Today in History ^03/31/17

March 31, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

The Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889 (© ND/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

(1889) Eiffel Tower officially opens

Towering nearly a thousand feet over the streets of Paris, Gustave Eiffel’s monument to the centenary of the French Revolution is formally dedicated. Many French intellectuals deem it an eyesore, but it will come to be regarded as a harbinger of the modern age and a cultural icon of France.

The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

Address: 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris
Phone: +33 892 70 12 39
Opened: Mar 31, 1889
Floors: 3
Height: 986 feet (300.65 m) (Architectural)
Architects: Gustave Eiffel · Stephen Sauvestre

wiki/Eiffel_Tower

Magens Bay, Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands (© Don Hebert/Getty Images)

(1917) US gains a little slice of paradise

After paying $25 million to Denmark, the United States claims the Danish West Indies as its territory, and christens them the Virgin Islands. Residents of the islands are US citizens, but their voting rights will be limited.

The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

Founded: Jul 22, 1954
Population: 104,737 (2013)
Calling code: 1
Area: 133.73 sq miles (346.36 km²)
Travel tip: Made up of St Croix, St John and St Thomas, the laid-back USVI offer sophisticated dining, turquoise waters and quaint towns. On St Croix, Christiansted’s colourful Danish @tripadvisor
Capital: Charlotte Amalie
Flag:

Coat of Arms:

wiki/United_States_Virgin_Islands

Norma Shearer during the filming of 'A Slave of Fashion' in 1925 (© John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)

(1930) The Hays Code cracks down on Hollywood

In reaction to what they deem an excess of immorality in US motion pictures, government and industry officials begin enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code, better known as the Hays Code. The censorship rules won’t be dropped until 1968.

The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral guidelines that was applied to most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, who was the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. Under Hays’ leadership, the MPPDA, later known as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began strictly enforcing it in 1934. The Production Code spelled out what was acceptable and what was unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States.

From 1934 to 1954, the code was closely identified with Joseph Breen, the administrator appointed by Hays to enforce the code in Hollywood. The film industry followed the guidelines set by the code well into the late 1950s, but during this time the code began to weaken due to the combined impact of television, influence from foreign films, bold directors (such as Otto Preminger) pushing the envelope, and intervention from the courts, including the Supreme Court. In 1968, after several years of minimal enforcement, the Production Code was replaced by the MPAA film rating system.

wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code

The Dalai Lama in Delhi, India, in 1959 (© Central Press/Getty Images)

(1959) Tibet’s Dalai Lama begins exile in India

Nine years after China invades Tibet and begins dismantling its cultural and religious identity, Tibetans wage a revolt and their spiritual and political leader finds asylum after crossing the border into India. He will become a beloved world figure while in exile.

The 14th Dalai Lama; is the current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism which is nominally headed by the Ganden Tripas. From the time of the 5th Dalai Lama to 1959, the central government of Tibet, the Ganden Phodrang, invested the position of Dalai Lama with temporal duties.

Born: Jul 06, 1935 (age 81) · Taktser, China
Speeches: Five Point Peace Plan
Awards: Nobel Peace Prize (1989) · Congressional Gold Medal (2006) · Honorary degree (2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007) · Templeton Prize (2012) · Four Freedoms Award (1994) · Ján Langoš Human Rights Award
Siblings: Jetsun Pema (Sister) · Thubten Jigme Norbu (Brother) · Tsering Dolma (Sister)
Parents: Diki Tsering (Mother) · Choekyong Tsering (Father)
Founded: Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts

wiki/14th_Dalai_Lama

3.3.f17

Today in History ^03/12/17

March 12, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Mahatma Gandhi at the start of the salt march in India (© AP)

(1930) Gandhi begins 240-mile ‘Salt March’

With 80 of his followers, Mahatma Gandhi, leader of a nonviolent civil disobedience movement in India, begins a march to the coast to gather sea salt in defiance of British colonial rule. The action will prove a turning point in the Indian independence movement and influence civil rights activists around the world.

The Salt March, also known as the Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India initiated by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to produce salt from the seawater in the coastal village of Dandi, as was the practice of the local populace until British officials introduced taxation on salt production, deemed their sea-salt reclamation activities illegal, and then repeatedly used force to stop it. The 24-day march began from 12 March 1930 and continued till 5 April 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly, and it gained worldwide attention which gave impetus to the Indian independence movement and started the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.

Start date: Mar 12, 1930
End date: Apr 06, 1930

wiki/Salt_March

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, moments before he began his historic fireside chat to the American people on March 12, 1933 (© AP)

(1933) FDR gives his first ‘fireside chat’ to American public

After being elected in the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt makes the first in what will be a series of radio broadcast to inform, warn, and encourage his fellow citizens.

Fireside chats is the term used to describe a series of 30 evening radio conversations (chats) given by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944. Roosevelt spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Act in response to the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and the course of World War II. On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain his policies. His tone and demeanor communicated self-assurance during times of despair and uncertainty. Roosevelt was a great communicator on radio, and the fireside chats kept him in high public regard throughout his presidency.

The series of fireside chats was among the first 50 recordings made part of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, which noted it as “an influential series of radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt utilized the media to present his programs and ideas directly to the public and thereby redefined the relationship between President Roosevelt and the American people in 1933.”

wiki/Fireside_chats

Hitler takes the salute of Austrian National Socialists at Linz, Austria, March 1938 (© Heinrich Hoffmann/ullstein bild/Getty Images)

(1938) Hitler absorbs his homeland, Austria, into Germany

The nation of Austria is no more, as the Third Reich annexes it into Germany and Wehrmacht troops dismantle border crossings. The invasion and forced incorporation violates the Treaty of Versailles, but most criticism will be mild.

Anschluss is the term used to describe the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938. German spelling, until the German orthography reform of 1996, was Anschluß and it was also known as the Anschluss Österreichs.

Date: Mar 12, 1938

wiki/Anschluss

Women deacons in high spirits as they arrive at Bristol Cathedral on March 12, 1994, before their ordination into priesthood (© Gerry Penny/AFP/Getty Images)

(1994) Church of England ordains their first women priests

For the first time in its 460-year existence, the Church of England allows females to enter into the priesthood, ordaining 32 women in Bristol Cathedral in Bristol, England. Six years later the church will pass another milestone, as more women than men will be ordained as priests.

The Church of England is the Anglican Christian state church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. Its formal establishment as a national church is dated to the 6th-century Gregorian mission in Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury, with considerable features introduced and established during and following the English Reformation in the 16th century.

Website: www.churchofengland.org

wiki/Church_of_England

3.3.f17

Today in History ^02/18/17

February 18, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Copy of sections of the original glass plate on which Pluto was discovered on Feb 18, 1930, with the arrow showing Pluto's movement against the background stars (© Lowell Observatory Archives)

(1930) Pluto is first spotted

Clyde Tombaugh, a 23-year-old astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, finds ‘Planet X’ with the help of a blink microscope. The immensely far-off object will be called Pluto, but will be stripped of its planetary status in 2006 and reclassified as merely a “dwarf planet.”

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond Neptune. It was the first Kuiper belt object to be discovered. Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and was originally considered to be the ninth planet from the Sun. After 1992, its planethood was questioned following the discovery of several objects of similar size in the Kuiper belt. In 2005, Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto, was discovered. This led the International Astronomical Union to define the term “planet” formally. That definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet.

Radius: 736 miles (1,185 km)
Surface area: 6.43 million sq miles (16.65 million km²)
Orbital order: 9
Orbital period: 247.84 years
Gravity: 2.16 feet/s² (0.66 m/s²)
Star system: Solar System

wiki/Pluto

Portraits of the White Rose resistance members and a copy of the sentences against them is displayed at the White Rose Memorial in Munich district court (© Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

(1943) White Rose resistance members arrested by Nazi Gestapo

Six members of a non-violent student group from the University of Munich are arrested for their campaign of writing and distributing leaflets critical of Hitler’s regime. They will be found guilty of treason and beheaded.

The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany led by a group of students and a professor at the University of Munich. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign which called for active opposition against the Nazi regime. Their activities started in Munich on June 27th, 1942, and ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on February 18th, 1943. They, as well as other members and supporters of the group who carried on distributing the pamphlets, faced unjust trials by the Nazi People’s Court, and many were sentenced to death or imprisonment.

Founders: Sophie Scholl · Hans Scholl

wiki/White_Rose

The Church of Scientology building in Los Angeles (© HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection/Rex Features)

(1954) The first Church of Scientology opens

Following the 1950 publication of his book ‘Dianetics,’ L. Ron Hubbard and his followers establish the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles, the first in what will become more than 5,000 Scientology churches worldwide.

The Church of Scientology is a multinational network and hierarchy of numerous ostensibly independent but interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, a new religious movement. The Church of Scientology International is officially the Church of Scientology’s parent organization, and is responsible for guiding local Scientology churches. At a local level, every church is a separate corporate entity set up as a licensed franchise and has its own board of directors and executives. The first Scientology church was incorporated in December 1953 in Camden, New Jersey by L. Ron Hubbard. Its international headquarters are located at the Gold Base, in an unincorporated area of Riverside County, California. The location at Gilman Hotsprings is kept secret from most Scientologists. Scientology Missions International is under CSI and overseers Scientology missions, which are local Scientology organizations smaller than churches.

Founded: 1954
Headquarters: Gilman Hot Springs, California, CA
Founder: L. Ron Hubbard

wiki/Church_of_Scientology

Two participants in the 1979 Ironman Triathlon on Oahu, Hawaii (© Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

(1978) The Ironman Triathlon holds its first competition

Oahu, Hawaii, hosts a grueling triad of events, described on the competition’s rules sheet as “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life!” The race sees 15 men start and 12 finish. Navy specialist Gordon Haller wins the first Ironman title.

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.

Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race. The race typically starts at 7:00 a.m.; the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim is 9:20 a.m. (2 hours 20 minutes), the mandatory bike cut off time is 5:30 p.m. (8 hours 10 minutes), and the mandatory marathon cut off is midnight (6 hours 30 minutes). Any participant who manages to complete the triathlon within these timings is designated an Ironman.

The name “Ironman Triathlon” is also associated with the original Ironman triathlon which is now the Ironman World Championship. Held in Kailua-Kona, the world championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978 (with an additional race in 1982) and is preceded by a series of qualifying Ironman events. The Ironman World Championship has become known for its grueling length, harsh race conditions, and Emmy Award-winning television coverage.

Other races exist that are of the same distance as an Ironman triathlon but are not produced, owned, or licensed by the World Triathlon Corporation. Such races include The Challenge Family series’ Challenge Roth or the Norseman Triathlon.

wiki/Ironman_Triathlon

3.3.f17

Today in History

July 31, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1703) Writer Daniel Defoe pelted with flowers for libel crime
	A pamphlet satirizing England’s High Church has gotten its author, Daniel Defoe, into trouble and leads to his arrest for seditious libel. Legend has it that his popularity provokes folks to toss blooms instead of brickbats as he’s locked in a London pillory for three days..
(1715) Spanish fleet packed with treasures founders off Florida
Gold and silver coins worth 14 million pesos, miles of gold chains, precious jewels, and other priceless treasures bound for Europe are sent to the bottom of the briny sea when a hurricane hits off the Florida coast, sinking 11 of the dozen ships in the Spanish Treasure fleet. .
(1930) Evil lurking in the hearts of men no longer unknowable
	A pulp novel vigilante armed with an ability to cloud men’s minds, ‘The Shadow debuts on the ‘Detective Story Hour,’ a popular radio program. His appeal will grow until he gets his own radio serial, which will run for 24 years, spawning one of the most well-known catchphrases in American radio history. .
(1970) Britain’s Royal Navy bids farewell to beloved rum rations
The British Royal Navy’s rum rations, or ‘daily tots,’ are poured for the last time. A popular tradition since 1655, each era saw a little less liquor poured, and although sailors are now losing but an eighth of a pint, spirited funerary processions on Black Tot Day bid goodbye to the booze. .

A Historical Day

March 31, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1889) Eiffel Tower officially opens
	Towering nearly a thousand feet over the streets of Paris, Gustave Eiffel’s monument to the centenary of the French Revolution is formally dedicated. Many French intellectuals deem it an eyesore, but it will come to be regarded as a harbinger of the modern age and a cultural icon of France..
(1917) US gains a little slice of paradise
After paying $25 million to Denmark, the United States claims the Danish West Indies as its territory, and christens them the Virgin Islands. Residents of the islands are US citizens, but their voting rights will be limited..
(1930) The Hays Code cracks down on Hollywood
	In reaction to what they deem an excess of immorality in US motion pictures, government and industry officials begin enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code, better known as the Hays Code. The censorship rules won’t be dropped until 1968. .
(1959) Tibet’s Dalai Lama begins exile in India
Nine years after China invades Tibet and begins dismantling its cultural and religious identity, Tibetans wage a revolt and their spiritual and political leader finds asylum after crossing the border into India. He will become a beloved world figure while in exile. .