Sun Apr 6th Todays News

Almost anything can be used as a reason for an action, almost anything can be used as a reason for a response. But not every reason is a good one. It is all very well to admire reason. It certainly beats the alternative. But not everything that is logical follows. On this day in 1327, a poet saw a beautiful woman. She was married. He was a Catholic Priest. But he loved her virtuously. He loved her virtue for twenty one years. Then she died (of natural causes, not pestered to death) and the poet loved her memory. Laura was probably the ancestor of the Marquis De Sade, but I doubt he was the result of this love. The poet Francesco Petrarca, is now known as the first humanist. He initiated the renaissance with his art and inquiry, and named the times of lost learning the Dark Ages. And so the spark of inquiry which brought forward Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Shakespeare, Moliere, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Louis XIV and Anne Boleyn began with a priest falling in love with an unattainable, beautiful woman. 

But a day with such a spark has other enduring flames. The artist Rafael was born on this day in 1483, and died on this day in 1520. English King Richard I forgave the boy who shot him on this day (1199), shortly before dying from resultant blood poisoning. He gave his killer some coins and sent him on his way. Christian charity. What followed diminished the generous act of that king. Jealous courtiers tracked down the boy, and took the coins. And flayed him alive, until he died. And everyone had their reason. For mine, a terrible shot against reason happened on this day in 1994. An aircraft was shot down in Rwanda, killing a Rwandan President and a Burundian President. The black box recorder could have exonerated Tootsis from blame, but Kofi Annan misplaced it in his office for a decade, and the result was genocide, and promotion for Kofi to UN Secretary General. 

For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/nsw-premier-barry-o-farrell-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball?
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Hatches

Happy birthday and many happy returns Johnny Duong and Saron Youn. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

• 1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
• 1651 – André Dacier, French scholar (d. 1722)
• 1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
• 1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (d. 1741)
• 1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
• 1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
• 1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
• 1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor (d. 1945)
• 1886 – Walter Dandy, American neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
• 1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
• 1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
• 1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
• 1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and scientist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
• 1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American comic book artist (d. 2000)
• 1929 – André Previn, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Strangers and The Buckaroos)
• 1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
• 1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter (Tangerine Dream and Agitation Free)
• 1956 – Michele Bachmann, American politician
• 1979 – Eilen Jewell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1982 – Michael Guy Chislett, Australian-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Academy Is... and Hillsong United)
• 2000 – CJ Adams, American actor

Matches

• 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
• 402 – Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
• 1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
• 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
• 1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
• 1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
• 1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
• 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.
• 1830 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette orManchester, New York.
• 1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—later renamed Community of Christ—is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois
• 1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan's debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivanoperas.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sayler's Creek – Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat fromRichmond, Virginia.
• 1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
• 1869 – Celluloid is patented.
• 1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
• 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
• 1924 – First round-the-world flight commences.
• 1929 – Huey P. Long Governor of Louisiana is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
• 1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
• 1962 – Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks from the podium during a New York Philharmonic concert featuring Glenn Gould performing Brahms' First Piano Concerto.
• 1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
• 1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
• 1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 with the song "Waterloo", launching their international career.
• 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
• 2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 bodies were exhumed from several mass graves made by Los Zetas.

Despatches

• 885 – Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary (b. 815)
• 1199 – Richard I of England (b. 1157)
• 1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
• 1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (b. 1471)
• 1590 – Francis Walsingham, English politician (b. 1532)
• 1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
• 1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)

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Old tribal customs no excuse for crimes

Piers Akerman – Sunday, April 06, 2014 (6:11am)

WITH increasing regularity, Australian courts are accepting “cultural differences” as ­exculpatory or mitigating factors for more lenient sentencing or even to excuse the most abhorrent crimes.

Surely this is not the multi-culturalism that even the most avowed flag-waving, sandal-shod, inner-urban, Green-Labor voting wearers of tie-dyed rainbow garments believe in?

Though the Left has worked strenuously to denigrate the very notion that Australia has any culture whatsoever, ­attacking Anzac Day, sneering at the national enthusiasm for sport, attempting to airbrush all references from the education curriculum to our Anglo heritage which is the bedrock of our law and language and disparaging our debt to Judaeo-Christian values, it is patently obvious our culture and the economic opportunity it provides, is a beacon in an increasingly chaotic world. In the politically correct non-judgemental world of the kumbaya crowd, all cultures are equal and must be respected.

In 2013, Victorian Court of Appeal Justice Robert Redlich granted Esmatullah Sharifi, 31, who had pleaded guilty to the rape of an 18-year-old girl and a 25-year-old woman in the same week in December, 2008, the right to appeal against the cumulative 14-year-jail term he is serving.

When he was sentenced, Judge Mark Dean said Sharifi had gone hunting for vulnerable, drunken women to rape.

Judge Dean pointedly noted that his flight from the Taliban was no excuse.

“The offence committed by you was an extremely serious act of violence, and in my opinion you well knew the victim was not consenting,” he said.

Sharifi found the teen near a Frankston nightclub and ­offered to drive her to meet friends at a Mornington hotel. But instead he drove her to a dark street and raped her. “Your brutal conduct must be denounced by this court,” Judge Dean said.

In granting leave, Judge Redlich found Sharifi’s lack of insight into his offence and the fact that he had no appreciation that his conduct was wrong adequate reasons to support his appeal.

Sharifi succeeded in his ­appeal with the Full Court knocking one year and six months off his total sentence.

Even more strange was the decision of Magistrate Ron Saines to drop an attempted child-stealing charge against Ali Jaffari, 35, in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court saying he would have reasonable doubt about his guilt, citing “cultural differences” as one mitigating factor.

The case related to the ­alleged attempt by Jaffari in January, 2013, to lead a four-year-old girl away from a sports oval while her father and brother played cricket.

Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Brooke Shears said that while the child’s father was throwing the ball to his son in the nets, the little girl was playing with her own bat at the net opening.

She said Jaffari was walking around the oval, when he ­approached the child, removed the bat from her hand and ­rested it against a bollard.

“He then grabbed the child’s hand and began to lead her away before she looked up, saw it wasn’t her father, started crying and pulled her hand away,” she said.

“The victim’s father turned, saw what was happening and yelled at Jaffari, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ The victim ran crying to her father and he comforted her while Jaffari walked off around the oval.”

After being awarded a permanent protection visa in early 2012 by the Gillard government upon arriving by boat, Jaffari was convicted of ­indecent assault on two boys aged 12 and 13.

The prosecutor said that, when interviewed, Jaffari told police: “For us is not an issue.”

Magistrate Saines said the prosecution case fell short of criminality and cited cultural differences as a possible mitigating factor.

But Sgt Shears insisted that the offending had nothing to do with cultural differences. After being awarded a permanent protection visa in early 2012 by the Gillard government upon arriving by boat, Jaffari was convicted of ­indecent assault on two boys aged 12 and 13.

Witnesses said he started grabbing and rubbing himself against them, cuddling and kissing them on the neck and telling one of the boys he was “sexy”. One of the victims said he followed them to the showers, cornered them and asked if he “wanted company”.

He received a two-year community corrections order with 300 hours unpaid community work and was listed on a sex offenders’ register.

Curiously, sex crimes, usually against women and not boys, attract far harsher penalties under Afghan law than they do here, yet it is one cultural difference our judges and lawyers don’t seem to embrace.

Playing to the minorities is a losing game as nations across Europe find to their cost. 

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Truth in advertising

Andrew Bolt April 06 2014 (5:22pm)

Reader Dave:

The polling place is the Narrogin District Hospital complex in Narrogin, WA.

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The Bolt Report today

Andrew Bolt April 06 2014 (10:16am)

On the show today – Network 10 at 10am and 4pm....
The end of the world is nigh?
Labor’s Andrew Leigh, Niki Savva and former Keating Minister Gary Johns.  And on NewsWatch Rowan Dean cuts loose on Q&A and Liz Hayes’ scaremongering.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
A review of today’s show by a woman whose potty mouth we mentioned:

Watch the repeat at 4pm to see if this simply confims a couple of points we made.
UPDATE

THE BOLT REPORT
6 APRIL 2014
INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW LEIGH, LABOR’S SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: Tony Abbott may have dodged a bullet in yesterday’s re-run Senate election in Western Australia. Both the Liberals and Labor did have swings against them, with support going instead to the big winners - the Greens and Clive Palmer’s party. The Nationals are just about finished. Result? Well, it’s early days in the counting but the signs are no change from the original result last year. The Liberals get three seats, Labor and the Greens one each, and the last going to Palmer. But that third Liberal seat may yet go to Labor. Joining me is Andrew Leigh, the Opposition’s assistant treasury spokesman. Andrew, thank you for your time.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Pleasure, Andrew.
ANDREW BOLT: There have been three elections since you’ve lost last year’s federal election - the by-election for Kevin Rudd’s seat, the Tasmanian state election and now this Senate vote. Labor went backwards each time. Why is that? And what must change?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, Andrew, as I read the results in Western Australia at the moment, we’re seeing swings away from both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party. A slightly bigger swing away from the Liberal Party than from Labor. I’m still confident we’ll get both Joe Bullock and Louise Pratt up, because I think they would both make excellent senators. And, you know, we have a challenge in rebuilding the party, but I’m really optimistic under Bill Shorten we’ll be able to do that.
ANDREW BOLT: But the fact that the vote’s gone down each time, you don’t read a warning sign in that?
ANDREW LEIGH: This is a very unusual by-election, Andrew. This - we’ve never really had a re-run of a Senate election and turn-out was always going to be a challenge. I think we’ve seen, possibly, the Liberal Party not getting a third Senator. If that happened, that would be the first time that happened in a quarter of a century. But we’ll see as counting proceeds.
ANDREW BOLT: How much do you blame yesterday’s result on your lead Senate candidate, Joe Bullock, who voters learned last week had attacked his running mate, Louise Pratt, for being a lesbian of the left, and told a meeting that the working class can’t trust Labor?
ANDREW LEIGH: I think Joe is a passionate warrior for the Labor cause. He is somebody who has had the interests of working people close to his heart throughout his career. So, I think this was an issue fought mostly over Tony Abbott’s secret cuts rather than over particular personalities of certain candidates.
ANDREW BOLT: Well, this is the gentleman in you talking, of course, Andrew, but I tell you what, if Tony Abbott had said that about a lesbian candidate, Labor would have had his guts for garters as a homophobe. How come you’re so - is Labor going to do any of this to Bullock?
ANDREW LEIGH: Andrew, I’m not sure that there’s great value in raking over issues that have been covered a lot in the media over the course of this week. These are two strong Labor candidates who are united in their view that Tony Abbott shouldn’t be allowed to do the same slash and burn nationwide that Colin Barnett’s done in Western Australia. You know, that cutting back of investment in the productive potential of the nation really worries me.
ANDREW BOLT: Can we talk about the nation’s finances? Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson warned this week that a decade from now we’ll each earn on average $13,000 a year less than what was once expected. Now, we’re just not getting richer as fast as we used to. Now, you’re a former economics professor. How much trouble are we in?
ANDREW LEIGH: Andrew, I think it’s important to look at these things from an international perspective. Australia over the last half-decade has fared very, very well. Coming through with an economy that’s about a sixth larger than it was at the start of the global financial crisis, keeping unemployment below 6% right through the Labor period, and having net debt levels which were around a tenth of our GDP, well below the average for most developed countries. So on the fundamentals, we’re very strong. But, of course, we need to keep on reforming and I thought the point of Martin Parkinson’s speech was how important it is to keep on investing in productivity, making sure that we’re open, that we’re investing in skills and education and in infrastructure.
ANDREW BOLT: Well, one problem that Martin Parkinson did point out - we’re getting older as a country. And he warns that pensions will go up over the decade by nearly $40 billion a year. I mean, that’s clearly unaffordable. Do we need to raise the pension age again to, say, 70?

Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today'

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Can we afford a $30 billion blowout in age pensions?

Andrew Bolt April 06 2014 (5:45am)

We have some very hard decisions ahead - and one is to end the entitlement culture:

AUSTRALIA’S age pension is a budget time bomb according to Tony Abbott’s secret Audit Commission report, with payments indexed to rise faster than inflation.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the cost of the $40 billion-a-year age pension threatens to increase by 80 per cent in the next decade to more than $70 billion.
Warning of tough choices in the May budget for Treasurer Joe Hockey, the report calls for a review of the indexation arrangements and asks Australians to work longer ­before claiming a pension…
Mr ­Hockey has backed moves to phase in an increase in the pension age over time to 70.
Senior government sources have confirmed that Australians over the age of 70 are also almost universally securing free or discount medicine ­because they qualify for ­taxpayer-funded concession card schemes.
A stunning 94 per cent of Australians over 70 qualify for either a pensioner concession card or a seniors health care card for self-funded retirees.

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Abbott dodges bullet, Labor shot, Greens and Palmer rise

Andrew Bolt April 06 2014 (3:43am)

Numbers could change in this complicated count, but Labor would be very disappointed if these early indications are right:

Projected results from the West Australian Senate election re-run show the Liberal Party has comfortably retained two seats, and Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party (PUP) will each have one seat.
The ABC’s election analyst Antony Green said the Liberal Party also appeared on track to win the final seat.
“Our calculated prediction is pointing towards the Liberals winning the third seat,” he said.
”The overall balance between the two parties, it looks like it’s going to be exactly the same as it was last September,” he said.

This was effectively another by-election, in which governments almost always go backwards. The Coalition did get a swing against it, but so did Labor, in part because of a low turnout which usually works against the traditional, big parties. The Greens won a big swing and so did the Palmer United Party.
If the final numbers really have the Liberals with three seats, Palmer won, Labor one and the Greens one, then Abbott has dodged a bullet and Labor must really take stock.
There have been three elections since the federal election and Labor just has not benefited from any of the anti-Abbott sentiment and anti-cuts fears it would have predicted and which it has built its whole campaign on.
In the by-election for Griffith, Kevin Rudd’s old seat, Labor actually went backwards. In the Tasmanian state election it got hammered and in this re-run WA Senate election it seems to have gone backwards again, albeit with a lot of protest votes going to the Greens instead.
Stand by for lots of recriminations against Joe Bullock, Labor’s lead candidate, for his leaked comments claiming Labor could not be trusted to help working people and attacking his running mate, Louise Pratt, as a lesbian and poster girl for the Left.
Meanwhile, Clive Palmer’s huge investment in ads has kept his balloon afloat and makes him the critical power broker in the Senate, where he controls four Senators (including the Motoring Enthusiasts’ Ricky Muir) of the eight who now sit on the crossbenches. Abbott needs the support of six to break any Greens/Labor block, which means he must deal with Palmer.  

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Lol, the easiest way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one.

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=== Posts from last year ===

4 her, so she knows how I see her







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Every time I do a little light painting I feel the need to give a shout out to the one and only "pope" of all this night time tom foolery Troy Paiva, who trailblazed the way for all of us sleepless photographers who wander around in the dark looking for things to point our cameras at.

This particular image was light painted by my Android and a small amount of flashlight, while the rest of the light was provided by passing cars at the Bixby Bridge and a flashing road sign. — 
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So I tried to get from point A to point B, with full access to a map, and my path ended up looking a little something like this... I apologise to the women of the world - I'm not helping the stereotype. — at Torget i Gamla Stan.
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A species of freshwater turtle found on the Seychelles was thought to be extinct for more than 100 years, but a new genetic analysis of a specimen at the Natural History Museum in Vienna showed that the turtle was actually part of a larger population that's still alive thousands of miles away in West Africa. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3mtn
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The Bushmaster has arrived for the Memorial Open Day. 
Find out more about the history of this Infantry Mobility Vehicle here www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL31116.001 — at Australian War Memorial.
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I don't feel that strongly about it .. ed
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It is like driving and seeing an idiot doing something stupid .. if you are judgemental, you might not notice why a rational person has acted desperately. - ed
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You won't save the world by putting water in your petrol tank - ed
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Researchers studying the imperiled marshes of Cape Cod were surprised to discover a section of marsh was coming back, and the cause was an invasive green crab. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3nfk
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Sarah Palin: Americans ‘need to get outraged’ over green energy losers like Fisker ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/04/05/sarah-palin-americans-need-to-get-outraged-over-green-energy-losers-like-fisker/
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The Doctor takes Clara to the Festival of Offerings, but the Old God is waking and demands sacrifice...

Don't miss 'The Rings of Akhaten' tomorrow onABC TV Australia!
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My husband and i were dressed and ready to go out for a lovely evening of dinner and theatre. Having been burgled in the past, we turned on a 'night light' and the answering machine, then put the cat in the backyard. When our cab arrived, we walked out our front door and our rather tubby cat scooted between our legs inside, then ran up the stairs. Because our cat likes to chase our budgie we really didn't want to leave them unchaperoned so my husband ran inside to retrieve her and put her in the back yard again.

Because i didn't want the taxi driver to know our house was going to be empty all evening, i explained to him that my husband would be out momentarily as he was just bidding goodnight to my mother. A few minutes later he got into the cab all hot and bothered, and said (to my growing horror and amusement) as the cab pulled away.

"Sorry it took so long but the stupid bitch was hiding under the bed and i had to poke her arse with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off so i grabbed her by the neck and wrapped her in a blanket so she wouldn't scratch me like she did last time. But it worked! I hauled her fat arse down the stairs and threw her into the backyard....she had better not shit in the vegetable garden again."

The silence in the taxi was deafening.....
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Pink EEE!
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He is 101, she is 103, and they've been married for 88 years!
These days, he'd have a criminal record .. - ed
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Miguel De La Cruz and I went hunting for Sunset Light tonight and found none… but I didn't mind at all.

Many thanks go out to our good friend Paul Porterwho directed us to this spot by phone. — atNicasio Reservoir.
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April 6: Passion Sunday (Anglicanism, 2014)

• 1580 – One of the largest earthquakes in the recorded history of England, Flanders and Northern France struckthe region.
• 1830 – Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmerand others formally organized the Church of Christ, starting the Latter Day Saint movement.
• 1896 – The first modern Olympic Games (official report pictured)opened in Athens, with 241 athletes from 14 nations participating in 43 events in nine disciplines.
• 1947 – The first Tony Awards, recognizing achievement in live Americantheatre, were handed out at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
• 2008 – Egyptian workers staged an illegal general strike, two days before key municipal elections.

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Events[edit]

• 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
• 402 – Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
• 1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
• 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
• 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
• 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
• 1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, is made king John I of Portugal.
• 1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
• 1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
• 1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
• 1667 – An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state.
• 1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
• 1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) founded the Chakri dynasty.
• 1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
• 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.
• 1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
• 1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
• 1830 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette orManchester, New York.
• 1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—later renamed Community of Christ—is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois
• 1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan's debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivanoperas.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sayler's Creek – Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat fromRichmond, Virginia.
• 1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
• 1869 – Celluloid is patented.
• 1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
• 1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
• 1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
• 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
• 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.
• 1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time afterGeorge Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).
• 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson's address to Congress).
• 1919 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi orders a general strike.
• 1923 – The first Prefects Board in Southeast Asia is formed in Victoria Institution, Malaysia.
• 1924 – First round-the-world flight commences.
• 1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
• 1929 – Huey P. Long Governor of Louisiana is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
• 1930 – Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire," beginning the Salt Satyagraha.
• 1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
• 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
• 1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
• 1945 – World War II: the Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
• 1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
• 1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
• 1962 – Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks from the podium during a New York Philharmonic concert featuring Glenn Gould performing Brahms' First Piano Concerto.
• 1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
• 1965 – The British Government announces the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project.
• 1968 – In Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
• 1968 – Pierre Elliot Trudeau wins the Liberal Leadership Election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon after.
• 1970 – Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive – American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
• 1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
• 1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
• 1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 with the song "Waterloo", launching their international career.
• 1982 – Estonian Communist Party bureau declares "fight against bourgeois TV"—meaning Finnish TV—a top priority of the propagandists of Estonian SSR
• 1984 – Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
• 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
• 1998 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
• 1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
• 2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
• 2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
• 2008 – 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activities .
• 2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
• 2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
• 2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 bodies were exhumed from several mass graves made by Los Zetas.
• 2012 – Azawad Declaration of Independence is declared.

Births[edit]

• 1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
• 1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
• 1651 – André Dacier, French scholar (d. 1722)
• 1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
• 1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish soldier and politician (d. 1742)
• 1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (d. 1741)
• 1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
• 1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright (d. 1759)
• 1708 – Georg Reutter II, Austrian composer (d. 1772)
• 1725 – Pasquale Paoli, French commander (d. 1807)
• 1726 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
• 1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
• 1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter (d. 1853)
• 1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
• 1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist (d. 1888)
• 1812 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (d. 1870)
• 1815 – Robert Volkmann, German composer (d. 1883)
• 1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (d. 1870)
• 1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
• 1823 – Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
• 1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter (d. 1898)
• 1841 – Karl Binding, German jurist and author (d. 1920)
• 1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (d. 1932)
• 1855 – Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1930)
• 1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor (d. 1945)
• 1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet (d. 1897)
• 1864 – William Bate Hardy, English biochemist (d. 1934)
• 1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
• 1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1951)
• 1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1934)
• 1881 – Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (d. 1953)
• 1884 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor (d. 1950)
• 1884 – J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (d. 1927)
• 1886 – Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Walter Dandy, American neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
• 1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII of Hyderabad (d. 1967)
• 1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (d. 1976)
• 1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian (d. 1967)
• 1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
• 1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
• 1892 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist (d. 1981)
• 1894 – Gertrude Baines, American super-centenarian (d. 2009)
• 1895 – Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1960)
• 1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter (d. 1920)
• 1900 – Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (d. 1984)
• 1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (d. 1925)
• 1902 – Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
• 1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
• 1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (d. 1990)
• 1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German politician, 3rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
• 1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, author, and broadcaster (d. 1994)
• 1909 – William M. Branham, American minister (d. 1965)
• 1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
• 1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• 1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, North Korean-American geographer (d. 1993)
• 1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
• 1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist (d. 1987)
• 1917 – Leonora Carrington, English-Mexican painter and author (d. 2011)
• 1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
• 1918 – Big Walter Horton, American harmonica player (d. 1981)
• 1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician (d. 1998)
• 1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and scientist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
• 1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Chinese-American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (d. 1990)
• 1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American comic book artist (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Ian Paisley, Irish minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland
• 1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1996)
• 1928 – James Watson, American biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and author (d. 2005)
• 1929 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress, and singer (d. 1972)
• 1929 – André Previn, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1931 – Ram Dass, American author and educator
• 1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
• 1931 – Suchitra Sen, Indian actress (d. 2014)
• 1932 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor and director (d. 2004)
• 1933 – Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic
• 1933 – Tom Korologos, American diplomat
• 1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American politician, Mayor of Kauai (d. 2007)
• 1933 – Dudley Sutton, English actor
• 1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist (d. 2010)
• 1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (d. 2008)
• 1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian author (d. 2007)
• 1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator
• 1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French biologist
• 1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Strangers and The Buckaroos)
• 1937 – Terrence Hardiman, English actor
• 1937 – Peter Maivia, Samoan-American wrestler (d. 1982)
• 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor and singer
• 1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician
• 1938 – Roy Thinnes, American actor
• 1939 – André Ouellet, Canadian politician, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada
• 1939 – John Sculley, American businessman
• 1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet
• 1940 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor (d. 2011)
• 1941 – Christopher Allsopp, British economist
• 1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
• 1941 – Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer
• 1941 – Don Prudhomme, American race car driver
• 1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
• 1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
• 1943 – Max Clifford, English publicist
• 1943 – Roger Cook, New Zealand-born British journalist
• 1943 – Mitchell Melton, American politician (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer
• 1944 – Felicity Palmer, English soprano
• 1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade unionist
• 1945 – Neal Boortz, American radio host and author
• 1945 – Peter Hill, English journalist
• 1946 – Paul Beresford, New Zealand-born British politician
• 1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor
• 1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
• 1947 – André Weinfeld, French-American director, screenwriter, and producer
• 1948 – Patrika Darbo, American actress
• 1949 – Alyson Bailes, English civil servant and diplomat
• 1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
• 1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1950 – Cleo Odzer, American author (d. 2001)
• 1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1951 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (d. 1990)
• 1951 – Pascal Rogé, French classical pianist
• 1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter (Accept and U.D.O.)
• 1952 – Marilu Henner, American actress, producer, and author
• 1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1992)
• 1953 – Patrick Doyle, Scottish film score composer
• 1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter (Tangerine Dream and Agitation Free)
• 1955 – Rob Epstein, American director and producer
• 1955 – Keith Hunter Jesperson, Canadian-American serial killer
• 1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian comedian and actor
• 1955 – Blind Mississippi Morris, American singer and harmonica player
• 1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor
• 1956 – Michele Bachmann, American politician
• 1956 – Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (d. 2013)
• 1956 – Lee Scott, English politician
• 1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist
• 1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer
• 1957 – Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano
• 1957 – Paolo A. Nespoli, Italian engineer and astronaut
• 1958 – Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator
• 1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
• 1960 – Batem, Congolese-Belgian illustrator
• 1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, and The Dead)
• 1960 – John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish actor and screenwriter
• 1962 – Iris Häussler, German sculptor
• 1962 – Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager
• 1963 – Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian politician, 54th President of Ecuador
• 1964 – Phil Gayle, English journalist
• 1965 – Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Pixies and Grand Duchy)
• 1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player
• 1965 – Lieve Slegers, Belgian runner
• 1966 – Vince Flynn, American author (d. 2013)
• 1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer
• 1967 – Julian Anderson, English composer
• 1967 – Tanya Byron, British psychologist, writer and television personality
• 1967 – Jonathan Firth, English actor
• 1967 – Mika Koivuniemi, Finnish-American bowler
• 1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver
• 1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager
• 1969 – Jack Canfora, American actor, singer, and playwright
• 1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
• 1969 – Ari Meyers, Puerto Rican-American actress
• 1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver
• 1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor, screenwriter, and producer
• 1969 – Louie Spence, English dancer and choreographer
• 1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist
• 1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach
• 1970 – Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (Stone Sour, Soulfly, Amebix, Black President, and Nausea)
• 1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
• 1971 – Lou Merloni, American baseball player and radio host
• 1971 – Sanjay Suri, Indian actor and producer
• 1972 – Scott Martin Brooks, American actor
• 1972 – Chad Eaton, American football player and coach
• 1972 – Jason Hervey, American actor and producer
• 1972 – Ami James, Israeli-American tattoo artist
• 1972 – Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
• 1972 – Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player
• 1972 – Jo Van Daele, Belgian discus thrower
• 1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
• 1973 – Randall Godfrey, American football player
• 1973 – Joe Machine, English painter and poet
• 1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress
• 1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
• 1974 – Camilla Dallerup, Danish-English dancer and model
• 1974 – Érica García, Argentinian-American singer-songwriter and actress (Fool's Gold)
• 1974 – Robert Kovač, Croatian footballer and coach
• 1974 – Jeff Tymoschuk, Canadian composer
• 1974 – Gina Yashere, English comedian and actor
• 1974 – Flash Flanagan, American professional wrestler
• 1975 – Zach Braff, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
• 1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
• 1975 – Sonia Lopes, Cape Verdean middle distance and long-distance runner
• 1975 – Joel West, American actor
• 1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress, producer, and author
• 1976 – James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1976 – Chris Hoke, American football player
• 1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player (Sigur Rós)
• 1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator
• 1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach
• 1977 – Teddy Sears, American actor
• 1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
• 1978 – Myleene Klass, English singer, pianist, and model (Hear'Say)
• 1978 – Martin Mendez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter (Opeth)
• 1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
• 1978 – Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
• 1978 – Kendra Todd, American real estate agent and author
• 1979 – Sam Atwell, Australian actor
• 1979 – Eilen Jewell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1979 – Christine Smith, American model and actress
• 1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier
• 1980 – Matthew Carey, American actor
• 1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper
• 1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier
• 1981 – Eliza Coupe, American actress
• 1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Zambian-Welsh footballer
• 1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player
• 1981 – Kari Jobe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Gateway Worship)
• 1981 – Anastassia Morkovkina, Estonian footballer
• 1981 – Alex Suarez, American bass player (Cobra Starship and This Is Ivy League)
• 1982 – Alana Austin, American actress
• 1982 – Sofia Boutella, Algerian-American dancer and actress
• 1982 – Michael Guy Chislett, Australian-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Academy Is... and Hillsong United)
• 1982 – Herculez Gomez, American soccer player
• 1982 – Ilan Hall, American chef
• 1982 – Bret Harrison, American actor and singer
• 1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor
• 1982 – Euclides Varela, Cape Verdean long-distance runner
• 1983 – Diora Baird, American model and actress
• 1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
• 1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
• 1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
• 1983 – Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
• 1983 – Jekaterina Patjuk, Estonian runner
• 1983 – Jade Seah, Singaporean model and actress
• 1983 – Bobbi Starr, American porn actress
• 1983 – James Wade, English darts player
• 1983 – Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter (Say Anything, Two Tongues, and Max Bemis and the Painful Splits)
• 1984 – Michaël Ciani, French footballer
• 1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
• 1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Ali Mukaddam, Canadian actor, director, and producer
• 1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer
• 1986 – Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer
• 1986 – Aaron Curry, American football player
• 1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
• 1986 – Tara Osseck, American model, Miss Missouri 2009
• 1987 – Juan Adriel Ochoa, Mexican footballer
• 1987 – Levi Porter, English footballer
• 1987 – Hilary Rhoda, American supermodel
• 1987 – Benjamin Corgnet, French footballer
• 1988 – Jucilei, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 – Leigh Adams, Australian footballer
• 1988 – Mike Bailey, English actor and singer
• 1988 – Melisa Cantiveros, Filipino actress
• 1988 – Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer
• 1988 – Carlton Mitchell, American football player
• 1988 – Fabrice Muamba, Congolese-English footballer
• 1988 – Ivonne Orsini, Puerto Rician model, Miss World Puerto Rico 2008
• 1989 – Rigard van Klooster, Dutch cyclist and speed skater
• 1989 – Renārs Rode, Latvian football player
• 1990 – Charlie McDermott, American actor
• 1990 – Andrei Veis, Estonian footballer
• 1995 – Darya Lebesheva, Belarusian tennis player
• 1995 – Ryutaro Morimoto, Japanese actor and singer (Hey! Say! JUMP)
• 1998 – Lily Jackson, American actress
• 1998 – Peyton List, American actress
• 1998 – Spencer List, American actor
• 1999 – Kwesi Boakye, American actor
• 2000 – CJ Adams, American actor

Deaths[edit]

• 885 – Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary (b. 815)
• 1147 – Frederick II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
• 1199 – Richard I of England (b. 1157)
• 1362 – James I, Count of La Marche (b. 1319)
• 1490 – Matthias Corvinus, Hungarian king (b. 1443)
• 1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
• 1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (b. 1471)
• 1551 – Joachim Vadian, Swiss scholar and politician (b. 1484)
• 1571 – John Hamilton, Scottish archbishop (b. 1512)
• 1590 – Francis Walsingham, English politician (b. 1532)
• 1605 – John Stow, English historian (b. 1525)
• 1655 – David Blondel, French clergyman and scholar (b. 1591)
• 1686 – Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Irish-English politician (b. 1614)
• 1707 – Willem van de Velde the Younger, Dutch painter (b. 1633)
• 1755 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (b. 1690)
• 1790 – Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
• 1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter (b. 1757)
• 1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1802)
• 1833 – Adamantios Korais, Greek scholar (b. 1748)
• 1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian politician (b. 1763)
• 1860 – James Kirke Paulding, American author and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1778)
• 1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (b. 1803)
• 1883 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
• 1899 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)
• 1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (b. 1849)
• 1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (b. 1869)
• 1947 – Herbert Backe, German politician (b. 1896)
• 1950 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (b. 1882)
• 1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet (b. 1905)
• 1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Israeli scholar (b. 1895)
• 1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
• 1963 – Otto Struve, Russian-American astronomer (b. 1897)
• 1970 – Sam Sheppard, American physician (b. 1923)
• 1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
• 1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
• 1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
• 1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)
• 1977 – Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (b. 1889)
• 1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (b. 1893)
• 1984 – Ral Donner, American singer (b. 1943)
• 1992 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-American author and educator (b. 1920)
• 1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
• 1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (b. 1956)
• 1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek politician, President of Greece (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Greer Garson, English-American actress (b. 1904)
• 1998 – Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (b. 1958)
• 1998 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer-songwriter (Plasmatics) (b. 1949)
• 1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
• 1999 – Red Norvo, American vibraphone player and composer (b. 1908)
• 2000 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
• 2001 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer-songwriter (Charles & Eddie) (b. 1963)
• 2003 – David Bloom, American journalist (b. 1963)
• 2003 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
• 2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator, and activist (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Lou Berberet, American baseball player (b. 1929)
• 2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (b. 1929)
• 2004 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets) (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
• 2006 – Maggie Dixon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1977)
• 2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, American diplomat (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and producer (b. 1916)
• 2009 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian (b. 1919)
• 2009 – Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player (b. 1982)
• 2010 – Wilma Mankiller, American tribal leader (b. 1945)
• 2010 – Neva Morris, American super-centenarian (b. 1895)
• 2010 – Corin Redgrave, English actor (b. 1939)
• 2011 – Sujatha, Indian actress (b. 1952)
• 2011 – Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Pakistani scholar (b. 1917)
• 2011 – Gerald Finnerman, American cinematographer (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Roland Guilbault, American admiral (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter (b. 1958)
• 2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Reed Whittemore, American poet and critic (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Hilda Bynoe, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor of Grenada (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Johnny Esaw, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Matt Gilsenan, Irish footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1915)
• 2013 – Bill Guttridge, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1946)
• 2013 – Michael Norgrove, Zambian-English boxer (b. 1981)
• 2013 – Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Ottmar Schreiner, German lawyer and politician (b. 1946)

Holidays and observances[edit]

• Chakri Day, commemorating the reign of the Chakri Dynasty. (Thailand)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Brychan
  • Eutychius of Constantinople (Byzantine Church)
  • Marcellinus of Carthage
  • Pope Celestine I (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Pope Sixtus I
  • April 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Tartan Day (United States & Canada)

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“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."
Luke 23:26

We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.

But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!

You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. 'Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow him.

Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier end.

And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Evening

"Before honour is humility."
Proverbs 15:33

Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self, God will fill them with his love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Stoop if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, "He descended that he might ascend?" So must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," with all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it without growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

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Eliezer 

[Ĕli ēzûr] - god is my help.

1. The second son of Moses and Zipporah to whom his father gave this name as a memento of his gratitude to God (Exod. 18:4; 1 Chron. 23:15, 17; 26:25).

2. A son of Becher and grandson of Benjamin (1 Chron. 7:8).

3. A priest who assisted in the return of the Ark to Jerusalem (1 Chron. 15:24).

4. A Reubenite ruler in David's time (1 Chron. 27:16).

5. The prophet who rebuked Jehoshaphat for his alliance with king Ahaziah in the Ophir expedition (2 Chron. 20:37).

6. A chieftain sent with others to induce many of the Israelites to return with Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:16).

7. A priest who put away his foreign wife (Ezra 10:18).

8. A Levite who had done the same (Ezra 10:23).

9. One of the sons of Harim who had done likewise (Ezra 10:31).

10. An ancestor of Joseph, husband of Mary (Luke 3:29).

11. Abraham's chief servant, and "son of his house," that is, one of his large household. He is named "Eliezer of Damascus" probably to distinguish him from others of the same name (Gen. 15:2; 24).

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Today's reading: 1 Samuel 1-3, Luke 8:26-56 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 1-3

The Birth of Samuel

¹ There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³ Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. ⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵ But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.⁶Because the LORD had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. ⁷ This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

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Today's New Testament reading: Luke 8:26-56

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man

²⁶ They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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	Having trouble seeing this email? View it online. Bible Gateway | The Brook Network | Mel Lawrenz
GREATER LOVE “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:9-13). Jesus said, “they hated me without reason.” He was neither the first nor the last person to be the recipient of senseless rejection and persecution, but because he was the one perfect, sinless one, the hatred played out against him was the vilest the world would ever see. His haters called light darkness, they saw righteousness and called it wickedness. They even called the work of God the deeds of the devil. We’ve heard of stories of brave sacrifices–a soldier throwing his body on a hand grenade, a firefighter charging into an inferno only to lose his own life. These are stirring, and they show humanity at its best. But Jesus’ sacrifice was not the impulse of a desperate moment. He moved with resolve toward his own end. There is no greater love. We can look through every page of history and every corner of the universe and we won’t find anything that comes even close. Jesus looked at his friends, told them he would be laying down his life, and then required one simple thing: love each other. Ponder This: What do you have to say to Jesus who laid his life down for you?
	Resources Read past emails in this series Visit Bible Gateway Follow Bible Gateway on facebook Visit The Brook Network Read articles on spiritual leadership Follow The Brook Network on facebook

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Today's Lent reading: Luke 15-16 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

¹ Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway