First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - JULY 2nd

Stan Lee, Quote

“With great power there must also come - great responsibility!”

~ Stan Lee

Wikiquote (Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber; December 28, 1922) is an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, media producer, television host, actor, voice actor and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.)

This Day in History

July 2nd, 437

Radagaisus is executed after he is defeated by the Roman army under Stilicho Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
437 - Emperor Valentinian III, begins his reign over the Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome.

Wikipedia  Image: Stilicho, with his wife Serena and son Eucharius.
Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

July 2nd, 626

China: the world's most populous country, covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, second-largest country by land area (China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; Great Wall China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic)

China:
626 - Xuanwu Gate Incident; Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng.
706 - In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an.

Wikipedia  Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.

July 2nd, 963

Byzantine Empire Collage

Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
963 - The imperial army proclaims Nicephorus Phocas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.

Wikipedia  Image: The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria; Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid); Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty.

July 2nd, 1644

English Civil War: (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers)

English Civil War:
1644 - Battle of Marston Moor.

Wikipedia  Painting: English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers);
John Milton publishes Areopagitica; Battle of Naseby, victory of the Parliamentarian New Model Army; Battle of Marston Moor, 1644; "Cromwell at Dunbar", by Andrew Carrick Gow; Oliver Cromwell; King Charles I, painted by Van Dyck; "And when did you last see your father?" by William Frederick Yeames.

July 2nd, 1937

Amelia Earhart</a> in 1935; Amelia Earhart appears above in her flight gear in this undated photo, credit Associated Press

Aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

Wikipedia  Photo: Amelia Earhart in 1935; Amelia Earhart appears above in her flight gear in this undated photo, credit Associated Press; Amelia Earhart and her mother in Boston, when 300,000 turned out to cheer the three flyers who made the non-stop flight across the Atlantic, July 1928; Amelia Earhart sitting on her plane, ca. 1935. George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers, Courtesy of Purdue University Libraries, Karnes Archives and Special Collections; Amelia Earhart and Harpo Marx, dressed as a dog catcher, ca. 1932. George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers, Courtesy of Purdue University Libraries, Karnes Archives and Special Collections; Amelia Earhart standing in front of the propellers on her plane, ca. 1935. George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers, Courtesy of Purdue University Libraries, Karnes Archives and Special Collections; Amelia Earhart with arms spread in front of her plane, ca. February 12, 1937. George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers, Courtesy of Purdue University Libraries, Karnes Archives and Special Collections.

July 2nd, 2002

James Stephen 'Steve' Fossett (April 22, 1944 - September 3, 2007) was an American businessman, and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.

Wikipedia  James Stephen "Steve" Fossett (April 22, 1944 – c. September 3, 2007) was an American businessman, and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer.
Photo: 1995 First solo transpacific balloon flight - Steve Fossett made a flight of more than 5,430 mi from Seoul, South Korea, to Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, in a helium-filled balloon. ● 2002 Steve Fossett perhaps best known for becoming the first person to fly around the world in a balloon in 2002, covering 31,266km (19,428 miles), credit AP. ● 2005 Steve Fossett (and designer Burt Rutan) for the first unrefueled solo non-stop flight around the world. ● 2006 Steve Fossett set the absolute world record for "distance without landing" by flying from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, around the world eastbound, then upon returning to Florida continuing across the Atlantic a second time to land in Bournemouth, England (25,766 statute miles (41,467 km) and the duration was 76 hours 45 minutes).

July 2nd, 2013

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
2013 - Aceh earthquake (2013); A 6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people and injuring 420 others.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.

July 2nd, 2016

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2016 - Karrada coordinated suicide bomb attacks: in Baghdad kills at least 341 people.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)