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Events, deaths, births, of 13 MAY
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ALTERNATE SITES   ALL FOR 030513      ANY DAY  OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY     ART “4” MAY 13
• US Mexican war... • Axis surrenders North Africa... • Blood, toil, tears, and sweat... • UAW president on Chrysler board... • Jamestown founded... • Queen of Scots defeated... • Children burned alive by police... • Condamnés à mort par la Révolution... • Falun Gong founder is born... • Birth of Sullivan of “Gilbert and Sullivan”... • Grant moves on Jackson, Mississippi... • Spotsylvania butchery ends... • US VP attacked in Caracas... • Pope shot... • Edison sues Biograph... • Daphne Du Maurier is born... • Mac System 7.0... • Barnes & Noble Web site... • Digital sues Intel... • Heavy fighting in Vietnam... • Vietnam peace talks enter 4th year... • K~Mart's comeback...
AVNX price chartOn a May 13:
2003 The previous evening Avanex Corporation (AVNX) announced that it will acquire the fiber optics network components businesses of Alcatel (ALA) and of Corning. AVNX is On the NASDAQ 23 million of the 69 million AVNX shares are traded, surging from their previous close of $1.19 to an intraday high of $3.30 and close at $2.95. They had traded as low as $0.63 as recently as 22 October 2002 and as high as $261.00 on 06 March 2000, after starting trading at $172.00 on 31 January 2000. [3~year price chart >]
2003 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York opens an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Kasimir Severinovich Malevich [26 Feb 1878 – 15 May 1935], Ukrainian avant-garde Cubist artist.
2002 In Baltimore, in the evening, Father Maurice Blackwell, 56, a Black, is shot once in the left hand and twice in the left hip by .357 caliber bullets fired from a handgun by black Dontee Stokes, 26, a Black, who surrenders to the police nearly six hours later and says “I don't know what came over me”, because the Catholic priest refused to talk to him. In 1993 the police and the archdiocese had dismissed as not credible the claim by Stokes that Blackwell had improperly touched and fondled him from 1989 to 1992 while he attended Bible study classes at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church, to which Blackwell had been assigned since 1979. In 1998 Blackwell was removed as pastor of St. Edward, after he admitted to an improper relationship with another minor. On 16 December 2002, a jury would acquit Stokes of attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and assault, and only convict him of three minor gun charges, for which he would be sentenced to 8 months in prison. On 07 May 2003, a grand jury would indict Blackwell on four charges of sex abuse of a child.
Berlusconi2001 Parliamentary elections in Italy, won by the center-right coalition of corruption-suspect billionaire Silvio Berlusconi (14th richest person in the world) [< photo], who will be able to form a government again, after several years out of power.
2001 Elections to the 75-seat Basque regional parliament in Spain, a success for Basque nationalists.
1998 K-Mart's comeback       ^top^
      May 13, 1998 was a good day for Kmart: after suffering through a dismal, and potentially fatal, spate during the early 1990s, the stalwart retailer announced that its first-quarter profits for the year had skyrocketed by 236 percent to $47 million. These heady numbers were seemingly another sign of Kmart's resurgence, and sparked a round of guardedly optimistic comments from the company's brass. Company Chief Executive Floyd Hall noted that, "(W)ith our eight consecutive quarters of increased earnings per share, we continue to feel good about the turnaround momentum at Kmart." Hall attributed Kmart's comeback to a number of factors, including a tighter inventory, sound company finances and "strong increases" in apparel and consumables. Retail industry analysts also pointed to broader social and fiscal trends-namely, America's booming economy and the public's subsequent willingness to loosen its collective purse strings. Indeed, Kmart was but one of a number of retailers racking up profits during the extended bull run of the late 1990s.
1997 Digital sues Intel       ^top^
      Digital Equipment Corporation files a sweeping lawsuit against Intel, claiming that Intel's Pentium chip was based on patented technology stolen from Digital. The suit requests that Intel stop producing the Pentium line and pay monetary damages to Digital. This action surprises the industry, and some observers feel that it is an act of desperation on the part of a struggling company that has suffered a decline in its once-dominant position in recent years. Digital and Intel ended up settling the suit for an estimated $1.5 billion later in the year. The settlement made Digital an attractive acquisition target, and Compaq purchased the company in January 1998.
1997 Barnes & Noble site launched       ^top^
      Barnes & Noble join the race for online book sales by launching its online superstore just one day after suing rival Amazon.com. The lawsuit challenged Amazon's claim to be the world's largest bookstore. Barnes and Noble claimed to offer some 400'000 titles online.
1991 South African Black activist Winnie Mandela and two co-defendants were convicted of abducting four young black men and keeping them at her Soweto home. (After an appeal, Mrs. Mandela was ordered to pay a fine.)
1991 Mac System 7.0 introduced       ^top^
      Apple introduces an improved version of its Macintosh system software, called System 7.0. The new system let all Macintoshes share files in a network without the intervention of a server, and it also introduced "balloon help"-pop-up text windows offering helpful hints.
1989 Approx 2000 students begin hunger strike (against Communist dictatorship) in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
1981 Pope John Paul II is shot       ^top^
      Pope John Paul II is shot
and wounded at St. Peter's Square in Rome, Italy. Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, 23, an escaped fugitive already convicted of a previous murder, fired several shots at the religious leader, two of which wounded nearby tourists. Agca was immediately captured. Agca's confession to Italian authorities was a desperate attempt to appear out of his mind. He claimed that he had planned to go to England to kill the king but couldn't because it turned out there was only a queen and "Turks don't shoot women." He also claimed to have Palestinian connections, although the PLO quickly denied any involvement. Detectives believed that his confession had been coached in order to throw investigators offtrack.
      When his trial began on 20 July 1981, Agca tried an unlikely legal gambit: He maintained that Italy did not have the right to prosecute him since the crime occurred at the Vatican. Although he threatened to go on a hunger strike if his trial wasn't shifted to a Vatican court, his request was denied and he was found guilty two days later. He was sentenced to life in prison.
      Many people argued that the very unusual and short trial must have been an effort to cover up evidence of a conspiracy. In fact, Italian authorities had their own suspicions but did not want to disclose them in a highly publicized trial. Instead, they conducted a relatively quiet investigation into the connection between Agca and Bulgaria's KGB-connected intelligence agency.
      The motive behind an alleged Soviet-inspired assassination must be viewed in the context of the Cold War in 1981. Pope John Paul II was Polish-born and openly supportive of the democratic movement in that country. His visit to Poland in 1979 worried the Kremlin, which saw its hold on Eastern Europe in danger. Although the exact extent of the conspiracy remains unknown today, Agca reportedly met with Bulgarian spies Sergei Antonov, Zhelio Vassilev, Todor Aivazov, and Bekir Celenk in Rome about assassinating Lech Walesa, the Polish labor union leader. However, this plan was abandoned when Agca was offered $1.25 million to kill the pope.
      Following a long convalescence, John Paul resumed his world travels. He also forgave Agca and visited him in prison.
      Near the start of his weekly general audience in Rome's St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded while passing through the square in an open car. The assailant, 23-year-old escaped Turkish murderer Mehmet Ali Agca, fired four shots, one of which hit the pontiff in the abdomen, narrowly missing vital organs, and another that hit the pope's left hand. A third bullet struck 60-year-old American Ann Odre in the chest, seriously wounding her, and the fourth hit 21-year-old Jamaican Rose Hill in the arm. Agca's weapon was knocked out of his hand by bystanders, and he was detained until his arrest by police. The pope was rushed by ambulance to Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where he underwent more than five hours of surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition.
      John Paul II, the spiritual leader of almost 600 million Roman Catholics around the world, was invested in 1978 as the first Polish pope and the first non-Italian pope in 456 years. Fluent in seven modern languages and Latin, he was known as an avid traveler who had little fear of going out in public. Four days after being shot, he offered forgiveness to his would-be assassin from his hospital bed. The pontiff spent three weeks in the hospital before being released fully recovered from his wounds.
      The motives of Mehmet Ali Agca in attempting to kill the head of the Roman Catholic Church are unclear. In the 1970s, Agca joined a right-wing Turkish terrorist group known as the Gray Wolves. The group is held responsible for the assassination of hundreds of public officials, labor organizers, journalists, and left-wing activists as part of their mission to cleanse Turkey of leftist influence. In recent years, it has been revealed that the Gray Wolves had close ties with far-right politicians, intelligence officers, and police commanders. In February 1979, Abdi Ipekci, a liberal newspaper editor, was murdered near his home in Istanbul. Mehmet Ali Agca was arrested and charged with the crime. While awaiting his trial, Agca escaped from a military prison in November 1979. In his cell, he left behind a letter that concerned John Paul II's planned trip to Turkey. The letter read: "Western imperialists who are afraid of Turkey's unity of political, military, and economic power with the brotherly Islamic countries are sending the Crusader Commander John Paul under the mask of a religions leader. If this ill-timed and meaningless visit is not called off, I will definitely shoot the pope. This is the only reason that I escaped from prison." Because of this threat, security was tightened during the pope's Turkish visit, and there was no assassination attempt. A Turkish court convicted Agca of murder in absentia, and he remained at large.
      On 09 May 1981, Agca took a plane from Majorca to Milan and entered Italy under an assumed name. He took a room in a hotel near the Vatican and on 13 May walked into St. Peter's Square and shot the pope with a 9mm Browning automatic. A handwritten note was found in his pocket that read: "I am killing the pope as a protest against the imperialism of the Soviet Union and the United States and against the genocide that is being carried out in Salvador and Afghanistan." He pleaded guilty, saying he acted alone, and in July 1981 was sentenced to life in prison. In 1982, Agca announced that his assassination attempt was actually part of a conspiracy involving the Bulgarian intelligence services, which was known to act on behalf of the KGB. Pope John Paul II was a fervent anti-communist who supported the Solidarity trade union in his native Poland, which seemed to make him an appropriate target for the communists. In 1983, despite these developments, the pope met with Mehmet in prison and offered him forgiveness. Further interrogations of Agca led to the arrest of three Bulgarians and three Turks, who went on trial in 1985. As the trial opened, the case against the Bulgarian and Turkish defendants collapsed when Agca, the state's key witness, described himself as Jesus Christ and predicted the imminent end of the world. He explained that the Bulgarian scenario was concocted by Western intelligence officials, and that God had in fact led him to shoot John Paul II. The attack, he explained, was "tied to the Third Secret of the Madonna of Fatima."
      The secrets of Fatima were three messages that Catholic tradition says the Virgin Mary imparted to three Portuguese shepherd children in an apparition in 1917. The first message allegedly predicted World War II, the second the rise (and fall) of the Soviet Union, and the third was still a Vatican secret in 1985. In 1986, the Bulgarian and Turkish defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence. In the late 1990s, Pope John Paul II expressed his hope that the Italian government would pardon Mehmet in 2000. The pontiff had made 2000 a holy "Jubilee" year, of which forgiveness was to be a cornerstone. On 13 May 2000, the 19th anniversary of the attempt on his life, the pope visited Fatima, Portugal. The same day, the Third Secret of Fatima was announced by Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano. Sodano described the secret as a "prophetic vision" in which "a bishop clothed in white...falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire." The Vatican interpreted this as a prediction of the attempt on John Paul II's life. Mehmet Ali Agca, who had guessed the alleged Fatima-assassination connection in 1985, was pardoned by Italian President Carolo Ciampi on 14 June 2000. Extradited to Turkey, he began serving the eight years remaining on the sentence for his 1979 murder of the Turkish newspaper editor.
1980 UAW president on Chrysler board       ^top^
      Douglas A. Fraser, president of the UAW, is named to the Chrysler Corporation Board of Directors, becoming the first union representative ever to sit on the board of a major US corporation.
      Born in 1916 in Glasgow, Scotland, to a Socialist father, Fraser was brought up to the tune of organized labor. He dropped out of high school and began work at a Dodge plant as a metal polisher. Fraser soon moved to the DeSoto plant in Detroit, where he began his career in labor activism. Rising through the ranks of his local UAW chapter, Fraser eventually caught the eye of powerful UAW figure Walter Reuther. Reuther's similar immigrant and Socialist background meant that the two men shared ideas in common. Fraser worked as Reuther's administrative assistant through the groundbreaking years of the 1950s, during which the UAW solidified policies on retirement pensions and medical care for its members. Like Reuther, Fraser believed that to achieve its goals the UAW needed to be willing to make reasonable compromises.
      It wasn't until 1977 that Fraser was elected president of the UAW. He inherited the title as the automotive industry suffered its greatest recession since the Depression. Fraser is credited with having led the UAW through the uncertain years of the globalization of the automotive industry. As it became evident that the Big Three could build their cars wherever they wanted, Fraser fought to make sure that the union stayed flexible in its negotiations with industry executives. His detractors sometimes accused Fraser of pandering, but those who knew him described him as a stern proponent of international labor causes. His flexibility owed to his desire to keep the union an open-minded and competitive organization. The New York Times described Fraser as "an extremely tough-minded unionist, like most who rise through the ferocious fighting that can characterize union politics."
      In 1973, Fraser helped to solidify the industry's "thirty and out" policy. During his presidency, Fraser attempted to address the less tangible hardships facing autoworkers. Gone were the days of unfair hours and dangerous conditions, but the monotony that faced the average autoworker was still a cross to bear.
      In 1982, Fraser enacted his most daring and visionary maneuver as UAW president. Faced with Chrysler's imminent collapse, Fraser negotiated away millions of dollars already guaranteed to his union in order to help save a company with valuable jobs. In return, Chrysler traded stock options to the union. The resurgence of Chrysler bore out Fraser's unpopular decision.
      Respected by his adversaries, Fraser received the unprecedented accolade of being named to Chrysler's board. "His word is enough for us," one Chrysler executive explained. "He gets into plant problems like no other union leader I know." Conceding that his position on Chrysler's board was largely symbolic, Fraser nevertheless strove to bring the issues of the laborer into the boardroom. It is one thing to vote to close a plant on paper and quite another to vote after hearing in detail the hardship the decision will cause. Douglas Fraser was a proud and unselfish leader who must be remembered for maintaining his ideals, even after his prosperity made them unnecessary.
1978 Joie Chitwood drives a Chevette 9 km on just 2 wheels.
1975 Hail stones as large as tennis balls hit Wernerville Tenn
1973 Tennis hustler Bobby Riggs beat Margaret Smith Court in a Mother's Day match in California
1972 Heavy fighting continues at Quang Tri and Kontum       ^top^
      Seventeen US helicopters land 1,000 South Vietnamese marines and their six US advisors behind North Vietnamese lines southeast of Quang Tri City in the first South Vietnamese counterattack since the beginning of the communist Nguyen Hue Offensive. The marines reportedly killed more than 300 North Vietnamese before returning to South Vietnamese-controlled territory the next day. Farther to the south, North Vietnamese tanks and troops continued their attacks in the Kontum area. On 01 May, North Vietnamese troops had captured Quang Tri City, the first provincial capital taken during their ongoing offensive. The fall of the city effectively gave the North Vietnamese control of the entire province of Quang Tri. Farther south along the coast, three districts of Binh Dinh Province also fell, leaving about one-third of that province under communist control.
      These attacks were part of the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the "Easter Offensive"), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces on 30 March to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120'000 soldiers and approximately 1200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north and Kontum in the Central Highlands, included An Loc farther to the south. The situation at Quang Tri would not be rectified until President Nguyen Van Thieu relieved the I Corps commander and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Ngo Quang Truong, whom Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr., later described as "probably the best field commander in South Vietnam." Truong effectively stopped the ongoing rout of South Vietnamese forces, established a stubborn defense, and eventually launched a successful counterattack against the North Vietnamese, retaking Quang Tri in September.
1971 Vietnam peace talks, stalled, enter 4th year.       ^top^
      Still deadlocked, the Vietnam peace talks in Paris enter their fourth year. The talks had begun with much fanfare in May 1968, but almost immediately were plagued by procedural questions that impeded any meaningful progress. Even the seating arrangement was disputed: South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky refused to consent to any permanent seating plan that would appear to place the National Liberation Front (NLF) on an equal footing with Saigon. North Vietnam and the NLF likewise balked at any arrangement that would effectively recognize the Saigon as the legitimate government of South Vietnam. After much argument and debate, chief US negotiator W. Averell Harriman proposed an arrangement whereby NLF representatives could join the North Vietnamese team but without having to be acknowledged by Saigon's delegates; similarly, South Vietnamese negotiators could sit with their American allies without having to be acknowledged by the North Vietnamese and the NLF representatives. Such seemingly insignificant matters became fodder for many arguments between the delegations at the negotiations and nothing meaningful came from this particular round of the ongoing peace negotiations.
1958 Jordan and Iraq form the Arab Federation
1958 Vice President Nixon is attacked in Caracas.       ^top^
      During a goodwill trip through Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by an angry crowd and nearly overturned while traveling through Caracas, Venezuela. The incident was the dramatic highlight of trip characterized by Latin American anger over some of America's Cold War policies. By 1958, relations between the United States and Latin America had reached their lowest point in years. Latin Americans complained that the US focus on the Cold War and anticommunism failed to address the pressing economic and political needs of many Latin American nations. In particular, they argued that their countries needed more basic economic assistance, not more arms to repel communism. They also questioned the American support of dictatorial regimes in Latin America simply because those regimes claimed to be anticommunist-for example, the US awarded the Legion of Merit medal to Venezuelan dictator Marcos Perez Jiménez in 1954; Jimenez was overthrown by a military coup early in 1958.
      This was the atmosphere into which Vice President Richard Nixon arrived during his goodwill trip through Latin America in April and May 1958. The trip began with some controversy, as Nixon engaged in loud and bitter debates with student groups during his travels through Peru and Uruguay. In Caracas, Venezuela, however, things took a dangerous turn. A large crowd of angry Venezuelans who shouted anti-American slogans stopped Nixon's motorcade through the capital city. They attacked the car, damaged its body and smashed the windows. Inside the vehicle, Secret Service agents covered the vice president and at least one reportedly pulled out his weapon. Miraculously, they escaped from the crowd and sped away. In Washington, President Eisenhower dispatched US troops to the Caribbean area to rescue Nixon from further threats if necessary. None occurred, and the vice president left Venezuela ahead of schedule. The riot in Caracas served as a wake-up call to US officials in Washington, alerting them to the US's deteriorating relations with Latin America. In the next few months, the United States increased both its military and economic assistance to the region. However, it was not until communist Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba beginning in 1959 that the United States truly realized the extent of discontent and rebelliousness in Latin America.
1954 US President Eisenhower signs into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.
1943 Battle for North Africa ends       ^top^
      During World War II, the last of some 250'000 Axis troops surrendered in Tunisia to Allied forces, ending the three-year Battle for North Africa.
      In September of 1940, Italian forces commanded by Marshall Rodolfo Graziani opened the North African theater of war by crossing into British-controlled Egypt and occupying Sidi Barrani. Three months later, British forces under Sir Richard O'Connor launched a crushing counteroffensive, liberating Sidi Barrani at the cost of only 133 British soldiers killed to the nearly 40'000 Italians taken prisoner. Over the next two months, British and Australian forces devastated Italian divisions in Egypt and in Cyrenaica to the east, and after a major Allied victory at Beda Fomm in February of 1941, the tide seemed to have turned against the Axis in North Africa.
      However, German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel had yet to make his appearance in North Africa. In early 1941, Rommel was first sent to the North African desert by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on a mission to strengthen the Italian tank divisions that had suffered grave defeats against the British desert forces. By the end of May, Rommel's Africa Korps had won back much of the territory lost by the Italians, and Rommel earned the nickname "Desert Fox" for his skill in fashioning elegant deceptions to confuse his enemy.
      However, in November, British General Claude Auchinleck launched Operation Crusader, a campaign that forced Rommel back into eastern Libya. In January 1942, Rommel launched an offensive in Cyrenaica, decisively defeating the comparatively inexperienced British First Armored Division. By July, the Africa Korps had pushed as far east as El Alamein, Egypt, less than 80 km from Alexandria, and Rommel's forces paused to rest.
      Three months later, the Axis suffered a major defeat against British General Bernard Montgomery at the Battle of El Alamein, and the tide turned for the last time in the battle for North Africa. The Germans and Italians fled to Tunisia in the east, where they prepared a defense against Allied forces massing in North Africa. In November 1942, US forces arrived to liberate French North Africa, controlled by the Vichy French, and early in the next year, they joined the other Allied forces preparing for their offensive into Tunisia. On 22 April 1943, the main Allied attack came, and by 07 May, the British and Americans had broken through the Axis line, capturing both Bizerta and Tunis. On May 10, Axis forces began to surrender in large numbers, and, by 13 May, North Africa was clear.
1940 Blood, toil, tears and sweat.       ^top^
     On 10 May 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, just as the Nazi blitzkrieg poured into neutral Netherlands and Belgium. When he met his Cabinet on 13 May he told them that "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." He repeated that phrase later in the day when he moved in the House of Commons "that this House welcomes the formation of a Government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion." The response of Labour was heart-warming; the Conservative reaction was luke-warm. They still really wanted Neville Chamberlain. For the first time, the people had hope but Churchill commented to General Ismay: "Poor people, poor people. They trust me, and I can give them nothing but disaster for quite a long time." Here is the important part of Churchill's speech to Parliament
     ... it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many other points in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous and that many preparations ... have to be made here at home. In this crisis ... I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
      We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."
With Europe having been freshly trodden under the Nazi boot, in Great Britain, on 06 May 1940, Winston Churchill came to the helm as the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. On 13 May 1940, this newly emerged leader, gave his first speech to the British Parliament.
THE FULL SPEECH:
     On Friday evening last I received from His Majesty the mission to form a new administration. It was the evident will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it should include all parties.
      I have already completed the most important part of this task.
      A war cabinet has been formed of five members, representing, with the Labour, Opposition, and Liberals, the unity of the nation. It was necessary that this should be done in one single day on account of the extreme urgency and rigor of events. Other key positions were filled yesterday. I am submitting a further list to the king tonight. I hope to complete the appointment of principal ministers during tomorrow.
      The appointment of other ministers usually takes a little longer. I trust when Parliament meets again this part of my task will be completed and that the administration will be complete in all respects. I considered it in the public interest to suggest to the Speaker that the House should be summoned today.
      At the end of today's proceedings, the adjournment of the House will be proposed until May 21 with provision for earlier meeting if need be. Business for that will be notified to MPs at the earliest opportunity.
      I now invite the House by a resolution to record its approval of the steps taken and declare its confidence in the new government.

The resolution:
That this House welcomes the formation of a government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion.

     To form an administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself. But we are in the preliminary phase of one of the greatest battles in history. We are in action at many other points-in Norway and in Holland-and we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. The air battle is continuing, and many preparations have to be made here at home.
      In this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today, and I hope that any of my friends and colleagues or former colleagues who are affected by the political reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act.
      I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.
      You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
      You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terrors — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
      Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.
      I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men.
      I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength
Complete Speeches of Winston Churchill  Contents:       ^top^
  • First Political SpeechHabitation of the Primrose League, Claverton Down, Bath, 26 July 1897
  • Amritsar, IndiaHouse of Commons, 08 July 1920
  • The Abdication CrisisHouse of Commons,  07 December 1936
  • The Annexation of AustriaHouse of Commons, 14 March 1938
  • A House of Many Mansions Broadcast London, 20 January 1940
  • Blood, Toil, Tears and SweatFirst Speech to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, 13 May 1940
  • Be Ye Men of ValourFirst Broadcast on BBC as Prime Minister; 19 May, 1940
  • We Shall Fight on the Beaches House of Commons, 04 June 1940
  • Their Finest HourHouse of Commons, 18 June 1940
  • War of the Unknown Warriors — BBC Broadcast, London, 14 July 1940
  • "The Few"House of Commons, 20 August 1940
  • Neville ChamberlainHouse of Commons, 12 November 1940
  • Never Give In, Never, Never, NeverHarrow School, 29 October 1941
  • The Price of Greatness is Responsibility Harvard, 1943
  • The Invasion of FranceHouse of Commons, 06 June 1944
  • The End of the War in EuropeBroadcast, London, and House of Commons, 08 May 1945
  • This is Your Victory Ministry of Health, London, 08 May 1945
  • To V-E Day Crowds — London, 08 May 1945
  • Sinews of Peace (Iron Curtain) — Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 05 March 1946
  • The English-Speaking Peoples General Assembly of Virginia, 08 March 1946
  • The Anglo-American Alliance The Pentagon, Washington DC, 09 March 1946
  • The Darkening International SceneWaldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, 15 March 1946
  • A Broader and Fairer World Columbia University, New York, 18 March 1946
  • The United States of EuropeThe Hague, 09 May 1946
  • The Tragedy of EuropeZurich University, 19 September 1946
  • The Congress of EuropeThe Hague, 07 May 1948
  • United Europe — Amsterdam, 09 May 1948
  • Nobel Prize for Literature — Stockholm, Sweden, 1957
  • Honorary Citizen of the United States of America — 09 April 1963
  • 1939 The S.S St. Louis sails from Hamburg at 20:00, full of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, bound for Cuba (where they would be turned back).
    1934 Great dustbowl storm in US Midwest.
    1925 In Tallahassee, Florida, the State legislature passed a bill requiring daily Bible readings in all public schools
    1917 first appearance of Mary to 3 shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal
    1898 Edison sues Biograph       ^top^
          Thomas Edison sues American Mutoscope and Biograph Pictures, claiming that the studio has infringed on his patent for the Kinetograph movie camera. Thomas Edison, born in Ohio in 1847, had already invented the gramophone, the light bulb, and other important technologies by 1887, when he moved his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory to Orange, New Jersey. In Orange, Edison entrusted the development of a new machine that could capture moving images to his assistant, W.L.K. Dickson. Dickson designed the Kinetograph, a camera that used celluloid film advanced by a sprocket that fit into square perforations running along the film, and the Kinetoscope, which projected moving images in a single-viewer peep-show format. Edison publicly demonstrated the machine in 1891.
          Edison soon realized the financial drawbacks of the peep-show format and contracted rights to a camera developed by two of his assistants, Jenkins and Armat, called the Vitascope. The Vitascope was publicly displayed in 1896 in a New York vaudeville hall. Dickson had already left Edison's company in 1895, and in 1896 helped form a new movie company called American Mutoscope and Biograph Pictures. Edison accused the company of stealing his work. However, in 1902, the US Court of Appeals ruled that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera, but allowed that he had invented the sprocket system that moved perforated film through the camera. In 1909, Edison and Biograph joined forces with other filmmakers to create the Motion Pictures Patents Corp., an organization devoted to protecting patents and keeping other players from entering the film industry. In 1917, the Supreme Court dissolved the trust, and the same year the Edison Company left the film industry.
    1888 Brazil abolishes slavery
    1888 DeWolf Hopper first recited "Casey at the Bat"
    1874 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On the Greek-Ruthenian rite"
    1865 Skirmish at Palmito Ranch, Texas — the last engagement of the Civil War — concludes.
    1864 Struggle for the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania, Virginia, concludes.
    1864 Atlanta Campaign-Battle of Resaca [or 0515]
    1863 Grant moves on Jackson, Mississippi.       ^top^
          Union General Ulysses S. Grant advances toward the Mississippi capital of Jackson during his bold and daring drive to take Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In April, Grant had moved his troops down the Mississippi River and around the Vicksburg defenses, landing south of the city before moving east into the interior of Mississippi. He intended to approach Vicksburg from the east to avoid the strong Confederate defenses on the riverfront. Grant, however, had to contend with two Rebel forces. John C. Pemberton had an army defending Vicksburg, and Joseph Johnston was mustering troops in Jackson, 60 km east of Vicksburg. Grant's advance placed him between the two Southern commands. He planned to strike Johnston in Jackson, defeat him, and then focus on Vicksburg when the threat to his rear was eliminated.
          On 12 May, Grant's troops encountered a Rebel force at Raymond, Mississippi, which they easily defeated. The following day, he divided his force at Raymond, just 24 km from Jackson, and sent two corps under William T. Sherman and James McPherson to drive the Confederates under Johnston out of Jackson, which they did by 14 May. Grant also sent John McClernand's corps west to close in on Pemberton in Vicksburg. On 16 May, Grant defeated Pemberton at Champion's Hill and drove the Rebels back into Vicksburg. With the threat from the east neutralized, Grant sealed Vicksburg shut and laid siege to the city. Vicksburg surrendered on 04 July, and the Confederacy was severed in two.
    1861 US troops move to occupy Baltimore, Maryland
    1846 US Congress declares war against Mexico       ^top^
          Four days after word reached Washington that an American patrol had been ambushed by Mexican forces north of the Rio Grande, the US Congress granted President James K. Polk’s request for a declaration of war.
          The day before, unbeknownst to Congress or the president, US General Zachary Taylor had led US troops to victory against a larger Mexican force at the Battle of Palo Alto, the first major engagement of the Mexican-American War.
          The Mexican-American War began with a dispute over the US government’s 1845 annexation of Texas, which had won independence from Mexico in 1836. In January of 1846, President James K. Polk, a strong advocate of westward expansion, ordered General Zachary Taylor to occupy disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers. Mexican troops attacked Taylor’s forces, and on May 13, 1846, Congress approved a declaration of war, appropriating ten million dollars for the war effort and authorizing the president to call for 50'000 volunteers.
          On 09 March 1847, US forces under General Winfield Scott invaded Mexico 5 km south of Vera Cruz. Encountering little resistance from the Mexicans massed in the fortified city of Vera Cruz, by nightfall the last of Scott’s 10'000 men had come ashore without the loss of a single life. By 29 March, with very few US casualties, Scott’s forces had taken Vera Cruz and its massive fortress, San Juan de Ulua.
          On 09 April, Scott began a devastating march to Mexico City, ending on September 14, when triumphant US forces entered the Mexican capital and raised the American flag over the Hall of Montezuma.
          On 02 February 1848, representatives from the US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, formally ending the Mexican War, recognizing Texas as part of the United States, and extending the boundaries of the United States west to the Pacific Ocean.
    1835 first foreign embassy in Hawaii established
    1828 US passes Tariff of Abominations
    1795 (24 floréal an III) CAHEN Michel, marchand boucher, domicilié à Guinglane, département de la Moselle, est condamné à 15 années de fer, comme fabricateur et distributeur de faux assignats, et fausse monnoie, le 24 floréal an 3, .
    1779 War of Bavarian Succession ends
    1665 A statute is enacted in Rhode Island, offering freemanship with no specifically Christian requirements, thus effectively enfranchising Jews.
    1607 Jamestown founded       ^top^
          More than one hundred English colonists settle along the west bank of the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
          Dispatched from England by the London Company, the colonists had sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Sarah Constant, Goodspeed, and Discovery. Upon landing at Jamestown, the first colonial council was held by seven settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. After only two weeks, Jamestown came under attack from warriors from the local Algonquian Native-American confederacy, but the Indians were repulsed by the armed settlers.
          In December of the same year, John Smith and two other colonists were captured by Algonquians while searching for provisions in the Virginia wilderness. His companions were killed, but he was spared, according to Smith, because of the intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s daughter. Over the next two years, disease, starvation, and more Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more settlers and supplies.
          The severe winter of 1609 to 1610, which the colonists referred to as the "starving time," killed most of the Jamestown colonists, leading the survivors to plan a return to England in the spring. However, on 10 June, Thomas West De La Warr, the newly appointed governor of Virginia, arrived with supplies and convinced the settlers to remain at Jamestown.
          In 1612, John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco at Jamestown, introducing a successful source of livelihood, and, on 05 April 1614, he married Pocahontas, thus assuring a temporary peace with Chief Powhatan. However, the death of Powhatan in 1618 brought about a resumption of conflict with the Algonquians, including an attack led by Chief Opechancanough in 1622 that nearly wiped out the settlements surrounding Jamestown, although the heavily fortified town was saved. The English engaged in violent reprisals against the Algonquians, but there was no further large-scale fighting until 1644, when Opechancanough led his last uprising, and was captured and executed at Jamestown.
          In 1646, the Algonquian Confederacy agreed to give up much of its territory to the rapidly expanding colony, and, beginning in 1665, its chiefs were appointed by the governor of Virginia.
    click for a later  portrait 1568 Mary Queen of Scots defeated       ^top^
    at the Battle of Langside, by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, the regent of her son, King James VI of Scotland. During the battle, which was fought out in the southern suburbs of Glasgow, a cavalry charge routed Mary’s 6000 Catholic troops, and they fled the field. Three days later, Mary escaped to Cumberland, England, where she sought protection from Queen Elizabeth I.
    [< Mary, Queen of Scots, after François Clouet, 25.3x29cm]
          In 1542, while just six days old, Mary ascended to the Scottish throne upon the death of her father, King James V. Her mother sent her to be raised in the French court, and in 1558 she married the French dauphin, who became King Francis II of France in 1559, and died in the following year. After Francis’s death, Mary returned to Scotland to assume her designated role as the country’s monarch, and in 1565 married her English cousin Lord Darnley in order to reinforce her claim of succession to the English throne after Elizabeth’s death.
          In 1567, Darnby was mysteriously killed in an explosion at Kirk o’ Field, and Mary’s lover, the Earl of Bothwell, was the key suspect. Although Bothwell was acquitted of the charge, his marriage to Mary in the same year enraged the nobility, and Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son by Darnby, James. In 1568, she escaped from captivity and raised a substantial army, but was defeated and fled to England.
          Queen Elizabeth I initially welcomed Mary, but was soon forced to put her friend under house arrest after Mary became the focus of various English Catholic and Spanish plots to overthrow Elizabeth. Nineteen years later, in 1586, a major plot to murder Elizabeth was uncovered, and Mary was brought to trial, convicted for complicity, and sentenced to death. On 08 February 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in England. Her son, King James VI of Scotland, calmly accepted his mother’s execution, and upon Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603, he became James I, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
    [Link to reproduction of painting Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay; by John Duncan]
    0535 St Agapitus I begins his reign as Pope.
    TO THE TOP
    Deaths which occurred on a May 13:       ^top^
    1996. More than 600 persons, by a tornado in Bangladesh.
    1988 Chet Baker, 59, jazz trumpeter fell to death out of a hotel window.
    1985, 5 children and 6 adults who wouldn't move MOVE, burned alive by the police.       ^top^
          In Philadelphia, the police begins evacuating people from their Osage Avenue homes in order to prepare for an operation against MOVE, a radical cult group that had assembled a large arsenal. By the end of the confrontation, 11 people were dead and 61 homes had been burned down.
          The roots of the 1985 incident date back to 1978 when a confrontation between the radicals cult group MOVE and the police left Officer James Ramp dead. Several innocent MOVE members were convicted of murder, enraging other members. Leader John Africa began a counterattack on 24 December 1983. At the MOVE headquarters at 6221 Osage Avenue, members set up several loudspeakers and began shouting profanities at their neighbors. Even more ominously, MOVE began assembling a cache of weapons and building bunkers in their row house.
         Everything comes to a head in May 1985 when Mayor W. Wilson Goode orders police to raid the MOVE headquarters. Authorities soon realize that there is very little they could do to remove MOVE members from their entrenched position. On 12 May, the police began evacuating people from their neighboring Osage Avenue homes
          At about 17:30 on 13 May, a small bomb is dropped on the roof of the building in an attempt to destroy the bunker. This proved disastrous, as the roof was covered with tar and gas, and a blistering fire broke out. It took the fire department an hour to begin extinguishing the fire. By this time, it was raging out of control. In the ensuing chaos, six adults and five children inside the MOVE home were killed. By the time the fire had been contained, 61 near-by homes had burned down. Much like the Waco, Texas, raid of the Branch Davidians eight years later, the authorities came under heavy criticism for their harsh handling of the confrontation.
    1984 Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, Polish US mathematician and physicist born on 03 April 1909. He solved the problem of how to initiate nuclear fusion for a bomb. He also advanced and named (in 1946, in honor of a gambler relative) the Monte-Carlo Method, Any method which solves a problem by generating suitable random numbers and observing what fraction of the numbers has some property. The method is useful for obtaining numerical solutions to problems which are too complicated to solve analytically, such as nuclear fusion studied by Ulam.
    1962 Dr H Trendley Dean introduced fluoridation into water
    1948 Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, 28, in plane crash. She was born on 20 February 1920, almost 3 years after her brother John F.Kennedy who would be US president. She was the widow of William John Robert Cavendish, whom she had married during WW II in London on 06 May 1944, and who was killed fighting in Belgium, at age 26, on 10 September 1944.
    1944 William Edward Hodgson Berwick, English algebraist born on 11 March 1888.
    1930 Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock, Texas. Only known fatality due to hail in US.
    1939 Stanislaw Leshniewski, Polish mathematician born on 30 March 1886.
    1919 Eugen Otto Erwin Netto, German mathematician born on 30 June 1848.
    1866 Nicolay Dmetrievich Brashman, Russian mathematician born on 14 June 1796. Chebyshev [16 May 1821 – 08 Dec 1894] and Somov [01 Jun 1815 – 26 Apr 1876] were among his students.
    1864 Rebs and Yanks end butchering each other at Spotsylvania.       ^top^
          Close-range firing and hand-to-hand combat at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, result in one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War. After the Battle of the Wilderness (05 May and 06 May), Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee raced respective Union and Confederate forces southward. Grant aimed his army a dozen miles southeast of the Wilderness, toward the critical crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House. Sensing Grant's plan, Lee sent part of his army on a furious night march to secure the road junction before the Union soldiers got there. The Confederates soon constructed an eight-kilometer long system of entrenchments in the shape of an inverted U. On 10 May, Grant began to attack Lee's position at Spotsylvania. After achieving a temporary breakthrough at the Rebel center, Grant was convinced that a weakness existed there, as the bend of the Confederate line dispersed their fire.
          At dawn on 12 May, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock's troops emerge from the fog and overrun the Rebel trenches, taking nearly 3000 prisoners and more than a dozen cannons. While the Yankees erupted in celebration, the Confederates counterattacked and began to drive the Federals back. The battle raged for over 20 hours along the center of the Confederate line—the top of the inverted U—which became known as the "Bloody Angle." Lee's men eventually constructed a second line of defense behind the original Rebel trenches, and fighting ceased just before dawn on 13 May.
          Around the Bloody Angle, the dead lay five deep, and bodies had to be moved from the trenches to make room for the living. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, "I never expect to be fully believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania." And yet the battle was not done; the armies slugged it out for another week. In spite of his losses, Grant persisted, writing to General Henry Halleck in Washington, "I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."
    Gamma function graph
    1826 Christian Kramp, Strasbourg physician, physicist, and mathematician born on 08 July 1760. He did not suffer much from writer's kramp; among his writings are several elementary treatises on pure mathematics.
          He introduced the notation n! for factorials, and generalized them to the Real line. They were later further generalized to the Complex plane, by the gamma function, gamma function .
         G(y+1) = yG(y)
         G(0.5) = SQR(p)
         G(1.5) = 0.5 SQR(p)
         G(n + 0.5) / SQR(p) = (2n–1)! / [(n–1)! 2^(2n–1)]

          If n is an integer then G(n+1) = n!

    Gamma function as a limit
    Condamnés à mort par la Révolution:       ^top^
    1794 (24 floréal an II):

    SAINT-PEZ Charles, ex-curé d’auculére, domicilié à Auculéne (Côtes du Nord), par la commission militaire de Port-Malo, comme réfractaire à la loi.
    CARRAUT Benoit Joseph, 62 ans, né à Bouret, ancien militaire, époux de Caillet Thérèse, guillotiné à Arras
    LEFEBVRE Jean Marie, 45 ans, né et demeurant à St Omer, fabricant d'huile, époux de Leclerq Catherine, guillotiné à Arras
    Domiciliés à Cambray (Nord), par le tribunal révolutionnaire séant à Cambray:
    BRUNEAU Pierre François Joseph, avocat à Cambray, comme traître à la patrie, et ayant discrédité les assignats.
    FONTAINE Pierre François Joseph, domestique, comme traître à la patrie, et ayant discrédité les assignats.
    CHATELAIN Philippe, fabricant de toilette, comme convaincu d'espionnage
    TESTARD Jacques, fabricant de toiles, comme convaincu d'espionnage.
    POURÉ Noël Joseph, laboureur, comme ayant été nommé major par la Junte impériale.
    Par le tribunal criminel du département de la Lozère:
    VERDIER, ex-abbé de Chaudesaigues (Cantal).
         ... domiciliés dans le département de l'Aveyron, comme complices de séditieux:
    PONS, fils, domicilié à Caylus. — SALGUES, domicilié à Liocan. — SOUTOULI, médecin de St Côme, domicilié à Liocan. — VASSEUR, maçon, domicilié à St-Geniez.
         ... domiciliés dans le département de la Lozère:
    BOUDET Vilaret, ex abbé, domicilié à Monastier, canton de Marvejols, comme complice des brigands de la Vendée.
    BOISSONNAD (dit l'Etudiant), domicilié à Rieutort-d'Aubrac, canton de Marvejols,.comme séditieux.
    JOUROUET, (dit le chevalier de Lasale de Montgézieu), cadet, domicilié à Mende, comme chef de séditieux.
          ...      ... comme complices de séditieux:
    BALEZ Jean Pierre, domicilié à St Léger-de-Peyre, canton de la Marvejols. — PROUZET, cadet, praticien, domicilié à St Sauveur-des-Peyres.
    ROUME Alexis, domicilié à St Sauveur. — BONNAL maréchal ferrant et hôtelier, domicilié à St Launet-de-Muret, canton de Marvejols.
    ASTRUC, cordonnier, domicilié à Marjevols. — LIGIER Théodore, domicilié à Marvejols.
    DELESTANG aîné, domicilié à Chirac. — MELHAC Romain, domicilié à Chirac.
    DELIANE, fils, ex abbé du Monastier, y demeurant. — GIBELIN, ex noble, domicilié à Pin.
    GISCARD Joseph (dit Loubesson), domicilié à Cheleu. — JAROUSSE, maire de la commune de St Laurent-du-Muret y demeurant.
    JARRIGION, ex curé de Rocoul-d'Aubrac y demeurant. — JARRIGION, ex vicaire de St Chely, y demeurant.
    LAPORTE Jean Marc, domicilié à Chante-Grenouille. — LIBOUREL, ex abbé, domicilié à Pratriala.
    MALZAC fils aîné, domicilié à Montignac. — MESTRE, curé du Marchastel, domicilié à Marchastel.
    QUINTIN, domestique, domicilié à Barjac. — ROUEL, ex vicaire, domicilié à Nasbinals.
    CHARBONNIER (dit Parisien), domicilié à Nasbinals. — FOURNIER, ci-devant, prieur curé de Nasbinals, y demeurant.
    FOURNIER, domicilié à Ste Lucie. — ROZIER Pierre (dit Longrandail), domicilié à Malassagrie.
    TOIRON, ex-vicaire de Prinsuejols, domicilié à Prinsuejols. — VIALA Jean, (dit Jeanon), domicilié à Chastelnouvel.
    PAPAREL Pierre, père, fermier, domicilié à Chanac. — Note: PAPAREL Pierre (dit chenac) [sans doute fils], domicilié à Chenac, , avait été comme contre-révolutionnaire le 14 juin 1793 .
    BOUSCHET Marca, domicilié à Rieutor-de-Randon, canton de Mende.
          ...      ...      ... domiciliés à Mende:
    BASTIDE — BERGON, ex aumônier de la Beaume — BONNAL Etienne, (dit Piarronnas) — GERVAIS Louis, (dit Coucourel) — SARRUT Projet, ex-abbé — VALETTE, jeune fils.
    Par le tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris:
    UBELESKY Jean Baptiste, visiteur des rôles, 65 ans, né à Longueville en caux, domicilié à Dieppe (Seine Inférieure), comme convaincu d’avoir entretenu des correspondance avec un parent émigré en Angleterre.
         ... comme conspirateurs:
    JOUEN Gilles, maréchal des logis au régiment de Conti dragons, chef d'un détachement de dragons de la Manche, 42 ans, né à Bernay (Eure), domicilié à Pacy même département, comme conspirateur et fédéraliste.
    LANLOUP Anne Joseph, 65 ans, ex noble médecin, né et domicilié à Lanloup (Côtes-du-Nord).
    LOUBER Adrien, notaire public et procureur fiscal de Plusieurs ci-devant justices seigneuriales, officier municipal de Puyredon (Allier).
    MAUGER Etienne, 40 ans, ex bénédictin, ex curé de Wize, professeur de physique en l'université de cette ville, membre de l'assemblée centrale des départements fédéralistes à Caen, né et domicilié à Rouen (Seine Inférieure).
    ROLLET Jacques Amable Gilbert (dit Davaux), 68 ans, président au ci-devant présidial de la sénéchaussée de Rion, né et domicilié à Rion.
    VILLAINE Adrienne Françoise, femme Rollet-Davaux, ex-noble, 59 ans, née et domicilié à Riom (Puy-de-Dôme).
    1695 Pierre Mignard I “le Romain”, French painter born on 17 November 1612.MORE ON MIGNARD AT ART “4” MAYLINKSClioPerseus and AndromedaThe Marquise de Seignelay and Two of her ChildrenThe Heavenly GloryGirl Blowing Soap BubblesThe Virgin of the Grapes
    1625 Anton Mozart, German artist born in 1573.
    Births which occurred on a May 13:

    1952 Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Gong (birth date he claims)       ^top^
         The Chinese Communist government, hostile to Falun Gong, says that records show that Li was born on 07 July 1952 and accuse him of falsifying his birth certificate to make his birth coincide with the date which Chinese traditionally regard as the anniversary of the birth of Buddhism's founder, Gautama Siddharta. (which is today in the Western Calendar, but in the Chinese calendar was, in 2000, 11 May).
    1992 Falung Gong
         A former government grain clerk, Li Hongzi founds Falun Gong (aka Falun Dafa) as an offshoot of traditional slow-motion exercises known as qi gong. To those, he added a blend of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and his own often unorthodox ideas. Followers claim that practice promotes health and good citizenship. Falun means Law Wheel, Gong means cultivation energy and capabilities.
         Li left China for New York in 1998 after the Chinese government quietly banned his books. On 25 April 1999, 10'000 Falun Gong followers demonstrated peacefully on Tienanmen square. This shocked China's leaders, and three months later they banned the group as a public menace and a threat to Communist Party rule.
          The Chinese government has accused the group of causing 1559 deaths — mostly among devotees who refused medical treatment — leading to psychiatric problems in 600 others and cheating people by making them spend lavishly on books and teachings. After violently breaking up one more Falun Gong at Tienanmin square 000511, the government claimed victory anew over the group. It claimed that 98 percent of all Falun Gong followers had severed ties to the group: "The victory has greatly raised the political vigilance of the nation, saved and protected a large number of the cheated, punished the evil and maintained the social stability of the country."
    "GREAT PERFECTION WAY OF FALUN BUDDHA LAW" by Li Hongzhi. — Contents [I see no politics in all this]:
    I. Distinguishing Features of the Practice System
    1. It Cultivates Falun, not Elixir of Immortality nor Does it Develop Elixir
    2. Falun Practises You Even When You Are not Practising Exercises
    3. It Cultivates the Main Consciousness, It is Yourself Who Will Acquire the Gong
    4. Integrated Cultivation of Both Human Nature and Life
    5. Five Sets of Exercises are Simple and Easy to Learn
    6. Practitioner Cultivates Without Any Mind-intent; Practitioner Will not Go Deviant; His Cultivation Energy Will Grow Rapidly
    7. No Consideration of Time, Place and Direction in the Practice, and No Ending of Practice as Well
    8. Protected by My Law Body, No Worry to Be Interfered by Any Outside Evil
    II. Movements Illustration
    1. Fozhan Qianshou Fa (Buddha Showing Thousand Hands)
    2. Falun Zhuang Fa (Falun Standing Stance)
    3. Guantong Liangji Fa (Penetrating the Two Cosmic Extremes)
    4. Falun Zhoutian Fa (Falun Heavenly Circulation)
    5. Shentong Jiachi Fa (Way of Strengthening Supernatural Powers)
    III. Mechanisms of Movements
    1. The First Set of Practice Exercises
    2. The Second Set of Practice Exercises
    3. The Third Set of Practice Exercises
    4. The Fourth Set of Practice Exercises
    5. The Fifth Set of Practice Exercises
    Appendices
    1. The Requirement for Falun Dafa Assistant Centre
    2. The Regulation Concerning Falun Dafa Disciples in Publicizing the Great Law
    3. The Standards for Falun Dafa Assistants
    4. Notification for Practitioners of Falun Dafa

    1931 Jim Jones reverend, poisoned over 100 in Guyana
    1907 Daphne Du Maurier, author of Rebecca       ^top^
          Du Maurier wrote many romantic suspense novels, including the popular Rebecca (1938). Du Maurier was born in London and educated in Paris. Her father, a well-known actor and theater manager, introduced her to the artistic life. She visited the coast of Cornwall when she was 20. The region would later become her home and the setting for much of her work. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931, followed by several more novels, such as The Parasites..
          Rebecca, the story of a young wife of a man whose first wife mysteriously died, was set at the fictional mansion of Manderley, modeled after her own 70-room home, Menabilly. The book was made into an Academy Award-winning picture in 1940, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock also directed the movie version of her short story "The Birds." Du Maurier was granted the ceremonial title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1969. She continued to publish fiction, as well as memoirs, histories, and biographies, until her death in 1989.
    1896 Auguste Mambour, Belgian artist who died in 1968.
    1886 Carl Mense, German artist who died on 11 August 1965.
    1884 Cyrus McCormick (inventor: the grain reaper machine for farming)
    1882 Georges Braque, French Cubist and Fauvist painter, collagist, draftsman, printmaker, illustrator, and sculptor, who died on 31 August 1983. MORE ON BRAQUE AT ART “4” MAYLINKS Paysage à l'EstaqueAnvers — Port en Normandie — Viaduct à l'Estaque — Château de la Roche~Guyon — Le Violoniste — Le Portugais — Absinthe — Poissons Noirs — Nature Morte: le Jour — Nature Morte Avec Bananes Job — Deux Citrons — Doris — L'Oiseau blanc — Fenêtres: Oiseaux Gris — Oiseau de passage — Fruit Dish — Still Life with Mandolin II Grand Nude
    1879 (1877?) Joseph Stella, Italian-born US painter and collagist who died on 05 November 1946. MORE ON STELLA AT ART “4” MAY LINKSOld Brooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme _ another image of sameCity Buildings, New York _ another image of sameBattle of Lights, Coney Island, Mardi GrasAbstractionFlowersTropical FlowersOrange GladiolaPurissimaStrength: The New StockAbstraction Mardi Gras
    1867 Sir Frank William Brangwyn, English painter and graphic artist who died on 11 June 1956. — Photo of Brangwyn MORE ON BRANGWYN AT ART “4” MAY LINKSSuzanna and the EldersThe Empty SepulchreLe marché aux esclavesChurch of St. Nicholas, ParisWindmill, DixmudenThe Rialto, VeniceTank in Action56 prints at FAMSF
    1857 Sir Ronald Ross England, pathologist (Nobel 1902)
    1857 Delphin Enjolras, French artist who died in 1945.
    1855 Ludwig Deutsch, Austrian French painter who died in 1935, specialized in Orientalism. . MORE ON DEUTSCH AT ART “4” MAY The Chess GameThe Palace Guard _ detailA Nubian GuardAt PrayerThe Scribe — (Stepping Down) — Le musicien, — The Prayer at the Tomb
    1853 Adolf Richard Hölzel, German painter who died on 17 May 1934
    1842 Sir Arthur Sullivan London, operetta composer, mostly with Sir William Gilbert as librettist.       ^top^
    MULTIMEDIA GILBERT AND SULLIVAN ONLINE:
  • Selected Works
  • The Gondoliers
  • The Grand Duke
  • H. M. S. Pinafore
  • Iolanthe
  • The Mikado
  • Patience
  • The Pirates of Penzance
  • Princess Ida
  • Ruddigore
  • The Sorcerer
  • Thespis
  • Trial By Jury
  • Utopia, Limited
  • The Yeomen of the Guard
  • With other librettists, MULTIMEDIA SULLIVAN ONLINE:
    with librettos by Francis Cowley Burnand:
  • Cox and Box
  • The Contrabandista: or, The Law of the Ladrones
  • with libretto by Benjamin C. Stephenson:
  • The Zoo
  • with libretto by Julian Sturgis:
  • Ivanhoe
  • Without Sullivan's music for his operettas, only their librettos online:
    Librettos only,
    by William S. Gilbert:
  • The Complete Plays
    of Gilbert and Sullivan
  • Librettos only, by Basil Hood:
  • The Rose of Persia
  • The Emerald Isle, or The Caves of Carrig-Cleena
    Libretto only, by Francis Cowley Burnand
  • The Chieftain
  • Librettos only, by Sydney Grundy:
  • Haddon Hall
  • The Vicar of Bray
    Libretto only, by Arthur Wing Pinero and J. Comyns Carr:
  • The Beauty Stone
  • 1830 Edouard Alexandre Sain, French artist who died on 27 June 1910 (not in the way mentioned next). — [There was a French artist named Sain / who of critics had enough, / so he went to the Pont-Neuf, / jumped off, and thus died in Seine.]
    1813 Karl Girardet, Swiss painter and engraver who died in 1871.
    1768 Willem-Bartel van der Kooi, Dutch artist who died on 14 July 1836. — more
    1753 Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, French engineer, military officer, revolutionary and bonapartist politician, mathematician, who died on 02 Aug 1823, a fugitive in exile. He was the father of Sadi Carnot [01 Jun 1796 – 24 Aug 1832].
    1750 Lorenzo Mascheroni, Lombard Catholic priest, mathematician, physicist, poet, who died on 14 July 1800. Author of Adnotationes ad calculum integrale Euleri (1790), Nuove ricerchi su l'equilibrio delle vòlte (1785), and Geometria del compasso (1797), in which he proved that all Euclidean constructions can be made with compasses alone, so a straight edge in not needed.
    1730 Marquess of Rockingham (Whig), British PM (1765-66, 1782)
    1717 Empress Maria Theresa Empress of Austria
    1655 Innocent XIII 244th Roman Pope (1721-1724)
    1597 Cornelis Schut I, Flemish artist who died on 29 April 1655. — more
    Religious Observances Bhuddist-Singapore : Buddha's Birthday RC : St Robert Bellarmine, bishop/confessor/doctor

    Thought for the day: “At 18, I was ashamed of how ignorant my father was. At 21, I was amazed at how much he had learned in three years.”
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