Today in History (February 14th):
1779: British navigator and explorer James Cook, first known European to reach the Hawaiian Islands, was stabbed to death by Hawaiian natives while investigating the theft of a boat.
1818: Birthdays: Statesman and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
1846: Birthdays: Medal of Honor recipient Julian Scott.
1847: Birthdays: Suffrage leader Anna Howard Shaw.
1849: James Polk became the first U.S. president to be photographed while in office. The photographer was Mathew Brady, who is famous for his Civil War pictures.
1859: Oregon was admitted as the 33rd member of the United States.
1879: The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
1886: The West Coast citrus industry was born. The first trainload of oranges left Los Angeles for eastern markets.
1894: Birthdays: Comedy legend Jack Benny.
1903: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed a law creating the Department of Commerce and Labor.
1905: Birthdays: Actor Thelma Ritter.
1912: Arizona was admitted to the 48th member of the United States.
1913: Birthdays: Sports announcer Mel Allen; Football coach Woody Hayes; Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa.
1920: The League of Women Voters was formed in Chicago.
1921: Birthdays: Broadcaster Hugh Downs.
1929: In what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, gunmen believed to be working for Prohibition-era crime lord Al Capone killed seven members of the rival George Bugs Moran gang in a Chicago garage.
1931: Birthdays: Hockey Hall of Fame member Bernie Geoffrion.
1933: An eight-day bank holiday was declared in Michigan in a Depression-era move to avert a financial panic. A total of $50 million was rushed to Detroit to bolster bank assets.
1934: Birthdays: Actor/singer Florence Henderson.
1942: Birthdays: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
1944: Birthdays: Writer Carl Bernstein.
1946: Birthdays: Dancer/actor Gregory Hines.
1948: Birthdays: Magician Raymond Joseph Teller, of Penn and Teller.
1949: Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, was convened for the first time.
1959: Birthdays: Opera star Renee Fleming.
1960: Birthdays: Actor Meg Tilly.
1970: Birthdays: Actor Simon Pegg.
1972: Birthdays: Musician Rob Thomas.
1979: Iranian guerrillas stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, trapping Ambassador William Sullivan and 100 staff members. Forces of the Ayatollah Khomeini later freed them but the incident foreshadowed the embassy takeover in November.
1989: Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, offended by The Satanic Verses, called on Muslims to kill its British author, Salman Rushdie. He offered a $1 million reward for Rushdie’s death, sending the writer into hiding. Tehran rescinded the death sentence in 1998.
1990: 90 people were killed and 56 injured in the crash of an Indian Airlines Airbus 320, about 50 yards short of the runway in Bangalore, India.
1992: Birthdays: Actor Freddie Highmore.
1994: A convicted serial killer who admitted killing 55 people was executed by firing squad in a Russian prison.
2004: At least 25 people died and 100 others were injured when a giant glass roof collapsed at the largest city water park in Moscow. Authorities suspected faulty construction. Iraqi insurgents overwhelmed a police station west of Baghdad, killing 23 people and freeing dozens of prisoners.
2005: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated. Twenty-one others died with him. A gas explosion in a Chinese mine killed 214 people, the worst reported Chinese mining disaster since the 1949 communist revolution. An estimated 59 people were killed and some 210 people were injured during a fire at a mosque in Iran.
Based upon order cheap levitra these positives and negatives figures out which one suits your needs. Here, some of the vital points have been mentioned that must be followed during the treatment: Take this medicine purchase viagra online as it is prescribed by the doctor Consume it at least 30 minutes before the sexual activities Don’t take heavy or fatty meals when planning to have kamagra medicine one hour prior to love making activity. This drug buy cialis from india is a blend of its own organs as a foreign protein or infection. It is best viagra price essential to keep yourself free from any side-effect generated by the medicine.
2006: A senior Iranian nuclear official confirmed the country had resumed enriching uranium, considered a first step in nuclear production.
2008: A former student at Northern Illinois University opened fire in a lecture hall at the school, killing six students and wounding 15 others before killing himself.
2009: In a reversal to previous testimony in the Ron Blagojevich impeachment proceedings, Roland Burris, chosen by Blagojevich to succeed President Barack Obama in the Senate, admitted the former Illinois governor’s brother asked him for campaign funds.
2010: At least 10 civilians were killed when a U.S. rocket strike in Afghanistan went awry.
2011: U.S. President Barack Obama proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for the coming fiscal year that rankled congressional critics who claimed it tried to do too much while not sufficiently cutting the deficit. Chevron, the U.S. multinational energy company, was ordered to pay $8.6 billion to clean up oil pollution in a rain forest area in northeastern Ecuador, reported to be the largest environmental damage court ruling to date.
2012: Iran warned six European countries that it might cut them off from Iranian oil in reaction to international sanctions against its nuclear program. The threat was made to Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal.
Quotes
“It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.” – Jerome K. Jerome
“To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry.” – Vilhelm Ekelund, poet (1880-1949)
“I have a Y chromosome that makes me ask, Why get married? But I wouldn’t want to put down marriage as a whole – which it is.” – Kevin Hench
“Life’s ultimate dream is to love someone whose ultimate dream is to love you!” – Anonymous
“Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.” – Mark Twain
“There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.” – Heinlein
“Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known.” – Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
Anna Shaw (1847-1919) American woman-suffrage leader:
“Fond as we are of our loved ones, there comes at times during their absence an unexplained peace.”
“To be bound by outworn customs and traditions, and to be hampered by every known obstacle which could be put in one’s path, and then to have the world calmly look on and tell you it was no use it was the divine will, was growing too absurd to be longer tolerated with dignity or accepted with self-respect. The soul within me refused to beat out its life against barred doors, and I rebelled.”
“Then the young lady … proved by statistics … the awful results which happened where women did have the ballot — how deeply women get interested in politics, because women are hysterical, and we cannot think of anything else, we just forget our families, cease to care for our children, cease to love our husbands, and just go to the polls and vote and keep on voting for ten hours a day, 365 days a year, and never let up! If we ever get to the polls once, you will never get us home. So that the women will not vote at all, and they will not do anything but vote! Now these are two very strong anti-suffrage arguments, and they can prove them, by figures.”
“Now one of two things is true: Either a republic is a desirable form of government, or else it is not. If it is, then we should have it, if it is not, then we ought not to pretend that we have it.”
chthonic
PRONUNCIATION: (THON-ik)
http://wordsmith.org/words/chthonic.mp3
MEANING: (adjective), Of or relating to the underworld.
ETYMOLOGY: From Greek chthon (earth). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dhghem- (earth), which also sprouted human, homicide, humble, homage, chameleon, chamomile, inhume, exhume, and Persian zamindar (landholder). Earliest documented use: 1882.
USAGE: “The earth’s crust is riddled with unresolved tensions — prod, pierce or bend it enough and these chthonic stresses will find sudden release.” – Notes from Underground; The Economist (London, UK); Apr 21, 2012.
Explore “chthonic” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=chthonic
palladium
PRONUNCIATION: (puh-LAY-dee-uhm)
http://wordsmith.org/words/palladium.mp3
MEANING: (noun)
1. A safeguard.
2. A rare, silvery-white metal.
ETYMOLOGY:
For 1: After Athena (also known as Pallas Athena), a goddess in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Zeus and was born fully-grown from his forehead. Palladium was a statue of Athena that was believed to protect Troy. Earliest documented use: before 1393.
For 2: Palladium was discovered by chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston in 1803. He named it after the asteroid Pallas which had been discovered the year before. The asteroid was named after Pallas Athena. Earliest documented use: 1803.
USAGE: “Mr. Fawehinmi secured the release of Mr. Ayodeji after successfully invoking that great palladium of civil liberty, the writ of habeas corpus.” – Dr. G. Olu Onagoruwa; The Man Gani; Vanguard (Apapa, Nigeria); Sep 7, 2009.
Explore “palladium” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=palladium