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General Synod of the Church of England votes to allow women to become priests

historyguy — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 07:06:54 +0000

Despite remarkable progress in attaining equality with men, there is still one professional institution, conservative by its very definition, that women still struggle to breach: the Church. Whether Anglican or Catholic (or Jewish or Muslim), the Abrahamic religions were for thousands of years patriarchal, and that legacy is still felt in their resistance to women reaching high ranks. But some progress has been made: from a categorical refusal to allow women into priesthood, the Anglican Church began considering the issue, then voting, and finally approving.

On this day, November 11, in 1992, the General Synod of the Church of England voted heavily in favor of ordaining women priests. This was the second vote in five years on the issue, and cleared final institutional hurdles towards ordainment.

The Anglican communities abroad jumped out ahead of England on this matter. While the Anglican Synod was debating for a decade, three bishops of the U.S. Episcopal Church irregularly ordained women as priests in 1974. Canada followed suit the next year. By 1989 the Episcopal Church of New Zealand had a woman bishop.

Soviet Venera 9 Lands on Venus

historyguy — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 07:14:34 +0000

The Soviet Union planned a series of missions to explore Venus. The Venera 2 spacecraft (“Venera” being the Russian word for Venus) flew by the planet at a distance of 25,000 miles, and its sister Venera 3 impacted the planet just a month later. Venera 3’s sacrifice allowed Russian scientists to catch a glimpse of atmospheric and surface conditions, which allowed the subsequent Venera craft to descend further into the atmosphere, until the Venera 9 craft became the first to make a successful landing.

On this day, October 22, in 1975, the Venera 9 space probe became the first spacecraft to land on the surface of Venus, as well as the first one to survive the surface conditions long enough to transmit images of its immediate surroundings — a blurred picture of rocks.

Because Venus is just the second planet away from the sun, next to the half-molten Mercury, its surface is none too hospitable to humans — or their machines. The surface looks similar to volcanic ground here, but is a little hotter: something like 870 degrees Farenheit, and a surface pressure of 94 Earth atmospheres.

The silent film “Student of Prague” is the first feature film to air on BBC.

historyguy — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:07:18 +0000

BBC, or the British Broadcasting Corporation, is the largest broadcaster in the world. The company employs about 23,000 members of staff. Although primarily broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, BBC does broadcast worldwide.

It was on this day, August 14^th, in 1938 that BBC aired its first feature film, the silent film “The Student of Prague.”

“The Student of Prague” is a German silent horror film. New versions of the original 1913 film were remade in 1926, 1935, and 2004 in addition to the BBC’s 1938 broadcast.

Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President

historyguy — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:06:59 +0000

Ronald Wilson Reagan had a pretty successful career in showbusiness before deciding to get into politics. He starred in several films, and even served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild. Then he broke into the public political conciousness when campaigning for the presidency of Barry Goldwater. In his speech he railed against socialism, saying America must choose between taking itself “Up to man’s age-old dream-the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.” He proclaimed that “sacrifice freedom for security,” meaning government-run social-safety programs, “have embarked on this downward path.” That speech helped him to the presidential office.

On this day, January 20, in 1981 in a ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol President Reagan took the presidential oath of office. He continued to strike the same notes he did in the Goldwater speech, noting the economic downturn that was facing the country could only be solved by the people themselves. “In this economic crisis, government is not the solution to our problem,” he said in his famous line.

Coincidentally, at the same time as Reagan was giving his inauguration speech, Iran finally released back into United States custody 52 American hostages taken by Islamic militants from the American embassy in 1979. The hostages were held for 444 consecutive days.