Canadian couple John and Jackie Knill dead bodies Rare Stories and Picture

Canadian couple John and Jackie Knill dead bodies Rare Stories and Picture plus history

On January 13, 2005 the bodies of Canadian couple John and Jackie Knill were discovered on a Thailand beach resort. They were two of the many victims killed from the December 26 2004 tsunami. Weeks later a Seattle man doing relief work found a damaged camera and discarded it but kept the memory card in the camera. After downloading the images he discovered pictures of the Knill’s enjoying their vacation, as well as shots of a huge wave approaching the shore. With each picture it shows the wave getting closer and closer to shore. The last picture taken of them before the wave hit (shown above) was shot just after 8.30 am on December 26.

Interesting Fact: The Seattle man that discovered the images recognized the Knills from a missing person’s web site and contacted the couple’s two sons in Vancouver Canada. The man then drove from Seattle to Vancouver to give the sons their parent’s last images.

Charles Proteus Steinmetz Rare Story american mathematician and electrical engineer

Charles Proteus Steinmetz Rare Story american mathematician and electrical engineer and history which is very interesting and rare

Charles Proteus Steinmetz (April 9, 1865 – October 26, 1923) was a German-American mathematician and electrical engineer. He fostered the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers. He made ground-breaking discoveries that enabled engineers to design better electric motors for use in industry.

Steinmetz was born as Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz to Carl Heinrich Steinmetz in Breslau, Province of Silesia. Steinmetz suffered from dwarfism and hip dysplasia( a congenital defect involving a misalignment of the hip joint), as did his father and grandfather. Steinmetz attended Johannes Gymnasium and astonished his teachers with his proficiency in mathematics and physics.

He was a small man whose body was also contorted by a hunchback that shriveled his torso and enlarged his head to proportions that he always felt frightened children. Thin-skinned and defensive as a young man, he grew to be one of his age's most inventive and brilliant scientific intellectuals.

Steinmetz arrived in America at the age of twenty-four and within a few years earned an international reputation as an expert on alternating current. Two of his papers on theories of AC circuits and his experiments on magnetic hysteresis (the tendency of a material to resist being magnetized or demagnetized) came to the attention of General Electric(GE), and he joined the company in 1893. Steinmetz worked furiously to establish his worth to the company. His most important accomplishment, the work that became his most lasting contribution to electrical engineering, was his development of a mathematical method of analyzing alternating current circuits using complex numbers. His method changed the way engineers calculated AC circuits and analyzed machines.

Steinmetz was prolific. Before 1900, he applied for more than seventy patents on transformers, induction motors, alternators, and rotary converters. By 1900, he was GE's chief consulting engineer, moving out of the daily administrative fray and free to devote himself to his research. Between 1903 and 1913, he took out sixty-three patents and wrote several textbooks, Theory and Calculation of Transient Phenomena and Oscillations (1909), one of his major technical accomplishments.

In 1916 he built a lightning generator whose power came the closest to reaching the estimated energy of a real lightning discharge, a discovery that helped electrical corporations create efficient, cost-effective devices that harnessed electricity for industrial use.

Amazingly, while working so hard at creating electrical apparatus and his physical problems which sometimes caused him immense pain, Steinmetz maintained a rich and active social life full of friends, cards and practical jokes. His friend and colleague at GE and Union, Ernst J. Berg, wrote in 1934 that "It seems extraordinary that so much real work was done because we played so much."

Steinmetz, GE's unlikely Wizard of Science, died of heart failure on Oct. 26, 1923 with more than 200 patents to his name.

The following incident that sums up the facets of his personality beautifully:

In the early years of this century, Steinmetz was brought to GE's facilities in Schenectady, New York. GE had encountered a performance problem with one of their huge electrical generators and had been absolutely unable to correct it. Steinmetz, a genius in his understanding of electromagnetic phenomena, was brought in as a consultant.
Steinmetz refused all assistance, but instead asked for a cot to sit on. Following this, he observed the working of the generator for two days straight, with the generator's drawings with him. Later he performed some calculations and left.
After he departed, GE's engineers found a large "X" marked with chalk on the side of the generator casing. There also was a note instructing them to cut the casing open at that location and remove 16 turns of wire from the stator. The generator would then function properly. And it did.
Steinmetz was asked what his fee would be. Having no idea in the world what was appropriate, he replied with the absolutely unheard of answer that his fee was $10000.
Stunned, the GE bureaucracy then required him to submit a formally itemized invoice.
They soon received it. It included two items:
1. Making the chalk mark: $1.
2. Knowing where to make chalk mark: $9999.

Information about the photograph: Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a pioneer multitasker, never without a notebook handy. He is working here in a canoe on the Mohawk River, around 1920.

Sender:
Ajinkya Sarode

Last known photo of Elvis | Rare Pictures & history

Last known photo of Elvis | Rare Pictures & history

his last known photo of Elvis was taken on August 16 1977 at 12.28am. The picture was snapped as he is pulling into Graceland after a night out. That afternoon Presley was found on his bathroom floor by fiancée, Ginger Alden. According to the medical investigator, Presley had “stumbled or crawled several feet before he died”; he had apparently been using the bathroom at the time. Death was officially pronounced at 3:30 pm at Baptist Memorial Hospital.

Interesting Fact: Elvis had visited his dentist on August 15th to have a temporary crown put in and has been suggested that the codeine the dentist gave him that day resulted in an anaphylactic shock that assisted in his death because he had suffered allergic reactions to the drug previously.

Last Picture of Marilyn Monroe | Rare Stories and Pictures

Last Picture of Marilyn Monroe | Rare Stories and Pictures from history pages and photos

Many believe Celebrity photographer George Barris took the last pictures of Marilyn Monroe. However, it was actually Life Magazine’s photographer Allan Grant. The pictures were taken July 7, 1962 during an interview at her home. Six pictures appeared in Life including the one pictured above.
Just under a month later on August 5, 1962, the LAPD received a call at 4:25AM from Dr. Hyman Engelberg proclaiming that Monroe was dead at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. The official cause of Monroe’s death was classified as “acute barbiturate poisoning”, and was also recorded as a “probable suicide. Many questions still remain unanswered about the circumstances of her death and the timeline from when Monroe’s body was found.

Interesting Fact: The Life Magazine issue featuring Monroe’s interview was dated August 3 1962, just 2 day before her death.

Last Photo of Anne Frank | Rare Pics & Story

This is believed to be the last known photo of Anne Frank with her sister Margot taken in early to mid 1942. Later that year In July her sister Margot would be among the first to receive notice that she was to be sent to Nazi Germany ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Anne was then told by her father that the family would go into hiding. The Frank family was discovered and arrested on the morning of August 4th 1944. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor. In March 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the camp and killed approximately 17,000 prisoners. Witnesses later testified that Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock, and that a few days later Anne Frank died.

Interesting Fact: In April 1945 just weeks after Anne Frank’s death, the camp was liberated by British troops.

Nazi-Occupied Pari | Rare Stories and Pics

Nazi-Occupied Pari | Rare Stories and Pics a bit from history which shook the world

Nazi-occupied Paris was a terrible place to be in the waning days of World War Two, with Jews, Resistance fighters and ordinary citizens all hoping to escape. Disappearances became so common they often weren't followed up.
And one man used the lawlessness for his own terrible purposes, killing perhaps as many as 150 people.
Yet it wasn't until thick black smoke seeped into buildings in a fashionable part of the city that firefighters and police were called to an elegant townhouse where they found body parts scattered around -- setting off a manhunt that led them, eventually, to Marcel Petiot.
The crime was very much of its time, said David King, who chronicled the hunt for Petiot in "Death in the City of Light."
"Paris was not a good place to be. A lot of people were trying to leave Paris, a lot of people just disappearing. He had it plotted out, a very devious plan," said King, in a telephone interview.
"Respect for the law was tarnished under the Nazis. Even if you suspected something, a lot of people were very, very reluctant to go forward, especially if they were Jewish."
Petiot, as it turned out, was a respected physician who turned serial killer by night, preying largely on Jews desperate to leave Paris by luring them in with promises of escape. He was accused of murduring "only" some 27, but authorities suspected his real toll was far higher.
King, a former history professor, first stumbled across reference to the killings while browsing in a bookstore and picking up a World War Two memoir by a spy. At first, he couldn't believe what he read.
But the grisly details stuck with him, and after he confirmed the story was true, he finished his other projects and came back to it.
"Here's a guy -- Marcel Petiot, who was accused of all the murders. Obviously very intelligent, charismatic, has a respected position, is into collecting antiques, interested in the arts," he said.
"And yet, you get to the other side, when he's accused of some of the most disturbing things you can think of: savagely dismembering bodies."
Through years of research, including perusal of Parisian police archives closed since the crimes took place, King pieced together the story of how Petiot claimed to be a member of the resistance and lured many of his victims in by promising them safe passage to South America in return for payment.
Once in Petiot's hands, the victims were told to write letters to their relatives, telling them that they were fine and would return once times had settled down. Then they were killed, most likely by lethal gas, and dismembered or burned.
"It's a microcosm of the whole Nazi terror and Paris being a bad place to be. There's got to be more than just exploiting peoples' hopes and dreams and desperation, but that's what he does," King said.
Though Petiot eluded police on at least one occasion, after appearing amid the crowd that gathered after the initial grisly discovery and speaking with a patrolman before riding off on his bicycle, he was eventually captured, tried and executed.
King, the author of several other books, said this one was particularly hard to immerse himself in due to the content, however horrifically fascinating the story.
It also had an impact on him personally.
"I'm generally a pretty outgoing person, but I'm probably a little bit more reluctant about things now," he said.
"Dr. Petiot seemed like the nicest guy -- charming, intelligent, friendly. You could just strike up a conversation with somebody like this ... I found myself on my guard more.

Sender:
Shankz Awasthi

Source:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/doctor-turned-serial-killer-ww2-paris-124057206.html

( in photo:
Marcel Petiot (C) speaking at his murder trial

in corner:
Workmen in the Sante Prison courtyard in Paris cleaning and dismantling the guillotine after the execution of Dr. Marcel Petiot in 1946 )

Rare | brave soul embraced martyrdom on the spot while demonstrating against military autocratic ruler Ershad Shahi, aged only 26.

Rare story/history post about brave man

On November 10, (1987), Noor Hossain - a young progressive democratic activist stood bravely at Zero Point, in the heart of the capital Dhaka city, Bangladesh, amid a shower of bullets being fired by the police force with the slogan 'Down With Autocracy' boldly written on his chest and 'Free Democracy' on his back.

This brave soul embraced martyrdom on the spot while demonstrating against military autocratic ruler Ershad Shahi, aged only 26.
His killing sparked a movement all over the country turning into a revolution on December 06, 1990 which brought an end to Ershad regime thus beginning a new dawn of democracy in the country.

copyright - Pavel Rahaman

Wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Hossain

Sender:
Meher Nigar Jerin

Senior journalist M. Ziaduddin said that democracy was not an end in itself

According to a press release, they agreed that the democratic process in the country had been a combination of good and bad outcomes but that a sustained period of democracy was essential for ensuring accountable governance in Pakistan.

Senior journalist M. Ziaduddin said that democracy was not an end in itself, but a mean to the end of equitable distribution of wealth and power in a state and society. He argued that Pakistan had not transitioned from a feudal to a democratic polity, and maintained that democracy had not taken roots in the country because of the ascendance of military and the civil bureaucracy in the political history of Pakistan.

Ziauddin complimented the current government for developing consensus on the 18th Amendment as well as the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. He also called the judiciary the most powerful and independent in Pakistan’s history and referred to it as a good sign for the future of democracy in the country. He added that the judiciary and the media were collectively exercising collective control over the executive for keeping its activities in check. He argued that putting the whole blame of bad governance on the political government was not correct and that the rot in the civil bureaucracy and lower judiciary etc. was equally responsible for it.


Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) Executive Director Ashraf Jehangir Qazi referred to modernity, as a precursor for democracy rather than vice versa, and argued that in western societies it was the democracy that had followed modernity rather than the other way round.

He defined modernity, as the presence of institutional structures for addressing a community’s problems rather than certain predefined notions of living a life. He advocated the mobilisation of masses on the basis of people-centric programmes for achieving modernity and, thus, a substantive democracy in South Asia.

Lieutenant General (r) Saleem Hayder added that such mobilisation would need sincere leadership. Dr. Tanvir Ahmad Khan maintained that even though Pakistan was having all the democratic institutions, they were unable to deliver effectively because of lack of attention towards institutions that enable democracy such as land reform and independent election commission.

The participants of the discussion also included: Ashraf Azim, president of IRS; Brigadier (r) Bashir Ahmed, senior fellow; Dr. Shaheen Akhtar, senior research analyst; Aarish Khan, research analyst Arshi Saleem Hashmi, associate professor at the National Defence University.The news.

Strange story | streaking photo ever | must read story behind

The first streaker at a major sporting event, also produced the most famous streaking photo ever. This photograph, taken by Ian Bradshaw, was Life magazine’s “Picture of the Year” and also won the World Press Photo Award. People Magazine named it, “Picture of The Decade” The photo was taken during a rugby match between England and France, at Twickenham in February, 1974. During half-time, Michael O’Brien, to win a bet, ran naked on the field before a crowd of 48,000, including Princess Alexandra. The next day he lost his job and was also fined £10, which is the exact sum he won in his bet. O’Brian is now a respectable Melbourne Businessman, and was never proud of his stunt. After avoiding the press for 32 years, he finally agreed to do an interview in 2006, with an Australian TV show called “Where Are They Now?” O’Brien said he thinks streaking at sporting events is a stupid thing to do, and regrets starting the worldwide trend. O’ Brian also said that there were no TV cameras at the games in those days, and no one but the 48,000 people in the park would have ever known about it if it wasn’t for Bradshaw’s photo.
Interesting Fact: Constable Bruce Perry (The bobby holding his helmet to cover O’Brien’s naughty bits) was also on the TV show, and presented O’Brian his famous helmet as a gift. Perry said “I feared he would be mobbed, or that other people would follow suit. I felt embarrassed so I covered him up as best I could.” He then added “It was a cold day – he had nothing to be proud of”.

Sender:
Navtej Boparai

Rare Pics & Stories

Kaira Knows history

Islamabad:October 29:A three-day International History Conference on ‘Historiography on South Asia’ started here on Friday at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), with an aim to carry out an intellectual exercise that can contribute significantly in identifying problems and finding out their solutions for betterment of the country.

The conference has been organised by the QAU Department of History Hanns Seidel Foundation (Munich) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

While addressing the opening session, Qamar Zaman Kaira, information secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), said that knowing history is like knowing one’s own self and no nation can attain glory without knowing about its past. “Knowledge of history equips people with political consciousness and acumen, which are necessary for peace and prosperity. It is really heartening to know that a rigorous and conscious effort is being made on the part of Department of History to contribute their due share in the historiography of Pakistan,” he said.

Qamar Zaman Kaira said that it is research and invention that provides a nation ingenuity to resolve problems and tackle challenges and also it is the sense of exploration that keeps a society dynamic, optimistic and thriving.

QAU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai said the event is unique and timely in the sense that Pakistan is going through one of its toughest phases of history and it is at the cross roads, facing domestic, regional and international challenges.

“Social scientists should come forward with viable solutions to sail safely the trouble stricken ship of the nation. The scholars and intellectuals provide the first line of defence to the nation, so there is a need to create and promote critical and philosophical body of knowledge to seek guidance to take the nation in the right direction,” he said.

He said history is considered the memory of the nation and without sound memory no nation can survive. It is high time that fair and balance account of the preceding events be given to the new generation. That is one big favour that we the academics can do to our youth. Especially the art of historiography enables the scholars to introduce new trends and credible methods to interpret and promote scientific historical research,” he added.

Dr. Yasinzai said it would “certainly provide an opportunity to come close to produce more authentic and valuable works”. He emphasised that the discipline of History be provided preferable attention in the arena of higher education in Pakistan.

Dr. Razia Sultana, chairperson of the Department of History, QAU, in her welcome address, said that the basic process of learning and producing knowledge is about sharing of knowledge and generating thought provoking debates on various aspects because all over the world the academic campuses are considered the torch bearers of revolutionary ideas, new inventions and discoveries.

Giving details about the conference, she said that it has been divided into three broad sub-themes, including Ancient, Medieval and Modern or Contemporary Historiography.The news. </