Benjamin Ng were later found guilty on 13 murder counts.
(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A7)(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A8)

1985 Feb 19, William Schroeder (d.1986) was the 1st artificial heart patient to leave hospital. He spent 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Schroeder)(http://tinyurl.com/yj2fc3)
1985 Feb 19, Mickey Mouse was welcomed in China.
(www.440.com/twtd/archives/feb19.html)
1985 Feb 19, 150 were killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain.
(http://tinyurl.com/ylaall)

1986 Feb 19, The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide, 37 years after the pact had first been submitted for ratification.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1986 Feb 19, The Soviet Union launched the first component of its Mir space station. Mir meant peace.
(WSJ, 6/27/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/5/98, p.W14)(SFC, 8/26/99, p.A12)
1986 Feb 19, Adolfo Celi (b.1922), Italian film actor and director (Thunderball), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Celi)

1987 Feb 19, An anti-smoking ad aired for the 1st time on TV and featured Yul Brynner (1920-1985), who had died of lung cancer.
(www.terramedia.co.uk/Chronomedia/years/1987.htm)
1987 Feb 19, Pres. Reagan lifted remaining economic sanctions against Poland.
(www.eco.utexas.edu/~hmcleave/rieprop.html)
1987 Feb 19, New York Governor Mario Cuomo declared that he would not run for president in the next election.
(HN, 2/19/98)

1988 Feb 19, A group calling itself the "Organization of the Oppressed on Earth" claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in Lebanon of U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins. Higgins was later slain by his captors.
(AP, 2/19/98)

1989 Feb 19, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini rejected the apology of "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie, exhorting Muslims to "send him to hell" for committing blasphemy.
(AP, 2/19/99)

1990 Feb 19, US Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, snubbed by Philippine President Corazon Aquino, met in Manila with Defense Minister Fidel Ramos to discuss the future of U.S. bases in the country.
(AP, 2/19/00)
1990 Feb 19, Michael Powell (84), English director (Life & Death of Col Blimp), died.
(www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/447167/index.html)

1991 Feb 19, President Bush told reporters a Soviet proposal to end the Persian Gulf War fell “well short of what would be required.” Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin delivered an unprecedented public appeal for Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to resign.
(AP, 2/19/01)

1992 Feb 19, "Crazy For You" opened at Shubert Theater in NYC for 1622 performances.
(http://www.musicals101.com/1990s.htm)
1992 Feb 19, The US Labor Department reported consumer prices rose by just 0.1 percent in January.
(AP, 2/19/02)
1992 Feb 19, Peter Collins of Boulder, Colo., discovered Nova Cygni 1992.
(www.aavso.org/vstar/vsots/v1974cyg.shtml)
1992 Feb 19, Former Irish Republican Army member Joseph Doherty was deported from the United States to Northern Ireland following a 10-year battle for political asylum.
(AP, 2/19/02)

1993 Feb 19, President Clinton's economic plan won praise from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The president, visiting Hyde Park, N.Y., suggested the United States might have to consider a national sales tax "not too long in the future," then said he'd meant in 10 years or so.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1993 Feb 19, Gerhard Gesell (82), judge (Pentagon Papers), died of liver cancer.
(MC, 2/19/02)

1994 Feb 19, American speedskater Bonnie Blair won the fourth Olympic gold medal of her career as she won the 500-meter race in Lillehammer, Norway.
(AP, 2/19/99)
1994 Feb 19, With Bosnian Serbs facing a NATO deadline to withdraw heavy weapons encircling Sarajevo or face air strikes, President Clinton delivered an address from the Oval Office reaffirming the ultimatum.
(AP, 2/19/99)

1995 Feb 19, A day after being named the new chairwoman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Myrlie Evers-Williams outlined her plans for revitalizing the civil rights organization, saying she intended to take the group back to its roots.
(AP, 2/19/00)
1995 Feb 19, Calder Willingham (b.1922), novelist, scriptwriter (The Graduate), died of lung cancer in New Hampshire.
(www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1244)

1996 Feb 19, Pres. Clinton told Monica Lewinsky that their relationship must end. It was later resumed.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A13)
1996 Feb 19, Republican presidential hopefuls argued taxes, trade and negative ads in a final burst of contentious campaigning on the eve of New Hampshire’s leadoff primary, with Bob Dole the principal target.
(AP, 2/19/01)
1996 Feb 19, Charlie O. Finley (77), baseball showman, died in Chicago.
(AP, 2/19/07)

1997 Feb 19, The US FCC made available 311 for non-emergency calls & 711 for hearing or speech-impaired emergency calls.
(http://tinyurl.com/8xhja)
1997 Feb 19, Detroit's daily newspapers accepted a back-to-work offer from employees who'd been on strike for 19 months, but the strikers charged the conditions for return amounted to a lockout.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1997 Feb 19, In southwestern Alaska Evan Ramsey (16) opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun as students assembled in a high school lobby, killing a principal and 16-year-old classmate in Bethel, a town of 6,000. Ramsey was sentenced to a 198-year prison term.
(AP, 4/25/06)(www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/kids1/index_1.html)
1997 Feb 19, Larry Singleton murdered Roxanne Hayes, a prostitute, in Tampa, Fla. He had served 8 years of a 14-year sentence for the 1978 rape and maiming of 15-year-old Mary Vincent in Ca. A trial in Dec ended in a mistrial and another was set for 1998. He was sentenced to death in 1998 but died of cancer in a prison hospital in 2001.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.A3)(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A3)(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A13)
1997 Feb 19, Prof. James J. Parsons, authority on the historical geography of Latin America, died. He authored 5 books and 150 articles.
(SFC, 2/27/97, p.A16)
1997 Feb 19, Leo Rosten (88), writer, humorist (Joys of Yiddish), died.
(www.nndb.com/people/842/000048698/)
1997 Feb 19, Deng Xiaoping (92), the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died from Parkinson’s disease. He smoked heavily and Panda was his brand./
(AP, 2/19/98)(WSJ, 5/26/04, p.A1)

1998 Feb 19, At the Nagano Olympics, Austrian Hermann Maier won the men's giant slalom while Hilde Gerg of Germany won the women's slalom.
(AP, 2/19/99)
1998 Feb 19, Federal officials in Henderson, Nevada, arrested Larry Wayne Harris and William Job Leavitt for possession of suspected anthrax bacterium. Harris had earlier published the 131-page book: "Bacteriological Warfare: A Major Threat to North America." The substance turned out to be a harmless veterinary vaccine. Harris was later sentenced to 6 months probation.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A1,8)(SFEC, 2/22/98, p.A11)(SFC, 3/25/98, p.A3)
1998 Feb 19, Scientists reported the discovery of the brain’s hunger hormone. It was named “orexin” after the Greek word “orexis” meaning hunger.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A11)
1998 Feb 19, In Columbia Jose Nelson Urrego, aka “El Loco” and the purported head of the so-called Cartel del Norte del Valle, was arrested.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A14)
1998 Feb 19, In Georgia gunmen kidnapped 4 UN observers and 6 civilians and demanded the release of 7 suspects held for last week’s assassination attempt on Pres. Shevardnadze.
(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 19, In Indonesia 3 Chinese tycoons led by Liem Sioe Liong, the No. 1 individual taxpayer, started a huge food giveaway to the poor. In Kendari mobs attacked Chinese-owned shops and homes. In Jakarta some 600 students demanded that the government quit.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 19, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan set out for Iraq on a last-chance peace mission, saying he was "reasonably optimistic" about ending the standoff over weapons inspections without the use of force.
(AP, 2/19/99)
1998 Feb 19, North Korean officials sent letters to South Korea offering talks between political parties and civic groups.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 19, In Pakistan Kanwar Ahson was arrested in Karachi, a Mohajir-dominated city of 14 million, for having sex outside of marriage with his lover Riffat Afridi, who was in hiding. The couple were of rival ethnic groups and the Afridi’s father refused to allow them to marry. They married last week and set off a riot where 2 people were killed and 8 injured.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A14)
1998 Feb 19, In Switzerland police arrested 3 Israeli Mossad agents for spying on diplomats in Bern.
(SFC, 2/26/98, p.A9)

1999 Feb 19, President Clinton posthumously pardoned Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, whose military career was tarnished by a racially motivated discharge.
(AP, 2/19/00)
1999 Feb 19, The US Commerce Dept. reported that the 1998 trade deficit soared to $168.8 billion.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 19, OSHA proposed an ergonomics standard after 8 years of study.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A6)
1999 Feb 19, It was reported that Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon helped reduce the risk of cancer due to its high content of flavonols.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 19, In Allentown, Pa., An explosion at a chemical processing plant in the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park killed 5 people and injured 14.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A7)(WSJ, 2/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 19, In Sylacauga, Alabama, Billy Jack Gaither (39), a textile warehouse worker, was abducted, beaten to death with an ax handle and burned on a pyre of tires due to a sexual advance. Steven Eric Mullins (25) and Charles Monroe Butler Jr. (21) were later arrested and charged with murder. Butler was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A1)(SFC, 6/25/99, p.A3)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 19, In Najaf, Iraq, Shiite Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sader was killed with his 2 sons in a drive-by shooting. Dissidents blamed the government and said riots followed the killings. The government denied any disturbances.
(SFEC, 2/20/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 19, In Japan the lower house passed a record $682.5 billion budget with huge spending increases and tax cuts.
(SFC, 2/20/99, p.B1)

2000 Feb 19, George W. Bush beat Sen. John McCain in the South Carolina Republican primary 53% to 42%.
(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.A1,6)
2000 Feb 19, It was reported that physicists from Italy and China had described the possible detection of a neutralino particle, also called a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). Such particles were suspected to make up the mysterious dark matter and the vast majority of all matter in the universe. On Feb 25 physicists from Stanford reported evidence that seemed to contradict the Italian and Chinese findings.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.A1,13)(SFC, 2/26/00, p.A3)
2000 Feb 19, It was reported that some 200 people had died in East Timor, mostly women and children, in the last week due to illnesses attributed to sanitation problems caused by recent flooding.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 19, In Mexico people in Tepatepec, Hidalgo, captured at least 65 policemen after state police raided the El Mexe Rural Teachers College. The police were later freed after the release of hundreds of students and supporters.
(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A10)

2001 Feb 19, President George W. Bush opened a museum commemorating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
(AP, 2/19/02)
2001 Feb 19, Stanley Kramer (b.1913), Hollywood film producer and director, died in Woodland Hills, Ca., at age 87. His work included 35 films.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A18)(AP, 2/19/02)(NW, 12/31/01, p.107)
2001 Feb 19, In Britain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was found in 27 pigs at an slaughterhouse in Essex. The last outbreak was in 1981. The outbreak was 1st identified in pigs at Heddon-on-the-Wall.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A12)(SFC, 3/31/01, p.D8)
2001 Feb 19, In Burma a helicopter crash killed junta Lt. Gen. Tin Oo (67) and left 14 missing.
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 19, In the West Bank Mahmoud Madani (25), a Hamas activist, was shot to death from long range.
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.A9)
2001 Feb 19, In the Philippines Pres. Arroyo announced a cease-fire with southern separatists. She hoped Mindanao rebels would reciprocate. Separately 10 people drowned and a dozen were missing when their illegal ferry capsized as they tried to reach Malaysia for work.
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.A9)

2002 Feb 19, President Bush opened a two-day visit to South Korea. Bush urged the “despotic regime” in North Korea to reunite with the free South.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A14)(AP, 2/19/07)
2002 Feb 19, The US Supreme Court ok’d peer grading in schools.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A3)
2002 Feb 19, In Salt Lake City, a win by bobsledders Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers gave the United States 21 medals in the Winter Games; Flowers became the first black athlete ever to strike gold at the Winter Olympics.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2002 Feb 19, A suit was filed on behalf of 3 detainees, one Australian and 2 British citizens, held at Guantanamo, Cuba.
(SFC, 2/19/02, p.A10)
2002 Feb 19, In Bolivia a flash flood in La Paz killed at least 22 people. The death toll later climbed to 52.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A11)(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A13)
2002 Feb 19, In Cairo, Egypt, an overcrowded train en route from Cairo to the southern city of Luxor burst into flames from a gas cannister. It then traveled 2 1/2 miles before the driver stopped. 361 people were killed.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A9)(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A8)(AFP, 5/27/04)
2002 Feb 19, In Germany a man, who recently lost his job, killed 2 ex-bosses and the principal of his former high school in Freising.
(WSJ, 2/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 19, Israeli-Palestinian fighting left 15 people dead. 6 Israeli soldiers died at a checkpoint.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A8)(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 19, Italian authorities arrested 4 Moroccans in Rome, members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Maps were found of the US Embassy, small quantities of cyanide, and a map of the city’s water system.
(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A16)
2002 Feb 19, In Jordan a military prosecutor froze the assets of some prominent businessmen and former intelligence officials. Fraudulent loans were reported to be as much as $85 million.
(WSJ, 2/20/02, p.A18)
2002 Feb 19, In Liberia rebels were repelled at Heindi and Bong Mines, 20 miles northeast of Monrovia, as some 15,000 civilians fled.
(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A13)
2002 Feb 19, It was reported that Pakistan had begun disbanding the Afghan and Kashmir units of its Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 19, Peru's justice minister ruled out a presidential pardon for Lori Berenson after the Supreme Court confirmed the American woman's 20-year sentence for aiding leftist rebels.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2002 Feb 19, In Saudi Arabia some 2 million Muslims gathered in Mecca for the annual hajj.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A11)

2003 Feb 19, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt announced his second candidacy for president with a pledge to repeal most of President Bush's tax cuts.
(AP, 2/19/04)
2003 Feb 19, Armenia held national elections. Pres. Kocharian was being challenged by 8 contenders who criticized his failure to secure a final deal with Azerbaijan over the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. He also faced accusations over about 30 unresolved political killings in recent years and the widening gap between rich and poor in this nation of 3.3 million people. Kocharian failed to win the necessary 50 % of votes for re-election, forcing a runoff in balloting that the opposition complained was rigged.
(AP, 2/19/03)(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 Feb 19, In Bolivia Pres. de Lozada announced a new Cabinet, replacing eight ministers and eliminating six ministries.
(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 Feb 19, China outlined plans for an enormous, 30-50 year project to carry water from the country’s water-saturated south to its arid north. The project was 1st conceived by Mao Zedong in the 1950s.
(AP, 2/19/03)(SSFC, 9/5/04, p.A16)
2003 Feb 19, In Germany Mounir el Motassadeq (28) was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for helping the Hamburg-based al-Qaida terror cell in the 9/11 attacks on the US.
(AP, 2/19/03)
2003 Feb 19, An Iranian military plane carrying 275 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all on board.
(WSJ, 2/20/03, p.A1)(AP, 2/19/08)
2003 Feb 19, Israeli tanks and soldiers battled Palestinian militants in the streets of Gaza City before dawn in violence that left 11 Palestinians dead, including a suicide bomber who tried to blow up a tank. Hamas fired 4 Qassam rockets into Sderot in retaliation.
(AP, 2/19/03)(SFC, 2/20/03, A6)
2003 Feb 19, NATO approved the deployment of defense equipment to Turkey in the event of a war in Iraq. Turkey and the US failed again to agree on the size of an economic aid package.
(AP, 2/19/03)
2003 Feb 19, In Pakistan heavy rains fell for a 5th day and left over 26 people dead. The country had experienced 5 years of drought.
(SFC, 2/20/03, A9)
2003 Feb 19, In the southern Philippines suspected separatist rebels attacked Poblacion. They rounded up some villagers and gunned down 14 people.
(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 Feb 19, In Venezuela the secret police (DISIP) arrested Carlos Fernandez, head of the largest business federation, for his role in the general strike.
(SFC, 2/21/03, A10)

2004 Feb 19, The AFL-CIO endorsed Democrat John Kerry for president.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2004 Feb 19, After sanctioning more than 2,800 gay marriages, the city of San Francisco sued the state of California, challenging its ban on same-sex marriages.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2004 Feb 19, Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron, pleaded not guilty to 35 felony charges and was released after posting a $5 million bail.
(SFC, 2/20/04, p.B1)
2004 Feb 19, It was announced that Philip Anschutz (64), Denver billionaire and founder of Qwest Communications, purchased the Fang newspapers including the SF Examiner for $20 million.
(SFC, 2/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 19, In Canada bird flu was detected at a chicken producer in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver. By the end of April some 19 million birds were culled, But the disease continued to spread.
(ST, 4/30/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 19, In Iraq an explosion ripped through an infantry patrol in an insurgent center west of Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring another.
(AP, 2/19/04)
2004 Feb 19, In Kenya a fire raced through a Nairobi slum, destroying hundreds of ramshackle tin and timber houses and leaving 4,500 families homeless.
(AP, 2/20/04)
2004 Feb 19, A Japanese consortium announced it will develop an Iranian oil field with reserves of up to 26 billion barrels. The deal was opposed by the United States because of fears the money could go to nuclear proliferation.
(AP, 2/19/04)

2005 Feb 19, The $3.2 billion USS Jimmy Carter entered the Navy's fleet as the most heavily armed submarine ever built, and as the last of the Seawolf class of attack subs that the Pentagon ordered during the Cold War's final years.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Arkansas a train slammed into an ambulance that apparently tried to get out of its path, but stopped at a rail crossing, killing all three paramedics on board. The patient in the vehicle survived.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Bangladesh a double-decker passenger ferry capsized and sank during a tropical storm, leaving at least 151 people dead. The MV Maharaj was carrying about 200 people when it capsized on the Buriganga River just outside Dhaka.
(AP, 2/21/05)(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 19, China's state news said North Korea no longer wants to negotiate with the US and 4 other nations in an effort to ease the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, About half a million hunters and supporters rallied across England and Wales in a massive display of force against a new fox hunting ban.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Haiti heavily armed gunmen attacked the national penitentiary, killing one guard in a shootout that allowed some 500 prisoners to escape.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 19, Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq killed over 50 people, including a US soldier, and injured 150 as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated Ashura, their holiest day of the year.
(AP, 2/19/05)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 19, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak backed an African solution to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region during 2 rounds of talks in Cairo.
(AFP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, Nigerian soldiers, sailors and police descended on Odioma to hunt down a local militia leader and black magic guru who was accused of murdering 12 people from Obiaku. 28 people killed and Odioma was burned down by government troops.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Feb 19, Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited a Thai fishing village that had been devastated by the December 2005 tsunami.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2005 Feb 19, In Trinidad security chiefs from 34 countries in the Americas outlined broad strategies for fighting money laundering, passport fraud and drug smuggling, warning that Islamic terrorists could exploit lawlessness in the region to raise money and slip through borders.
(AP, 2/19/05)

2006 Feb 19, Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2006 Feb 19, The East rallied from 21 points down for a 122-120 victory over the West in the NBA All-Star Game.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2006 Feb 19, In southern Afghanistan Taliban rebels attacked a police checkpost in insurgency-hit, killing three policemen.
(AFP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, Almost five months after publishing 12 cartoons of the prophet to highlight what it described as self-censorship, Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper printed a full-page apology in a Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper.
(AFP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, French President Jacques Chirac arrived in India for a whistle-stop visit aimed at bolstering trade and civilian nuclear cooperation with the emerging economic powerhouse.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, Jacques Bernard, the head of Haiti's electoral council, fled the country after opponents threatened his life and burned down his farmhouse nearly two weeks after disputed elections.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 19, India and France both confirmed their first outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu among fowl. Health officials and farm workers in western India began slaughtering a half-million birds to check the spread of the disease.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, India's private Kingfisher Airlines signed a deal to purchase 15 French ATR 72-500 aircraft for 270 million dollars, with the option to buy another 20. Kingfisher began operations in May and has a 7.6 percent share of the domestic market.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, In western India a bomb exploded at a railway station in Ahmadabad, injuring at least 13 people.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, Gunmen ambushed a convoy of trucks carrying construction material to US military north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi drivers. A police general also died in a roadside bombing in northern Iraq.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, Israel's Cabinet approved an immediate freeze on the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax money to the Palestinians in its first response to the takeover of the Palestinian parliament by the militant group Hamas.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, said that members would meet this week to hammer out a plan for sending millions of dollars a month to the Palestinian Authority, despite US attempts to stop the flow of money to the new Hamas-led government.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, An Israeli aircraft attacked two Palestinians laying a bomb near the Gaza-Israel border fence. Palestinians said two militants were killed.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, A gas explosion in a northern Mexico coal mine trapped 65 miners some 600 feet below ground with a limited supply of oxygen. In 2007 a judge ordered the arrest of 5 mine managers and inspectors on charges of negligent homicide in the deaths of the miners.
(AP, 2/19/06)(WSJ, 2/21/06, p.A1)(AP, 3/20/07)
2006 Feb 19, Ismail Haniyeh (46), a Gaza lawmaker seen as a leader of Hamas' pragmatic wing, was nominated to be Palestinian prime minister.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners, virtually sealed off the capital and used gunfire and tear gas to quell protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 19, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in China on a visit that analysts said would focus on anti-terrorism cooperation, trade and technological assistance.
(AFP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, In Peru Hector Aponte, a Shining Path guerrilla commander believed responsible for an ambush that killed eight policemen in December, was killed in a shootout with authorities in the Huallaga Valley. Aponte was a top commander under Comrade Artemio, one of the last original Shining Path leaders still at large.
(AP, 2/20/06)

2007 Feb 19, New Jersey became the 3rd US state to offer civil unions for gay couples.
(SFC, 2/20/07, p.A3)
2007 Feb 19, XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. announced an agreement to merge as equals. Sirius planned to XM shareholders $4.57 billion in stock.
(SFC, 2/20/07, p.C1)
2007 Feb 19, Actress Janet Blair (85) died in Santa Monica, Calif.
(AP, 2/19/08)
2007 Feb 19, In Afghanistan suspected Taliban insurgents briefly captured Bakwa, a small town in Farah province after police abandoned their posts.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, An official said Algeria has translated the Koran into the Berber language, Tamazight, for the first time, to promote Islam among a community that has long campaigned for more language and cultural rights.
(Reuters, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, British police arrested a man near Cambridge in connection with a series of letter bombs sent to offices linked to traffic enforcement. On Feb 22 Miles Cooper (22), a primary school caretaker, was charged with 12 offences under the Explosive Substances Act and the Offences Against the Person Act.
(AP, 2/19/07)(AFP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 19, Canada unexpectedly granted permanent resident status to Amir Kazemian (41), an Iranian, man who spent nearly three years in sanctuary in a Vancouver church before being arrested over the weekend. The Citizenship and Immigration officials granted him residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, Maria Consuelo Araujo, Colombia’s foreign minister, resigned as a growing scandal linking the political establishment and far-right paramilitaries claimed its first member of President Alvaro Uribe's Cabinet. 4 days earlier her brother, a senator, was jailed on charges of colluding with the paramilitaries and the kidnapping of a potential political rival. 2 clowns were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during their performance of Circo del Sol de Cali, a traveling circus, in the eastern town of Cucuta.
(AP, 2/19/07)(Reuters, 2/22/07)
2007 Feb 19, Police found the charred bodies of three Salvadoran representatives to the Central American Parliament and their driver on a rural road outside Guatemala City.
(AP, 2/20/07)
2007 Feb 19, In Iraq gunmen ambushed a minivan on the main highway from Baghdad to Anbar. The attackers accused the 13 aboard of opposing al-Qaida in Iraq. All 13 were executed, including an elderly woman and two boys. A string of car bombings and other attacks claimed more than 40 civilian lives in Baghdad and elsewhere. Insurgents launched a brazen coordinated attack on a US combat post near Tarmiyah, sending in a suicide bomber and clashing with American troops. Six US service members were killed.
(AP, 2/19/07)(AP, 2/20/07)(AP, 2/25/07)
2007 Feb 19, Three-way talks between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli and Palestinian leaders, initially billed as a new US push to restart peace efforts, ended with little progress other than a commitment to meet again.
(AP, 2/19/08)
2007 Feb 19, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced that soldiers waging an offensive against drug traffickers will get a pay hike of 45 percent this year in a bid to insulate them from corruption. This coincided with a decision to lower his own pay by 10% and abolish pensions for Mexican presidents.
(AP, 2/19/07)(SSFC, 7/8/07, p.A7)
2007 Feb 19, In Pakistan suspected Islamic militants killed an Afghan refugee they accused of spying for the US and dumped his beheaded body by a road in North Waziristan.
(AP, 2/20/07)
2007 Feb 19, Daniel Petru Corogeanu, a Romanian priest, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In 2005 he had led a dayslong exorcism ritual with 4 nuns for Maricica Irina Cornici (23), a young nun, that ended with the woman's death. One of the nuns, Nicoleta Arcalianu, was sentenced to eight years in prison, and the other three, Adina Cepraga, Elena Otel and Simona Bardanas, received five-year sentences.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, a top Russian general, warned that Poland and the Czech Republic risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to host a proposed US missile defense system.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, Rwanda released 8,000 prisoners accused of involvement in the country's 1994 genocide, prompting anger from survivors of the slaughter who fear new ethnic killings.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, A Saudi court ordered the bodies of four Sri Lankans to be displayed in a public square after being beheaded for armed robbery.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 19, Anglican leaders in Tanzania demanded that the US Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops to undo the damage that North Americans have caused the Anglican family.
(AP, 2/20/07)
2007 Feb 19, In Thailand violence continued as bombs exploded at four locations in the south, killing an army major and wounding two soldiers, three policemen and 13 civilians.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, Military officials said ongoing clashes between the Yemeni army and followers of a Shiite rebel leader in the north of the country have killed more than 100 people in the past five days.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 19, The EU extended sanctions on Zimbabwe for another year including an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze on President Robert Mugabe and other top officials.

Linkin park

2008-09-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

2008-09-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Shneha

2008-09-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

Animation

2008-09-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist.

Animation can sometimes refer to a way of activating a community, i.e. 'animating' the users. This means actions which encourages users to interact with a given service and is connected to moderation.

History

The earliest form of animation is a 5,200 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta which has five images painted along the sides. When the bowl is spun, it shows a goat leaping up to a tree to take a pear.