1605 ~ A plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament was foiled when Guy Fawkes was discovered in a cellar below the building.

1872 ~ Suffragist Susan B. Anthony voted for the first time. She was fined $100 for the privilege.

1892 ~ Birthday of J. B. S. Haldane, Geneticist.

1911 ~ Birthday of Roy Rogers, American actor.

1913 ~ Birthday of Vivien Leigh, English actress.

1930 ~ Sinclair Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1942 ~ The Second Battle of El Alamein was won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.

1979 ~ Ayatollah Khomeini declares the USA to be "the great Satan".

1989 ~ Death of Vladimir Horowitz, Pianist.

1999 ~ Federal Judge Thomas Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were ''stifling innovation'' and hurting consumers.

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1789 ~ Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.

1854 ~ Birthday of John Philip Sousa, composer of the official march of the U.S., The Stars and Stripes Forever (requires RealPlayer)

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1869 ~ Rutgers University defeats Princeton University, 6-4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game.

1893 ~ Death of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer.

1913 ~ Mahatma Gandhi was arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa.

1962 ~ The UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and called for all member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

1975 ~ Birthday of Anastasia Blue, former Porn actress.

1999 ~ Australians voted to keep the British queen as their head of state.

2000 ~ Death of L. Sprague De Camp, Science Fiction writer.

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1665 ~ The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language journal, was first published.

1867 ~ Birthday of Marie Curie, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1903, and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911.

1886 ~ Birthday of Aron Nimzowitsch, chess grandmaster.

1913 ~ Birthday of Albert Camus, writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1957.

1917 ~ Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky.

1926 ~ Birthday of Dame Joan Sutherland, Opera singer.

1934 ~ Premiere of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" at Baltimore, Maryland.

1940 ~ The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in a windstorm.

1981 ~ Birthday of Lily Thai, Porn Star.

1989 ~ Protests force the resignation of East Germany’s Communist government.

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"1934 ~ Premiere of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" at Baltimore, Maryland."

I love that piece of music, especially #18.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

Using the weak segue that they are both Russian composers, I was again struck by how lyrical Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is. (After 1:21)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATK_pj2iMqg

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1674 ~ Death of John Milton, English poet.

1847 ~ Birthday of Bram Stoker, Irish novelist.

1884 ~ Birthday of Hermann Rorschach, psychiatrist.

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays.

1942 ~ World War II: Operation Torch – U.S. and UK forces landed in French North Africa.

1950 ~ The first dog fight between jet aircraft.

1986 ~ Death of Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician.

1987 ~ An IRA bomb killed 11 people during a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

2002 ~ Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Iraq, requiring Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences". (requires Adobe Acrobat)

2008 ~ John Key is voted the new New Zealand Prime Minister.

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1888 ~ Jack the Ripper killed Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.

1921 ~ Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

1934 ~ Birthday of Carl Sagan, American Astronomer & Writer.

1938 ~ Nazi Germany's first large-scale act of physical anti-Jewish violence, Kristallnacht, began.

1953 ~ Death of Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet.

1953 ~ Death of Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, first King of Saudi Arabia.

1965 ~ Several U.S. states and parts of Canada were hit by blackouts.

1970 ~ Death of Charles de Gaulle, French general and politician.

1995 ~ Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov to become the world chess champion.

2006 ~ Death of Markus Wolf, East German intelligence director.

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1775 ~ The Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Marines, later renamed the United States Marine Corps.

1871 ~ Henry Morton Stanley located missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1925 ~ Birthday of Richard Burton, Actor.

1951 ~ Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service began in the United States.

1975 ~ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior. Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a song about the tragedy.

1978 ~ Birthday of Kyla Cole, Slovak Porn actress.

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. opened to public.

1983 ~ Birthday of Sammie Rhodes, Porn actress.

1995 ~ Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, writer and human rights activist.

2007 ~ Death of Norman Mailer, American author.

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1880 ~ Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly was hung in Melbourne.

1904 ~ Birthday of Alger Hiss, Spy.

1918 ~ Death of Henry Gunther, the last American to die in World War I.

1918 ~ The end of World War I: Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies.

1922 ~ Birthday of Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist.

1938 ~ Death of Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary", carrier of the typhoid disease.

1965 ~ Rhodesia proclaimed its independence from Britain.

1992 ~ The Church of England voted to allow women to become priests.

2000 ~ A cable car full of skiers and snowboarders, many of them children, caught fire in Austria, killing 155 people.

2004 ~ Death of Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority.

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1035 ~ Death of King Canute.

1833 ~ Birthday of Alexander Borodin, Russian composer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Auguste Rodin, French sculptor.

1942 ~ The Battle of Guadalcanal began.

1944 ~ The German battleship Tirpitz was sunk off the coast of Norway.

1954 ~ Ellis Island closed.

1955 ~ Hovercraft patented by British engineer Christopher Cockerell.

1970 ~ The famous exploding whale incident.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

2001 ~ Taliban forces abandoned Kabul ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.

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King Canute. A whole life distilled to a bloke on a beach delusionally ordering an incoming tide to retreat.

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...

"Give the order, O great king, and it will obey," one of then assured him.

"Very well. Sea," cried Canute, "I command you to come no further! Waves, stop your rolling!. Surf, stop your pounding! Do not dare touch my feet!"

He waited a moment, quietly, and a tiny wave rushed up the sand and lapped at his feet.

"How dare you!" Canute shouted. "Ocean, turn back now! I have ordered you to retreat before me, and now you must obey! Go back!"

And in answer another wave swept forward and curled around the king's feet. The tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet, but also his robe. His officers stood before him, alarmed, and wondering whether he was not mad.

"Well, my friends," Canute said, "it seems I do not have quite so much power as you would have me believe. Perhaps you have learned something today. Perhaps now you will remember there is only one King who is all-powerful, and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. I suggest you reserve your praises for him."

The royal officers and courtiers hung their heads and looked foolish. And some say Canute took off his crown soon afterward, and never wore it again.

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1850 ~ Birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, Novelist.

1868 ~ Death of Gioacchino Rossini, Composer.

1940 ~ The animated film Fantasia was released.

1955 ~ Birthday of Whoopi Goldberg, American actress.

1956 ~ U.S. Supreme Court declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal.

1971 ~ Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.

1985 ~ A mudslide triggered by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano buried the city of Armero, Colombia, killing some 23,000 people.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first known World Wide Web page.

1998 ~ President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000, ending the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit that spurred impeachment proceedings against him. Clinton did not admit guilt or apologize.

2002 ~ Saddam Hussein's government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq.

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1719 ~ Birthday of Leopold Mozart, Austrian musician, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

1832 ~ Death of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Declaration of Independence signer.

1851 ~ Herman Melville's novel “Moby-Dick” was first published in the U.S.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began radio service in the UK.

1954 ~ Birthday of Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State.

1968 ~ Birthday of Janine Lindemulder, Porn actress.

1972 ~ The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1,000 mark yesterday for the first time.

1977 ~ Birthday of Sara Jay, Porn actress.

1991 ~ Indictments handed down against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.

2001 ~ Northern Alliance fighters entered Kabul.

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1787 ~ Death of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Composer.

1887 ~ Birthday of Georgia O'Keeffe, Painter.

1920 ~ First assembly of the League of Nations was held in Geneva.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe destroyed most of the English city of Coventry during World War II.

1942 ~ Birthday of Daniel Barenboim, Pianist & Conductor.

1960 ~ The Polaris missile became operational on the USS George Washington (SSBN-598).

1969 ~ The Soviet submarine K-19 collided with the American submarine USS Gato.

1971 ~ Intel released the first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.

1978 ~ Death of Margaret Mead, American anthropologist.

1998 ~ Death of Stokely Carmichael, American Black Power activist.

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