10th February 2012

04/18/231

Mic Porter

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Events1306 – Robert the Bruce stabs to death John “The Red” Comyn – who he had invited to a meeting – within Dumfries’ Greyfriars Church. The struggle of England to take-over Scotland continues!1355 – A complaint about the quality of drinks sold to two Oxford University Students results in them attacking the Traven's Landlord. Locals join in to defend; a riot breaks out resulting in the deaths of 63 scholars and (?)30 locals. The St. Scholastica's Day dispute is settled with the town annually paying a fine of a 1d per Scholar dying. By 10/02/1955 5/3 (26p) has been paid and a truce declared with the Mayor given an honorary degree and the Vice-Chancellor made a Freeman.

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Events1567 – An explosion destroys Edinburgh’s Kirk o' Field house and Lord Darnley (the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots) is found strangled; (?)assassinated.1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He become an effective “Prince Consort” much involved in innovation, reform and education.1863 – (?)The fire extinguisher is patented (according to the “events this day” Wikipedia page but not on their fire extinguisher page).1870 – The YWCA is founded in New York City.

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Events1906 – HMS Dreadnought launched, decommissioned 1919

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Events1933 – The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the singing telegram.1962 – Shot down and captured CIA American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.1964 –The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales. Voyager is cut in half, sinks with a loss of 92 lives. Was Voyager’s Captain Steven unfit for command due to a combination of alcohol and amphetamine sulphate (prescribed to overcome fatigue)? The officers of Melbourne are absolved/cleared of all blame.

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Events1967 – The 25th Amendment to the US Constitution dealing with issues of Presidential (POTUS) disability, the replacement of Vice Presidents (VPOTAS) etc is ratified .1981 – Arson at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198 but most survive after the fire brigade contact guests via their TVs.1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He is the first African American to lead a major American party.1996 – The IBM chess playing supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time but Kasparov wins the 6 game series (3W, 2D & 1L)

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Events2009 – The communication satellites Iridium 33 (560kg) and Kosmos-2251 (950kg) collide in orbit, destroying both. The satellites were 789 Km(490 miles)] above the earth and had a collision speed of, approx. 11.7 KPS (26,170 mph). At the time of the collision Iridum was in use but the Russian Kosmos was “out of service and control”. While some debris fell to earth NASA still tracks some 2000 large, high velocity fragments that remain a threat to the integrity potential danger to other space activity. Since there have been calls to “de-orbit” defunct satellites but no international agreement... Yet!

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Ins…1775 – Charles Lamb, English essayist and with his sister, Mary (1764-1847), the “Children's book” “Tales from Shakespeare”. (d. 1834).1785 – Claude-Louis Navier, A French physicist specialising in fluid dynamics and a engineers (bridge builder) (d. 1836)

1824 – Samuel Plimsoll, British politician who fought for a mandatory loading line (specifying the min. “freeboard”) and thus greatly improving safety at sea. (d 1898)

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Ins…1846 – Ira Remsen, American chemist/accidental discoverer (1879, pub. ’80) of saccharine. (d. 1927)1884 – Frederick Hawksworth, the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the GWR and one of George J. Churchward's "Bright Young Men“). (d. 1976)1893 – Jimmy Durante, American actor/comedian who inspired the Morecombe & Wise paper cup gag “Schnozzola” gag! (d. 1980)1894 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister (1957-1963) (d. 1986). May have said “Events, dear boy, events” or “Events, my dear boy, events“. As a response to the question “What is most likely to blow governments off course?” Knowles, Elizabeth M. (2006). What they didn't say: a book of misquotations. Oxford University Press. pp. vi, 33

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Ins…1898 – Bertolt Brecht, German author (d. 1956)“Mixing one's wines may be a mistake, but old and

new wisdom mix admirably”.The Singer, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944), Prologue

“Mr. Wurlitzer, I am now in a position to receive your organ.” Happy End (1929)

“The strongest fight their whole life. They are the indispensable ones.” Pelagea Vlasova The Mother

(1930), Scene 10

1914 – Larry Adler, American harmonica player and soundtrack Oscar winner for Genevieve (1953) although, originally not named due to blacklisting.

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Outs…1722 – Bartholomew (born John) Roberts (aka “Black Bart”) Welsh pirate arguably the most successful of all (by count of vessels taken). Much respected and died in battle (b. 1682)1758 – Thomas Ripley, English architect (b. 1682)1865 – Heinrich Lenz, German physicist and electrotyper. (b. 1804)1912 – Joseph Lister, British surgeon who promoted using antiseptics during and after surgery. (b. 1827)1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist, discoverer of “X-rays” and the first Nobel Physics Laureate (1901). (b. 1845)

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Outs…1932 – Edgar Wallace, English novelist, crime writer, journalist and screenwriter (b. 1875)1993 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand born but later Australian, ophthalmologist and practical philanthropist for sight (b. 1929)2003 – Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary and Assistant to President Richard Nixon (b. 1939)“This is the operative statement. The others are

inoperative.”April 17, 1973, retracting previous statements

(concerning the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up) that had been proven false.

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Outs…2005 – Arthur Miller, American playwright.(b. 1915)

“The apple cannot be stuck back on the Tree of Knowledge; once we begin to see, we are doomed

and challenged to seek the strength to see more, not less.”

Commenting on After the Fall (1964) in The Saturday Evening Post (1 February 1964)

“Look, we're all the same; a man is a fourteen-room house — in the bedroom he's asleep with his

intelligent wife, in the living-room he's rolling around with some bareass girl, in the library he's paying his taxes, in the yard he's raising tomatoes, and in the

cellar he's making a bomb to blow it all up.”

Lyman, The Ride Down Mount Morgan (1991), Act 2

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Mic Porter (Ergonomist): FT Letters CREATIVE BUSINESS Pg. 24 [05/11/02]

“The Creative Business 50 listing of the "leading lights in the creative industries" (CB October 29) begs the question: do individuals or teams innovate? In the cinema, those that contribute to the film are listed from producer to caterer. Should it be different for products we buy? Organisations and products rarely credit the designer and never, to my knowledge, the vast group of people that contributed to the successful realisation of the design. Companies that propound a quality design message need practising vice-presidents of design but they should also credit the whole team, engineer, ergonomist, caterer, etc!”

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