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UAL price chartOn an 12 August:
2002 Following the Sunday 11 August 2002 announcement by US Airways Group that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the stock of United Airlines (UAL) drops on the New York Stock Exchange from the previous close of $5.20 to an intraday low of $3.76 soon after the opening, and closes at $3.80. UAL stock would drop further, on 13 August closing at $2.74, and on 14 August at $2.45 after an intraday low of $2.08. Its intraday high on 10 September 2001had been $31.06, but when trading resumed after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, it made an intraday low of $17.41 on 17 September 2001. However UAL's fortunes had been declining for years. It traded as high as $100.75 on 20 October 1997.
[UAL 5~year price chart >]

     As for the stock of US Airways (U) its regular trading is stopped, but, off the exchange, it drops from its previous close of $2.45 to as low as $0.50, almost nothing compared to its 06 July 1998 high of $81.63.
U price chart[< U 5~year price chart].

1999 Chechnya war:      ^top^
      Russian Deputy Interior Minister Minister Igor Zubov requests Chechnya's assistance with the Dagestani insurgency in a letter to Chechen President Aslan Mashkadov.
      Chechen presidential press spokesman Said Abdulmuslimov tells the Russian press that the Chechen leadership refused a Russian request to send troops to assist in quelling the rebellion in Dagestan
      Russian armed forces say that they have attacked insurgents' position in the towns of Tandur and Rakhta in southern Dagestan and have plans for a larger offensive.
      300 collaborationist Dagestani volunteers reportedly leave for the Botlikh district on Wednesday to fight alongside the Russians.
      Russia's acting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin orders the finance ministry to allocate funds for Russian troops involved in the conflict
      Dagestani members of the Representatives of the Islamic Shura tell reporters in Grozny that they have asked Chechen commander Basayev to lead the insurgency in Dagestane
      Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, commander of Russian Interior Ministry troops, estimates the number of "rebels" in Dagestan at 1200 — http://www.cdi.org/issues/Europe/aug.html
1998 Swiss banks agree to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to Holocaust survivors to settle claims for their assets.
1998 The Small Group of US presidential advisors meet with Clinton, reportedly with evidence that Osama bin Laden is seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons to use against US installations.
1998 US intelligence reportedly intercept a mobile phone conversation between two of bin Laden's lieutenants that implicates them in the 07 August 1998 embassy bombings

1997 Louima is atrociously tortured by NY police.         ^top^
Abner Louima case archive
     A Haitian immigrant is arrested in a nightclub fight. Police officers take him into a stationhouse bathroom and analy torture him with a broken broomstick. They say, “Take this, nigger”.
     30-year-old Abner Louima had to be hospitalized and was in critical condition after surgery to repair a puncture in his small intestine and an injury to his bladder.
      Two officers were put on desk duty after Louima identified them from photographs shown to him in his hospital bed. As many as four officers were involved.
      Outrageously still treated as a suspect in a brawl outside a Brooklyn nightclub, Louima was still handcuffed to his hospital bed the next day and denied visitors — drawing protest from his lawyers, family, and civil rights activists.
      Louima was one of two men who police said interfered with officers trying to break up a fight between two women outside the nightclub Club Rendez-vous. Both were arrested on charges of assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing justice. But the trouble began after Louima was handcuffed and put in a patrol car. When he protested, officers kicked him and beat him with police radios. At the 70th Precinct house, officers pulled down his pants and led him to the bathroom, where they sodomized him with the broken broomstick and then jammed the handle in his mouth, Louima said. An ambulance took him to the hospital.The policemen also threatened to kill Louima if he tried to turn them in.
      Louima, a security guard who moved to New York from Haiti in 1991, had no bruises or injuries at the time of his arrest. He had never been in trouble before.
      Police Commissioner Howard Safir — who had touted a department public relations campaign called Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect — placed the two officers on restricted duty on 13 August. Their guns and badges were taken away while an investigation proceeded. The two tortioner cops are Justin Volpe, 25, and Thomas Bruder, 31. The work history of Volpe and Bruder had been “basically unremarkable,”' Safir said. Volpe, a four-year member of the force, had earned six commendations; Bruder, who joined the force in 1994 had four. There had been three civilian complaints against the two officers, none substantiated.     
2001 update
     Abner Louima, the Haitian immigrant tortured with a broken broomstick in a police station bathroom in 1997, would be awarded a record $8.7 million settlement on 10 July 2001 in one of the US's most notorious police brutality cases.
      The settlement would come after months of tense negotiations with the city and its police union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which will share the cost. Louima, 34, said he would use some of the settlement to set up a group for victims of police brutality. "Mine is just one case, and so much more needs to be done," he said. Louima was arrested four years ago in a brawl outside a Brooklyn nightclub and taken in handcuffs to a police station. Officer Justin Volpe — mistakenly believing Louima had punched him — sought revenge by sodomizing Louima with a broken broomstick. Louima suffered a ruptured bladder and colon and spent two months in the hospital.
      Volpe pleaded guilty and is serving 30 years in prison. Charles Schwarz was convicted of pinning Louima down. Four other officers were found guilty of lying about what happened. Charges against Louima were dropped.
      The case led to a federal civil rights investigation of the department, though the government has since shelved the case.
      Louima sued for $155 million in 1998, accusing police of protecting violent officers behind a "blue wall of silence and lies." He will receive $5.8 million, with the rest going to his lawyers. He will get $3.6 million up front, with more payments in later years and $5000 a month for life. The city is expected to cover $7.1 million of the settlement — the most it has ever paid to a police brutality victim.
      Because of Louima's case, the city is dropping a union rule that allows two days to pass before officers who are suspects in criminal cases have to meet with investigators. His case also led the PBA to hire outside experts to train its officials. However, attorneys for the city and the PBA both said the settlement imposed no departmental reforms. City lawyer Lawrence Kahn said those changes were already in place before the agreement with Louima. "We've enhanced training and monitoring to ensure something like this will never happen again," Kahn said. "There is no link between the lawsuit and the changes."
      In 1992, a man won $16.6 million after he was paralyzed in a struggle with New York police. But the city's cost was only $4.5 million. Earlier in 2001, Chicago agreed to pay $18 million to settle a lawsuit over a fatal police shooting of an unarmed woman. New York's 40'000-officer department still faces a separate federal civil rights investigation that was prompted by the 1999 slaying of an unarmed West African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, in a hail of 41 bullets fired by four white officers.

1992 North American Free Trade Agreement      ^top^
      Representatives of the United States, Mexico, and Canada agree to form a free-trade zone that would outrank the world's other trading blocs in both size and capital. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would eliminate virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. On 08 December 1993, following a lengthy debate in the US Congress, President Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law. The passage of NAFTA was one of Clinton's first major victories as the first Democratic president in twelve years; although the movement for free trade in North America was originally a Republican initiative. During its planning stages, NAFTA was heavily criticized by Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot, who argued that if NAFTA was passed, Americans would hear a "giant sucking sound" of US companies fleeing the US for Mexico, where employees would work for less pay and without benefits. The pact, which took effect on 01 January 1994, created the world's largest free-trade zone.
1990 Iraq President Saddam Hussein says he is ready to resolve the Gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from occupied territories
1988 In Hollywood, the controversial religious movie "The Last Temptation of Christ" is released, sparking protests from evangelical church groups across the nation.
1988 Nelson Mandela is treated for tuberculosis at the prison hospital
1982 Base made for bull market of the 1980s. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches a low of 776.92. However, the next day, the markets would start five-year rise in which the DJIA would approach 3000. That bull market would be checked in 1987 with a 500-point one-day crash.
1981 IBM introduces the PC and PC-DOS version 1.0
1978 In Rome, the first papal funeral ever held outdoors was conducted for Pope
1977 Steven Biko, leader of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, is arrested.
1977 First flight of the Space Shuttle      ^top^
      In the first atmospheric flight of a space shuttle, the Enterprise is lifted to an altitude 7600 m by a Boeing 747 airplane, and then released, gliding back to California's Edwards Air Force Base on its own.
      On 17 September 1976, NASA had publicly unveiled the world's first reusable spacecraft — the space shuttle Enterprise. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost ten billion dollars and took nearly a decade. Regular flights of the space shuttle would begin on April 12, 1981, with the launching of the Columbia into space on a 54-hour mission. Piloted by astronauts Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young, the Columbia would undertake 36 orbits before successfully touching down at Edwards Air Force Base on 14 April 1981. On 28 January 1986, NASA and the space shuttle program suffered a major setback when, 73 seconds after liftoff, Challenger 10 exploded, as millions of school children watched the ballyhooed launch on TV. The first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe, 37, and the other six people aboard were killed.
1972 Vietnam: Last American combat ground troops depart. — B-52's make their largest strike of the war.
1970 The Soviet Union and West Germany sign a non-aggression pact in Moscow.
1969 Vietnam: Multiple Viet Cong attacks.      ^top^
They attack 150 cities, towns, and bases, including Da Nang and Hue. The heaviest attacks are aimed near the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon; an estimated 2000 Communists attack Tay Ninh, Quan Loi, Loc Ninh, and An Loc. Further north, North Vietnamese commandos fight their way into the US First Marine Division headquarters in Da Nang. They would eventually be driven out by the Marines, who kill 40 Communist soldiers, sustaining five killed and 23 wounded in the process.
1965 Race riot in West Side of Chicago
1965 Vietnam: Henry Cabot Lodge sworn in as Ambassador to Vietnam.      ^top^
      During the ceremony, President Johnson proclaims that the United States would not continue to fight in Vietnam "if its help were not wanted and requested." The appointing of Lodge and the recall of former Ambassador Frederick Nolting, Jr., signal a change in US policy in South Vietnam. Lodge was a firm believer in the domino theory and when he became convinced that the United States could not win in Vietnam with President Ngo Dinh Diem, he became very critical of Diem's regime in his dispatches back to Washington. Diem was ultimately removed from office and assassinated during a coup by opposition South Vietnamese generals that began on 01 November 1963. Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, were assassinated some time after midnight on 02 November.
1964 Race riot in Elizabeth NJ
1961 East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall      ^top^
      In an effort to stem the tide of refugees attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government of East Germany begins building the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin. Construction of the wall caused a short-term crisis in US-Soviet bloc relations, and the wall itself came to symbolize the Cold War. Throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s, thousands of people from East Berlin crossed over into West Berlin to reunite with families and escape communist repression. In an effort to stop that outflow, the government of East Germany, on the night of 12 August 1961, began to seal off all points of entrance into West Berlin from East Berlin by stringing barbed wire and posting sentries. In the days and weeks to come, construction of a concrete block wall began, complete with sentry towers and minefields around it. The Berlin Wall succeeded in completely sealing off the two sections of Berlin.
      The US government responded angrily. Commanders of US troops in West Berlin even began to make plans to bulldoze the wall, but gave up on the idea when the Soviets moved armored units into position to protect it. The West German government was furious with America's lack of action, but President John F. Kennedy believed that "A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war." In an attempt to reassure the West Germans that the United States was not abandoning them, however, Kennedy traveled to the Berlin Wall in June 1963, and famously declared, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" ("I am a Berliner!"). In the years to come, the Berlin Wall became a physical symbol of the Cold War. The stark division between communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin served as the subject for numerous editorials and speeches in the United States, while the Soviet bloc characterized the wall as a necessary protection against the degrading and immoral influences of decadent Western culture and capitalism. During the lifetime of the wall, nearly 80 people were killed trying to escape from East to West Berlin. In late 1989, with communist governments falling throughout Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall was finally opened and then demolished. For many observers, this action was the signal that the Cold War was finally coming to an end.
1960 Echo 1, first communications satellite, the "Echo One" balloon, is launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral.
1960 The first experimental communications satellite.      ^top^
      Echo I is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite, a Mylar balloon coated with a thin layer of aluminum, successfully reflected radio signals from Goldstone, California, to the Bell Telephone Laboratory in Holmdel, New Jersey. The success of Echo I was followed by the launching of numerous communications satellites, ultimately making cellular phones and other forms of wireless communications possible.
1959 first ship firing of a Polaris missile, Observation Island
1955 US President Eisenhower signs bill raising minimum wage from $0.75 to $1 an hour
1953 USSR tests "Layer-Cake" hydrogen bomb
      Less than one year after the United States tested its first nuclear fusion bomb, the Soviets detonates its first, a 400-kiloton device, in Kazakhstan. The explosive power was 30 times that of the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and the mushroom cloud produced by it stretched five miles into the sky. Known as the "Layer Cake," the bomb was fueled by layers of uranium and lithium deuteride, a hydrogen isotope. The Soviet bomb was smaller and more portable than the American hydrogen bomb, so its development intensified the dangerous nuclear arms race between the Cold War superpowers.
1941 Roosevelt and Churchill confer on war- and postwar-goals      ^top^
      President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet on board a ship at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, to confer on issues ranging from support for Russia to threatening Japan to postwar peace. When Roosevelt and Churchill met for the first time as leaders of their respective nations, chief among the items on their agenda was aid to the USSR "on a gigantic scale," as it was desperate in its war against its German invaders. A statement was also drafted, which Roosevelt chose to issue under his name, that made it plain to Japan that any further aggression would "produce a situation in which the United States government would be compelled to take counter-measures," even if it meant "war between the United States and Japan." The president and the prime minister also agreed to compose and make public a document in which the United States and Britain declared their intention "to ensure life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom, and to preserve the rights of man and justice." They also promised to strive for a postwar world free of "aggrandizement, territorial or other," addressing those nations currently under German, Italian, or Japanese rule, offering hope that the integrity of their sovereign borders would be restored to them. This document would be called the Atlantic Charter and, when finally ratified by 26 nations in January 1942, would comprise the founding principles of the United Nations.
1941 French Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain announces full French collaboration with Nazi Germany.
1936 49ºC, Seymour, Texas (state record)
1935 President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill.
1932 In one of the steepest declines in market history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 8.40 points, one week after the markets posted encouraging gains, thus squelching hopes that the Depression is drawing to a close.
1908 Henry Ford's first Model T rolls off the assembly line.
1898 Armistice ends the Spanish-American War
      Peace protocol ends Spanish-American War, signed, after three months and 22 days of hostilities.
      Spain agrees to a peace protocol on US terms: the cession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Manila in the Philippines to the United States pending a final peace treaty. The Spanish-American War had its origins in the rebellion against Spanish rule that began in Cuba in 1895. The repressive measures that Spain took to suppress the guerrilla war, such as herding Cuba's rural population into disease-ridden garrison towns, were graphically portrayed in US newspapers and enflamed public opinion. In January 1898, violence in Havana led US authorities to order the battleship USS Maine to the city's port to protect American citizens. On 15 February, a massive explosion of unknown origin sank the Maine in the Havana harbor, killing 260 of the 400 American crewmembers aboard. An official US Naval Court of Inquiry ruled in March, without much evidence, that the ship was blown up by a mine but did not directly place the blame on Spain. Much of Congress and a majority of the American public expressed little doubt that Spain was responsible, and called for a declaration of war.
      In April, the US Congress prepared for war, adopting joint congressional resolutions demanding a Spanish withdrawal from Cuba and authorizing President William McKinley to use force. On 23 April, President McKinley asked for 125'000 volunteers to fight against Spain. The next day, Spain issued a declaration of war. The United States declared war on 25 April. On 01 May, the US Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey destroyed the Spanish Pacific fleet at Manila Bay in the first battle of the Spanish-American War. Dewey's decisive victory cleared the way for the US occupation of Manila in August and the eventual transfer of the Philippines from Spanish to American control.
      On the other side of the world, a Spanish fleet docked in Cuba's Santiago harbor in May after racing across the Atlantic from Spain. A superior US naval force arrived soon after and blockaded the harbor entrance. In June, the US Army Fifth Corps landed in Cuba with the aim of marching to Santiago and launching a coordinated land and sea assault on the Spanish stronghold. Included among the US ground troops were the Theodore Roosevelt-led "Rough Riders," a collection of Western cowboys and Eastern blue bloods officially known as the First US Voluntary Cavalry. On 01 July, the US won the Battle of San Juan Hill, and the next day they began a siege of Santiago. On 03 July, the Spanish fleet was destroyed off Santiago by US warships under Admiral William Sampson, and on 17 July the Spanish surrendered the city — and thus Cuba — to the Americans.
      In Puerto Rico, Spanish forces likewise crumbled in the face of superior US forces, and on 12 August an armistice was signed between Spain and the United States. On 10 December, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Spanish-American War. The once-proud Spanish empire was virtually dissolved, and the United States gained its first overseas empire. Puerto Rico and Guam were ceded to the United States, the Philippines were bought for $20 million, and Cuba became a US protectorate. Philippine insurgents who fought against Spanish rule during the war immediately turned their guns against the new occupiers, and 10 times more US troops died suppressing the Philippines than in defeating Spain.
1898 Hawaii annexed to US .
1896 Gold is discovered near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada.
1867 President Andrew Johnson defies Congress suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, which would lead to Johnson's impeachment.
1864 After a week of heavy raiding, the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee claims six Union ships captured.
1863 Siege of Fort Wagner, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina continues
1862 Morgan's cavalry captures a Federal garrison at Gallatin      ^top^
      Confederate cavalry leader General John Hunt Morgan captures a small Federal garrison in Gallatin, Tennessee, just north of Nashville. The incident was part of a larger operation against the army of Union General Don Carlos Buell, which was threatening Chattanooga by late summer. Morgan sought to cut Buell's supply lines with his bold strike.
      Morgan, an Alabama native raised in Kentucky, attended Transylvania University before being expelled for boisterous behavior. He fought in the Mexican War with Zachary Taylor, then became a successful hemp manufacturer before the war. When his state remained with the Union, he moved south and joined the Confederate army.
      After fighting at Shiloh in April 1862, Morgan commanded a regiment in Joseph Wheeler's cavalry. Known as the "Thunderbolt of the South," Morgan's outfit was famous for stealth attacks. In 1862 and 1863, he led three major raids into Union-held territory. After the first raid, Morgan supported attempts to disrupt Buell's campaign in Tennessee. Gallatin was a vital supply point for the Union between Louisville and Nashville. Morgan's men burned the depot, captured the Union force protecting it, and then destroyed an 240-meter railroad tunnel north of town by setting fire to a train loaded with hay and pushing it into the tunnel. The timber supports caught fire and burned until the tunnel collapsed. Afterwards, Morgan moved north to support General Edmund Kirby Smith's invasion of Kentucky.
1861 Confederates ambushed by Mescalero Apaches in the Big Bend country south of Fort Davis, Texas
1812 British commander the Duke of Wellington occupies Madrid, Spain, forcing out Joseph Bonaparte.
1791 Black slaves on the island of Santo Domingo rise up against their white masters.
1762 The British capture Cuba from Spain after a two month siege.
1759 The Russians under General Soltikov and the Austrians under General Landon defeated 40'000 Prussians under Frederick the Great at the Battle of Kunersdorf in the Seven Years' War.
1687 At the Battle of Mohacs, Hungary, Charles of Lorraine defeats the Turks.
1553 Pope Julius III orders confiscation and burning of the Talmud
1508 Ponce de León arrives in Puerto Rico
1332 Battle of Dupplin Moor; Scottish dynastic battle
1099 At the Battle of Ascalon 1000 Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, rout an Egyptian relief column heading for Jerusalem, which had already fallen to the Crusaders.
TO THE TOP
Deaths which occurred on an 12 August:      ^top^
2001 Muhammad Nasser, 28, suicide bomber of Islamic Jihad, on the patio of Wall Street Café in Haifa. No one else is killed. Some 20 are injured, mostly lightly.
Lt. Koleshnikov2000 Dima Staroseltsev, Dmitri Koleshnikov, Viktor Kuznetsov, and 115 other sailors, the inexperienced crew of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, on training maneuvers in the Berents Sea.
      Suddenly, at 11:28, an explosion, probably from a mishandled torpedo, then, 2 minutes later, a much larger explosion set off by the first, this time it is probably many or all of the 30 torpedoes on board. The devastating blast rips through the submerged sub, instantly killing many of its crew. The whole prow section of the sub, its escape module, and the escape hatch are damaged. The sub fills up with water, drowning many who survived the explosion, and sinks to the bottom, 108 m deep.
     The Russian navy's Soviet-style public relations announces the accident one day late in a fog of lies, starting with the insistence that it happened not on the 12th but on the 13th. They say that some of the submariners are heard tapping in Morse code on the hull. Later Russian misinformation contradicts this, but there were some survivors, soon to die from suffocation and hypothermia as they vainly hoped for rescue. This was proved on 26 October by a note found by divers on the body of Capt.-Lt. Koleshnikov [photo >]:
     "13:15. It is dark but I will try to write by touch. It seems there is no chance, 10 to 20 percent. Let's hope someone reads this. All the crew of compartments 6, 7, and 8, moved to the 9. There are 23 persons here. We took this decision due to the accident. None of us can go up to the surface. I write blindly. 13:5..." (compartment 9 is the last one in the rear of the sub).
     Vitya Kuznetzov, a noncom, was from the town of Kursk, where, at 09:15 one day weeks later, his mother, Olga, collapsed and died awaiting news that her son's body had been retrieved. The news arrived two hours after her death.
     The United States, Britain, and Norway, immediately offer assistance. The Russians refuse, proudly proclaiming that the Russian rescue personel and equipment is equal to the best in the world. After vain Russian rescue efforts and after the alleged tapping from the trapped sailors is reported te be no longer heard, the Russians change their stand and do ask for Norwegian assistance on 17 August. But it is too late. The Norwegians can only get to the scene on 20 August. In 24 hours they succeeded in what a week of Russian efforts failed to do, opening the sub's escape hatch. They find the sub full of water, which establishes the certainty that there are no survivors.
    Meanwhile president Putin has been seen on TV enjoying his vacation at a Black Sea resort, making no mention of the disaster until several days have passed and public opinion is outraged.
     On 08 October 2001, he main body of the Kursk, would be raised from 108 m down on be Barents Sea floor in a salvage operation is conducted from a giant barge with computer-controlled cables by the Dutch companies Mammoet and Smit International, contracted for some $65 million by the Russian government.
1985: 520 in worst single-plane crash of history.
      At 18:50 local time, a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747SR crashes into Mount Otsuka, 110 km northwest of Tokyo. There were 524 persons aboard, and all but four were dead by the time rescuers reached the remote crash site 12 hours later.
      JAL flight 123 took off from Tokyo's Haneda Airport on a domestic flight, under the command of Captain Takahama, at 18:12 local time. Twelve minutes into the flight, as the jumbo jet was approaching its cruising altitude, a explosion shook the aircraft. A bulkhead had blown in the tail, creating over-pressurization that severed the four sets of hydraulic-control lines and blew part of the tail section off. With a total loss of hydraulic pressure, the captain radioed he was getting no response from his controls. For the next 27 minutes, Takahama attempted unsuccessfully to regain control of the aircraft as it descended uncontrollably in a flight condition known as the "Dutch roll." JAL flight 123 crashed into Mount Otsuka at a point 4,780 feet above sea level.
1989 William Shockley      ^top^
      English-born William Shockley worked with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Together they invented the transistor, which heralded a revolution in radio, television, and computer circuitry. The three won the Nobel Prize in 1956 for their work with semiconductors and their development of the transistor. In later life, Shockley provoked outrage for his racist views and his proposal that people of low IQ be sterilized.
1985: 520 victims of deadliest air crash in history      ^top^
      At 18:50 local time, a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747SR crashes into Mount Otsuka, 110 km northwest of Tokyo. There were 524 people aboard, and all but four have died by the time rescuers reach the remote crash-site twelve hours later. It is the worst one-plane catastrophe in history.
      At 18:12, JAL flight 123 had taken off from Tokyo's Haneda airport under the command of Captain Takahama. Twelve minutes into the flight, as it is approaching its cruising altitude, a depressurization explosion shakes the jumbo jet. A bulkhead had blown in the tail, creating an overpressure that severed the four sets of hydraulic-control lines and blew part of the tail section off. At the same time, as a result of a total loss of hydraulic pressure, the captain radioen that he is getting no response from his controls. For the next twenty-seven minutes, Takahama attempts unsuccessfully to regain control of the aircraft as it descends uncontrollably in a "Dutch roll." At 18:50, JAL flight 123 crashes into Mount Otsuka at an altitude of 1457 m.
1945 Scheffers, mathematician
1944 Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. , and his co-pilot, when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England. Joseph P. was the eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, born on July 25, 1915, almost 2 years before his brother John F. who would be US president.
1935 Schottky, mathematician.
1927 Alfred Zoff, Austrian artist born on 11 December 1852.
1913 Aimé-Nicolas Morot, French artist born on 16 June 1850.
1901 Jonquières, mathematician.
1900 Wilhelm Steinitz Prague, Chess champion (1866-1894)
1863 Some 150 men and boys, massacred by Confederate raiders led by William Quantrill, in Lawrence, Kansas.
1854 Antoine Chazal, French artist born on 07 Nov 1793.
1820 Manuel Lisa, fur trader.     ^top^
      Manuel Lisa, the first fur trader to develop the upper Missouri River territory explored by Lewis and Clark, dies in St. Louis. The son of either Cuban or Spanish parents, Lisa was born in New Orleans in 1772. By the time he was a young man he had developed extensive trading interests along the Mississippi River, and in 1799 he chose St. Louis as the center of his growing business. When the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark came to St. Louis in 1804, Lisa sold them many of the supplies required for their long journey to the Pacific. When Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis two years later, Lisa listened with interest to their reports of rich beaver and otter populations to be found in the upper Missouri River country. Lisa quickly began to organize a fur trading expedition, and in 1807, he headed up the river in a keelboat. Overcoming opposition from several Indian tribes along the way, Lisa managed to reach the confluence of the Big Horn and Yellowstone rivers in present-day Montana. There he established the Fort Raymond (later Fort Lisa) post and began providing Indians with manufactured goods in exchange for furs. The potential for the upper-Missouri River fur trade was huge, and initially Lisa's business thrived. In 1809, several prominent St. Louis men (including Lewis and Clark) joined with Lisa to form the Missouri Fur Company. The company ran into trouble, however, with the Blackfeet Indians of Montana, who resented Lisa's challenge to their long-standing dominance of the area fur trade. The War of 1812 further undermined the business, and in 1814, the Missouri Fur Company dissolved. Lisa continued to trade for furs on the Missouri, enjoying several successful years and establishing excellent relations with the Omaha tribe by marrying one of its women. Lisa made his final trip up the Missouri in 1819, but when he returned he was suffering from an unidentified ailment that eventually proved fatal. He died in St. Louis in 1820 at the age of 47. Though his life was cut short, he had already explored vast new areas of territory and established the basic methods that would be used by the fur trade for decades to come.
1750 Rachel Ruysch (or Ruisch), Dutch Baroque era painter born in 1664, specialized in Still Life and Flowers. — MORE ON RUYSCH AT ART “4” AUGUST LINKSStill Life with Flowers on a Marble Tabletop (with insects) — Flowers on a Tree TrunkStill-Life with Bouquet of Flowers and PlumsA Vase of Flowers
1676 King Philip of the Wampanoag, assassinated for the English colonists      ^top^
      In colonial New England, King Philip's War effectively comes to an end when Philip, chief of the Wampanoag Indians, is assassinated by a Native American in the service of the English. In the early 1670s, fifty years of peace between the Plymouth colony and the local Wampanoag began to deteriorate when the rapidly expanding settlement forced land sales on the tribe.
      Reacting to increasing Native American hostility, the English met with King Philip, and demanded that his forces surrender their arms. The Wampanoag did so, but in 1675, a Christian Native American, who had been acting as an informer to the English, was murdered, and three Wampanoag were tried and executed for the crime. On June 24, King Philip ordered a raid on the border settlement of Swansee, Massachusetts, in response. His warriors massacred the English colonists there, and the attack set off a series of Wampanoag raids in which several settlements were destroyed and scores of colonists massacred.
      The colonists retaliated by destroying a number of Indian villages. The destruction of a Narragansett village by the English brought the Narragansett into the conflict on the side of King Philip, and within a few months several other tribes and all of the New England colonies were involved. In early 1676, the Narragansett were defeated and their chief killed, while the Wampanoag and their other allies were gradually subdued.
      King Philip's wife and son were captured, and on 12 August 1676, after his secret headquarters in Mount Hope, Rhode Island, were discovered, Philip is assassinated. The English drew and quartered Philip's body and publicly displayed his head on a stake in Plymouth. King Philip's War, which was extremely costly to the colonists of southern New England, ended the Native-American presence in the region and inaugurated a period of unimpeded colonial expansion.
1674 Philippe de Champaigne, Flemish French Baroque era painter, specialized in Portraits, born in 1602 — MORE ON DE CHAMPAIGNE AT ART “4” AUGUSTLINKSThe Presentation at the Temple — an earlier The Presentation at the Temple — small Annunciation — big The AnnunciationThe Supper at EmmausThe Marriage of the VirginThe Penitent MagdalenEx VotoKing Louis XIIILouis XIII, Roi de France ( lithograph) — Cardinal RichelieuCardinal RichelieuTriple Portrait of Richelieu Bishop Jean-Pierre CamusJean Baptiste ColbertThe NativityMoses with the Ten CommandmentsThe Last SupperThe Miracles of the Penitent St MaryCherubs
1667 Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Utrecht painter, mainly of landscapes, born in 1586. — MORE ON VAN POELENBURGH AT ART “4” AUGUST LINKSChildren of Frederick V Prince Elector of Pfalz and King of BohemiaDeparture of an Oriental EntourageYoung GirlThe Flight to EgyptRest on the Flight to EgyptRest on the Flight into EgyptRuins of Ancient RomeOdysseus and MinervaAdoration by the MagiCimone and EfigeneiaMeeting of the gods in the cloudsMercurius and HerseThe rest on the Flight to EgyptThe Waterfalls of Tivoli.
1580 Luca Longhi “le Raphäel de Ravenne”, Italian artist born on 14 January 1507.
1546 Francisco de Vitoria, Spanish Dominican theologian, born in 1486. He is best remembered for his defense of the rights of the Amerindians against the Spanish colonists and for his ideas of the limitations of justifiable warfare.
Births which occurred on an 12 August:
1981 The IBM PC      ^top^
      By the early 1980s, the computer had shrunk from a room-filling monster to a desk top machine. So the IBM Personal Computer (PC) is a modest technical advance. , It is the first 16-bit personal computer, significantly more powerful than other machines available at the time.It would become the top-selling personal computer, 136'000 sold in its first year and a half, and spawn dozens of clone manufacturers. IBM’s new machine was made from other company’s components, including an Inter processing chip and an operating system (PC-DOS version 1.0) developed by a thirty-two person outfit called Microsoft.
      The company’s stock went on a climb that would peaked later in the decade. By the early 1990s IBM would be experiencing annual losses of up to $8 million.
1963 The 1964 Thunderbird      ^top^
      The first 1964 Thunderbird rolls off the assembly line. Originally conceived as Ford’s answer to the Corvette, the Thunderbird has enjoyed an illustrious place among American cars. It was promoted as a “personal” car rather than a sports car, never having to compete against imports, which dominated the sports car market, and so experienced enormous success. The car’s name was eventually shortened to “T-bird,”
1938 Hitler's award to mothers of many children      ^top^
      Adolf Hitler institutes the Mother's Cross, to encourage German women to have more children, to be awarded each year on 12 August Hitler's mother's birthday. The German Reich needed a robust and growing population and encouraged couples to have large families. It started such encouragement early. Once members of the League of German Girls (the female Hitler Youth) turned 18, they became eligible for a branch called Faith and Beauty, which trained them girls in the art of becoming ideal Nazi mothers producing as many little Nazis as possible. And so each year, in honor of his beloved mother, Klara, and in memory of her birthday, a gold medal was awarded to women with seven children, a silver to women with six, and a bronze to women with five. Hitler would commit suicide and his Nazi Reich be destroyed before those "little Nazis" got old enough to do much harm.
1915 Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham, is published. MAUGHAM ONLINE: Moon and Sixpence. — Of Human BondageOf Human Bondage
1911 Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" Mexico, circus clown, acrobat, and comic movie actor (Around the World in 80 Days, Pepe; Mexico's vaudeville: carpas)
1908 The Model T, the "Tin Lizzie".      ^top^
      Henry Ford’s first Model T, affectionately known as the “tin Lizzy,” rolled off the assembly line in Detroit, Michigan. The Model T revolutionized the automotive industry by providing an affordable, reliable car for the average American. Prior to the invention of the Model T, most automobiles were viewed as playthings of the rich. Ford was able to keep the price down by retaining control of all raw materials, as well as his use of new mass production methods. When it was first introduced, the “tin Lizzy” cost only $850 and seated two people. Though the price fluctuated in the years to come, dipping as low as $290 in 1924, few other changes were ever made to the Model T. Electric lights were introduced in 1915, and an electric starter was introduced as an option in 1919. Eventually, the Model T’s design stagnancy cost it its competitive edge, and Ford stopped manufacturing the “tin Lizzy” in 1927.
1902 International Harvester Company, with $120 million in capital. International Harvester would quickly dominate the market — at one point producing 85% of all farm machinery. But its "moderate" business tactics would make it immune to anti-trust action.
1889 Zerna Sharp, creator of the "Dick and Jane" reading books.
1887 Erwin Schrödinger, mathematician, physicist who said :"The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees." This is a lot clearer than Schrödinger's cat paradox (which I do not understand, but then that means that I understand the first thing about quantum mechanics, according to Niels Bohr who said: "If you think you understand it, that only shows you don't know the first thing about it." ).
1884 Frank Swinnerton England, novelist (Summer Storm, Sanctuary)
1881 Cecil B deMille, American film director, producer and screenwriter, famous for epic productions such as The 10 Commandments.
(or 31 July) 1879 Léopold Survage, French artist who died on 01 November 1968. — Homme dans la villeDeux Hommes et un Cheval (dessin original à la mine de plomb) [they want $2000 for this scribble. Has to be seen to be disbelieved]
1862 Jules Richard, mathematician
1851 Sewing machine patent granted to Isaac Singer.
1849 Abbott Henderson Thayer (artist: created camouflage pattern for military). He died on 29 May 1921.
. — Reproductions of paintings by THAYER ONLINE: LINKSAlma Wollerman (his future daughter-in-law Mrs. Gerald Thayer) (1903) — David (1895) — Irish GirlAngel (1889) — Roses (1890) — Stevenson MemorialWinged Figure (1889) —
MUCH MORE ON THAYER AT ART “4” 2~DAY
1877 The Edisonphone, Thomas Edison's invention of a sound recording device
1876 Mary Roberts (Rinehart), American novelist and playwright best known for her mystery stories.     ^top^
     The Circular Staircase (1908), her first book and first mystery, was an immediate success, and the following year The Man in Lower Ten, which had been serialized earlier, reinforced her popular success. Thereafter she wrote steadily, averaging about a book a year. A long series of comic tales about the redoubtable "Tish" (Letitia Carberry) appeared as serials in the Saturday Evening Post over a number of years and as a series of novels beginning with The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911).
     Roberts served as a war correspondent during World War I and later described her experiences in several books, notably Kings, Queens and Pawns (1915). She produced as well a number of romances and nine plays. Most of the plays were written in collaboration with Avery Hopwood; her greatest successes were Seven Days, produced in New York in 1909, and The Bat, derived from The Circular Staircase and produced in 1920. Her autobiography, My Story, appeared in 1931 and was revised in 1948. Roberts died 22 September 1958.
ROBERTS ONLINE:
  • The After House
  • The Amazing Interlude
  • Bab: A Sub-Deb
  • The Bat: A Novel From the Play, co-authors A. Hopwood, S. V. Benet
  • The Breaking Point
  • The Breaking Point (another site)
  • The Case of Jennie Brice
  • The Circular Staircase (1908)
  • The Confession
  • Dangerous Days
  • Long Live the King
  • The Man in Lower Ten (1909)
  • A Poor Wise Man
  • Sight Unseen
  • The Street of Seven Stars
  • When a Man Marries
  • Where There's a Will
  • The Window at the White Cat
  • 1867 Edith Hamilton US, writer (Mythology)
    1866 Jacinto Benavente y Martínez Spanish dramatist (Nobel 1922)
    1859 Katharine Lee Bates, author and Wellesley College English teacher.      ^top^
          She published over 20 books, but is best remembered today for writing the patriotic hymn, "America, the Beautiful" (a.k.a. "O Beautiful for Spacious Skies"). Among her works are The College Beautiful and Other Poems (1887), English Religious Drama (1893), and The Pilgrim Ship (1926). Her America the Beautiful and Other Poems was published in 1911. Bates died on 28 March 1929.
    ONLINE: Retinue and Other Poems, Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance
    O beautiful for spacious skies / For amber waves of grain, / For purple mountain majesties / Above thy fruited plain!

    / America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / And crown thy good with brotherhood / From sea to shining sea!

    / O beautiful for pilgrim feet, / Whose stern, impassioned stress / A thoroughfare for freedom beat / Across the wilderness!

    / America! America! / God mend thine every flaw, / Confirm thy soul in self control, / Thy Liberty in law!

    / O beautiful for heroes proved / In liberating strife, / Who more than self their country loved, / And mercy more than life!

    / America! America! / May God thy gold refine / Till all success be nobleness / And every gain divine!

    / O beautiful for patriot dream / That sees beyond the years / Thine alabaster cities gleam / Undimmed by human tears!

    /America! America! / God shed his grace on thee / And crown thy good with brotherhood / From sea to shining sea!
    1849 Abbott Henderson Thayer, US painter who died on 29 May 1921. — MORE ON THAYER AT ART “4” AUGUST LINKSDavidAlma WollermanIrish GirlAngelRosesStevenson MemorialWinged Figure
    1829 Anselm Feuerbach, German Neoclassical painter who died on 04 January 1880. Not to be confused with his uncle, philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach [28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872], or his grandfather, jurist Paul von Feuerbach [14 November 1775 – 29 May 1833]. — MORE ON FEUERBACH AT ART “4” SEPTEMBER LINKSSelf-PortraitIphigenie _ detailRuhende NympheMandolinenspieler
    1815 Dominique-Louis-Féréal Papéty, French painter.who died on 19 September 1849 (1848?) in a cholera epidemic. — MORE ON PAPÉTY AT ART “4” AUGUST LINKS The Temptation of St. Hilarion, detail. — An Italian Peasant GirlA French Peasant GirlThe Temptation of Saint HilarionA Neapolitan FishermanAn Italian Peasant Woman and ChildA Chinese Girl
    1799 Hermania Sigvardine Neegard, Danish painter who died on 25 March 1874.
    1781 Robert Mills US, 1781 Robert Mills, architect and engineer whose designs include the Washington Monument, the National Portrait Gallery and the US Treasury Building.
    1799 Hermania Sigvardine Neegard, Danish artist who died on 25 March 1874.
    1774 Robert Southey, in Bristol, Wordsworth's predecessor as poet laureate of England, (1813-1843),      ^top^
          He was a biographer: The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson, and the translator of: The Chronicle of the Cid.
         Southey began writing at the Westminster School in London. He was expelled for writing an essay condemning excessive corporal punishment, which he published in the school magazine. He managed to make it to Oxford in 1792, where he wrote poetry and hatched a plan with his friend Samuel Coleridge to start a utopian society in America. Their plans called for married couples to establish the society. To this end, Southey married Edith Fricker and convinced Coleridge to marry Fricker's sister Sarah. However, Southey left Oxford without taking a degree and abandoned the utopian plan.
          He went to Portugal and later published his correspondence as Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal. Back in England, he wrote biographies, translations, and journalism to support his family. Southey continued to write verse when time permitted, including epic poems like Madoc (1805) and Thalaba the Destroyer (1801). Financially strapped, Southey struggled until 1813, when the support of Sir Walter Scott won him the appointment of poet laureate, which brought him a regular income. Although seldom read today, Southey was very popular during his time, both for his poetry and for his excellent biographies, including The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson (1813) and Life of Wesley, and the Rise and Progress of Methodism (1820). Southey remained poet laureate until his death in 1843. William Wordsworth succeeded him.
    — SOUTHEY ONLINE: The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson
    1762 George IV, named Prince Regent in 1810 when his father, George III, is declared insane, king of England (1820-30) — George IV d'Angleterre D'abord régent, il sera couronné en 1820. Son amour du jeu et sa vie scandaleuse sont célèbres. Partisan de la guerre contre la France, conservateur affirmé, il fut contraint par son peuple d'accepter des réformes et accorda, en 1829, à l'Irlande son émancipation.
    1753 Thomas Bewick England, artist (British Birds, Aesop's Fables) He died on 08 November 1828. He was a printmaker and illustrator important for reviving the art of wood engraving and establishing it as a major printmaking technique.
    Holidays Cuba : People's Victory Against Machado Tyranny / Massachusetts, Oklahoma : Indian Day / Texas : Pioneer' Day / Thailand : Queen's Birthday / World : Ponce de Leon Day (1508)

    Thoughts for the day: "Too much of a good thing is wonderful."
    "Too much of a good thing is to be mistrusted."
    "Too much of a wonderful thing is impossible."
    "Too much of a good thing and no wonder you're full."
    "Too much of a bad thing is hell."
    "To munch on a good thing is wonderful.”
    “Wisdom is born, stupidity is learned.” —
    Russian proverb.
    “Russian proverbs are learned, not born.”
    “Russians are not born submariners.”
    “Wise Russians are still born.”
    “People learn from their parents from the moment of birth, schools and peers continue the process later.”
    “Smart persons learn from their mistakes, wise persons learn from the mistakes of others.”

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