Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
2003

2003

2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:
- International Year of Freshwater
- European Disability Year
- Blog Year See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Events

January


- January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil.
- January 1 - Pascal Couchepin becomes President of the Confederation in Switzerland.
- January 8 - US Airways flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina killing all 21 people aboard.
- January 15 - The United States Supreme Court hands down its decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft allowing the extension of copyright terms in the U.S.
- January 24 - The new United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
- January 25 - Central Line train crashes into the tunnel wall at Chancery Lane station in London, injuring 34 people.
- January 25 - An international group of volunteers left London and headed for Baghdad to act as voluntary human shields, hoping to avert a U.S. invasion.
- January 30 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic release a statement, the letter of the eight, demonstrating support for the United States' plans for an invasion of Iraq.

February

February
- February 1 - The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard.
- February 1 - In Northern Ireland, The Protestant UDA Belfast leader John Gregg is killed by a loyalist faction.
- February 3 - The worldwide movie premiere of Shanghai Knights was held at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.
- February 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
- February 9 - Cricket World Cup begins in South Africa.
- February 15 - Global protests against Iraq war - more than ten million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest war protest to take place before the war occurred.
- February 17 - Antwerp Diamond Center in Belgium opens its vaults after weekend and discovers that unknown burglars had stolen diamonds worth $100 million - largest diamond theft so far.
- February 26 - An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani reports the unusual highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and Carlo Urbani die of SARS in March.

March


- March 1 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Arab Emirates calls for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid war. The sentiment is later echoed by Bahrain and Kuwait
- March 1 - The Turkish parliment vetos the access of the U.S troops to airbases in Turkey in order to attack Iraq from the north. The Bush administration starts working on the B Plan, namely attacking Iraq from the south, through the Persian Gulf.
- March 1 - The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the United States Customs Service, and the United States Secret Service moves to the United States Department of Homeland Security
- March 1 - Boxer Roy Jones Jr. beats John Ruiz to become WBA champion
- March 1 - War on Terrorism: Authorities in Pakistan capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks along with money man Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.
- March 1 - Ohio celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- March 5 - The Supreme Court of the United States by a 5-4 margin upholds California's "three strikes and you're out" law.
- March 11 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi fighters threaten two U.S. U-2 surveillance planes, flying missions for U.N. weapons inspectors, forcing them to abort their mission and return to base.
- March 12 - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić assassinated in Belgrade
- March 12 - WHO issues a global alert on SARS.
- March 12 - Iraq disarmament crisis: British prime minister Tony Blair proposes an amendment to the possible 18th U.N. resolution, which would call for Iraq to meet certain benchmarks to prove that it was disarming. The amendment is immediately rejected by France, who promises to veto any new resolution.
- March 13 - Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy
- March 15 - Hu Jintao becomes president of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.
- March 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of the United States, Britain, Portugal, and Spain meet at a summit in the Azores Islands. U.S. President Bush calls Monday, March 17th, the "moment of Truth", meaning that the "coalition of the willing" would make its final effort to extract a resolution from the U.N. Security Council that would give Iraq an ultimatum to disarm immediately or to be disarmed by force.
- March 17 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush gives an ultimatum: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons must either leave Iraq, or face military action at a time of the U.S.'s choosing
- March 19 - First American bombs dropped on Baghdad, Iraq. President Saddam Hussein and his sons do not comply with President Bush's 48 hour mandate demanding their exit from Iraq.
- March 20 - 2003 Iraq war: Land troops from United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invade Iraq.
- March 22 - The United States and the United Kingdom begin their shock and awe campaign with a massive air strike on military targets in Baghdad.
- March 23 - Cricket World Cup ends as Australia wins over India in Centurion, South Africa.
- March 29 - WHO doctor Carlo Urbani, who first identified SARS, dies of the disease.
- March 30 - The Undertaker defeated the Big Show and A-Train in a handicap match, boosting his Wrestlemania record to 11-0.

April

April.]]
- April 3 - Passenger bus hits remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.
- April 9 - U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, apparently ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
- April 14 - Human Genome Project successfully completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
- April 17 - The Stevens Report concludes that members of the RUC and British Army cooperated with the UDA in the killings of Catholics in Northern Ireland
- April 21 - Retired U.S. Army General Jay Garner becomes Interim Civil Administrator of Iraq.
- April 30 - The last American owned vehicle frame manufacturer, [http://web.archive.org/web/20010623093543/www.immsp.com/index.htm Midland Steel Products] goes [http://www.newsnet5.com/news/2166844/detail.html out of business] after almost 110 years in business, laying off almost 250 people.

May


- May 1 - George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing end of major combat in the Iraq war.
- May 2 - Monkeyman superhero hoax begins in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK
- May 3 - Old Man of the Mountain, rock formation in New Hampshire, crumbles after heavy rain
- May 4-10 - A major severe weather outbreak spawned more tornadoes than any week in U.S. history. 393 tornadoes were reported in 19 states.
- May 11 - Benvenuto Cellini's Saliera is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
- May 12 - Suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.
- May 12 - In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 people are killed in the Riyadh Compound Bombings.
- May 14 - Female suicide bomber blows up explosives strapped to her waist in crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in Chechnya.
- May 16 - In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
- May 19 - Pen Hadow becomes the first man to walk alone, without any outside help, from Canada to the North Pole
- May 23 - The birth of Dewey, the first cloned deer by scientists at Texas A&M University
- May 26 - A draft of the proposed European constitution is unveiled.
- May 28 - The birth of Prometea, the first cloned horse by Italian scientists.
- May 31 - Eric Rudolph, the suspected person to have carried out the Centennial Olympic Park bombing is captured in North Carolina behind a Save-A-Lot store.

June


- June 1 - The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the massive Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.
- June 4 - Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigned as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
- June 5 - Female suicide bomber detonates bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16 people.
- June 15 - 2003 NBA Finals end. The San Antonio Spurs defeat the New Jersey Nets, 4 games to 2.
- June 22 - The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska, USA.
- June 23 - U.S. Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in university admissions in Grutter v. Bollinger
- June 26 - U.S. Supreme Court rules sodomy laws unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas

July


- July 1 - 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which redefined treason controversially.
- July 2 - International Olympic Committee session in Prague. Vancouver ,Canada is declared the Host City for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
- July 5 - SARS is declared to be contained by WHO.
- July 5 - Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.
- July 6 - Residents of Corsica reject a referendum for increased autonomy for the region from France by a very narrow margin.
- July 7 - Canon Jeffrey John, first would-be gay bishop in the Church of England, withdraws his acceptance of the post of The Bishop of Reading after discussions with the church leaders
- July 10 - Russian security agent dies in Moscow while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow's main street.
- July 14 - U.S. columnist Robert Novak publishes the name of Valerie Plame, blowing her cover as a CIA operative. CIA leak scandal begins.
- July 18 - Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European constitution
- July 18 - The body of Dr. David Kelly, a scientist at the Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the Hutton inquiry
- July 23 - Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the Afghan National Army
- July 24 - The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, Operation Helpem Fren, led by Australia, begins in the Solomon Islands
- July 30 - The last old-style Volkswagen Beetle rolls off its production line in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

August


- August 1 - Suicide bomber rams truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.
- August 2 - The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia.
- August 10 - The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.1°C (100.6°F) at Gravesend in Kent and Kew Botanic Gardens, London. It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
- August 11 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
- August 11 - Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
- August 14 - Widespread power outage affects northeast United States and Canada.
- August 14 - 6.4 Richter scale earthquake near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada - 24 injured
- August 22 - 21 killed at the Brazilian rocket complex in Alcântara due to a premature ignition of a solid rocket booster.
- August 25 - 52 killed in two bomb blasts in Mumbai, India.
- August 27 - Perigee of Mars

September


- September 5 - Roller coaster accident at Disneyland injures 10 and kills one.
- September 10 - Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.
- September 14 - Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum. (Results.)
- September 14 - Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- September 15 - ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida - they demand a human rights investigation and release last of the hostages three months later
- September 16 - Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.
- September 27 - Smart 1 is launched.
- September 27 - The Uniterran Church was founded in Victor, NY
- September 28 - a power failure affected all of Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people.
- September 29 - Hurricane Juan makes landfall at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a category 2 storm. Two were killed directly and 5 indirectly.

October

October
- October 7 - 2003 California recall: Voters recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elect Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
- October 10 - Facing an investigation surrounding allegations of illegal drug use, American Right Wing radio host Rush Limbaugh publically admits that he is addicted to prescription pain killers and will seek treatment.
- October 14 - The Florida Marlins defeat the Chicago Cubs in Game 6 of Major League Baseball's National League Championship Series; the game is remembered for Cubs fan Steve Bartman interfering with a foul ball which could have helped Chicago win the game and the series.
- October 15 - China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
- October 16 - The Boston Red Sox lose to their hated rivals, the New York Yankees in Game 7 of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series, blowing a three-run, eighth-inning lead.
- October 23 - Luis A. Ferre, the third Democratically Elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 99.
- October 24 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being.
- October 25 - The Florida Marlins defeat the New York Yankees 4 games to 2 to win the 2003 World Series, behind a complete-game shutout by ace pitcher, Josh Beckett.
- October 25 - Cedar Fire begins in San Diego County burning 280,000 acres (1,100 km²), 2,232 homes and killing 14
- October 31 - Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.

November


- November 5 - Gary Ridgway, The "Green River Killer", confesses murders of 48 women
- November 9 - Lunar eclipse (the Americas, Europe, Africa, Central Asia)
- November 12 - Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
- November 15 - Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey targeting two synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
- November 18 - US President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive protests.
- November 18 - Goodridge v. Department of Public Health rules anti-same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in Massachusetts
- November 20 - Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Holdings and the British consulate.
- November 20 - Michael Jackson is arrested by police on charges of child molestation, a charge that can carry an 8 year jail term.
- November 22 - England wins the Rugby Union World Cup defeating Australia 20-17 after extra time.
- November 23 - Georgian Rose Revolution ends with overwhelming victory - president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections.
- November 23 - Total solar eclipse (Antarctica)
- November 24 - The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

December

December
- December 1 - The use of hand-held mobile phones while driving is made illegal in the United Kingdom.
- December 1 - Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigns unexpectedly. He is replaced by Lewis Platt as non-executive chairman and Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO.
- December 5 - Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections.
- December 7 - Parliamentary election in Russia.
- December 9 - Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.
- December 12 - Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada
- December 12 - Olympic Airlines, Greece's new flag carrier is launched.
- December 13 - Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
- December 16 - The United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport sparking anger from environmental groups.
- December 17 - The film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King released, effectively completing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy directed by Peter Jackson.
- December 18 - The Soham Murder Trial ends at the Old Bailey in London with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
- December 20 - Libya admits that it was building a nuclear bomb.
- December 22 - An earthquake shakes up California, killing two people.
- December 22 - Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's Enron".
- December 24 - A BSE outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan place a ban on the import of beef from the United States of America.
- December 24 - At the request of the US Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the US in response to terrorist concerns.
- December 24 - The Spanish police thwarts an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 PM on Christmas Eve inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
- December 25 - Queen Elizabeth II broadcasts a Christmas message to the British Commonwealth paying tribute to British troops in Iraq. Pope John Paul II's Christmas message calls for peace in the Middle East.
- December 25 - Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander.
- December 25 - The President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, escapes the second assassination attempt in two weeks.
- December 26 - A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran. Over 40,000 people are reported to have been killed in the city of Bam.
- December 31 - The world's largest Hogmanay party in the Scottish capital Edinburgh is cancelled twenty minutes before midnight due to bad weather.

Births


- April 29 - Maud Angelica Behn, daughter of Ari Behn and Princess Märtha Louise of Norway
- August 24 - Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- November 8 - Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Earl and Countess of Wessex
- December 7 - Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, daughter of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

Deaths

For more deaths, see: Deaths in 2003

January


- January 3 - Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
- January 4 - Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born cinematographer (b. 1926)
- January 4 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b. 1923)
- January 8 - Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- January 11 - Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
- January 11 - Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
- January 12 - Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (b. 1926)
- January 12 - Maurice Gibb, Australian musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
- January 15 - Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
- January 17 - Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
- January 20 - Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (b. 1903)
- January 23 - Nell Carter, American singer and actress (b. 1948)
- January 24 - Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921)
- January 26 - Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b. 1942)
- January 26 - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
- January 29 - Frank Moss, U.S. Senator from Utah (b. 1911)

February


- February 1 - Crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia
  - Michael P. Anderson (b. 1959)
  - David M. Brown (b. 1956)
  - Kalpana Chawla (b. 1961)
  - Laurel Clark (b. 1961)
  - Rick Husband (b. 1957)
  - William McCool (b. 1961)
  - Ilan Ramon (b. 1954)
- February 2 - Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917)
- February 10 - Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b. 1910)
- February 10 - Ron Ziegler, Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
- February 19 - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (b. 1938)
- February 20 - Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (b. 1907)
- February 20 - Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
- February 27 - Fred Rogers, American television host (b. 1928)
- February 28 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (heart attack) (b. 1917)

March


- March 2 - Hank Ballard, American musician (b. 1927)
- March 9 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (diabetes) (b. 1946)
- March 12 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (assassinated) (b. 1952)
- March 12 - Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b.1948)
- March 26 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (b. 1926)
- March 29 - Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b. 1956)

April


- April 1 - Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor (b.1961)
- April 7 - Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
- April 11 - Cecil Howard Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (b. 1900)
- April 17 - Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (b. 1930)
- April 17 - Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (b. 1932)
- April 17 - Earl King, American musician (b. 1934)
- April 20 - Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
- April 20 - Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
- April 21 - Nina Simone, American singer (b. 1933)
- April 23 - Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b. 1910)
- April 26 - Peter Stone, American writer (b. 1930)
- April 30 - Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)

May


- May 3 - Suzy Parker, American actress (b. 1932)
- May 9 - Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (b. 1933)
- May 12 - Sadruddhin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
- May 14 - Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
- May 14 - Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)
- May 15 - June Carter Cash, American singer (b. 1929)
- May 15 - Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b. 1924)
- May 26 - Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b. 1919)
- May 27 - Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
- May 28 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
- May 28 - Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)

June


- June 2 - Burke Marshall, American lawyer and politician (b. 1922)
- June 10 - Donald Regan, U.S. Treasury Secretary (b. 1918)
- June 10 - Bernard Williams, English philosopher (b. 1929)
- June 11 - David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
- June 12 - Gregory Peck, American actor (b. 1916)
- June 15 - Hume Cronyn, Canadian act

Common year starting on Wednesday

This is the calendar for a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E), e.g. 2003. (A common year is a year with 365 days — in other words, not a leap year.)
Millennium Century Year
2nd Millennium: 19th century: 1800 1806 1817 1823 1834 1845 1851 1862 1873 1879 1890
2nd Millennium: 20th century: 1902 1913 1919 1930 1941 1947 1958 1969 1975 1986 1997
3rd Millennium: 21st century: 2003 2014 2025 2031 2042 2053 2059 2070 2081 2087 2098
3rd Millennium: 22nd century: 2110 2121 2127 2138 2149 2155 2166 2177 2183 2194
Category:WednesdayCategory:Weeksko:수요일로 시작하는 평년th:ปีปกติสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันพุธ



Fresh-water

:For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. Fresh water (also freshwater or fresh-water) is water that contains only minimal quantities of dissolved salts, especially sodium chloride, thus distinguishing it from sea water or brackish water. All freshwater ultimately comes from precipitation of atmosphericwater vapor, reaching inland lakes, rivers, and groundwater bodies directly, or after melting of snow or ice (see hydrologic cycle). Access to fresh water is a critical issue for the survival of many species, including humans, especially in desert or otherwise arid areas. See water resources. Even on a ship or island in the ocean, there can be a "water shortage", which means a shortage of fresh water. Seawater is undrinkable directly. For fish, it strongly matters how much dissolved sodium chloride the water they live in has. Most species cannot live in both fresh and salt water, though some species move between the two. Salt water fish have access to an abundance of salt, and try to get as much salt out of their body as possible, while trying to keep the water. Fresh water fish do the opposite: they have too much water, and too little salt. simple:Fresh water

Blog

A blog is a website for which an individual or a group frequently generates text, photographs, video, audio files, and/or links, typically (but not always) on a daily basis. The term is a shortened form of weblog. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are called "blog posts," "posts," or "entries". The person who posts these entries is called a "blogger".

Blog basics

A weblog or blog is an online publication with regular posts, presented in reverse chronological order. A blog typically consists of the following components:
- Title - main title of the post
- Body - main content of the post
- Trackback - links back from other sites
- Comments - comments added by readers
- Category - category the post is labeled with (can be one or more)
- Permalink - the URL of the full, individual article
- Post Date - date: time the post was published

How Blogs differ from traditional sites

A blog provides many advantages over a standard web page, including these:
- It allows for easy creation of new pages: new data is entered into a simple form (usually with the title, the category, and the body of the article) and then submitted. Automated templates take care of adding the article to the home page, creating the new full article page (Permalink), and adding the article to the appropriate date- or category-based archive.
- It allows for easy filtering of content for various presentations - by date, category, author, or other attributes.
- It (usually) allows the administrator to invite and add other authors, whose permissions and access are easily managed.

Difference from forums or newsgroups

Blogs are different from forums or newsgroups. Only the author or authoring group can create new subjects for discussion on a blog. A network of blogs can function like a forum in that every entity in the blog network can create subjects of their choosing for others to discuss. Such networks require interlinking to function, so a group blog with multiple people holding posting rights is now becoming more common. Even where others post to a blog, the blog owner will initiate and frame discussion.

Digital media

While straight text and hyperlinks dominate, some blogs emphasize images (see web comics, photoblog) and videos (see videoblogging). Some textual blogs link to audio files (see podcasting). A notable niche is the MP3 blog, which specializes in posting music from specific genres. New words have been coined for many of these content-oriented blogs, such as "moblog" (for "mobile blog").

History

Precursors


- Electronic communities existed before internetworking. For example the AP wire was, in effect, similar to a large chat room with "wire fights" and electronic conversations. Another pre-digital electronic community, amateur (or "ham") radio, allowed individuals who set up their own broadcast equipment to communicate with others directly. Ham radio also had logs called "glogs" that were personal diaries made using wearable computers in the early 1980s.
- Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, e-mail lists and bulletin boards. In the 1990sInternet forum software, such as WebX, created running conversations with "threads." Threads are topical connections between messages on a electronic "corkboard." See "Common terms," below.
- Diarists kept journals on the Web: most called themselves online diarists, journalists, journallers, or journalers. A few called themselves escribitionists. The Open Pages webring contained members of the online-journal community. The first famous journaller was probably Justin Hall.
- Other forms of journals kept online also existed. A notable example was game programmer John Carmack's widely read journal, published via the finger protocol.
- Websites, including both corporate sites and personal homepages, had and still often have "What's New" or "News" sections, often on the index page and sorted by date.

Blogging appears

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz. He broke the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog in April or May of 1999. [http://www.peterme.com/archives/00000205.html] "Blog" was accepted as a noun (weblog shortened) and as a verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or a post to one's weblog"). [http://www.bradlands.com/weblog/1999-09.shtml#September%2010,%201999] Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers. The site Xanga, launched in 1996, had only 100 diaries by 1997, and over 50 000 000 as of December 2005. Blog usage spread during 1999, being further popularized by the near-simultaneous arrival of the first hosted blog tools: Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan (Pyra Labs) launched Blogger.com (which was purchased by Google in February 2003), and Paul Kedrosky's started GrokSoup. As of March 2003, the Oxford English Dictionary included the terms weblog, weblogging and weblogger in their dictionary. [http://www.oed.com/help/updates/motswana-mussy.html] Dave Winer is the one of the pioneers of the tools that make blogs more than merely websites. One of his most significant contributions was setting up servers that weblogs could ping to update themselves. Blogging combined the personal web page with tools to make linking to other pages easier - specifically blogrolls and TrackBacks. This enabled bloggers to control the threads that connected them to others with similar interests, thereby wresting control from forum moderators.

Blogging's rise to influence

The first broadly popular american blogs emerged in 2001: Andrew Sullivan's AndrewSullivan.com, Ron Gunzburger's Politics1.com, Jerome Armstrong's MyDD, and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga's DailyKos. In 2001, many blogs focused on comments by U.S. Senate Majority LeaderTrent Lott. Senator Lott, at a party honoring U.S. SenatorStrom Thurmond, praised Senator Thurmond by suggesting that the United States would have been better off had Thurmond been elected president (many years before). Through the influence of bloggers and mainstream journalists, Lott's comments were popularly seen as his approval of racial segregation, a policy supported by Thurmond's presidential campaign. As a result, Lott stepped down as majority leader. By 2001, blogging was enough of a phenomenon that how-to manuals began to appear, primarily focusing on technique. The importance of the blogging community (and its relationship to larger society) gained rapidly increasing importance. Established schools of journalism began researching blogging and noting the differences between journalism and blogging. Since 2003, blogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, and spinningnews stories. The Iraq war saw both left-wing and right-wing bloggers taking measured and passionate points of view that did not reflect the traditional left-right divide. Blogging by established politicians and political candidates, to express opinions on war and other issues, cemented blogs' role as a news source. (See Howard Dean and Wesley Clark.) Meanwhile, an increasing number of experts blogged, making blogs a source of in-depth analysis. (See Daniel Drezner and J. Bradford DeLong.) The Iraq war was the first "blog war" in another way: Iraqi bloggers gained wide readership, and one, Salam Pax, published a book of his blog. Blogs were also created by soldiers serving in the Iraq war. Such "milblogs" gave readers new perspectives on the realities of war, as well as often offering different viewpoints from those of official news sources. Blogging was used to draw attention to obscure news sources. For example, bloggers posted links to traffic cameras in Madrid as a huge anti-terrorism demonstration filled the streets in the wake of the March 11 attacks. Bloggers began to provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word "blogging": to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television. (For example, "I am blogging Rice's testimony" means "I am posting my reactions to Condoleezza Rice's testimony into my blog as I watch her on television.") Real-time commentary is sometimes referred to as "liveblogging." Blogging is now very popular. It is not uncommon for a top-rated blog to receive tens of thousands of unique "visitors" per day.

Blogging becomes popular

In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Even politicians not actively campaigning, such as MPTom Watson of the UKLabour Party, began to blog to bond with constituents. Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a program by Christopher Lydon and Matt Stoller called "The Blogging of the President," which covered a transformation in politics that blogging seemed to presage. The Columbia Journalism Review began regular coverage of blogs and blogging. Anthologies of blog pieces reached print, and blogging personalities began appearing on radio and television. In the summer of 2004, both (America's Democratic and Republican) parties' conventions credentialed bloggers, and blogs became a standard part of the publicity arsenal. Mainstream television programs, such as Chris Matthews' Hardball, formed their own blogs. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary declared "blog" as the word of the year in 2004. ([http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Blog_declared_Word_of_the_Year Wikinews]) Blogs were among the driving forces behind the "Rathergate" scandal. To wit: (television journalist) Dan Rather presented documents (on the CBS show 60 Minutes) that conflicted with accepted accounts of President Bush's military service record, conservative bloggers declared the documents to be forgeries and presented arguments in support of that view, and CBS apologized for what it said were inadequate reporting techniques. This is viewed by many bloggers as the advent of blogs' acceptance by the mass media both as a source of news and opinion and as means of applying political pressure. Bloggers can act as consumer activists by reporting defective products. They were instrumental in exposing the supposed the vulnerability of Kryptonite 2000 locks. Some bloggers have moved over to other media. The following bloggers (and others) have appeared on radio and/or television: Duncan Black (a.k.a. Atrios), Glenn Reynolds, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (a.k.a. Kos), and Ana Marie Cox (a.k.a. Wonkette). Hugh Hewitt is an example of a media personality who has moved in the other direction, adding to his reach in "old media" by being an influential blogger. In the United Kingdom, The Guardiannewspaper launched a redesign in September 2005, which included a daily digest of blogs on page 2. In January 2005, Fortune magazine listed eight bloggers that business people "could not ignore": Peter Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Ben Trott, Mena Trott, Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman, Robert Scoble, and Jason Calacanis. [http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1011763-1,00.html]

Blogging and the traditional

Many bloggers support the Open Source movement. The free speech nature of its technology has helped blogging to have a deep social impact. Blogging makes is easy for employees to irritate their bosses, and a number have been fired. (See Heather Armstrong, Mark Jen and Jessica Cutler.) Open Source Politics, or the ability of people to participate more directly in politics, is reframing terms of debate (see George Lakoff). Many bloggers differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Some institutions see blogging as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing messages directly to the public. Some critics worry that bloggers respect neither intellectual property nor the role of the mass media in presenting society with credible news. Blogs have been seen as archives of human thought. They can provide useful insights to aid in dealing with humanity's psychological problems (such as depression and addiction). And they can also be used to solve crimes. (In 2005, a blogger's last blog entry identified his murderer.) [http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=ToTo247&tab=weblogs&uid=261268578] Blogs have also had an influence on minority languages, bringing together scattered speakers and learners; this is particularly so with Scottish Gaelic blogs, whose creators can be found as far away from traditional Gaelic areas as Kazakhstan and Alaska. [http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/gaidhlig.html#comhradh] Blogs are also used regularly by Welsh language activists. Minority language publishing has traditionally been expensive and had small readership: blogs are counteracting this.

How blogs are made

Blogging software make blogs possible. These are some popular software packages: Nucleus CMS, Movable Type, Drupal, b2evolution, boastMachine, Antville, Serendipity and WordPress. A good program combines a user-friendly interface and format flexibility. Server-based systems eliminate the need for bloggers to manage the software. With web interfaces, these systems allow travelers to blog from anywhere on the Internet. A blogroll is a list of links that create a context for a blog. Bloggers with common interests will share a blogroll to help each other increase their visibility on the Internet. A feedback comment system allows visitors to blogs to post comments. Frequent comments testify to popular blogs, but some bloggers prefer to pre-screen or block comments. Tools such as Ecto, Elicit and w.bloggar allow users to maintain their Web-hosted blog without the need to be online while composing or editing posts. The TrackBack feature introduced by Movable Type in 2002 enables mulitple blogs to be automatically notified when certain topical or other changes are made to one blog. (bBlog has gone as far as implementing threaded trackbacks on comments and comments on trackbacks.) Linking between blogs is credited with complicating search engine page ranking techniques. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33366.html] [http://www.sixapart.com/log/2003/10/its_all_about_c.shtml] Integrating blogs into search results threatens websites that are arguably more credible. (However, as one Google executive may have remarked, it is the search engine's job to find the ways that a website represents a "vote" for another website.) Some Web hosting companies (Tripod), Internet service providers (America Online) and online publications (Salon) provide blog creation tools and blog hosting. Some people program blogs from scratch using ColdFusion, CGI, pure Ruby, Rails or other server side software. While this is difficult, the creativity can be rewarding.

Types of blogs

News and Politics

When discussed in the media, the term blog is often understood to refer to a political blog. Political blogs take different forms. Some link to news articles and post personal comments. Others write long essays about current political topics. Noteworthy is the recent trend of political candidates to incorporate blogging in their campaigns. Some candidates do their own blogging, while others, especially presidential candidates, assign blogging to campaign staff.

Personal

In common speech, the term blog is often used to describe an online diary or journal, such as LiveJournal. The blog format allows inexperienced computer users to make diary entries with ease. People blog poems, prose, illicit thoughts, complaints, daily experiences, and more, often allowing others to contribute. In 2001, mainstream awareness of online diaries increased dramatically. Online diaries are part of the daily lives of many teenagers and college students. Friends use blogs to communicate with each other.

Topical

Topical blogs focus on a niche. For example, the Google Blog covers nothing but news about Google. A blogs may fit more than one topical category or may be both topical and general. Blog directories must manage the needs of bloggers, who want to increase readership, and readers, who want relevant search results. Local blogs are a type of topical blog. Neighborhood reporting is ideal for blogging: Locals are the best witnesses of local events.

Business

The stock market is a popular subject of blogging. Both amateur and professional investors use blogs to share stock tips. Business blogs are used to promote and defame businesses, to argue economic concepts, to deseminate information, and more.

Collaborative

Many blogs are written by more than one person (often about a specific topic). Collaborative blogs can be open to everyone or limited to a group of people. MetaFilter is an example. Slashdot, whose status as a blog has been debated, has a team of editors who approve and post links to technology news stories throughout the day. Although Slashdot does not refer to itself as a blog, it shares some characteristics with blogs. Indymedia is an early (1999) example of a collaborative blog (although the term blog wasn't in circulation then). It was created to cover a specific event (the WTO in Seattle) but has since spread around the world. "Eclectic blogs" focus on specific (and unusual) niches. Eclectic blogs can be collaborative blogs.

Educational

Students can use blogs to record what they learn and teachers can use blogs to record what they teach. For example, a teacher can blog a course - specifying what homework students are required to carry out, including links to Internet resources, and recording day-by-day what is taught. This application has many advantages: (1) a student can quickly catch-up if they miss a class; (2) the teacher can use the blog as a course plan; and (3) the blog serves as an accurate summary of the course that prospective students or new teachers can refer to. Blogging can also be used to record class excursions and to create electronic "scrapbooks" of student life.

Directory

Directory blogs provide regularly-updated links to topics of interest. Directory blogs are usually focused on a particular news topic. Directory blogs are not "blog directories." Blog directories (and search engines used for blogging) have organization and automation, characteristics not typical of directory blogs.

Forums

An internet forum is not a blog (technically speaking), but a blog can function as an internet forum. Internet forums typically allow any user to post (into the discussion). Blogs typically limit posting to the blogger or to the blogger and approved others. The distinction between blogs and forums is sometimes gray. Sites such as Slashdot, Indymedia and Daily Kos combine elements of the two. Business professionals use Content management systems to enable cooperation when making documents.

Spam

Spam blogs (splogs) are a form of high-pressure advertising. Like spam e-mails, splogs are characterized by bold lettering and outrageous claims. Affiliated splogs often link to each other to increase their Internet presence (See PageRank.)

Common terms

Blogging, like any human practice, has developed a specialized vocabulary. See List of blogging terms.

See also


- Content Management System
- Blog client
- Blogebrity
- Commonplace: a historical precedent for the weblog
- Diary
- Google bomb
- News aggregator
- Iranian blogs
- Podcasting
- Chronicle
- Massively distributed collaboration

External links


- [http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15000 Handbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents] by [http://www.rsf.org/ Reporters Without Borders]
- [http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/ Legal Guide for Bloggers] by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
- [http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2707 "Web of Influence"] — by Daniel W. Drezner, Henry Farrell from [http://www.foreignpolicy.com Foreign Policy Magazine]
- [http://www.offuhuge.com/ Worlds First Music Video Code Site 4 Blogs] Category:Digital RevolutionCategory:InternetCategory:Internet terminologyCategory:NeologismsCategory:Politics and technologyCategory:Blogszh-min-nan:Bāng-chìko:블로그ja:ブログsimple:Blogth:บล็อก

January 2003

2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for January, 2003.
See also:
- Preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq
- Afghanistan timeline January 2003

- 2003-01

January 1

January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the first day of the Julian year by all Western European countries except England between about 1450 and 1600. The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in 1582 did not specify that January 1 was to be either New Year's Day or the first day of its numbered year. Although England began its numbered year on March 25 (Lady Day or Annunciation Day), between the 13th century and 1752, January 1 was called New Year's Day, and was, with Christmas and occasionally Twelfth Night, a holiday when gifts were exchanged. 364 days (365 in leap years) remain in the year after this day.

Events


- 45 BC - The Julian calendar first takes effect.
- 404 - Last known gladiator competition in Rome takes place.
- 630 - Prophet Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.
- 990 - Kievan Rus' adopts the Julian calendar.
- 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
- 1600 - Scotland begins using the Julian calendar.
- 1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland
- 1673 - Regular mail delivery begins between New York and Boston.
- 1700 - Russia begins using the Julian calendar.
- 1707 - John V is crowned King of Portugal
- 1738 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
- 1788 - First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
- 1797 - Albany replaces New York City as the capital on New York.
- 1801 - Legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form United Kingdom.
- 1801 - The first known asteroid, 1 Ceres, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
- 1804 - French rule ends in Haiti.
- 1808 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned.
- 1818 - Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is published.
- 1855 - London, Ontario is incorporated as a city.
- 1861 - Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect.
- 1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.
- 1880 - Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1887 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi.
- 1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States.
- 1893 - Japan begins using the Gregorian calendar.
- 1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal, England, was officially opened to traffic.
- 1898 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25th by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
- 1899 - Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
- 1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.
- 1901 - The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes first Prime Minister.
- 1901 - The first official Mummers Parade is held.
- 1902 - The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, California.
- 1908 - For the first time, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year.
- 1911 - Northern Territory is separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
- 1912 - The Republic of China is established.
- 1916 - German troops abandon Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and begin the long march to Spanish Guinea.
- 1934 - Alcatraz Island becomes a U.S. federal prison.
- 1934 - Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
- 1935 - Bucknell University wins the first Orange Bowl 26-0 over the University of Miami.
- 1937 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua.
- 1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas.
- 1939 - The Vienna New Year's Concert is first held.
- 1942 - The Declaration by the United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
- 1948 - British railways are nationalised to form British Rail.
- 1948 - After partition, India declines to pay the agreed share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to Pakistan.
- 1948 - Enrico De Nicola formally becomes President of the Italian Republic, but refuses to be a candidate for the first constitutional election the following May.
- 1949 - UN Cease-fire orders to operate in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
- 1956 - The Republic of the Sudan achieves independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 1958 - The European Community is established.
- 1959 - Fulgencio Batista, President of the Republic of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces.
- 1960 - The Republic of Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 1962 - Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
- 1964 - The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
- 1969 - Marien Ngouabi formally becomes the President of the Republic of Congo.
- 1970 - The Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC.
- 1971 - Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
- 1973 - The Kingdom of Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland are admitted into the European Community.
- 1976 - NBC introduces its new logo: an abstract N, similar to the Nebraska Educational Television Network logo.
- 1978 - Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 explodes and crashes into the sea off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
- 1979 - Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
- 1981 - The Republic of Greece is admitted into the European Community.
- 1981 - The Republic of Palau achieves self-government; it is not yet independent from the United States of America.
- 1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
- 1984 - AT&T is broken up into twenty-two independent units.
- 1984 - The Sultanate of Brunei<