The title of Hero of Ukraine is the highest award that can be conferred by the Government of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma, and it is currently awarded in two distinctions: one for heroism and one for great achievements in labor. Since Borys Paton first received the title in 1998, 144 people have been awarded the title. Decorations that are similar to the Hero of Ukraine are Russia's Hero of the Russian Federation and Belarus's Hero of Belarus. All of those decorations were influenced in some way by decorations awarded by the Soviet Union.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Ukraine

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1839: The Royal Marines landed at Aden to stop pirates from attacking British shipping to and from India. Aden was to remain under British control until 1967. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden)

1935: Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs, a new style of men's undergarment. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/briefs)

1977: Iva Toguri, allegedly a Tokyo Rose, was granted a full pardon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iva_Toguri_D%27Aquino)

1983: Apple Computer introduced the Apple Lisa, their first commercial personal computer with a graphical user interface and a computer mouse. It had 1 MB of RAM, and was priced at US $9,995. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lisa)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." -- Edgar Allan Poe (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe)