On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Profiles of Ellen Spertus, Stephanie Winner and Megan Smith, MIT graduates originally profiled in 1993 as women who might change face of computer industry; industry was, and is, known for scarcity of women; some larger companies, notably IBM and Microsoft, are focusing on attracting women to their ranks; photos (M)
Mayor Michael R Bloomberg is popping up everywhere and anywhere around New York and seems much more relaxed than he has been; had reputation during his first year in office of rarely appearing in city's neighborhoods and rarely appearing on weekends at all; photos (M)
Attendees at annual conference of Industrial Designers Society of America at New York Marriott Marquis are among those whose lives were disrupted when hotel closed during blackout; unintended impact is that many have decided to address issue by designing products capable of adapting to and retaining usefulness during emergency; examples of how several contended with blackout and of ideas for dual-purpose designs for everyday items; photos (M)
Middle Eastern banks that have extended loans to SK Global have objected to agreement intended to allow troubled trading company to repay loans at only 43 percent of their original value (S)
Israeli military reinforces positions around Ramallah and three other West Bank cities as Israel ratchets up pressure on Palestinian leadership to strike against military groups after suicide bomber kills 20 people on bus in Jerusalem; Palestinian Prime Min Mahmoud Abbas meets with leadership of Palestine Liberation Orgn, including Yasir Arafat, to seek its support for possible action against militants; meeting produces condemnation of bombing but no specific plan of action; Prime Min Ariel Sharon convenes his top security advisers to weigh possible Israeli military action in reprisal for bombing; one senior official says Israel will take action because Palestinian leadership is 'doing nothing'; Israel appears to be seeking to calibrate its response, to show it will back up its threats of force without signaling it is abandoning Abbas or Pres Bush's peace plan; photo (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of August 20, 2003, covering August 21, 2003.
Soundtrack
Various Artists
Evanescence
Beyonce
Chingy
2003John Coplans, British artist (born 1920)[†]
John Rivers Coplans was a British artist, art writer, curator, and museum director. A veteran of World War II and a photographer, he emigrated to the United States in 1960 and had many exhibitions in Europe and North America. He was on the founding editorial staff of Artforum from 1962 to 1971, and was Editor-in-Chief from 1972 to 1977.
2003Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher and academic (born 1946)[†]
Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes was an English philosopher and academic who played an important part in rebuilding the education systems of former Communist countries after 1990. She established her reputation as an academic with her contributions to the philosophy of mind in two major works and many articles in professional journals. As a conscientious college tutor, she won the respect and affection of her students and academic colleagues. Her most notable contribution lay in her clandestine activities behind the Iron Curtain, which led to the establishment of underground universities and academic networks in Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe. For her work in support of this network President Václav Havel awarded her the Commemorative Medal of the President of the Czech Republic in October 1998.
In 2003, the world population was approximately 6,420,361,634 people[†]