22 November-Xbox 360

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The Microsoft Xbox is a home video game console. It was first released in November 2001. The Xbox was designed to compete with the PlayStation and the Nintendo Game Cube. In 2002 Xbox Live saw the introduction of an online gaming service. Games such as Halo: Combat Evolved and Dead or Alive 3 made Xbox a highly popular game console.

The Xbox was replaced by the Xbox 360 in 2005. The new game console further developed the Xbox Live service. It enabled the user to receive updates and to download games. The Xbox 360 also enabled the user to play games online and to stream music, television programmes and films. Over 80 million units of the Xbox 360 have been sold worldwide. It was discontinued on April 20^th 2016.

The Xbox 360 was released in the year 2005 On This Day.

Photo by YuMaNuMa

Xbox 360 by YuMaNuMa on 2011-02-12 13:51:17

Photo by M. Keefe

Xbox 360 Controller by M. Keefe on 2008-03-18 17:02:07

14 February-You Tube

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YouTube is the largest video hosting website in the world. Founded in February 2005 it has its headquarters in San Bruno, California, USA. Since its foundation the site has grown rapidly. You Tube is now owned by Google.

YouTube was created by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were employees of the online payments system, PayPal. In April 2005, ‘Me at the Zoo’ was the first video uploaded to You Tube. By December 2005 the site was being viewed over 8 million times per day. Twelve years later one billion hours of You Tube content were being viewed daily.

YouTube, the largest video hosting website in the world, was founded in the year 2005 On This Day.

You Tube photo

24 October-Rosa Parks

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Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist in the United States. Her refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1st 1955 to a white passenger led to a citywide bus boycott. The boycott was led by Rev Martin Luther King. The boycott lasted 382 days before the law which mandated segregated public transportation was lifted.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4^th 1913. She was of African, Scots-Irish and Native American descent. At the time of her arrest she was working as a seamstress. She was also secretary to the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. Her refusal to give up her seat became an important symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama led to the ending of segregation of public facilities, died aged 92 in the year 2005 On This Day.

Photo by bc 400

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks photo

Photo by mattlemmon

Rosa Parks Arrest

07 January-Rose Marie Kennedy

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Rose Marie Kennedy was a sister of President John F Kennedy. Known as Rosemary Kennedy she was the third child and oldest daughter of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. When she died at the age of 86 in 2005 she was the first Kennedy child to die from natural causes

Rose Marie Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on September 13^th 1918. She is reported to have displayed developmental difficulties as a child. As a second level student she was educated separately from other children. At the age of 23 her father arranged for her to have a lobotomy. The procedure failed and she became incapacitated. She spent most of the remainder of her life in institutional care.

Rose Marie Kennedy, sister of President John F Kennedy, and Senators Robert F Kennedy and Ted Kennedy died in the year 2005 On This Day.

Photo by U.S. Embassy New Delhi

11 March-Carlow Sugar Factory

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Carlow Sugar Factory was closed down by Irish Sugar in March 2005. The factory had been in production for 80 years. The sugar industry in Ireland can be traced back to 1851. In that year the Royal Irish Beet-Root Sugar Factory was founded in Mountmellick Co Laois. The aim was to produce sufficient sugar to replace sugar imports to Ireland. However the factory failed after being in operation for just 10 years.

Following independence in 1922 the Irish Government set as one of its priorities the development of a Sugar Beet Industry. In 1924 the Government announced that Ireland’s first sugar factory was to be built. A strong local campaign was mounted by Carlow people to have the sugar factory located in Carlow town.

During the campaign it was emphasised that Carlow was a rich tillage area and had good rail and waterway connections. The campaign succeeded in winning government and investor approval to locate the factory in Carlow. The factory was constructed on a green-field site on the Athy Road on northern side of Carlow town. The sod was turned for the building of the Carlow Sugar Factory by the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Patrick Foley on January 5th 1926.

By 1945 Ireland was almost self-sufficient in sugar. As time went on the sugar industry diversified into areas such a soil testing, lime production, food production and machinery manufacture. The industry gave rise to many downstream industries and produced many highly skilled workers. Though the Sugar Factory has ceased production a campaign is underway to establish a similar industry in Carlow.

Carlow Sugar Factory was closed down in the year 2005 On This Day.

Photo by National Library of Ireland on The Commons Taoiseach W T Cosgrave on a Tour of Inspection at Carlow Sugar Factory