The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. Munich won its Olympic bid in April 1966 over the cities of Detroit, Michigan, USA; Madrid, Spain; and Montreal, Canada. The 1972 Summer Olympics are one of 2 Olympic Games that had a significant criminal incident—the Munich massacre, in which a group of Palastinian terrorists kidnapped and killed several Israeli athletes. The other Olympics with a significant criminal event was the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA—the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. A movie about the Israeli response to this was made called Munich.
Royal borough
Royal Boroughs are districts in the United Kingdom that have been given this special title because they had special links with the British royal family.
Emperor Wu of Jìn
Emperor Wu of Jìn ( 236 - 290) was the founder of Western Jin Dynasty. His name was Sima Yan. He was born in He Nei (now Henan Province). His father was Sima Zhao and Sima Yi was his grandfather. They were the imperial officials of Wei Dynasty and seized control over the imperial court. In 265 AD, Sima Yan forced Emperor Cao Huan to abdicate. In 280 AD, he conquered Eastern Wu and unified China.
John Couch Adams
John Couch Adams (5 June 1819 – 21 January 1892), was an English mathematician and astronomer. Adams was born in Laneast, Cornwall and died in Cambridge. He was famous for co-discovering the planet Neptune.
Pygmy people
Pygmy is a word that describes several ethnic groups with unusually short people. According to anthropologists, pygmies can be any group where adult men are less than tall on average. The best known pygmies are the Aka, Efé and Mbuti of central Africa. There are also pygmies in Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil. The Negritos of Southeast Asia are also called pygmies.
The word "pygmy" is sometimes thought to be pejorative (an insult). It is, however, the only word that is used to call "all" African Midgets.
The name "pygmy" comes from the Greek word ("pygmaios"). This word was derived from (came from) the word which is the length between a person's elbow and knuckles. The Latin word (pl. "pygmaei") came from this older Greek word.
The word was first used in Greek mythology by the poet Homer. He wrote about a tribe of dwarfs called "Pygmies" who lived in India and Ethiopia.
There are a number of theories to explain why pygmies are so short. It has been proved that their height is hereditary, and is passed on from parents to children. It may have evolved because of the low ultraviolet light found in rainforests, where many pygmies live. This would mean that the pygmies would make less vitamin D in their skin. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, which is important for bones to grow. Since the pygmies would get less calcium, they would have smaller bones and skeletons.
There are other explanations for why pygmies are so short. Some explanations are:
Some research shows that the genes for the growth hormone receptor and growth hormone are found much less in pygmies than in related tribes. These genes are important for humans to grow tall.
Pygmies can be found in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. Most of these groups are partly hunter-gatherers. They get food from the environment and trade it with nearby farmers. From the farmers they get crops and tools. There are about 250,000-600,000 Pygmies living in the Congo rainforest.
There are a number of Pygmy groups living in Africa. The three best-known groups are the Mbenga, Mbuti, and Twa groups. Each big group includes several tribes that have their own language.
The Mbenga people, sometimes called the "Ba-Mbenga", live in the western Congo basin. The Mbenga include the Aka people, who speak the Aka language. The Aka live in the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. The M-Benzélé people, or "western Aka", and the Ba-Sese people, "eastern Aka", are also related.
Other Mbenga pygmies are the Baka people of Cameroon, Gabon, and Republic of Congo. They speak three very similar languages: Baka language, Ganzi language, and Gundi language. Another group of Mbenga pygmies are the Gyele people. The Gyele live in Cameroon and speak Gyele language.
The Mbuti people, sometimes called the "Bambuti", live in the Ituri rainforest in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. They include the Efé people, Asua people, and the Kango people. The Efé speak the Efé language. The Asua speak the Asoa language. The Kango speak the Kango language.
The Twa people, or "Ba-Twa", live in Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. The Twa speak Kirundi and Kinyarwanda.
Itihasa
In Sanskrit, Itihasa means history. For Hindus, an Itihasa is a story that tells about what happened in the past in the land of India. Itihasas are usually epic poems. The important itihasas to Hindus are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Modern excavations and archaeological evidences are slowly beginning to find evidences to prove these Indian epics as actual history.
The original meaning of Itiihaasa had a more precise connotation than the word History. The etymology attested to by Panini indicates itiha to mean ‘thus indeed, in this tradition’ .
One of the earliest references to Itihaasa in the literature of antiquity is in Chanakyas’s Arthashastra. Our investigations lead us to believe that the Maurya empire for which he was the preceptor began in 1534 BCE. He defines Itihaasa, in the context of the syllabus prescribed for training of a Prince, with the following words;
पुराणमितिव्रुत्तमाख्यायिकोदाहरणं धर्मशास्त्रं चेतीतिहासः
Puraana (the chronicles of the ancients), Itivrtta (history), Akhyayika (tales), Udaaharana (illustrative stories), Dharmashastra (the canon of Righteous conduct), and Arthashastra (the science of Government) are known by (comprise the corpus of Itihaasah, ) History
Kautilya’s Arthashastra, Book 1, Chapter 5
Thus, History in this definition takes on the meaning more akin to the sense of Historiography and is perhaps even more eclectic and appears to indicate a superset of political science and History as we use them today. We feel vindicated therefore in calling our forthcoming conference a conference on Indian History ( http://www.india-forum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2088), since we seem to ascribe the same broad meaning that Kautilya did 3 millennia ago.
The quintessential quote is that of Kalhana in the Rajatarangini,12th century CE (1147 to 1149 CE) who is regarded as a modern in Indian parlance
धर्मार्थ काममोक्षाणामुपदेश समान्वितं ।
पुरावृत्तं कथायुत्तरूपमितिहासं प्रचक्षते ।।
“Dharmaartha-kaama-moskshanaam upadesa-samanvitam |
Puraa-vrttam, kathaa-yuttarupam Ithihaasah prachakshate ||”
History will be the narration of events as they happened, in the form of a story, which will be an advice to the reader to be followed in life, to gain the purusaarthas namely Kama the satiation of desires through Artha the tool, by following the path of Dharma the human code of conduct to gain Moksha or liberation.
Clearly there is an emphasis on the traditions and on the utilitarian aspect of History, embedded in the etymology of Itihaasa. The reason we draw emphasis to the ambiguity in the use of the word History is that, in our usage, while we adhere to the broader usage of the word History, it makes for clarity in usage if the Civilizational aspects are distinguished into distinct categories
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga is a Hindu spiritual practice. People constantly pray to, and think about, a form of a Hindu god, usually Vishnu.