19 November-Jack Dorsey-Twitter

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Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter, is a native of the USA. Twitter is an online multilingual social media networking service. It has its headquarters is in San Francisco, California, USA and its European offices in Dublin, Ireland. It has over twenty five offices around the world. Twitter users can send and read messages, which are called tweets. The messages on Twitter can consist of up to 140 characters.

Jack Dorsey was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in 1976. He attended Missouri University of Science and Technology. He transferred to New York University where he came up with the idea of Twitter. Twitter began when Dorsey published the message ‘just setting up my twttr’ on March 21st 2006. At the time of its creation the domain ‘twitter.com’ was already in use. As a result the service was initially called twttr until the domain name was purchased by the developers. The bird logo is the international symbol of Twitter. Twitter’s bird is called Larry.

Today Twitter has millions of users worldwide. Usage peaks during special events such as the FIFA world cup. Though over 100 heads of state have twitter accounts, it is banned in countries such as Iran, China and North Korea. With over 110 million followers, US President Barrack Obama is the most followed politician in the world. Katy Perry, with over 108 million followers is the most followed entertainer.

Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter, was born in the year 1976 On This Day.

Photo by david_shankbone

Jack Dorsey by David Shankbone 2010 by david_shankbone on 2010-05-07 21:13:44

04 July-Entebbe

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Operation Entebbe was a successful mission in which members of the Israel Defence Forces rescued hostages being held prisoner at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Israeli Commandos flew from Israel to Uganda, a distance of over 4,000km to carry out the daring mission in July 1976. Operation Entebbe, which was officially known as Operation Thunderbolt, was the subject of a movie called ‘Raid on Entebbe’ which was released on January 9^th 1977.

On June 27^th 1976 an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked. The plane with 248 passengers and a crew of 12 was hijacked by a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells. The plane was flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Over the following days 148 non-Israeli passengers were released. The Air France crew opted to stay with 94 mainly Israeli passengers who were detained in a disused airport building.

The hijackers demanded the release of 53 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and elsewhere. The Government of Israel responded by sending four cargo planes carrying over 100 commandos to Entebbe. The Planes were escorted by Phantom jet fighters. Within an hour of landing the Israeli commandos rescued 102 of the 106 hostages. All 7 of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed in the rescue. The Israeli commandos also destroyed a large number of Uganda’s air force MiG fighters in order to prevent pursuit. One Israeli commando, Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel died in the rescue.

Operation Entebbe in which 102 hostages were successfully rescued by Israeli commandos took place in the 1976 On This Day.

Photo by US Army Africa

‘Raid on Entebbe’ brought to life for US Army Soldiers – Natural Fire 10 – US Army Africa – 091024 by US Army Africa on 2009-10-22 16:21:05

Photo by US Army Africa

‘Raid on Entebbe’ brought to life for US Army Soldiers – Natural Fire 10 – US Army Africa – 091024 by US Army Africa on 2009-10-22 16:23:33

23 March-Equal Pay For Women

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Women did not receive the same rate of pay as men prior to Ireland joining the European Union in 1973. Unmarried men also received less pay than their married counterparts. In the Public Service at that time, there was a salary scale for married men and separate lower salary scale for women and single men.

The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957. The EEC became the European Community (EC) in 1993 and the European Union (EU) in 2009. When Ireland joined the EU on January 1^st 1973 it became bound by the Treaty of Rome. Article 119 of the Treaty stipulated that each member state should ensure that men and women receive equal pay for equal work.

In 1974 Ireland passed the Anti-discrimination (Pay) Act. However the world energy crisis, which began in 1974 caused great economic difficulties in Ireland. As a result the Government decided to postpone the implementation of the Act, giving equal pay for equal work to men and women until 1977. The EU however, compelled the Irish Government to implement the Anti-discrimination (Pay) Act in 1976.

The EU rejected an application by the Government of Ireland for derogation from its directive for equal pay for equal work to men and women in the year 1976 On This Day.

EU photo

by pixel2013 (Pixabay)

21 January-Concorde

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Concorde is supersonic passenger airplane which operated from 1976 to 2003. It was capable of flying at over twice the speed of sound (over 2,100kph). Concorde had seating for 100 passengers and could cross the Atlantic in less than half the time of other aircraft.

Concorde was jointly developed and built by aircraft manufacturers in Great Britain and France. The two countries signed a treaty establishing the project on November 29^th 1962. The first development Concorde was unveiled in Toulouse on December 11^th 1967. Nineteen other Concorde were built.

Air France, and British Airways purchased the Concorde aircraft. Because of the sonic boom supersonic flight was limited to ocean crossing. Commercial flights began from London and Paris in 1976 and continued for 27 years. The aircraft was retired in 2003.

Concorde made its first commercial flight from London to Bahrain in the year 1976 On This Day.

Photo by Steve Parker

Concorde

Photo by illinigardner

Concorde

Photo by kevin1024

Concorde – Interior

06 February-Black Jack

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Myles Keogh of Orchard, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn whilst serving as Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army on June 25^th 1876. Keogh’s horse, Comanche, survived the Battle. He lived a long and apparently enjoyable life often leading military parades.

Comanche was just one of only two horses in US history to be given a funeral with full military honours. The other horse given a funeral with full military honours was Black Jack. Black Jack was the rider-less horse with boots reversed in the stirrups at the funeral of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

When Comanche died on November 7th 1891 he was believed to be 29 years old. He was preserved and the taxidermy horse can be seen in the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas. Black Jack died in 1976 having served in the military for 29 years. He was cremated and buried at Fort Myer, Virginia.

Black Jack, died in the year 1976 On This Day.

Photo by cliff1066™

Black Jac