02-15-2004, 08:08 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Maryland
Posts: 541,353
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February 15th
1564 ~ Birthday of Galileo Galilei, in Pisa, Italy. Excellent Scientist and Astronomer, but injudicious Author.
1820 ~ Birthday of Susan B. Anthony, who crusaded against slavery, was active in the temperance movement, and helped launch and then sustain the struggle to gain the vote for women.
1898 ~ A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 260 of the approximately 400 crew members aboard.
1942 ~ The supposedly impregnable Singapore fortress surrenders to Japanese forces after a weeklong siege.
1950 ~ The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, the two largest communist nations in the world, announce the signing of a mutual defense and assistance treaty, which many at the time viewed as proof positive that communism was a monolithic movement.
1965 ~ In accordance with a proclamation by Queen Elizabeth, a new Canadian national flag, red and white, with a stylized 11-point red maple leaf in its center, is raised above Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
1971 ~ The British Government launched a new decimal currency. The familiar pound (£), shilling (s) and pence (d) coins were phased out over the next 18 months in favor of a system dividing the pound into units of ten, including half, one, two, five, ten and 50 pence denominations.
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Eudaimonia
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