Sunday 10 July 2016

On this day - Lt Gen Raj Kadyan

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

On this day, 10 Jul....

1040 - Lady Godiva rides naked on horseback through Coventry, according to legend, to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes. (She was an English noblewoman who, according to a legend rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband imposed on his tenants. The name "Peeping Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom watched her ride and was struck blind or dead).

1212 - The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground.

1800 - The British Indian Government establishes the Fort William College to promote Urdu, Hindi and other vernaculars of sub continent.

1806 - The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian Sepoys against the British East India Company. (The revolt was brief, lasting only one full day, but brutal as mutineers seized the Vellore Fort and killed or wounded 200 British troops. The mutiny was subdued by cavalry and artillery from Arcot. Summary executions of about 100 mutineers took place during the suppression of the outbreak, followed by the formal court-martial of smaller numbers).

1866 - The first U.S. patent for an indelible pencil was issued to Edson P Clark   as a "Producing Indelible Writing on Linen and other Fabrics".

1918 - Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic forms. (The RSFSR was established on November 7, 1917 (October Revolution) as a sovereign state. The first Constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922 the Russian SFSR signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR).

1892 -The first concrete-paved street was built - Court Avenue, around the Logan County Court House, in Bellefountaine, Ohio. (In the 19th century, concrete was called "artificial stone." George Bartholemew convinced the Bellefontaine City Council to try it in 1891. The bond he posted guaranteed the pavement would last at least five years. Over 100 years later, a portion remains, but open only to light traffic to preserve it. The remainder had been replaced by more modern paving materials).

1925 - The “Scopes monkey trial” began in Dayton, Tennessee, US and ran for 12 days. A local school teacher, John Scopes, was prosecuted under the state's Butler Act, but was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union. This law, passed a few months earlier (21 Mar 1925) prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. The trial was a platform to challenge the legality of the statute. Local town leaders,(wishing for the town to benefit from the publicity of the trial) had recruited Scope to stand trial. He was convicted (25 Jul 1925) and fined $100. (On appeal, the state supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the law but acquitted Scopes on the technicality that he had been fined excessively. The law was repealed on 17 May 1967).

1925 - Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers still observe Silence Day by maintaining verbal silence for twenty-four hours on this date in commemoration. (From July 10, 1925 until his death in 1969, Meher Baba was silent. He communicated first by using an alphabet board, and later by hand gestures which were interpreted and spoken out by one of his devoted disciples, usually by his disciple Eruch Jessawala. For many years, Baba asked his followers to undertake various austerities on this date. In addition to keeping silence, Baba sometimes asked his followers to fast, to pray, to repeat the names of God, and similar practices. In his last request to his followers on the subject, in 1968, he asked only that they observe silence).

1933 - The first police radio system began operating in Eastchester Township, NY.

1947 - Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor General of Pakistan by then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee.

1958 - The first parking meters were installed in England (625 installed).

1962 - A U.S. patent was issued to Swedish engineer, Nils Bohlen, for the three-point seat- belt. His lap and shoulder design is now familiar as the passenger-restraint safety device in cars that has saved countless lives. (His design replaced the earlier style of a single safety belts strapped across the body, with the buckle placed over the abdomen, which often caused severe internal injuries in high-speed crashes. Bohlin assigned the patent to Volvo, the car manufacturer for whom he worked. From Aug 1959, Volvo incorporated Bohlin's seat belt into the vehicles they manufactured. The company also made the design freely available to other car manufacturers to save more lives).

1977 - The Planning Commission decides to introduce Rolling Plan concept.

Born....
1949 Sunil Gavaskar, cricket player (opener, 10122 Test runs). He has received Arjun Award (1975) and Padma Bhushan (1980).

RIP....

1927 - Ganga Ram, great social reformer and founder of Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi.

1972 - Herd of stampeding elephants kills 24, in Chandka Forest India.

1994 - Ramrao Raghoba Rane, Paramveer Chakra awardee. (PVC was awarded to 2/Lt Rane, an Engineers officer in 1948 during advance of Indian troops to Rajouri).

Titbits....

1796 - Carl Friedrich Gauss discovers that every positive integer is representable as a sum of at most three triangular numbers.

1923- 2-pound hailstones kill 23 & many cattle in Rostov, Russia.

You may have known....

India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.

Good morning. Have a nice day.
Raj Kadyan

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