Facebook fans for Hubbard

Supporters of Allan Hubbard and  his wife Margaret have undertaken an advertising campaign and set up a $1m fighting fund.

The couple and some trust have been put in statutory management and are being investigated by the SFO.

No-one who knows them doubts their inegrity but someone has raised questions about paper work:

Timaru lawyer Edgar Bradley, who has been a friend of Mr Hubbard’s for more than 50 years, was another staunch supporter.

“Allan takes a long-term point of view and does not look at things on a daily basis or on a three-yearly basis as politicians do.

“He has the ability to stand back from a problem and look at it dispassionately. Even if it affects him personally, he does not allow that to affect his judgment.

“If a sometime criticism of Allan is a lack of documentation then it must be remembered he is a product of the days when trust was more important than paperwork. Sadly the reverse is now the case.”

There’s a Help Allan Hubbard page on Facebook and another page Leave Allan Hubbard Alone.

Australia catching up with New Zealand

Australia has its first female Prime Minister, Juila Gillard.

They’re 13 years behind New Zealand – Jennry Shipley became our first female PM in 1997.

Tuesday’s poem

This week’s  Tuesday’s Poem is:  Dad Aubade by Terese Svoboda.

Bryan Walpert, the editor for Tuesday Poem this week, writes:

. . .  Svoboda engages playfully with the tradition of the aubade, a dawn poem that typically centres on the parting of lovers. Worry, she writes, is a kind of aubade, one that refuses to do its work. It seems an appropriate title for the poem, given the emphasis here on love, worries about (final) parting (which despite the speaker’s fears may also not come to pass anytime soon), and, towards the end, distance. 
Sneakily, the poem seems less about worry than about the father-daughter relationship that worry brings to the fore. . .

4/10

Oh dear – only 4/10 in NZ History Online’s weekly quiz.

Who’d have thought the Beatles could sing so fast?

Attack from within

The headline Goff totally loses the  plot would be of little significance if it came from the right. But this one is from the left – Brian Edwards.

He starts:

Either Phil Goff is getting appalling advice from his media advisers or he is ignoring good advice. Either way, his recent handling of Chris Carter would suggest that he has totally lost the plot.

He concludes:

So what is Carter to do? If I were advising him, I would suggest that he swallow his pride, do whatever will satisfy Goff’s apparent bloodlust, then keep his head down until after the 2011 election, when he will almost certainly be answerable to a different, and more reasonable leader of the Labour Party.

I agree that Goff has handled this badly. Punishing Carter for travelling too much when he was a Minister in Helen Clark’s government is bizarre; not least because it has unleashed her supporters.

Carter has an unfortunate inability to see himself as others see him, but treating him like a child, dispatched to his room until he says sorry and learns to play nicely, will only reinforce his nobody-understands-me syndrome.

That someone outside the party and from the blue end of the political spectrum thinks this means little.

When someone who has been (not sure if he still is) a Labour insider and is from the red end of the spectrum thinks and writes this it’s a sign of trouble within the party.

Attacks from outside can help a party unite. Attacks from within simply cause trouble within.

Bigger or better?

Bigger or Better? was the theme of Baker & Associates annual Winter Seminar in Masterton yesterday.

My farmer was one of the speakers and had been asked to address large scale sheep and beef farming.

You know all the stories about men teaching their wives to drive? We could tell a few about women helping their husbands with speeches. In spite of my help/hindrance with the preparation, his speech was very well received.

Bigger and better aren’t mutually exclusive. One of my farmer’s points was that it’s possible to get better without getting bigger but if you get bigger without getting better you’ll get in to trouble.

He also said lessons he’s learned from dairying have made him a much better sheep and beef farmer. This includes the value of growing and utilisation of new grass, the use of nitrogen to extend the shoulders of the seasons, the value of sharing of information and how that helps in growing your business.

Another point he made was the importance of NFOs – Non Financial Objectives. Even if you love your work and reckon life’s one long holiday when you enjoy what you’re doing, it’s not healthy if that’s all you do.

June 24 in history

On June 24:

972 Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces.

 

1128  Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães:Portuguese forces led by Alfonso I defeated his mother D. Teresa and D. Fernão Peres de Trava. 

1314  First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn concluded with a decisive victory of the Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce, though England did not recognise Scottish independence until 1328 with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.

 

1340  Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Sluys: The French fleet was almost destroyed by the English Fleet commanded in person by Edward III of England.

1374  A sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance caused people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and began to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion.

1441  King Henry VI founded Eton College.

1497  John Cabot landed in North America at Newfoundland; the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.

1497  Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank were executed at Tyburn, London.

 

1509  Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were crowned King and Queen of England.

 

1535  The Anabaptist state of Münster was conquered and disbanded.

1542  St. John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite mystic and poet, was born (d. 1591).

1571  Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded Manila, the capital of the Republic of the Philippines.

1597  The first Dutch voyage to the East Indies reached Bantam (on Java).

1604  Samuel de Champlain discovered the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present day city of Saint John, New Brunswick.

1662  The Dutch attemptted but failed to capture Macau.

1664  The colony of New Jersey was founded.

1692 Kingston, Jamaica was founded.

1717  The Premier Grand Lodge of England, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England), was founded in London.

1748  John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley opened the Kingswood School in Bristol.

1793 The first republican constitution in France was adopted.

1794 Bowdoin College was founded.

1812 Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon’s Grande Armée crossed the Neman River beginning his invasion of Russia.

1813 Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer, was born  (d. 1887).

1813  Battle of Beaver Dams : A British and Indian combined force defeat the U.S Army.

1821  The Battle of Carabobo took place – the decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain.

1859  Battle of Solferino: (Battle of the Three Sovereigns). Sardinia and France defeat Austria in Solferino, northern Italy.

1866  Battle of Custoza: an Austrian army defeats the Italian army during the Austro-Prussian War.

1880  First performance of O Canada, the song that became the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français.

1893 Roy O. Disney, a founder of the Walt Disney Company, was born  (d. 1971).

1894  Marie Francois Sadi Carnot was assassinated by Sante Geronimo Caserio.

1901  First exhibition of Pablo Picasso‘s work opened.

1902 King Edward VII developed  appendicitis, delaying his coronation.

 1905  NZ Truth was launched.

 

1916  Mary Pickford became the first female film star to get a million dollar contract.

1916  World War I: The Battle of the Somme began with a week long artillery bombardment on the German Line.

1918  First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.

1922  The American Professional Football Association formally changed its name to the National Football League.

1928  With declining business, the International Railway (New York – Ontario) began using one-person crews on trolley operations in Canada.

1932  A bloodless Revolution instigated by the People’s Party ended the absolute power of King Prajadhipok of Siam (Thailand).

 

1938  Pieces of a meteor, estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded, land near Chicora, Pennsylvania.

1939  Siam was renamed to Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the third prime minister.

1944 Jeff Beck, English musician (The Yardbirds).

1945  The Moscow Victory Parade took place.

 

1947  Mick Fleetwood, English musician (Fleetwood Mac), was born.

1947  Kenneth Arnold made the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.

 Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player (Yes).

1948  Start of the Berlin Blockade. The Soviet Union makes overland travel between the West with West Berlin impossible.

 

1949 John Illsley, English bassist (Dire Straits) was born.

1949  The first Television Western, Hopalong Cassidy, was aired on NBC starring William Boyd.

1957  In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment .

1961 Curt Smith, English musician and songwriter (Tears for Fears), was born.

1963  The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.

1975  An Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727 crashes at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. 113 people died.

1981  The Humber Bridge was opened to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

1982  British Airways Flight 9, sometimes referred to as “the Jakarta incident”, flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.

1985  STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery completed its mission.

1993  Yale computer science professor Dr. David Gelernter lost the sight in one eye, the hearing in one ear, and part of his right hand after receiving a mailbomb from the Unabomber.

1994  A United States Air Force B-52 aircraft crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base, killing all four members of its crew.

2002  The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania killed 281, the worst train accident in African history.

2004  In New York state, capital punishment was declared unconstitutional.

2007  The Angora Fire started near South Lake Tahoe, California destroying 200+ structures in its first 48 hours.

Sourced from NZ History Online & WIkipedia

It’s Alright

Happy birthday Adam Faith would have been 70 today.

Tell Me How

Niki Sullivan would have been 73 today.

Blogging on a paper on blogging

A few weeks ago I received an email from a journalist, Pattie Pegler,  asking if I was prepared to be interviewed for a story on blogging.

I was and the story which resulted, expanding world of the blogosphere was published yesterday.

It concludes with what people look for in a blog:  first and foremost, original and interesting content.

Lack of responsibility may lead to restrictions

Russel Norman had the right to protest when Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping entered parliament last week.

But he also had a responsibility to do so in a manner befitting his status as an MP.

He was able to get much closer to the VP than the general public because he’s an MP, but he abused that right by not exercising it responsibly.

As a result John Key is seeking a security review  and Speaker, Lockwood Smith, is looking at new rules to govern protests by MPs..

Oh the irony, a protest against a lack of democracy in Tibet may lead to more restrictions here.

Critical Mass

MacDoctor, Laughy Kate and A Cat of Impossible Colour were the blogs I chose for my spot on Critical Mass  yesterday.

Macdoctor has a winning prescription for posts on health, blue-tinged politics and life.

He writes clearly and cleverly, is rational reasoned and witty.

Laughy Kate specialises in short, snappy posts which show an appreciation of life’s quirkier side.

A Cat of Impossible Colour  is a delightful mix of fashion – of the thrifted kind – her writing, her cat and life in general. If her novel – due out next year – is anything like her blog it will be a wonderful read.

My Critical Mass spot is usually every two or three weeks. But as Noelle McCarthy, who alternates with me in speaking about the internet,  is standing in for Jim Mora and can’t interview herself today’s was only a week after the last one when I discussed the Air New Zealand Best Blog Awards.

10/15

Just adequate: 10/15 in this week’s Dominion Post political trivia quiz – and that was with some guesses.

It didn’t help that I didn’t help that I didn’t know any of the characters from Grease.

June 23 in history

On June 23:

47 BC Pharaoh Ptolemy XV Caesarion of Egypt was born  (d. 30 BC).

79 Titus Caesar Vespasianus succeeded his father Vespasianus as tenth Roman Emperor.

1180 First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan.

1305 The Flemish–French peace treaty was signed at Athis-sur-Orge.

1314  First War of Scottish Independence The Battle of Bannockburn, south of Stirling, began.

1532  Henry VIII and François I signed a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.

1565  Turgut Reis (Dragut), commander of the Ottoman navy, died during the Siege of Malta.

1611  The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson‘s fourth voyage set Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they were never heard from again.

1661  Marriage contract between Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza.

 

1683  William Penn signed friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1713  The French residents of Acadia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia.

1757 Battle of Plassey – 3,000 British troops under Robert Clive defeated a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj Ud Daulah at Plassey.

1758  Seven Years’ War: Battle of Krefeld – British forces defeated French troops at Krefeld in Germany.

1760 – Seven Years’ War: Battle of Landeshut – Austria defeated Prussia.

1780 American Revolution: Battle of Springfield.

1794  Empress Catherine II of Russia granted Jews permission to settle in Kiev.

1810  John Jacob Astor formed the Pacific Fur Company.

1812  War of 1812: Great Britain revoked the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.

1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon I of France invadesd Russia.

1860  The United States Congress established the Government Printing Office.

1865  American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrendered the last significant rebel army.

1868  Christopher Latham Sholes receivesd a patent for Type-Writer.

 

1887 The Rocky Mountains Park Act became law in Canada, creating the nation’s first national park, Banff National Park.

 

1894 King Edward VIII was born (d. 1972).

1894  The International Olympic Committee was founded at the Sorbonne, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

1914  Mexican Revolution: Francisco Villa took Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.

 

1917  In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retired 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.

1919  Estonian Liberation War: The decisive defeat of German Freikorps (Baltische Landeswehr) forces in the Battle of Cesis (Võnnu lahing). This day is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.

1926 The College Board administered the first SAT exam.

1931 Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.

 

1937  Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets), was born  (d. 2004) .

1938 The Civil Aeronautics Act was signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.

 

1940 Adam Faith, English singer and actor was born, (d 2003).

1940 Stuart Sutcliffe, English musician (The Beatles) , was born (d. 1962).

1940 – World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.

1941 Roger McDonald, Australian author, was born.

1941 The Lithuanian Activist Front declared independence from the Soviet Union and formed the Provisional Government of Lithuania.

1942 World War II: The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz took place on a train load of Jews from Paris.

1942  World War II: Germany’s latest fighter, a Focke-Wulf FW190 was captured intact when it mistakenly landsedat RAF Pembrey in Wales.

1943  World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sank the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.

1945 World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ended when organised resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapsed.

 

1946  The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake struck Vancouver Island.

 

1947  The United States Senate followsedthe United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry Truman’s veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.

1956  Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.

1958  The Dutch Reformed Church accepted women ministers.

 

1959  Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs was released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden.

1959  A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim, Norway killed 34 people.

1961 Cold War: The Antarctic Treaty, which set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and banned military activity on the continent, came into force after the opening date for signature set for the December 1, 1959.

1965 Paul Arthurs, British guitarist (Oasis), was born.

 Oasis, 1997. L-R: Alan White, Paul McGuigan, Noel Gallagher, Paul Arthurs, and Liam Gallagher.

1967  Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson met with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.

1968  74 were killed and 150 injured in a football stampede towards a closed exit in a Buenos Aires stadium.

1969 Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief justice Earl Warren.

1972  Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman were taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

1972 45 countries left the Sterling Area, allowing their currencies to fluctuate independently of the British Pound.

1973   The International Court of Justice condemned French nuclear tests in the Pacific.

1973 A fire at a house in Hull, England, which killed a six year old boy was passed off as an accident; it later emerged as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by arsonist Peter Dinsdale.

1985  A terrorist bomb aboard Air India flight 182 brought the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.

1988 James E. Hansen testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that it is 99% probable that global warming had begun.

1989 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a law passed by the U.S. Congress banning all sexually oriented phone message services was unconstitutional.

1991 Moldova declared independence.

Sourced from NZ History Online & WIkipedia

Me and Bobby McGee

Happpy birthday Kris Kristofferson, 74 today.

Me and Bobby McGee isn’t good  grammar, but I don’t think Bobby McGee and I would work in the song.

Fawlty Towers

Happy birthday Prunella Scales – 78 today.

Tuesday’s answers

Monday’s questions were:

1. What does Wanaka  mean?

2. Ad lib is an abbreviation of what and what does it mean?

3. Who wrote The Spoilers, Wyatts Hurricane and High Citidel?

4. What two lines follow:

 Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,

5. Name two of the four letters in the alphabet which have all dots in Morse code.

Gravedodger gets the electronic boquet again with three and a half right, another half for close enough for his translation of #2 and a bonus for proof reading.

Bearhunter got two and a near enough for #2.

Paul got 2 1/2 with a bonus for lateral thinking for #1,  entertaining reading for #4 and making me smile with #5.

PDM got 2 (1 right and 1/2s for #2 and #5) plus  a lateral thinking bonus for #3.

The answers follow the break:

Bad language is already normalised

As I walked past an outdoor cafe a teenager uttered a stream of obscenities.

I turned in astonishment, wondering what I’d done to upset her so much. However,  her abuse wasn’t directed at me, and although she was talking loudly, she didn’t appear to be angry, she was merely conversing with her friends.

Outgoing chief censor, Bill Hastings, said it may seem hypocritical that language which is the norm in the streets is censored in films, but it would be damaging to young people if that sort of language was normalised.

I’m not objecting to the censorship, but I think the battle is lost.

The story I recounted above is not unusual. Language which used to be offensive to most, and still is to some,  is part of ordinary conversation for a growing number of others.

Good neighbour improved approach to pest management

The Crown will have to meet ‘good neighbour’ obligations in regional pest management strategies under a proposed pest management plan which has been released for public comment.

Biosecurity Minister David Carter said:

“This means all land owners in New Zealand will be bound to control pests, such as rabbits and wilding trees, so that they don’t ‘spill over’ and affect their neighbours,” says Mr Carter.

Weeds and pests don’t observe boundaries so property owners who do their bit and more are fighting a losing battle if their neighbours don’t do their bit too.

“Today’s announcement delivers on National’s promise to ensure that the Crown meets its obligations as a responsible landowner and to develop a unified approach to pest management for all land.”

The relationship between the Crown and farmers has always been a bit uneasy and it got worse in recent years when pastoral lease land was surrendered under tenure review. Weed and pest control budgets on public land weren’t sufficient to cope which put farming operations of neighbours at risk.

“The cost of established pests to our economy runs close to $1.9 billion a year – $1.15 billion of lost production and $719 million in directly preventing pests from arriving in New Zealand and managing them once they are here.

“The proposed Plan of Action looks at ways to ensure our pest management strategies limit this cost, and meet the needs of today and challenges of tomorrow,” says Mr Carter.

“This will help drive a new national policy direction which will further strengthen and align pest management plans as they are developed.”

Lower costs and more effective control will be a popular combination if they work.

The proposed plan is open for submissions.

June 22 in history

On June 22:

217 BC  Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeated Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.

 

168 BC  Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeated and captured Macedonian King Perseus, ending the Third Macedonian War.

1593 Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeated the Turks.

1633  The Holy Office in Rome forced Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.

1680 Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish religious dissenter, was born  (d. 1754).

 

1713 Lord John Philip Sackville, English MP and cricketer, was born  (d. 1765).

1757 George Vancouver, British explorer, was born  (d. 1798).

1783  A poisonous cloud from Laki volcanic eruption in Iceland reached Le Havre in France .

1825  The British Parliament abolished feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America.

1844  North American fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded at Yale University.

1845 Tom Dula, American folk character (Tom Dooley) was born (d. 1868).

1848  Beginning of the June Days Uprising in Paris.

 

1856  H. Rider Haggard, English author, was born  (d. 1925).

1887 Julian Huxley, British biologist, was born (d. 1975).

1893  The Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rammed the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sank taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet’s commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.

 

1897  British colonial officers Rand and Ayerst were assassinated in Pune, Maharashtra, India by the Chapekar brothers and Ranade. They are considered the first martyrs to the cause of India’s freedom from Britain.

1898  Spanish-American War: United States Marines landed in Cuba.

1906 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and pilot, was born  (d. 2001).

1906  The Flag of Sweden was adopted.

1907  The London Underground’s Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opened.

 

1910  John Hunt, Leader of the 1953 British Expedition to Mount Everest, was born (d. 1998).

 

1911  George V and Mary of Teck were crowned King and Queen.

 

1918  The Hammond circus train wreck killed 86 and injured 127 near Hammond, Indiana.

1919  The Flag of the Faroe Islands was raised for the first time.

 

1922 Bill Blass, American fashion designer, was born (d. 2002).

1922  Herrin massacre: 19 strikebreakers and 2 union miners were killed in Herrin, Illinois.

1932 Prunella Scales, English actress, was born.

1936 Kris Kristofferson, American singer/songwriter and actor, was born.

1940 France was forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany.

 General Charles Huntziger signs the armistice on behalf of France.

1941  Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Russian The 22 June song is devoted to this day.

 

1941  The June Uprising in Lithuania began.

 

1941  Various Communist and Socialist French Resistance movements merged to one group.

 

1942  Erwin Rommel was promoted to Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk.

1944 Peter Asher, British singer, guitarist and producer (Peter & Gordon), was born.

1944  Opening day of the Soviet Union’s Operation Bagration against Army Group Centre.

1949 Meryl Streep, American actress. was born.

1953 – Cyndi Lauper, American singer, was born.

1954  Pauline Parker, 16, and her best friend Juliet Hulme, 15,  killed Pauline’s mother, Honora, in Victoria Park, Christchurch.

1957 Garry Gary Beers, Australian bassist from group INXS, was born.

 

1957  The Soviet Union launched an R-12 missile for the first time (in Kapustin Yar).

1962  An Air France Boeing 707 jet crashed in bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies killing 113.

1964 Dan Brown, American author, was born.

1969  The Cuyahoga River caught fire, which triggered a crack-down on pollution in the river.

1976  The Canadian House of Commons abolished capital punishment.

1978 Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, was discovered.

 

1984 Virgin Atlantic Airways launched with its first flight from London Heathrow Airport.

2003  The largest hailstone ever recorded fell in Aurora, Nebraska

 

2009 June 22, 2009 Washington Metro train collision: Two Metro trains collided  in Washington, D.C., killing 9 and injuring over 80.

2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announced that it will discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Color Film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia