A meme & a contest

I've spotted this meme on Chris Roberson blog, Roberson's Interminable Ramble. I found this one pretty interesting, so I'll do my birthday meme too.

Look up your birthday in Wikipedia. Pick 4 events, 3 births, 2 deaths, and 1 holiday.

EVENTS:
1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.
1856 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna, Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.
1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.

BIRTHS:
1844 - Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
1853 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (d. 1890)
1950 - Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor and comedian

DEATHS:
1912 - Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
2002 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)

HOLIDAY:
Roman Empire - Festival devoted to Salus.

I had fun a lot of fun doing my meme, so I warmly recommend doing yours.

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I stumbled upon another very interesting contest. Matt Staggs is offering on his interesting blog, Enter the Octopus, a chance to win a free copy of the July/August 2008 issue of "Weird Tales" magazine. I've always wonder if I should make a subscription for this magazine, it made me very curious about its content, so I grabbed the opportunity to sign up for this contest. If you would like to win this free magazine you can find the rules at Enter the Octopus. Good luck.