Sun 27th Jan Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns Silvia Din. Born as celebrations for Australia Day toned down
===

January 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day and various commemorations of the liberation of Auschwitz (1945)

• 1142 – Despite having saved the Southern Song Dynastyfrom attempts by the northern Jin Dynasty to conquer it, Chinese general Yue Fei was executed by the Song government.
• 1888 – The National Geographic Society, publisher ofNational Geographic magazine, was incorporated in Washington, D.C., as "a society for the increase and diffusion of geographicalknowledge".
• 1945 – The Soviet Red Army liberated over 7,500 prisoners left behind by Nazipersonnel in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim, Poland.
• 1993 – American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Tarō (pictured) became the first foreigner to reach the rank of yokozuna (grand champion).
• 2003 – The first selections for the National Recording Registry were announced by the U.S. Library of Congress.

===

Events

• 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate ends with death of Ali.
• 1142 – Execution, believed wrongful, of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
• 1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.
• 1343 – Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Nearly 200 years later, Martin Lutherwould protest this.
• 1593 – The Vatican opens seven year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.
• 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.
• 1695 – Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his abdication in 1703.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery" arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1785 – The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
• 1825 – The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears".
• 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Toba-Fushimi between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and pro-Imperial factions begins, which will end in defeat for the shogunate, and is a pivotal point in the Meiji Restoration.
• 1869 – Boshin War: Tokugawa rebels establish the Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō.
• 1870 – The Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity is founded at DePauw University.
• 1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C..
• 1909 – The Young Left is founded in Norway.
• 1927 – Ibn Saud takes the title of King of Nejd.
• 1939 – First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
• 1943 – World War II: The VIII Bomber Command dispatched ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-Boat construction yards at Wilhemshafen, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany of the war.
• 1944 – World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
• 1945 – World War II: The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp built by the Nazi Germans on the territory of Poland.
• 1951 – Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.
• 1961 – Soviet submarine S-80 sinks with all hands lost.
• 1967 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
• 1967 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of theMoon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
• 1973 – The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.
• 1974 – The Brisbane River breaches its banks causing the largest flood to affect the city of Brisbane in the 20th century.
• 1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper.
• 1983 – The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through.
• 1984 – Pop singer Michael Jackson suffers second degree burns to his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in the Shrine Auditorium.
• 1993 – American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Tarō becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna.
• 1996 – In a military coup Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.
• 1996 – Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
• 2002 – An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.
• 2003 – The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.
• 2006 – Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.
• 2010 – The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.

[edit]Births

• 1443 – Albert, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
• 1546 – Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1608)
• 1585 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
• 1603 – Harbottle Grimston, English politician (d. 1685)
• 1621 – Thomas Willis, English physician (d. 1675)
• 1662 – Richard Bentley, English classical scholar (d. 1742)
• 1687 – Johann Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
• 1701 – Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian (d. 1790)
• 1708 – Anna Petrovna of Russia (d. 1728)
• 1720 – Samuel Foote, English dramatist (d. 1777)
• 1741 – Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist (d. 1821)
• 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
• 1775 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (d. 1854)
• 1795 – Eli Whitney Blake, American inventor (d. 1886)
• 1805 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, Queen consort of Saxony (d. 1877)
• 1805 – Sophie of Bavaria, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1872)
• 1805 – Samuel Palmer, English artist (d. 1881)
• 1806 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (d. 1826)
• 1807 – David Strauss, German theologian and writer (d. 1874)
• 1814 – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (d. 1879)
• 1821 – John Chivington, American officer (d. 1892)
• 1823 – Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
• 1826 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (d. 1889)
• 1826 – Richard Taylor, American confederate general (d. 1879)
• 1827 – Nakahama Manjirō, Japanese translator (d. 1898)
• 1832 – Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
• 1836 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (d. 1895)
• 1841 – Arkhip Kuindzhi, Russian painter (d. 1910)
• 1848 – Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
• 1850 – John Collier, British writer and painter (d. 1934)
• 1850 – Samuel Gompers, American labor leader (d. 1924)
• 1850 – Edward J. Smith, English captain of the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
• 1858 – Neel Doff, Dutch author(d. 1942)
• 1859 – Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1941)
• 1862 – Eustaquio de Escandón, Mexican polo player (d. 1933)
• 1869 – Will Marion Cook (d. 1944)
• 1875 – Elizabeth Israel, Purported world's oldest person (d. 2003)
• 1885 – Jerome Kern, American composer (d. 1945)
• 1885 – Eduard Künneke, German composer (d. 1953)
• 1885 – Maeda Seison, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
• 1886 – Radhabinod Pal, Indian jurist (d. 1967)
• 1886 – Balthasar van der Pol, Dutch physicist (d. 1959)
• 1891 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer (d. 1967)
• 1893 – Soong Ching-ling, Chinese wife of Sun Yat-sen (d. 1981)
• 1895 – Joseph Rosenstock, Polish conductor (d. 1985)
• 1895 – Harry Ruby, American composer (d. 1974)
• 1900 – Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
• 1901 – Willy Fritsch, German actor (d. 1973)
• 1901 – Art Rooney, Pittsburgh Steelers founder and owner (d. 1988)
• 1902 – Carl Berner, German-American super-centenarian (d. 2013)
• 1903 – John Carew Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
• 1903 – Otto P. Weyland, American military figure (d. 1979)
• 1904 – James J. Gibson, American psychologist (d. 1979)
• 1905 – Howard McNear, American actor (d. 1969)
• 1908 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (d. 1993)
• 1908 – Oran Page, American musician (jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader) (d. 1954)
• 1910 – Edvard Kardelj, Yugoslav Communist politician (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher (d. 2009)
• 1912 – Francis Rogallo, American aeronautical engineer (d. 2009)
• 1915 – Jules Archer, American historian (d. 2008)
• 1915 – Jacques Hnizdovsky, Ukrainian-born artist (d. 1985)
• 1918 – Skitch Henderson, American bandleader (d. 2005)
• 1918 – Elmore James, American blues musician (d. 1963)
• 1918 – William Seawell, United States Army Brigadier General (d. 2005)
• 1919 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American musician (d. 1972)
• 1920 – John Box, British film production designer and art director (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
• 1924 – Sabu Dastagir, Indian actor (d. 1963)
• 1924 – Rauf Denktaş, Turkish politician (d. 2012)
• 1924 – Harvey Shapiro, American poet (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian journalist (d. 2003)
• 1926 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Billy Barnes, American composer (d. 2012)
• 1927 – Jerry Haynes, American actor (d. 2011)
• 1928 – Michael Craig, British actor
• 1928 – Hans Modrow, German politician, premier of East Germany
• 1929 – Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist (d. 1984)
• 1930 – Bobby Blue Bland, American singer
• 1931 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author, screenwriter and essayist (d. 2001)
• 1932 – Boris Shakhlin, Soviet gymnast (d. 2008)
• 1933 – Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman
• 1934 – George Follmer, American racecar driver
• 1934 – Jerry Buss, Majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers
• 1936 – Florin Piersic, Romanian actor
• 1936 – Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
• 1936 – Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1937 – John Ogdon, English pianist (d. 1989)
• 1937 – Fred Åkerström, Swedish singer (d. 1985)
• 1940 – James Cromwell, American actor
• 1940 – Terry Harper, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1940 – Petru Lucinschi, 2nd President of Moldova
• 1941 – Beatrice Tinsley, New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1981)
• 1942 – Stewart Raffill, American film director
• 1942 – John Witherspoon, American actor
• 1942 – Kate Wolf, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 1986)
• 1944 – Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader
• 1944 – Mairéad Corrigan, Irish activist, Nobel laureate
• 1944 – Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
• 1945 – Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Nedra Talley, American singer (Ronettes)
• 1947 – Björn Afzelius, Swedish singer (Hoola Bandoola Band)(d. 1999)
• 1947 – Vyron Polydoras, Greek politician
• 1947 – Cal Schenkel, American artist
• 1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian ballet dancer
• 1948 – Valeri Brainin, Russian/German musicologist, music manager, composer, and poet
• 1948 – Jean-Philippe Collard, French pianist
• 1949 – Ethan Mordden, American author
• 1950 – Derek Acorah, English spirit medium
• 1950 – Amos Grunebaum, Israeli-born physician
• 1950 – Alex Norton, Scottish actor
• 1951 – Brian Downey, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy)
• 1951 – Cees van der Knaap, Dutch politician
• 1952 – "White Shoes" Johnson, American football player
• 1954 – Peter Laird, American comic book artist
• 1954 – Stelios Papafloratos, Greek footballer
• 1954 – Ed Schultz, American radio talk show host
• 1954 – Jōkō Ninomiya, Japanese martial artist
• 1955 – Brian Engblom, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1955 – John G. Roberts, American jurist and the 17th Chief Justice of the United States
• 1955 – Alexander Stuart, British author
• 1955 – Koji Ushikubo, Japanese racing driver
• 1956 – Mimi Rogers, American actress
• 1957 – Janick Gers, British guitarist (Iron Maiden and White Spirit)
• 1957 – Frank Miller, American comic book author and film director
• 1957 – Frank Skinner, English writer and comedian
• 1958 – James Grippando, American novelist
• 1958 – Kadri Mälk, Estonian artist and jewelry designer
• 1958 – Susanna Thompson, American actress
• 1959 – Cris Collinsworth, American football player
• 1959 – Göran Hägglund, Swedish politician
• 1959 – Keith Olbermann, American news anchor & political commentator
• 1960 – Bernd Stieler, German footballer
• 1961 – Dina Bonnevie, Filipina actress
• 1961 – Gillian Gilbert, British musician (New Order and The Other Two)
• 1961 – Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer
• 1961 – Margo Timmins, Canadian singer (Cowboy Junkies)
• 1961 – Karen Velez, American model
• 1961 – Zarganar, Burmese comedian and dissident
• 1962 – Roberto Paci Dalò, Italian director and composer
• 1963 – Mark Moraghan, British actor and singer
• 1964 – Patrick van Deurzen, Dutch composer
• 1964 – Bridget Fonda, American actress
• 1964 – Jack Haley, American basketball player
• 1965 – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
• 1965 – Mike Newell, English football manager
• 1965 – Ignacio Noe, Argentinan artist
• 1966 – Tamlyn Tomita, Japanese actress
• 1967 – Bobby Deol, Indian actor
• 1967 – Byron Mann, Hong Kong actor
• 1967 – Dave Manson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 – Patrick Blondeau, French footballer
• 1968 – Mike Patton, American singer-songwriter (Faith No More)
• 1968 – Matt Stover, American football player
• 1968 – Deb Talan, American folk singer and songwriter (The Weepies)
• 1968 – Tricky, English rapper (The Wild Bunch and Massive Attack)
• 1969 – Cornelius, Japanese musician and producer (Flipper's Guitar)
• 1969 – Marc Forster, German/Swiss filmmaker
• 1969 – Michael Kulas, Canadian singer (James)
• 1969 – Patton Oswalt, American actor and writer
• 1970 – Emmanuel Pahud, Swiss flautist
• 1971 – Patrice Brisebois, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1971 – Lil Jon, American rapper
• 1971 – Fann Wong, Singaporean actress
• 1972 – Wynne Evans, Welsh operatic tenor
• 1972 – Janine Ilitch, Australian netballer
• 1972 – Mark Owen, English pop singer (Take That)
• 1972 – Josh Randall, American actor
• 1972 – Keith Wood, Irish rugby player
• 1974 – Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Nordic biathlete
• 1974 – Andrei Pavel, Romanian tennis player
• 1974 – Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1976 – Clint Ford, American voice actor
• 1976 – Ahn Jung-Hwan, Korean footballer
• 1976 – Ruby Lin, Taiwanese actress and singer
• 1976 – Todd MacCulloch, American basketball player
• 1976 – Zoriah Miller, American photojournalist
• 1976 – Fred Taylor, American football player
• 1978 – Pete Laforest, Canadian baseball player
• 1978 – Jake Pavelka, American reality TV star
• 1979 – Mario Fatafehi, American football player
• 1979 – Rosamund Pike, British actress
• 1979 – Liesbet Van Breedam, Belgian beach volleyball player
• 1979 – Daniel Vettori, New Zealand cricketer
• 1980 – Chanda Gunn, American ice hockey player
• 1980 – Marat Safin, Russian tennis player
• 1981 – Yaniv Katan, Israeli Footballer
• 1981 – Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player
• 1981 – Tony Woodcock, New Zealand rugby union player
• 1982 – Danko Bošković, German footballer
• 1983 – Deon Anderson, American football player
• 1983 – Carlo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1983 – Paulo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1983 – Gavin Floyd, American baseball player
• 1983 – Tim Kasten, German rugby player
• 1983 – Mike Zagurski, American baseball player
• 1984 – Davetta Sherwood, American actress
• 1985 – Gerard Aafjes, Dutch footballer
• 1985 – Dustley Mulder, Dutch footballer
• 1986 – Giorgi Loria, Georgian footballer
• 1987 – Lily Donaldson, British model
• 1987 – Katy Rose, American singer-songwriter
• 1987 – Anton Shunin, Russian footballer
• 1988 – Toni Gänge, German footballer
• 1988 – Kerlon, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 – Liu Wen, Chinese model
• 1989 – Daisy Lowe, British model
• 1989 – Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – Alberto Botía, Spanish footballer
• 1990 – Maria-Elena Papasotiriou, American-Greek figure skater
• 1991 – Christian Bickel, German footballer
• 1992 – Stefano Pettinari, Italian footballer
• 1994 – Rani Khedira, German footballer
• 1996 – Braeden Lemasters, American actor

[edit]Deaths

• 98 – Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
• 457 – Marcian, Byzantine Emperor (b. 392)
• 661 – Ali, the final Sunni Rashidun and first Shia Imam
• 1490 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (b. 1435)
• 1540 – Saint Angela Merici, Italian religious leader and saint (b. 1474)
• 1595 – Sir Francis Drake, English explorer (b. c.1540)
• 1629 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
• 1638 – Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist (b. 1585?)
• 1651 – Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch painter and printmaker in etching and engraving (b. 1566)
• 1689 – Robert Aske, merchant whose charitable foundation operates Haberdashers' Aske's Boys School and Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls (b. 1619)
• 1731 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian musical instrument maker (b. 1655)
• 1740 – Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
• 1794 – Antoine Philippe de La Trémoille, French royalist commander and counterrevolutionary (b. 1765)
• 1812 – Captain John Perkins, first black commissioned officer in the Royal Navy
• 1814 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1762)
• 1816 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (b. 1724)
• 1851 – John James Audubon, French-born naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1789)
• 1857 – Dorothea Lieven, Russian noblewoman (b. 1785)
• 1860 – János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1802)
• 1880 – Edward Middleton Barry, English architect (b. 1830)
• 1901 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
• 1910 – Thomas Crapper, English inventor (b. 1836)
• 1919 – Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b. 1877)
• 1921 – Maurice Vincent Buckley, Australian soldier (b. 1891)
• 1922 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and writer (b. 1864)
• 1927 – Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius (Matulewicz), Lithuanian bishop (b. 1871)
• 1931 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (b. 1880)
• 1940 – Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
• 1942 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian Prime Minister (b. 1888)
• 1956 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (b. 1890)
• 1967 – Roger Chaffee – Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1935)
• 1967 – Virgil "Gus" Grissom – Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1926)
• 1967 – Edward White – Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1930)
• 1967 – Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b. 1908)
• 1971 – Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
• 1972 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (b. 1888)
• 1972 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
• 1973 – William Nolde, last American combat casualty of Vietnam War (b. 1929)
• 1974 – Georgios Grivas, Cyprus-born general in the Greek Army (b. 1898)
• 1975 – Bill Walsh, American producer and writer (b. 1913)
• 1979 – Qalander Ba Ba Auliya, Sufi master (b. 1898)
• 1983 – Louis de Funès, French actor (b. 1914)
• 1986 – Lilli Palmer, German-born actress (b. 1914)
• 1987 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director (b. 1914)
• 1988 – Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian author (b. 1938)
• 1989 – Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (b. 1918)
• 1989 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (b. 1888)
• 1992 – Clara Solovera, Chilean folk musician (b. 1909)
• 1993 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
• 1994 – Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1996 – Ralph Yarborough, American politician (b. 1903)
• 1997 – Gerald Marks, American songwriter (All of Me) (b. 1900)
• 2000 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (b. 1930)
• 2001 – Stavros Damianides, Greek musician (b. 1941)
• 2003 – Louis Archambault, Canadian sculptor (b. 1915)
• 2003 – Henryk Jabłoński, President of Poland (b. 1909)
• 2004 – Salvador Laurel, Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)
• 2005 – Shah A M S Kibria, Finance Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1931)
• 2006 – Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (disappeared) (b. 1965)
• 2006 – Gene McFadden, American singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
• 2006 – Johannes Rau, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
• 2007 – Tige Andrews, American actor (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Yang Chuan-kwang, Taiwanese athlete (b. 1933)
• 2007 – Alberta Davis, American supercentenerian ( b. 1881)
• 2008 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader (b. 1910)
• 2008 – Suharto, President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
• 2008 – Louie Welch, mayor of Houston (b. 1918)
• 2009 – Mino Reitano, Italian singer and actor (b. 1944)
• 2009 – John Updike, American novelist (b. 1932)
• 2009 – R. Venkataraman, 8th President of India (b. 1910)
• 2010 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress (b. 1933)
• 2010 – J. D. Salinger, American novelist (b. 1919)
• 2010 – Ajmer Singh, Indian athlete (b. 1940)
• 2010 – Howard Zinn, American historian and activist (b. 1922)
• 2011 – Mārtiņš Freimanis, Latvian musician, singer, songwriter, actor and TV personality (F.L.Y.) (b. 1977)
• 2012 – Jeannette Hamby, American politician(b. 1933)
• 2012 – Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi, Iraqi politician (b. 1933)
• 2012 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian athlete (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Kevin White, American politician and Mayor of Boston (b. 1929)

[edit]Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Saint Angela Merici
  • Devota (Monaco)
  • Sava (Serbia)
  • January 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Liberation of Auschwitz-related observances:
  • Holocaust Memorial Day (United Kingdom)
  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day (International)
  • Memorial Day or Il Giorno della Memoria (Italy)

===

NOBODY ENJOYS WATCHING TENNIS ANYWAY

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (6:31pm)

Viewpoint on Sky News with Chris Kenny, tonight at 8pm. Andrew Leigh, Arthur Sinodinos, Cass Wilkinson and me.

===

LIFE OF THE PARTY

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (2:44pm)

Unhinged federal Labor MP Steve Gibbons: 

Funny how we celebrate Invasion day by throwing bits of dead animals on a cooking fire just like the people we dispossessed! 

Gibbons is such a class act. And he promises to get worse …

UPDATE. Gibbons joins the ashamed.

===

CUBAN HAIRSTYLE CRISIS

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (1:25am)

Australian flag opponent Peter FitzSimons explains how his red bandana gives him super powers:

Oh, we were in Cuba. My wife and I took our kids to Cuba. And just had a fantastic time and my boys bought this for me at one of the bazaars and I put it on and I like it. And so, I don’t know. You wouldn’t believe it but I’m slightly bald underneath … When I’m outside, it keeps the sun off. And when it’s cold, it keeps my head warm. And when I’m in a slightly volatile situation, I feel stronger. I feel, “Don’t mess with me.” 

It doesn’t seem to be working. Anyway, FitzSimons should visit Cuba again: 

Cuba has been swept by a new craze - the red, white and blue of the UK’s flag.

The Union flag is now all the rage, sported by young Cubans on their clothes, nails - and even spotted as tattoos, and shaved into the back of people’s heads. 

Here’s a replacement bandana for you, Pete. Got to keep up with the latest Cuban fashions.

===

HEAD BOWED IN SHAME

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (1:18am)

James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia theory, steps further away from his greenist spawn: 

I am an environmentalist and founder member ofthe Greens but I bow my head in shame at the thought that our original good intentions should have been so misunderstood and misapplied. We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the Earth are not separable from human needs. We need take care that the spinning windmills do not become like the statues on Easter Island, monuments of a failed civilisation. 

(Via Bishop Hill)

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MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE GLOCKS TO THE YARD

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (1:12am)

An advertisement for a popular and effective personal safety device:



(Via Bookworm Room)

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FOR ALL WE KNOW HE’S STILL OUT THERE

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (12:46am)

On Friday evening I was part of a gang that forced the Daily Telegraph‘s Joe Hildebrand to remove all of his clothing and jump into Sydney Harbour. Joe is getting married next week to the beautiful Tara, but that is largely irrelevant to Friday’s assault. It simply seemed like the right thing to do, and may occur more frequently throughout 2013.

Also, prior to his immersion Joe’s genitals were interfered with by the bravest of our group. Original colour may return by the wedding date. After the jump, this conversation was heard:

Gang member #1: “He sure is splashing around a lot down there.”

Gang member #2: “Maybe he’s just realised that there’s no way to climb out.”

Gang member #1: “Hey, you’re right. Don’t piers normally have a ladder or something? Seems like a design flaw.”

Gang member #3: (lighting a cigarette) “Let’s just go.”

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FLAMES DOWN

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (12:21am)

Fantasy: 

Greens representative, Catherine Moore, says renewable energy sources will help reduce global warming.

Ms Moore says severe bushfires in the region over the last two weeks are examples of the effects caused by climate change. 

Reality: 

Historical analysis of wildfires around the world shows that since 1950 their numbers havedecreased globally by 15%.

Estimates published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that even with global warming proceeding uninterrupted, the level of wildfires will continue to decline until around midcentury and won’t resume on the level of 1950—the worst for fire—before the end of the century. 

(Via Instapundit)

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HAPPY AND YOUNGISH

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (12:04am)

Apparently I’m not one of the angry oldish men whom the ABC’s Jonathan Green resolved earlier this month to stop reading.

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THEY GOIN’, MAN

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 27, 2013 (12:00am)

After four years of hope and change, Americans are fighting each other in the food stamp line. Click for video.

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Fictional tiger scares academic into warming alarmism

Andrew BoltJANUARY272013(11:57am)

Professor Thomas Faunce, an ARC Future Fellow at Australian National University, says a movie based on a novel should warn us about global warming. He says this on The Conversation, a web site paid for largely by taxpayers to promote academic thought:

The recently released film Life of Pi directed by Ang Lee and based on Yann Martel’s novel of the same name, is a fable for our climate change times. Much of the plot involves the struggles of a teenage boy named “Pi” Patel, trying to survive a shipwreck in which his family dies. With resonances to the Noah’s Ark biblical story, Pi becomes stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker…

After many trials, Pi and Richard Parker reach a strange island.. Pi watches from a branch as the island’s fresh water turns acidic, digesting fish that have died in the pools…

Even if our CO2 emissions were stabilised today, it would take tens of thousands of years for ocean pH to return to normal. Coral reefs and the small creatures that sustain the food chain for whales, for example, would perish, the oceans will become so corrosive (like those of the waters around Pi’s island) that the shells of many small sea creatures will simply dissolve.

The acidic island of the Life of Pi film contains a subtle, artistic warning for humanity. The Ark of Pi released a tiger rather than a dove when it reached dry land, and when the tiger reached land it didn’t look back to help its human rescuer. In Richard Parker the tiger we may be seeing the not too pleasant face of Gaia.

Faunce’s own expertise actually isn’t in climate science or related disciplines. He is a lawyer:

He was a judges associate to Justice Lionel Murphy of the High Court of Australia, has worked as a solicitor in some of Australia’s top legal firms (Mallesons (Canberra) and Freehills (Sydney) and practised as an intensive care registrar in Wagga Wagga, Canberra and Mebourne. He is an expert in bioethics and health law. He is currently researching global governance of artificial photosynthesis.

Matt Ridley checks the science, rather than a film:

But do the scientific data support such alarm? Last month scientists at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other authors published a study showing how much the pH level (measuring alkalinity versus acidity) varies naturally between parts of the ocean and at different times of the day, month and year.

“On both a monthly and annual scale, even the most stable open ocean sites see pH changes many times larger than the annual rate of acidification,” say the authors of the study… Over coral reefs, the pH decline between dusk and dawn is almost half as much as the decrease in average pH expected over the next 100 years. The noise is greater than the signal…

This adds to other hints that the ocean-acidification problem may have been exaggerated. For a start, the ocean is alkaline and in no danger of becoming acid…

The central concern is that lower pH will make it harder for corals, clams and other “calcifier” creatures to make calcium carbonate skeletons and shells. Yet this concern also may be overstated. Off Papua New Guinea and the Italian island of Ischia, where natural carbon-dioxide bubbles from volcanic vents make the sea less alkaline, and off the Yucatan, where underwater springs make seawater actually acidic, studies have shown that at least some kinds of calcifiers still thrive—at least as far down as pH 7.8…

Laboratory experiments find that more marine creatures thrive than suffer when carbon dioxide lowers the pH level to 7.8…

... a very slow reduction in the alkalinity of the oceans, well within the range of natural variation, is a modest threat, and it certainly does not merit apocalyptic headlines.

(Thanks to reader John from Canberra.)

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Alarmist scientist admits: whoops, we exaggerated

Andrew BoltJANUARY272013(7:37am)

 Global warming - dud predictions

A new study by warmist scientists admits the IPCC probably over-estimated predicted warming by nearly 100 per cent. But don’t you dare doubt the catastrophe is coming:

GLOBAL warming is likely to be less extreme than claimed, researchers said yesterday. The most likely temperature rise will be 1.9C (3.4F) compared with the 3.5C predicted by the Intergovern­mental Panel on Climate Change.

The Norwegian study says earlier predictions were based on rapid warming in the Nineties. But Oslo University’s department of geosciences included data since 2000 when temperature rises “levelled off nearly completely”.

Professor Terje Berntsen said: “The Earth’s mean temperature rose sharply during the ­Nineties. This may have caused us to overestimate climate sensitivity. We are most likely witnessing natural fluctuations in the climate system – changes that can occur over several decades – and which are coming on top of a long-term warming.” He insisted, though, that his study did not justify “complacency” about human-induced global warming.

The significance of the research is hailed but not really explained: 

Internationally renowned climate researcher Caroline Leck of Stockholm University has evaluated the Norwegian project and is enthusiastic.

“These results are truly sensational,” says Dr Leck. ”If confirmed by other studies, this could have far-reaching impacts on efforts to achieve the political targets for climate.”

The significance of these findings lie not just in that they confirmed sceptics were right to doubt. That the climate scientists we were told not to “deny” predicted twice the warming some now say is actually coming. That the pause in the warming sceptics were howled down for noticing is actually so real that warmist scientists now openly acknowledge it.

The great significance is this: if warmists now predict only half the warming they once did, huge schemes to “stop” global warming become even more vastly expensive when costs are reckoned against benefits.

Take Australia. The Gillard Government’s carbon tax and billions of dollars of “clean energy” handouts were estimated by warmist scientists, working off IPCC assumptions, to produce0.0038 degrees of cooling from the otherwise expected temperatures if maintained for the rest of the century.

That’s already virtually nothing. Now, if the latest research is right about climate sensitivity having been exaggerated, that cooling effect will be even less. All that pain for even less gain. Countless billions will be spent for half of next to nothing.

And if the temperature rise now expected by warmists is small, what’s the alarm anyway? Can’t we just adapt? 

(Via Dr Benny Peiser.)

UPDATE

Reader davo of the red empire:

So does that mean 97% of scientists can be wrong?

Or as angry critic Pete puts it:

Just to provide some context, Mr Bolt’s relentless, yet utterly doomed mission is to try and persuade his readership that man-made climate change is happening. Andrew Bolt, right wing, lay, Murdoch press blogger versus every scientific expert body on the subject.

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Green candidate educated

Andrew BoltJANUARY272013(7:33am)

Tim Blair holds the feet of an alarmist Greens candidate to one of those rarer fires.

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B"H

Ten Commandments:

~ 1. I am HaShem, your G-D

~ 2. You shall not recognize the gods of others in My Presence (G-D is everywhere)

~ 3. You shall not take the Name of HaShem, your G-d, in vain

~4. Remember the Shabbath day to sanctify it

~5. Honor your Father and your Mother

~6. You shall not kill

~7. You shall not commit adultery;

~8. You shall not steal

~9. You shall not bear false witness against your fellow

~ 10. You shall not covet your fellow’s house, wife, maidservant, or anything that belongs to your fellow.
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4 TMN
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I WISH YOU ENOUGH

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport as the daughter's departure had been announced. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said:

"I love you and I wish you enough."

The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom." They kissed and the daughter left.

The mother walked over to the window where I sat. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry.

I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?" "Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking but why is this a forever good-bye?"

"I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.

When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, "I wish you enough." May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more.

"When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them". Then turning toward me, she shared the following, reciting it from memory,

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person. An hour to appreciate them. A day to love them. And an entire life to forget them.

Please Share this with your friends. It has the potential to inspire alot of people.

Be Blessed Of Divine Light.

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NEVER AGAIN , NEVER FORGET !!!
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Under the ALP, things get worse for the poorest, the most desperate
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Hikaru Shindou (Hikaru no Go)
Coser: ichinosehikaru

Source: http://bit.ly/XOXme3
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Once he realised what we were doing he raced one of our students up the stairs! After winning (lol) he encouraged us all to keep training hard, such a lovely old man! #team9lives #9livesparkour #training #conditioning #fairfield #parkour #sydney #neighbourhoodlove
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Moonrise over the Wind Farm. 

Taken near Bird's Landing and Rio Vista after a mad race to an elevated parcel of land. The herd of sheep were kind to move off the road so we could get to our destination to catch this event.
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How many Commandments has Juliar broken?

I count eight!

Plenty of " Global Warming", where she's going....
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2013 Australian Open is over, thanks to the whole experience in the new year, I believe I will come back stronger. Many thanks to Carlos, Alex and Jiang Shan, thanks to Shi Ling's company and trust, I believe we will have a great future.
2013澳网结束，感谢有今年的各种感受和经历，相信明天的自己会更坚强更强大，谢谢有carlos.alex.姜山，石玲在我旁边陪伴着我信任我，相信我们的明天会更美好. - Li Na
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Astronomy Picture of the Day.

2013 January 26

Alaskan Moondogs

Image Credit & Copyright: Sebastian Saarloos

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130126.html

Moonlight illuminates a snowy scene in this night land and skyscape made on January 17 from Lower Miller Creek, Alaska, USA. Overexposed near the mountainous western horizon is the first quarter Moon itself, surrounded by an icy halo and flanked left and right by moondogs. Sometimes called mock moons, a more scientific name for the luminous apparations is paraselenae (plural). Analogous to a sundog or parhelion, a paraselene is produced by moonlight refracted through thin, hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. As determined by the crystal geometry, paraselenae are seen at an angle of 22 degrees or more from the Moon. Compared to the bright lunar disk, paraselenae are faint and easier to spot when the Moon is low.

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IF LIFE IS NOT IMPORTANT, WHAT IS? - Larry Pickering

Tony Abbott is off and running and there is no doubt McTernan will arrange to have Catholic Tony attacked this year on the difficult and divisive subject of abortion. 

The opportunistic Catholic Church didn’t ban condoms for no reason and anyway all its edicts were designed to further the economic and numerical interests of the Papacy, not its parishioners. 

Celibacy was to keep Priests’ minds on the job (that didn’t work) and the “evil” of birth control was to keep the numbers coming through the system (that did work).

Forget the canon 1251 nonsense of penance and fasting. The apparently illogical “no meat on Fridays” edict was designed solely to assist the flagging Roman fishing industry.

Anyway, back to abortion and the number of “unlikes” I will cop.

On one side I see so many of my friends enduring years of painfully unsuccessful IVF programs and bereft others embarking on the tortuous path of adoption.

On the other side I see feminists declaring their right to kill what is genetically only half theirs.

What a terrible waste of a life that would otherwise be loved and nurtured by willing couples.

Like Julia Gillard, I’m an atheist, pig-headed and not particularly moral but I part company with her position on abortion.

I suspect she has mellowed since she first promoted married women as prostitutes and advocated late term abortions. But Gillard’s disgusting perception of life doesn’t vanish with age. It just gets rearranged so as to be more electorally palatable.

Are we the only species that does this, simply because we can?

Anyway, I have 11 children and 17 grandchildren and, although I’m fast running out of broodmares, I simply can’t imagine one of their little lives being snuffed out at any stage of their beautiful development.

So, I put my hand up. Please, if you don’t want it, don’t kill it, I’ll have it!

And when I’m gone please consider all those who would love to have a child, but can’t.

Now you are free to unlike me.
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68 years after the 'liberation' of Auschwitz --lessons learned and unlearned


By Rabbi Abraham Cooper===

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January 27.

Remember the crimes of Nazism , the victims of Nazism, the place of antisemitism and racism at the core of Nazi ideology, the behaviour of perpetrators, bystanders and those who resisted evil
GENERAL ASSEMBLY DECIDES TO DESIGNATE 27 JANUARY AS ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DAYOF COMMEMORATION TO HONOUR HOLOCAUST VICTIMS===

Check out the new graphic from the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff! Who's going to be visiting this year?

Head to the DWE website for more info and to book tickets: http://bit.ly/DWEcardiff
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Turn the Word of God on the devil when he comes to tempt you (Matt 4:4, 7, 10), and render him of no effect! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/SCZBTE
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