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9 June

9 June

June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining.

Events

- 68 - Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditus to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.
- 1534 - Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the St. Lawrence River.
- 1732 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia. [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/ga01.htm]
- 1772 - British vessel Gaspee is burned off of Rhode Island.
- 1790 - Philadelphia Spelling Book by John Barry becomes the first book to be copyrighted in the United States.
- 1815 - End of the Congress of Vienna: new European political situation is set.
- 1856 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
- 1860 - Malaeska: The Indian Wife of the White Hunter becomes the first dime novel to be published.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia.
- 1909 - 1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, became the first woman to drive across the United States. With three female companions, none of whom could drive a car, for fifty-nine days she drove a Maxwell automobile the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York to San Francisco, California.
- 1915 - U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns over a disagreement regarding his nation's handling of the RMS Lusitania sinking.
- 1923 - Bulgaria's military takes over the government in a coup.
- 1930 - Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle is killed at the Illinois Central train station during rush hour by the Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a 100,000 USD gambling debt owed to Al Capone.
- 1934 - Donald Duck debuts in The Wise Little Hen.
- 1935 - Ho-Umezu Agreement: China, under KMT administration, recognized Japanese occupations in Northeast China.
- 1944 - World War II: The Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, since 1941 occupied by Finland.
- 1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts killing 94.
- 1954 - McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army.
- 1957 - First ascent of Broad Peak (12th highest mountain).
- 1959 - The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
- 1973 - Secretariat wins the Triple Crown.
- 1978 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens the priesthood to "all worthy men,"ending a 148-year-old policy excluding black men.
- 1980 - Comedian Richard Pryor attempts to commit suicide by dousing himself with rum and setting it ablaze during a cocaine binge.
- 1985 - Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon (he was not released until 1991).
- 1986 - The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
- 1991 - The congress of the Italian party Proletarian Democracy decides to merge with the Communist Refoundation Party.
- 1999 - Kosovo War: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.

Births

- 1508 - Primož Trubar, Slovenian protestant reformet (d. 1586)
- 1580 - Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (d. 1655)
- 1588 - Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer (d. 1666)
- 1595 - King Wladislaus IV of Poland (d. 1648)
- 1640 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1705)
- 1686 - Andrei Osterman, German-born Russian statesman (d. 1747)
- 1661 - Tsar Feodor III of Russia (d. 1682)
- 1672 - Tsar Peter I of Russia (d. 1725)
- 1686 - Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (d. 1747)
- 1768 - Samuel Slater, American industrialist (d. 1835)
- 1810 - Otto Nicolai, German composer (d. 1849)
- 1812 - Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer (d. 1910)
- 1843 - Bertha von Suttner, Austrian novelist and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1914)
- 1845 - Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto (d. 1914)
- 1849 - Michael Peter Ancher, Danish painter (d. 1927)
- 1851 - Charles Joseph Bonaparte, French politician (d. 1921)
- 1865 - Albéric Magnard, French composer (d. 1914)
- 1865 - Carl Nielsen, Danish composer (d. 1931)
- 1875 - Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1968)
- 1882 - Bobby Kerr, Canadian sprinter (d. 1963)
- 1890 - Leslie Banks, British actor (d. 1952)
- 1891 - Cole Porter, American composer and lyricist (d. 1964)
- 1900 - Fred Waring, American bandleader (d. 1984)
- 1916 - Robert McNamara, United States Secretary of Defense and president of the World Bank
- 1916 - Les Paul, American guitarist
- 1922 - John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (d. 1941)
- 1931 - Jackie Mason, American comedian
- 1931 - Joe Santos, American actor
- 1937 - Harald Rosenthal, German biologist
- 1939 - Ileana Cotrubas, Romanian soprano
- 1939 - Dick Vitale, American sportscaster
- 1947 - Mitch Mitchell, drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience
- 1952 - Uzi Hitman, israeli singer
- 1956 - Patricia Cornwell, American author
- 1961 - Michael J. Fox, Canadian-born actor
- 1961 - Aaron Sorkin, American director, producer, and writer
- 1963 - Johnny Depp, American actor
- 1964 - Gloria Reuben, Canadian actress
- 1973 - Tedy Bruschi, American football player
- 1975 - Andrew Symonds, Australian cricketer
- 1977 - Peja Stojaković, Serbian basketball player
- 1978 - Matthew Bellamy, British singer, guitarist, pianist, composer of the band Muse (band).
- 1978 - Miroslav Klose, German footballer
- 1981 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress

Deaths

- 62 - Octavia, wife of Nero (b. 40)
- 68 - Nero, Roman Emperor (b. 37)
- 373 - Ephrem the Syrian, Christian hymnodist
- 597 - St. Columba, Christian missionary, patron saint of Ireland (b. 521)
- 630 - King Shahrbaraz of Persia
- 1361 - Philippe de Vitry, French composer (b. 1291)
- 1563 - William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, English statesman (b. 1506)
- 1572 - Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (b. 1528)
- 1583 - Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
- 1656 - Thomas Tomkins, Welsh composer (b. 1572)
- 1716 - Banda Bahadur Sikh military commander (executed)
- 1717 - Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic (b. 1648)
- 1870 - Charles Dickens, English author (b. 1812)
- 1892 - William Stairs, Canadian explorer (b. 1863)
- 1946 - Ananda Mahidol, Rama VIII, king of Thailand (b. 1925)
- 1952 - Adolf Busch, German composer (b. 1891)
- 1958 - Robert Donat, English actor (b. 1905)
- 1959 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- 1961 - Camille Guérin, French scientist (b. 1872)
- 1964 - Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Canadian-born business tycoon and politician (b. 1879)
- 1974 - Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1989 - George Wells Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- 1991 - Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (b. 1903)
- 1993 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (b. 1921)
- 1994 - Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 2004 - Rosey Brown, American football player (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

- Catholicism - Saint Columba (called Saint Columcille in Ireland, where he is honoured as one of the islands three patron saints).
- Roman Empire - third day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta
- United States - Race Unity Day

Other appearances

- June 9th is the name of a song from the Boards Of Canada-album, Boc Maxima.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/9 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 8 - June 10 - May 9 - July 9 -- listing of all days ko:6월 9일 ms:9 Jun ja:6月9日 simple:June 9 th:9 มิถุนายน

June 9

June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Other appearances

- June 9th is the name of a song from the Boards Of Canada-album, Boc Maxima.

External links

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

Suicide

Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending one's own life; it is sometimes a noun for one who has committed or attempted the act. Suicide is viewed in highly varying ways among the cultures, religions, legal and social systems of the world. It is considered a sin or immoral act in many religions, and a crime in some jurisdictions. On the other hand, some cultures have viewed it as an honorable way to exit certain shameful or hopeless situations. Persons attempting or dying by suicide sometimes leave a suicide note. According to stricter definitions of suicide, to be considered suicide, the death must be a central component and intention of the act, not just a certain consequence; hence, suicide bombing is considered a kind of bombing rather than a kind of suicide, and martyrdom usually escapes religious or legal proscription. Generally, there are only legal consequences when there is death and proof of intent. However, not all follow this narrower definition. Certainly, a suicide bomber knows that death will be part of the outcome of his or her actions.

Medical views on suicide

Modern medical views on suicide consider suicide to be a mental health issue. Severe suicidal thoughts are considered a medical emergency. Mental health practitioners consistently advise suicidal people to seek help. This is especially true if the means (weapons, drugs, or other methods) are available, or if a detailed plan is in place. Suicidal patients in mental hospitals may be temporarily bound, placed in padded rooms, or incapacitated with drugs to limit access to means of suicide.

Suicide as the form of fight and protest

Heroic suicide, for the greater good of others, is often celebrated. For instance, Gandhi went on a hunger strike to prevent fighting between Hindus and Muslims, and although they stopped before he died, if they hadn't, he may have indeed killed himself. For this, he earned the respect of many. Monks in the Communist Vietnam of the 1960s drew Western praise with their protests based on self-immolation (burning themselves to death). Similar events were reported in the previously independent Eastern Europe during the Soviet occupation (see Jan Palach). Not everybody would count all these actions as suicides, as the personal death was clearly not the primary purpose. The opponents argue that these persons would probably achieve the comparable result by spending the rest of their life in the active fight.

Arguments for Pro-Choice and Pro-Euthanasia

There are arguments in favor of allowing an individual to choose between life and suicide. This view sees suicide as a valid option. This line rejects the widespread belief that suicide is always or usually irrational, saying instead that it is a genuine, albeit severe, solution to real problems – a line of last resort that can legitimately be taken when the alternative is considered worse. No being should be made to suffer unnecessarily, and suicide provides an escape from suffering in certain circumstances, such as incurable disease and old age. In the past, the Japanese were often ordered to commit seppuku, a form of ritual disembowelment suicide, by their superiors, and were expected to do so as a matter of honor. They may also have done it as a matter of free choice, also for the sake of honor, and it was considered better than being taken prisoner. A few rare groups say that people should kill themselves for the greater good. For example, the Church of Euthanasia says that people should kill themselves in order to reduce mankind's stress on the environment.

Epidemiology

It is probable that the incidence of suicide is widely under-reported due to both religious and social pressures, and possibly completely unreported in some areas. Nevertheless, from the known suicides, certain trends are apparent: for example, in the Western world, males die much more often than females by suicide, while females attempt suicide more often. Suicide rates in various nations have followed significant patterns over time, and it's often possible to anticipate suicides based on a person's social, economic, and psychological condition. The radical view would be that in the countries with the extremely high rate this may reflect the psychological problems of the whole society rather than the problems of that particular individual. However, there is insufficient data to adequately compare suicide rates among nations.

Combination of homicide and suicide

Since crime just prior to suicide is often perceived as being without consequences, it's not uncommon to combine homicide with suicide. Motivations range from wishing to be with one's family in an expected afterlife to avoiding punishment to killing others as part of a suicide pact.

Attempted suicide and parasuicide

Many suicidal people participate in suicidal activities which do not result in death. These activities fall under the designation attempted suicide or parasuicide. Generally, those with a history of such attempts are almost 23 times more likely to eventually end their own lives than those without. Sometimes, a person will make actions resembling suicide attempts while not being fully committed, or in a deliberate attempt to have others notice. This is called a suicidal gesture (also known as a "cry for help"). Prototypical methods might be a non-lethal method of self-harm that leaves obvious signs of the attempt, or simply a lethal action at a time when the person considers it likely that they will be rescued or prevented from fully carrying it out. On the other hand, a person who genuinely wishes to die may fail, due to lack of knowledge about what they are doing; unwillingness to try methods that may end in permanent damage if they fail or harm to others; or an unanticipated rescue, among other reasons. This is referred to as a suicidal attempt. Distinguishing between a suicidal attempt and a suicidal gesture may be difficult. Intent and motivation are not always fully discernable since so many people in a suicidal state are genuinely conflicted over whether they wish to end their lives. One approach, assuming that a sufficiently strong intent will ensure success, considers all near-suicides to be suicidal gestures. This however does not explain why so many people who fail at suicide end up with severe injuries, often permanent, which are most likely undesirable to those who are making a suicidal gesture. Another possibility is those wishing merely to make a suicidal gesture may end up accidentally killing themselves, perhaps by underestimating the lethality of the method chosen or by overestimating the possibility of external intervention by others. Suicide-like acts should generally be treated as seriously as possible since if there is an insufficiently strong reaction from loved ones from a suicidal gesture, this may motivate future, more committed attempts. In the technical literature the use of the terms parasuicide, or deliberate self-harm (DSH) are preferred – both of these terms avoid the question of the intent of the action. Those who self-harm are, as a group, quite different from those who attempt to die from suicide. It is of utmost importance to note that self-harm is not a suicide attempt and should never be construed as such. There is a non-causal correlation between self-harm and suicide; individuals who suffer from depression or other mental health issues are also more likely to choose suicide. DSH is far more common than suicide, and the majority of DSH participants are females aged under 35. They are usually not physically ill and while psychological factors are highly significant, they are rarely clinically ill and severe depression is uncommon. Social issues are key – DSH is most common among those living in overcrowded conditions, in conflict with their families, with disrupted childhoods and history of drinking, criminal behavior, and violence. Individuals under these stresses become anxious and depressed and then, usually in reaction to a single particular crisis, they attempt to harm themselves. The motivation may be a desire for relief from emotional pain or to communicate feelings, although the motivation will often be complex and confused. DSH may also result from an inner conflict between the desire to end life and the desire to continue living. See the article on self-harm for an in depth discussion.

Distinction between Suicide and Attempted Suicide

An important distinction has also been made (see Erwin Stengel, 'Suicide and Attempted Suicide') between those who kill themselves and did not mean to, and those who did not kill themselves but did mean to. Thus a 'Suicide' (noun) may either succeed or fail in his/her goal (ie. succeed in killing himself/herself or not) and an 'Attempted Suicide' (noun) may either succeed or fail in his/her goal (ie. succeed in 'making a cry for help' or fail and, in doing so, probably die). This distinction, if correctly drawn, can have important ramifications for the treatment of people who are suicidal.

Suicide in literature

Suicide has been used as a dramatic plot element in a number of literary works, such as Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Awakening, Romeo and Juliet, and Death of a Salesman. Robert E. Howard wrote several poems, including The Tempter, about suicide. Also in the children's book series Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, the third book, the Wide Window, the protagonist's aunt supposedly died because of suicide.

Sources

- D.J. Shaffer, "The Epidemiology of Teen Suicide: An Examination of Risk Factors," Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 49 (supp.) (Sept. 1988): Ppgs 36-41.

External links

Crisis Lines

If you are in suicidal crisis, call a crisis line and talk to someone about it. In the United States, you can call 1-800-SUICIDE to reach a trained counselor near you.
- [http://www.suicidepreventioncenter.org/ Suicide Prevention Center Los Angeles] Serving Southern California
- [http://www.suicidehotlines.com/ Suicide Hotlines] Listing of suicide prevention lines in the United States and around the world. Look here to find a crisis line near you.

Support groups

- [http://www.samaritans.org.uk/ Samaritans (UK)]
- [http://ashbusstop.org #alt.suicide.bus.stop] – think about suicide differently. A support group for the suicidal, by the suicidal.
- [http://www.befrienders.org/ Befrienders International] (or [http://www.suicideinfo.org/ in other languages])
- [http://www.suicidetalk.com/ SuicideTalk.com Suicide forums]
- Open Directory Project: [http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Mental_Health/Disorders/Suicide/Support_Groups/ Support groups for those who are suicidal or in despair]

Roman Senate

The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The word Senatus is derived from the Latin word senex ("old man" or "elder"); literally, "Senate" is understood to mean something along the lines of Council of Elders.

Foundation

Tradition held that the Senate was first established by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, as an advisory council consisting of the 100 heads of families, called Patres ("Fathers") from which the term Patrician would later come. Later, when at the start of the Republic, Lucius Junius Brutus increased the number of Senators to three hundred (according to legend), they were also called Conscripti ("Conscripted Men"), because Brutus had conscripted. Thus, the members of the Senate were addressed as "Patres et Conscripti", which was gradually run together as "Patres Conscripti" ("Conscript Fathers").

Authority

The sum total of the Roman population was divided into two classes, the Senate and the Roman People (as seen in the famous abbreviation SPQR); the Roman People consisted of all Roman citizens who were not members of the Senate, such as the plebeians and proletarians. Domestic power was vested in the Roman People, through the Centuriate Assembly (Comitia Centuriata), the Tribal Assembly (Comitia Populi Tributa), and the Council of the People (Concilium Plebis). Contrary to popular belief, the Senate was not a legislature; a senatus consultum was only a recommendation of legal practice, not a law in and of itself. Actual legislation was vested in the aforementioned Roman assemblies, which acted on the Senate's recommendations and also elected the city's magistrates. Nevertheless, the Senate held considerable clout (auctoritas) in Roman politics. As the embodiment of Rome, it was the official body that sent and received ambassadors on behalf of the city, that appointed officials to manage the public lands -- including provincial governors, that conducted wars, and appropriated public funds. The Senate also bore the prerogative of authorizing the city's chief magistrates, the consuls, to nominate a dictator in a state of emergency, usually military. In the late Republic, the Senate came to avoid the dictatorate by resorting to a senatus consultum de republica defendenda, the so-called senatus consultum ultimum which declared martial law and empowered the consuls to "take care that the Republic should come to no harm", according to Cicero's first In Catilinam oration. Like the Centuriate Assembly and the Tribal Assembly, but unlike the Council of the People, the Senate operated under certain religious restrictions. It could only meet in a consecrated temple, usually the Curia Hostilia (the ceremonies of New Year's Day were in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and war meetings were held in the temple of Bellona), and its sessions could only proceed after an invocation prayer, a sacrificial offering, and the auspices were taken. The Senate could only meet between sunrise and sunset, and could not meet while any of the other assemblies were in session.

Membership

The Senate had around 300 members in the middle and late Republic, membership could be stripped by the censors if a Senator was thought to have committed an act "against the public morals." Customarily, all magistrates -- quaestors, aediles (both curulis and plebis), praetors, and consuls -- were admitted to the Senate for life, but not all senators had been magistrates; those who were not were called senatores pedarii and were not permitted to speak. As a result, the Senate was dominated by established families of patricians and plebeians, as it was much easier for these groups to climb the cursus honorum and acquire speaking rights.

Late Republican Senate

In the Late Republic, an archconservative faction emerged, led in turn by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Cato the Younger, who called themselves the boni ("The Good Men") or Optimates. The Late Republic was characterized by the social tensions between the broad factions of the Optimates and the nouveau riche Populares, which became increasingly expressed by domestic fury, violence and fierce civil strife; examples of Optimates include Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Pompey the Great, while Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Julius Caesar were Populares. The labels Populares and Optimates are not, however, as concrete as sometimes assumed, and politicians could often change factions.

Hierarchy

The consuls alternated monthly as president of the Senate, while the princeps senatus functioned as leader of the house. If both consuls were absent (usually because of a war), the senior magistrate, most often the Praetor Urbanus, would act as the president. Among the senators with speaking rights a rigid order defined who could speak when, with a patrician always preceding a plebeian of equal rank.

Notable practices

There was no limit on debate, and the practice of what is now called the filibuster was a favored trick (a practice which continues to be accepted in the United States Senate today). Votes could be taken by voice vote or show of hands in unimportant matters, but important or formal motions were decided by division of the house; a quorum to do business was necessary, but it is not known how many senators constituted a quorum. The Senate was divided into decuries (groups of ten), each led by a patrician (thus requiring that there would be at least 30 patrician senators at any given time).

Style of dress

All senators were entitled to wear a senatorial ring (originally made of iron, but later gold; old patrician families like the Julii Caesares continued to wear iron rings to the end of the Republic) and a tunica clava, a white tunic with a broad purple stripe 5 inch (130 mm) wide (latus clavus) on the right shoulder. A senator pedarius wore a white toga virilis (also called a toga pura) without decoration excluding those explained above, whereas a senator who had held a curule magistracy was entitled to wear the toga praetexta, a white toga with a broad purple border. Similarly, all senators wore closed maroon leather shoes, but senators who had held curule magistracies added a crescent-shaped buckle. Senators were forbidden to engage in any business unrelated to the ownership of land, but this rule was frequently disregarded.

The Equestrian class

Until 123 BC, all senators were also equestrians, frequently called "knights" in English works. That year, Gaius Sempronius Gracchus legislated the separation of the two classes, and established the latter as the Ordo Equester ("Equestrian Order"). These equestrians were not restricted in their business ventures and came from a powerful plutocratic force in Roman politics. Sons of senators and other non-senatorial members of senatorial families continued to be classified as equestrians, who were entitled to wear tunics with narrow purple stripes three inch (75 mm) wide as a reminder of their senatorial origins.

Decline of the Senate (1st century BC - 6th century AD)

Julius Caesar introduced a different kind of membership into the Senate during his dictatorate. He increased the membership to 900 and seated many Roman citizens of Latin and Italian background, as well as loyal adherents who had proven their competence and valor during the civil wars. Although intended to break the power of obstreperous reactionary factions like the Good Men, this reform contributed to turning the Senate into a mere cipher, as it became under the Principate and beyond. A remnant of its former self, it continued to figure in Roman politics, but never regained its previous dominance. The Senate survived the end of the Empire in the West, and its last recorded acts were the dispatch of two embassies to the Imperial court of Tiberius II Constantine at Constantinople in AD 578 and 580.

Eastern Roman Senate

Meanwhile a separate Senate had been established by Constantine I in Constantinople, which survived, in name if not importance, for centuries afterwards; see Byzantine Senate.

1534

Events

- February 27 - Group of Anabaptists of Jan Matthys seize Münster and declare it "The New Little Jerusalem" - they begin to exile dissenters and forcible baptize all others
- May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage.
- June 9 - Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the St. Lawrence River.
- July 7 - First known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in New Brunswick.
- Cambridge University Press given Royal Charter by Henry VIII and becomes the first of the privileged presses
- Henry VIII angry at the Pope's refusal to grant divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry declares himself Supreme Head of the English church a.k.a. the Anglican Church or Church of England
- Publication of Gargantua by François Rabelais
- Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament into German appears

Births

- February 5 - Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian writer, composer, and soldier (died 1612)
- June 23 - Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (died 1582)
- July 1 - King Frederick II of Denmark (died 1588)
- July 18 - Zacharius Ursinus, German theologian (died 1583)
- September 24 - Guru Ram Das, fourth Sikh Guru (died 1581)
- Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (died 1590)
- William Harrison, English clergyman (died 1593)
- José de Anchieta, Spanish Jesuit missionary in Brazil (died 1597)
- Isaac Luria, Jewish scholar and mystic (died 1572)
- Henri Ier de Montmorency, Marshal of France (died 1614)
- Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, statesman of the Elizabethan era (died 1601)
- Nicholas Remy, French Catholic priest (died 1600)
- Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
- Paul Skalic, Croatian encyclopedist, humanist and adventurer (died 1573)
- Zofia Tarnowska, Polish noble lady (died 1570)

Deaths

- January 25 - Magdalena of Saxony (born 1507)
- March 5 - Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter (born 1488)
- April 20 - Elizabeth Barton English nun (executed) (born 1506)
- August 9 - Cardinal Cajetan, Italian theologian (born 1470)
- September 25 - Pope Clement VII (born 1478)
- Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (born 1477)
- István Báthory, Hungarian noble (born 1477)
- Edward Guilford, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (born 1474)
- Michal Glinski, Lithuanian prince
- Cesare Hercolani, Italian soldier (born 1499)
- William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, scholar and patron
- Amago Okihisa, Japanese nobleman
- Antonio Pigafetta, Italian navigator (born 1491)
- Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Florentine architect (born 1453)
- John Taylor, Master of the Rolls (born 1480) Category:1534 ko:1534년

St. Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence River (French: fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It was called Kaniatarowanenneh ("big waterway") in Mohawk. It traverses the Canadian province of Quebec and forms part of the border between the state of New York in the United States and the province of Ontario in Canada. The Saint Lawrence River is born at the outflow of Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario. From there, it passes Brockville, Cornwall, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec City before draining into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the largest estuary in the world. It runs 3,058 kilometers (1,900 miles) from source to mouth (1,197 km or 744 miles from the outflow of Lake Ontario). Its drainage area, which includes the Great Lakes and hence the world's largest system of fresh water lakes, has a size of 1.03 million km². The average discharge at the mouth is 10,400 m³/s. The river includes Lac Saint-Louis south of Montreal, Lac Saint-François at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec and Lac Saint-Pierre east of Montreal. It surrounds such islands as the Thousand Islands near Kingston, the Island of Montreal, Île Jésus (Laval), Île d'Orléans near Quebec City, and Anticosti Island north of the Gaspé. Lake Champlain and the Ottawa, Richelieu, and Saguenay rivers drain into the St. Lawrence. The first European to navigate the St. Lawrence was Jacques Cartier, who on 9 June 1534 first sighted the river and also claimed New France for Francis I. Until the early 1600s, the French used the name Rivière du Canada to designate the Saint Lawrence upstream to Montreal and the Ottawa River after Montreal. The Saint Lawrence River served as the main route for exploration of the North American interior from Europe. The St. Lawrence was formerly continuously navigable only as far as Montreal due to the Lachine Rapids. The Lachine Canal was the first to allow ships to pass the rapids; the Saint Lawrence Seaway, an extensive system of canals and locks, now permits ocean-going vessels to pass all the way to Lake Superior. In the late 1970's, the river was the subject of a successful environmental campaign (called "Save the River"), originally responding to planned development by the Army Corps of Engineers. The campaign was organised, among others, by Abbie Hoffmann, who at the time was on the run under the pseudonym of Barry Freed. Abbie Hoffmann

Names

A note on translation: Occasionally, the French name fleuve Saint-Laurent is wrongly translated as Saint Lawrence Seaway, on the idea that it uses the word fleuve, not rivière. However, the word fleuve simply means a river that runs to the sea, and is appropriately translated by river. The seaway is a system of artificial canals, and is called in French voie maritime du Saint-Laurent. The source of the North River in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota is considered to be the source of the Saint Lawrence River. Because it crosses so many lakes, the Saint Lawrence River frequently changes its name. From source to mouth, the names are:
- North River
- Saint Louis River
- Lake Superior
- Saint Marys River
- Lake Huron
- Saint Clair River
- Lake Saint Clair
- Detroit River
- Lake Erie
- Niagara River
- Lake Ontario
- Saint Lawrence River

Crossings

From east to west:
- Quebec Bridge (road and rail) in Quebec City
- Pierre Laporte Bridge in Quebec City
- Laviolette Bridge in Trois-Rivières
- Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel in Montreal
- Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal
- Victoria Bridge (road and rail) in Montreal
- Champlain Bridge in Montreal
- Honoré Mercier Bridge in Montreal
- Lachine Bridge (rail) in Montreal
- Monseigneur Langlois Bridge in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
- Rail bridge in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
- Former Cornwall Bridge (rail) in Cornwall
- Seaway International Bridge in Cornwall
- Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge in Ogdensburg
- Thousand Islands Bridge at Wellesley Island

External links

- [http://collections.ic.gc.ca/stlauren/ Regional Geography of the St. Lawrence River]
- [http://www.parks.on.ca/home.htm St. Lawrence Parks Commission (Ontario)]
- [http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/ Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System]
- [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/VQ_P1_5_EN.html Safe Passage: Aids to Navigation on the St. Lawrence] — Historical essay, illustrated with drawings and photographs
- [http://www.readingstlawrencecounty.com Annotated Bibliography on St. Lawrence County and Northern New York region.]
- [http://savetheriver.org/ "Save the River"]
- ja:セントローレンス川 simple:Saint Lawrence River

1732

Events

- February 23 - First performance of Handel's Orlando, in London
- June 9 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia. [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/ga01.htm]
- December 7 - The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal (now the Royal Opera House) is opened
- Genoa regains Corsica
- 139 members of the Paris Parlement are exiled by order of the King, but are eventually triumphant over the Crown, and secure their recall in December
- Cobalt discovered

Births

- January 24 - Pierre de Beaumarchais, French writer (d. 1799)
- February 22 - George Washington, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
- March 31 - Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
- April 5 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter (d. 1806)
- September 30 - Jacques Necker, French politician (d. 1804)
- October 6 - Nevil Maskelyne, English Astronomer Royal (died 1811)
- November 13 - John Dickinson, American lawyer and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (d. 1808)
- December 6 - Warren Hastings, British administrator (d. 1818)
- December 23 - Richard Arkwright, English inventor (d. 1792)
- Abbas III, Shah of Persia

Deaths

- January 12 - John Horsley, British archaeologist
- February 13 - Charles-René d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1640)
- February 17 - Louis Marchand, French organist and harpsichordist (b. 1669)
- February 22 - Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)
- March 20 - Johann Ernst Hanxleden, German philologist (b. 1681)
- May 20 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
- July 16 - Woodes Rogers, English privateer and first Royal Governor of the Bahamas
- September 24 - Emperor Reigen of Japan (b. 1654)
- October 31 - Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (b. 1666)
- December 4 - John Gay, English poet and dramatist (b. 1685) Category:1732 ko:1732년

Royal Charter

A Royal Charter is a charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. In medieval Europe, cities were the only place where it was legal to conduct commerce, and Royal Charters were the only way to establish a city. The year a city was chartered is considered the year the city was "founded", irrespective of whether there was settlement there before. In the United Kingdom and Canada a Royal Charter is a charter granted by the Sovereign on the advice of the Privy Council, which creates or gives special status to an incorporated body. It is an exercise of the Royal Prerogative. At one time a Royal Charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means such as the registration of a limited company are now available. Among the historic bodies formed by Royal Charter were the British East India Company and the American colonies. Among the 400 or so organisations with Royal Charters are cities, the BBC, Livery Companies, Britain's older universities, professional institutions and charities. A Royal Charter is the manner in which a British town is raised to the rank of British city. Most recently Inverness, Brighton & Hove and Wolverhampton were given their charters to celebrate the millennium, and Preston, Stirling, Newport, Lisburn and Newry to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002. Some of the older British universities operate under Royal Charters, which give them the power to grant degrees. The most recent generation of universities were granted this power by the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 instead. Some other universities operate under Acts of Parliament. The BBC operates under a Royal Charter which lasts for a limited period of ten years, after which it is renewed. Most Royal Charters are now granted to professional institutions and to charities. A Charter is not necessary for them to operate, but one is often sought as a recognition of "pre-eminence, stability and permanence".

External links

- [http://www.privy-council.org.uk/output/page26.asp Privy Council website]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/bbc/charter.shtml Royal Charter of the BBC]
- [http://www.ppd.bham.ac.uk/policy/charter/charter.htm Charter of the University of Birmingham]
- [http://www.state.ri.us/rihist/richart.htm Royal Charter of Rhode Island (1663)]

1772

1772 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events

- February 17 - First partition of Poland, by Russia and Prussia, later including Austria
- May - Watauga Association formed in East Tennessee as the first independent Anglo-American government.
- Ju

9 June

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Other appearances

External links

June 9

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Other appearances

External links

Leap year

Gregorian calendar

Which day is the leap day?

Julian calendar

Revised Julian Calendar

Chinese calendar

Hebrew calendar

Hindu Calendar

Iranian calendar

Long term leap year rules

Marriage proposal

Saint Patrick and the leap year

Birthdays

Suicide

Medical views on suicide

Suicide as the form of fight and protest

Arguments for Pro-Choice and Pro-Euthanasia

Epidemiology

Combination of homicide and suicide

Attempted suicide and parasuicide

Distinction between Suicide and Attempted Suicide

Suicide in literature

Sources

See also

Further reading

External links

Crisis Lines

Support groups

Other links

Roman Senate

Foundation

Authority

Membership

Late Republican Senate

Hierarchy

Notable practices

Style of dress

The Equestrian class

Decline of the Senate (1st century BC - 6th century AD)

Eastern Roman Senate

See also

1534

Events

Births

Deaths

St. Lawrence River

Names

Crossings

See also

External links

1732

Events

Births

Deaths

Royal Charter

External links

See also

1772

Events