Monthly Archives: November 2011

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE: NOVEMBER 29, 2011

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Quick Facts

The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is annually observed on November 29.

Local names

Name Language
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People English
Día Internacional de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino Spanish

Alternative name

Solidarity Day

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is annually observed on November 29. The day is also known as Solidarity Day.
November 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, also known as Solidarity Day. This illustration is based on artwork from ©iStockphoto.com/Joel Carillet & ©iStockphoto.com/Benoit Roussseau

What do people do?

Special meetings may be held to observe Solidarity Day in some UN offices, councils, government bodies and organizations that have a special interest in the issues encompassing the event.  The day may also be publicized through newspapers, magazines, radio and television news, and online media.  Some topics that may be publicized or discussed include the status and plight of Palestinian refugees, as well as general information on Palestinian culture and society.

Public life

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a global observance and not a public holiday.

Background

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine (resolution 181 (II)). On December 2, 1977, it was recorded that the assembly called for the annual observance of November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (A/RES/32/40 B). On December 1, 2003, the assembly encouraged member states to continue to provide support and publicity to observe the day. So the day was observed on December 1 in 2003.

The assembly also requested that the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat should continue to organize an annual exhibit on Palestinian rights or a cultural event with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations.

Symbols

The UN logo is often associated with marketing and promotional material for this event. It features a projection of a world map (less Antarctica) centered on the North Pole, inscribed in a wreath consisting of crossed conventionalized branches of the olive tree. The olive branches symbolize peace and the world map depicts the area of concern to the UN in achieving its main purpose, peace and security. The projection of the map extends to 60 degrees south latitude, and includes five concentric circles.

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People Observances

Weekday Date Year Name Holiday type Where it is observed
Sat Nov 29 1980 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sun Nov 29 1981 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Mon Nov 29 1982 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Tue Nov 29 1983 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Thu Nov 29 1984 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Fri Nov 29 1985 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sat Nov 29 1986 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sun Nov 29 1987 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Tue Nov 29 1988 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Wed Nov 29 1989 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Thu Nov 29 1990 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Fri Nov 29 1991 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sun Nov 29 1992 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Mon Nov 29 1993 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Tue Nov 29 1994 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Wed Nov 29 1995 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Fri Nov 29 1996 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sat Nov 29 1997 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sun Nov 29 1998 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Mon Nov 29 1999 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Wed Nov 29 2000 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Thu Nov 29 2001 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Fri Nov 29 2002 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Mon Dec 1 2003 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Mon Nov 29 2004 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Tue Nov 29 2005 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Wed Nov 29 2006 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Thu Nov 29 2007 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sat Nov 29 2008 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sun Nov 29 2009 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Mon Nov 29 2010 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Tue Nov 29 2011 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Thu Nov 29 2012 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Fri Nov 29 2013 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sat Nov 29 2014 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance
Sun Nov 29 2015 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People United Nations observance

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IN REMEMBRANCE: 11-27-2011

JIMMY NORMAN, SINGER WHO WORKED WITH MARLEY AND HENDRIX

By

Published: November 25, 2011

Jimmy Norman, a rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter who worked with Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix early in their careers and was involved in a longstanding dispute over songwriting credit for the song “Time Is on My Side,” died on Nov. 8 in Manhattan. He was 74.

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Jimmy Norman

The cause was lung disease, said his daughter Missy Scott.

Mr. Norman, whose recording career began in the late 1950s, had minor success as a solo act, with two of his songs reaching the Top 40 on Billboard’s R&B chart: “I Don’t Love You No More (I Don’t Care About You)” in 1962 and “Can You Blame Me” in 1966. But he found a niche in music history through his encounters with other musicians.

In 1966 Hendrix played guitar on at least one of Mr. Norman’s songs, “That Little Old Groovemaker,” and in 1968 a young Marley stayed with Mr. Norman on a visit to New York. More than 30 years later, a cassette tape of Marley and Mr. Norman singing together on that visit was sold at Christie’s for $26,290.

But Mr. Norman is best known for his efforts to gain credit for contributing lyrics to “Time Is on My Side,” originally written by Jerry Ragovoy. In its first recording, by the trombonist Kai Winding in 1963, the song had only a handful of words. A year later the singer Irma Thomas recorded a version with a full set of lyrics, and on initial pressings Mr. Norman, who said he had been hired by a producer to add lyrics, was credited as a co-writer.

Ms. Thomas’s recording became the basis of the Rolling Stones’ hit, which reached the Top 10 later in 1964, but by then Mr. Norman’s name had disappeared from the credits and would never reappear. Mr. Ragovoy died in July at 80.

Mr. Norman made many attempts to get credit on “Time Is on My Side,” which would have entitled him to substantial royalties. In 1994 the song’s publisher, Warner/Chappell, acknowledged in a letter that Mr. Norman had “changed some of the lyrics” to the song but declined to share the copyright with him, saying that his credit on the early pressings had been the result of a clerical error.

James Norman Scott was born in Nashville on Aug. 12, 1937, and left home as a teenager to pursue a musical career. In the early ’70s he was part of the pianist Eddie Palmieri’s Latin jazz group Harlem River Drive and joined the Coasters as a replacement member, a job he held on and off until his health gave way in 1998.

Unable to work, he was nearly evicted from his apartment in 2002, when the Jazz Foundation of America, which helps needy musicians, intervened on his behalf. A group volunteer found the Marley tape while cleaning Mr. Norman’s apartment, said Wendy Oxenhorn, its executive director.

In 2004 Mr. Norman recorded an album, “Little Pieces,” released by Judy Collins’s label, Wildflower, and two years ago he released another album, “The Way I See It.”

Besides his daughter Missy Scott, he is survived by a son, James Scott; another daughter, Madge Wells; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

SOURCE

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SERGIO SCAGLIETTI, WHO BUILT FERRARIS WITH A HAMMER

By

Published: November 26, 2011

Sergio Scaglietti, who used intuitive genius and a hammer — seldom blueprints or sketches — to sculpture elegant Ferraris that won Grand Prix races in the 1950s and ’60s and now sell for millions of dollars, died on Nov. 20 at his home in Modena, Italy. He was 91.

Ferrari North America

Sergio Scaglietti, who worked “by the eye,” rarely used blueprints.

Pawel Litwinski, Courtesy of Gooding & Company

A 250 Testa Rossa prototype.

Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s chairman, announced the death.

Ferraris, with their hair-raising acceleration and sleek lines, bespoke postwar modernity in the manner of the Color Field paintings of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko or the architecture of Eero Saarinen. Mr. Scaglietti in the 1950s designed the blood-red skin of the 375MM sports car that the film director Roberto Rossellini, the master of neo-realist cinema, gave to his wife, Ingrid Bergman.

In August, Mr. Scaglietti’s 1957 Ferrari 240 Testa Rossa sold for $16.4 million, said to be the most ever paid for an automobile at auction. His 250 GT California Spyder was the vehicle in which the teenage heroes of the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” cavorted. (The Ferrari in the movie was actually a fake: the producers couldn’t afford a real one.)

Mr. Scaglietti (pronounced skahl-YET-tee — the “g” is silent) lacked the kind of formal education acquired by his patron and best friend, Enzo Ferrari, the race driver-turned-automotive-impresario. Both believed in speed, power, utility, superb craftsmanship and sleek, sensuous beauty, and they abhorred mass production. By craft Mr. Scaglietti was a “coachbuilder,” but others use loftier descriptions.

Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, compared his cars to couture clothing. “They were individually tailored, and achingly beautiful,” he said in an interview after Mr. Scaglietti’s death.

Mr. Scaglietti’s method was to receive a prototype from the legendary designer Battista Farina or one of his associates and “interpret” it in aluminum, rarely using a drawing. He made a wire frame, then hammered the metal into the shape he envisioned. He did this on bags of sand, because wood proved too hard. He did everything, he said, “by the eye.”

He followed the designers’ concepts to varying degrees. Many sources give him considerable personal credit for the overall look of the 250 GTO in 1962-63. Just three dozen were made, and Mr. Ferrari, who died in 1988, approved every sale personally. The car was one of the last front-engine cars to remain competitive at the top levels of sports car racing. (Most racing cars today have the engine behind the driver.)

Motor Trend Classic in 2010 called the car the greatest Ferrari of all time, and some people consider it the most beautiful automobile ever made. There have been reports that one sold for $50 million during the classic car boom of the 1980s, and the Web site Supercars.net called that figure not “entirely unrealistic.”

In their 2007 book, “Ferrari: Stories From Those Who Lived the Legend,” John Lamm and Chuck Queener said Mr. Scaglietti got his inspiration for the GTO by “looking at cars.” Mr. Scaglietti said, “If you use your head, knowing the car has to go fast, you make it smaller and lighter.”

Sergio Scaglietti was born into the family of a poor carpenter on Jan. 9, 1920, in Modena. Four of his five brothers became carpenters, but Sergio aspired to work with metal. When he was 13, his father died, and he dropped out of school to work in a local garage specializing in damaged cars. His brother had gotten him the job, and four years later, the brother and a partner bought the business. At 17, Sergio became one of their first employees. He met Mr. Ferrari when Mr. Ferrari asked him to fix a mud flap on a racing car.

After World War II, Mr. Scaglietti opened his own shop. Mr. Ferrari, who had also started his own business, noticed Mr. Scaglietti’s work repairing a bashed-up racing car and told him he had done a good job. By the mid-1950s, he was doing much of Ferrari’s bodywork at a business he named Carrozzeria Scaglietti. He is credited with coming up with the design for headrests on Ferrari racing cars.

He drew broad praise for the pontoon fenders on the 250 Testa Rossa, of which 34 were built from 1956 to 1961. The fenders’ design allowed cool air to flow into the brake area to prevent overheating. On a visit to Allentown, Pa., in 2000, Mr. Scaglietti told the newspaper The Morning Call that the Testa Rossa got its name almost by accident.

“The chief of production came to Mr. Ferrari and said, ‘We have to stop production because we have no black paint to paint the engines,’ ” he said.

Mr. Ferrari asked what color paint they did have. The answer was red. Mr. Ferrari said, “Paint the engines red and we’ll call it the Testa Rossa,” which means redhead in Italian.

Mr. Scaglietti greatly expanded his business in the 1950s after Mr. Ferrari co-signed a loan. He sold the business to Fiat in the late 1960s, then continued to manage it until his retirement in the mid-1980s. In 2004, Ferrari named a four-seat sports car the 612 Scaglietti.

Information on survivors was unavailable.

Mr. Scaglietti owned only one of his own cars, a California Spyder, which he bought after a friend told him he could make money on it. He lost $1,000 when he sold it.

SOURCE

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ODUMEGWU OJUKWO, LEADER OF BREAKAWAY REPUBLIC OF BIAFRA

By

Published: November 26, 2011

Odumegwu Ojukwu, an Oxford-educated Nigerian colonel who proclaimed the Republic of Biafra in 1967 and led his Ibo people into a secessionist war that cost more than a million lives, many of them starved children whose skeletal images shocked the world, has died at a hospital in London. He was 78.

Associated Press

Odumegwu Ojukwu, left, taking an oath in 1967 to be the leader of the Republic of Biafra, just after it declared independence.

International news reports quoted Maja Umeh, a spokesman for the All Progressive Grand Alliance Party in Nigeria, as confirming Mr. Ojukwu’s death. The Associated Press said he died on Saturday, but Bloomberg News said the death occurred on Friday. The cause was not cited. Mr. Ojukwu had a stroke at his home in Enugu, Nigeria, in December 2010, and had since been under treatment in London.

Mr. Ojukwu was an unlikely militarist and a reluctant rebel: the sports-car-driving son of one of Nigeria’s richest men, an urbane student of history and Shakespeare who read voraciously, wrote poetry, played tennis and, with his wealth and connections, might have been a business mogul or a worldly rouge-et-noir playboy.

But he spurned his father’s offer of a business partnership, joined Nigeria’s civil service and then its army in the turbulent last years of British colonial rule. And as maps of Africa were redrawn by forces of national and tribal self-determination, he became military governor of the Ibo homeland, one of three tribal regions, at a historic juncture.

At 33, he found himself at the vortex of simmering ethnic rivalries among Nigeria’s Hausas in the north, Yorubas in the southwest and Ibos in the southeast. The largely Christian Ibos were envied as one of Africa’s best-educated and most industrious peoples, possessed of much of Nigeria’s oil wealth. Tensions finally exploded into assassinations, coups and a massacre of 30,000 Ibos by Hausas and federal troops.

While he denounced the massacre and cited other Ibo grievances, Colonel Ojukwu for months resisted rising Ibo pressure for secession. He proposed a weak federation to separate Nigeria’s three tribal regions politically. But Col. Yakubu Gowon, leader of the military government in Lagos, rejected the idea. A clash over federal taxation of the Ibo region’s oil and coal industries precipitated the final break.

“Long live the Republic of Biafra,” Colonel Ojukwu proclaimed on May 30, 1967.

Five weeks later, civil war began when Nigerian military forces invaded the breakaway province. It was a lopsided war, with other nations supporting federal forces seeking to unify the country and Biafra standing virtually alone. Nigeria was Africa’s most populous nation, with 57 million people, of which 8 million to 10 million were Ibos.

Poorly equipped and outnumbered four to one, Biafra’s 25,000-member army held its own for months, supported by a citizenry that donated food, clothing and supplies. Colonel Ojukwu ran Biafra as a wartime democracy, fought alongside his troops and was said to be revered by his people.

He gave orders in a slow, deliberate baritone: native Igbo with an Oxford accent. Fond of Sibelius, he chose “Finlandia” as Biafra’s national anthem. And he read Shakespeare. “Hamlet was my favorite,” he told a New York Times correspondent. “I wonder what the psychiatrists will make of that.”

Over a battle map he looked like a brooding Othello, with solemn eyes and a luxuriantly bearded countenance. He slept irregularly, sometimes working nonstop for days, taking a meal now and then, rarely touching alcohol but chain-smoking English cigarettes.

Tanzania, Zambia, the Ivory Coast and Gabon recognized Biafra, and France and other nations provided covert aid. But the Soviet Union, Egypt and even Britain, after a period of neutrality, supplied weapons and advisers to Nigeria. The United States, officially neutral, provided diplomatic and relief coordination aid. But after 15 months of war, Biafra’s 29,000 square miles had been reduced to 5,000, and deaths had soared.

As crops burned and refugees streamed away from advancing federal forces, much of the population was cut off from food supplies. As the 30-month civil war moved onto the world stage as one of the first televised wars, millions around the globe were stunned by pictures of Biafran babies with distended bellies and skeletal children who were succumbing to famine by the thousands daily in the war’s final stages.

Colonel Ojukwu appealed to the world to save his people. International relief agencies responded, and scores of cargo planes ferried food in to the encircled Biafrans, but airlifts were woefully inadequate. Deaths from starvation were estimated at more than 6,000 a day, and postwar studies suggested that a third of Biafra’s surviving preschoolers — nearly 500,000 — were malnourished at war’s end.

In January 1970, secessionist resistance was crushed and its leader, by then a general, fled into exile in Ivory Coast and London. Granted a presidential pardon after 13 years, he returned to Nigeria in 1982 and was welcomed by enormous crowds. He became a Lagos businessman and ran unsuccessfully for president several times, but remained a hero in the eyes of many of his countrymen.

The legacies of the war were terrible. Deaths from fighting, disease and starvation were estimated by international relief agencies at one million to three million. Besides widespread destruction of hospitals, schools, homes and businesses, Ibos faced discrimination in employment, housing and political rights. Nigeria reabsorbed Biafra, however, and the region was rebuilt over 20 years as its oil-based economy prospered anew.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (pronounced chuk-woo-MA-ka oh-doo-MAG-woo oh-JU-kwoo) was born on Nov. 4, 1933, in Zungeru, Nigeria. From modest beginnings, his father, Sir Louis Phillipe Odumegwu Ojukwu, had made fortunes in transportation and real estate, and was Nigeria’s wealthiest entrepreneur when he died in 1966.

The boy nicknamed Emeka attended Kings College in Lagos, Nigeria’s most prestigious secondary school; Epson College, a boys’ prep school in Surrey, and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated with honors in history in 1955. Classmates said he was popular, dressed stylishly, drove a bright red MG sports car and loved discussions of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Louis XIV and Shakespeare.

He had three wives. His first, Njideka, a law student he met at Oxford and wed in 1962, died in 2010. His second, Stella Onyeador, died in 2009. He married Bianca Odinaka Onoh, a former beauty queen and businesswoman 34 years his junior, in 1994. Returning to Nigeria in 1956, he rejected his father’s business overtures, worked on development in remote villages, and in 1957 joined the army. He called himself an amateur soldier, but rose rapidly in the ranks after Nigeria gained independence in 1960. In 1966, he became military governor of the Ibo region, and declared Biafran independence after repression enveloped his people.

He sometimes compared Biafrans to Israelis. “The Israelis are hard-working, enterprising people,” he told a visitor to his besieged field headquarters in 1969. “So are we. They’ve suffered from pogroms. So have we. In many ways, we share the same promise and the same problems.”

SOURCE

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JENO PAULUCCI, A PIONEER OF READY-MADE ETHNIC FOODS

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

Published: November 25, 2011

First it was Chun King, the canned Chinese food that became a mainstay in American cupboards in the postwar decades. Then it was the pizza roll, a hybrid of Italian and Chinese fast food that acquired similar status in the kitchen freezer. Jeno Paulucci, a food magnate, had a hand in both of those contributions to the American diet, founding the companies that produced them. He died at 93 on Thursday at his home in Duluth, Minn.

Derek Neas/Duluth News Tribune, via Associated Press

Jeno Paulucci

The cause was renal and coronary failure, his daughter, Gina, said. His wife, the former Lois Mae Trepanier, died on Nov. 20.

Mr. Paulucci was working as a wholesale grocer in Hibbing, Minn., in the late 1940s when he noticed a blossoming market for prepared Chinese food. “The food industry was missing the boat, allowing the restaurants to handle all the take-home business,” Mr. Paulucci told The New York Times in 1955.

So he borrowed $2,500 from a friend and used it to begin canning chow mein and selling it to retailers.

“I seasoned it to my own Italian taste, borrowed space in a vegetable packing house and made up a truckload of it,” Mr. Paulucci said in 1976. “When I’d sold that, I’d come back and make up another truckload until I had a plant in Duluth and a lot of people working for me.”

Chun King came to encompass an entire line of prepared Chinese food. In 1957 Mr. Paulucci patented the Divider-Pak, packaging that kept the food separate from its sauce. He sold the company to R. J. Reynolds for $63 million in 1966, and two years later was briefly chairman of that company’s food division. But his restlessness led to different endeavors, this time inspired by his ancestral cuisine.

In 1968 Mr. Paulucci founded Jeno’s Inc., a company that sold frozen pizzas and a variety of snacks. The most notable of these was undoubtedly the pizza roll, a combination single slice and egg roll. His family credits him with inventing it. He sold Jeno’s Inc. to Pillsbury for $135 million in 1985. The next year, Jeno’s Pizza Rolls were rebranded as Totino’s Pizza Rolls.

Luigino Francesco Paulucci was born on July 7, 1918, in Aurora, Minn., to Michelina and Ettore Paulucci, immigrants from Bellisio Solfare, Italy. Ettore came to the United States to work in the iron mines of northeastern Minnesota, but an injury kept him from working and the family was supported by a grocery store that Michelina ran.

Mr. Paulucci entered the grocery business after graduating from Hibbing High School in 1935.

In addition to his daughter he is survived by a son, Michael; another daughter, Cindy Selton; four grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren.

In the early 1990s Mr. Paulucci founded Michelina’s Inc., which sold ready-made pasta and Mexican dishes, naming it after his mother. He headed the company at his death.

Despite his success, Mr. Paulucci never forgot his hardscrabble roots. For years he kept the small truck he first used to haul Chinese food, garaging it in a hangar next to his two private jets and two seaplanes.

“It helps my ego to look back,” Mr. Paulucci said. “I look at those jets, and then I look at that old truck, and I remember to keep running.”

SOURCE 

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SKYWATCH: COSMIC RAYS, BLACK HOLES, AND MORE

NewsObservingPhoto GalleryMagazine ArchiveShop at Sky

News
Cygnus X segment

NASA / Spitzer Space Telescope

Bulletin at a Glance

News Observing This Week’s Sky at a Glance Community

Another Origin for Cosmic Rays

November 24, 2011                                                                | Recent gamma-ray observations support the longstanding theory that superspeedy particles called cosmic rays have their origin in the havoc-ridden regions around young star clusters. > read more

Cygnus X-1, Exactly

November 21, 2011                                                                | Astronomers have pinned down the distance, mass, and spin rate for the first black hole candidate discovered, information that points to a birth sans supernova.  > read more

S&T’s 70th Anniversary Video Is Here!

November 16, 2011                                                                | Watch a behind-the-scenes video of how S&T came to be and what it’s like working at the magazine today. > read more

Observing

S&T: Lauren Darby

Tour December’s Sky by Eye and Ear!

November 26, 2011                                                                  | Venus lurks low in the western twilight after sunset. But after it gets good and dark, swing around to the east to see dazzling Jupiter, the King of Planets, amid a tower of brilliant early-winter stars that extends from the horizon to overhead. > read more

Trusty Comet Garradd

September 1, 2011                                                                  | Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd is shining at 7th or maybe even 6th magnitude as it traverses southeastern Hercules. > read more

Jupiter: Big, Bright, and Beautiful

September 23, 2011                                                                | The “King of Planets,” which will dominate the evening sky from late 2011 through early 2012, is a captivating sight no matter how you look at it. > read more

Ceres and Vesta in 2011

September 8, 2011                                                                | The two brightest asteroids are in fine view for binoculars or a telescope. Here are instructions and charts to find them. > read more

Uranus and Neptune in 2011

May 31, 2011                                                                  | Uranus and Neptune are easy to find with the aid of the charts in this article. > read more

This Week’s Sky at a Glance

View in bright twilight

This Week’s Sky at a Glance

November 18, 2011                                                                  | Venus stays up throughout twilight now. Jupiter blazes high all evening, the Mars-Regulus pair is up by midnight, and the Saturn-Spica pair shows at dawn. > read more

Community

VLA segment

Dave Finley / NRAO / AUI

Name That Telescope Array

November 22, 2011                                                                | Have a gift for picking good names? The newly updated Very Large Array wants a snazzy appellation to mark its second lease on life. Submit your suggestion by December 1st. > read more

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COLORLINES: 5 WAYS TO FACE RACE AT THE THANKSGIVING TABLE –AND NOT CHOKE

5 Ways to Face Race at the Thanksgiving Table—and Not Choke

That awkward moment when your uncle pipes up with a racist rant at holiday dinner doesn’t have to be so hard. Terry Keleher provides tips on how to take control of the conversation and make it productive, without ruining everybody’s appetite.

Also: ‘New Yorker’ Cover Depicts Pilgrims Fleeing Across U.S. Border

Need a Reason to be Thankful This Year? Look at These Food Justice Wins

Julianne Hing explains why now’s a good time to show some gratitude to the country’s food workers and food justice activists.

Black Leaders Get Closeup View of Alabama’s New Jim Crow

Cultural critic Elon James White says the state’s harsh immigration law harks back to a terrible time in Alabama history many thought was in the past.

ACLU Requests Public Records From UC Davis and Katehi UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi apologized to students yesterday, just hours before she received a letter from the ACLU requesting public records. A lawsuit may be in the works.

Secrecy Surrounds Inmate Suicides in California State Prisons Three inmates have committed suicide in recent months, but families and advocates are being left out in the dark.

New Poll Shows Racial Divide on California’s DREAM Act Nearly 80 percent of Latinos support the measure, while only 30 percent of whites think it’s a step in the right direction.

The Next Stop for Personhood ManiaPicking up the pieces after their Mississippi failure, zygote rights activists are taking their sideshow to Virginia.

Video: DREAMers Confront Border Patrol Officers in Alabama “We’re exercising our power and showing that we can do something about this,” activists said.

CNN’s Don Lemon Talks Sex Abuse, Calls Penn State Case ‘Rape’ CNN’s Don Lemon says let’s just call what Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky did for what it is: rape.

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INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: NOVEMBER 25, 2011

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Quick Facts

The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women raises public awareness of violence against women in all countries around the world and at all levels of society. It is observed each year on November 25.

Local names

Name Language
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women English
Día Internacional de la Eliminación de la Violencia contra la Mujer Spanish

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2011

Friday, November 25, 2011

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2012

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is an occasion for governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations to raise public awareness of violence against women. It has been observed on November 25 each year since 2000.
Violence against women is an issue that UN and many others take seriously. ©iStockphoto.com/funky-data

What do people do?

Various activities are arranged around the world to draw attention to the need for continuing action to eliminate violence against women, projects to enable women and their children to escape violence and campaigns to educate people about the consequences of violence against women. Locally, women’s groups may organize rallies, communal meals, fundraising activities and present research on violence against women in their own communities.

An ongoing campaign that people are encouraged to participate in, especially around this time of the year when awareness levels for the day are high, is the “Say NO to Violence Against Women campaign”. Through the campaign, anyone can add their name to a growing movement of people who speak out to put a halt to human rights violations against women.

Public life

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is a global observance and not a public holiday.

Background

On November 25, 1960, three sisters, Patria Mercedes Mirabal, María Argentina Minerva Mirabal and Antonia María Teresa Mirabal, were assassinated in the Dominican Republic on the orders of the Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo. The Mirabel sisters fought hard to end Trujillo’s dictatorship. Activists on women’s rights have observed a day against violence on the anniversary of the deaths of these three women since 1981.

On December 17, 1999, November 25 was designated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by the UN General Assembly. Each year observances around the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women concentrate on a particular theme, such as “Demanding Implementation, Challenging Obstacles” (2008).

Symbols

Events around the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women are coordinated by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The logo of this organization consists of “UNIFEM”. The letters “U” and “N” are in blue and the letters “I”, “F”, “E” and “M” are in a darker shade of this color. An image of a dove surrounded by olive branches is to the right of the word. The image of the dove incorporates the international symbol for “woman” or “women”. This is based on the symbol for the planet Venus and consists of a ring on top of a “plus” sign.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Observances

Weekday Date Year Name Holiday type Where it is observed
Sat Nov 25 2000 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Sun Nov 25 2001 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Mon Nov 25 2002 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Tue Nov 25 2003 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Thu Nov 25 2004 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Fri Nov 25 2005 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Sat Nov 25 2006 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Sun Nov 25 2007 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Tue Nov 25 2008 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Wed Nov 25 2009 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Thu Nov 25 2010 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Fri Nov 25 2011 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Sun Nov 25 2012 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Mon Nov 25 2013 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Tue Nov 25 2014 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance
Wed Nov 25 2015 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women United Nations observance

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WORLD TELEVISION DAY: NOVEMBER 21, 2011

WORLD TELEVISION DAY

Quick Facts

The United Nations’ (UN) World Television Day is globally celebrated on November 21 each year.

Local names

Name Language
World Television Day English
Día Mundial de la Televisión Spanish

World Television Day 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011

World Television Day 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The United Nations’ (UN) World Television Day is annually observed in many places around the world on November 21. The day recognizes that television plays a major role in presenting different issue that affect people.
World Television Day helps people remember the beneficial purposes of television. For example, it is used to educate people about the world around them. ©iStockphoto.com/René Mansi

What do people do?

World Television Day is a day to renew governments’, organizations’ and individuals’ commitments to support the development of television media in providing unbiased information about important issues and events that affect society. News about World Television Day may be shared via print, online and broadcast media. Television and radio bloggers may write comments, editors may write in the editors’ columns, and writers, academics and journalists may write feature articles about the meaning behind this event.

Educational institutions may mark World Television Day on their calendars and educators may use this day as an opportunity to invite guest speakers to discuss media and communication issues relating to television. Discussion topics may include: how television promotes cultural diversity and a common understanding; the links between democracy and television; and the role of television in social, political and economic developments.

Public life

World Television Day is a global observance and not a public holiday.

Background

The UN acknowledges that television can be used to educate many people about the world, its issues and real stories that happen on the planet. Television is one of the most influential forms of media for communication and information dissemination. It is used to broadcast freedom of expressions and to increase cultural diversity.  The UN realized that television played a major role in presenting global issues affecting people and this needed to be addressed.

On December 17, 1996, UN General Assembly proclaimed November 21 as World Television Day to commemorate the date on which the first World Television Forum was held earlier that year. The UN invited all member states to observe the day by encouraging global exchanges of television programs focusing, among other things, on issues such as peace, security, economic and social development and cultural change enhancements.

Symbols

The UN logo is often associated with marketing and promotional material for this event. It features a projection of a world map (less Antarctica) centered on the North Pole, inscribed in a wreath consisting of crossed conventionalized branches of the olive tree. The olive branches symbolize peace and the world map depicts the area of concern to the UN in achieving its main purpose, peace and security. The projection of the map extends to 60 degrees south latitude, and includes five concentric circles.

World Television Day Observances

Weekday Date Year Name Holiday type Where it is observed
Fri Nov 21 1997 World Television Day United Nation day
Sat Nov 21 1998 World Television Day United Nation day
Sun Nov 21 1999 World Television Day United Nation day
Tue Nov 21 2000 World Television Day United Nation day
Wed Nov 21 2001 World Television Day United Nation day
Thu Nov 21 2002 World Television Day United Nation day
Fri Nov 21 2003 World Television Day United Nation day
Sun Nov 21 2004 World Television Day United Nation day
Mon Nov 21 2005 World Television Day United Nation day
Tue Nov 21 2006 World Television Day United Nation day
Wed Nov 21 2007 World Television Day United Nation day
Fri Nov 21 2008 World Television Day United Nation day
Sat Nov 21 2009 World Television Day United Nation day
Sun Nov 21 2010 World Television Day United Nation day
Mon Nov 21 2011 World Television Day United Nation day
Wed Nov 21 2012 World Television Day United Nation day
Thu Nov 21 2013 World Television Day United Nation day
Fri Nov 21 2014 World Television Day United Nation day
Sat Nov 21 2015 World Television Day United Nation day

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IN REMEMBRANCE: 11-20-2011

LEE POCKRISS, COMPOSER AND SONGWRITER

By

Published: November 16, 2011

Lee Pockriss, who wrote the music for midcentury pop hits like “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” “Catch a Falling Star” and “Johnny Angel,” died on Monday at his home in Bridgewater, Conn. He was 87.

Lee Pockriss also worked in musical theater for decades.

His death was confirmed by his nephew Adam Pockriss.

Perry Como made a hit of the gentle ballad “Catch a Falling Star” (“Put it in your pocket/Save it for a rainy day”), which Mr. Pockriss wrote with Paul Vance, in 1957. Shelley Fabares introduced Mr. Pockriss and Lyn Duddy’s wistful love song “Johnny Angel” (“I dream of him and me/And how it’s gonna be”) as her teenage character on the family sitcom “The Donna Reed Show” in 1962.

But in between, Mr. Pockriss struck a very different note in another collaboration with Mr. Vance: “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” a novelty number about a young woman “afraid to come out of the water” and be seen in the revealing swimsuit she was wearing. Her reluctance was understandable, because the navel-revealing bikini was still considered relatively shocking outside Hollywood and the French Riviera. In fact, the song has been credited with helping it gain acceptance.

Brian Hyland had a No. 1 hit with the song in 1960, and it was so inescapable as part of popular culture that a Hollywood film, Billy Wilder’s “One, Two, Three” (1961), affectionately lampooned it with a scene in which East German soldiers tortured a character (played by Horst Bucholz) by forcing him to listen to the song repeatedly.

Mr. Pockriss also worked in musical theater for decades. He wrote the music and Anne Croswell wrote the lyrics for the 1963 Broadway show “Tovarich,” for which Vivien Leigh won the Tony Award for best actress in a musical. The two also collaborated on “Ernest in Love,” a musical version of Oscar Wilde’s “Importance of Being Earnest,” first produced off Broadway in 1960 and revived by the Irish Repertory Company in 2009; “Conrack,” based on Pat Conroy’s book, which had an Off Broadway production in 1987; and “Bodo,” about a 12th-century goatherd, produced at the Promenade Theater in 1983.

With the lyricist Carolyn Leigh and Hugh Wheeler of “Sweeney Todd,” Mr. Pockriss created “Gatsby,” a musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby,” in 1969. It was best known as an unproduced work, but this year it received two concert performances as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival. David Rooney, reviewing it in The New York Times, said that the songs succeeded in “evoking Fitzgerald’s characters, spreading a beguiling carpet of melancholy beneath all that jazz age revelry.”

“It made me curious,” he added, “to see a full production.”

Mr. Pockriss also wrote songs for “Sesame Street,” including “My Polliwog Ways,” sung by Kermit the Frog.

Lee Julian Pockriss was born on Jan. 20, 1924, in Brooklyn, the son of Joseph and Ethel Price Pockriss. He attended Erasmus Hall High School and Brooklyn College, and studied musicology at New York University. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II as a cryptographer in the South Pacific.

He is survived by his wife, Sonja, and a brother, Harold.

Mr. Pockriss’s talent was recognized early. In 1950 The Times reported the presentation of an American Federation of Music Clubs award. The $100 first prize in composing went to a young graduate student, Lee Pockriss, of 325 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn.

SOURCE

******************************************************************************

KARL SLOVER, ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVING ‘OZ’ MUNCHKINS

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 16, 2011

DUBLIN, Ga. (AP) — Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz,” died on Tuesday in a central Georgia hospital. He was 93.

MGM, via Photofest

Karl Slover in “The Wizard of Oz” as the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins’ band.

The cause was cardiopulmonary arrest, said the Laurens County deputy coroner, Nathan Stanley.

Mr. Slover was best known for playing the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins’ band, but he also played an Oz townsman and soldier, according to John Fricke, author of “100 Years of Oz.”

Long after the 4-foot-5 Mr. Slover retired, he appeared around the country at festivals and events related to “The Wizard of Oz.” He was one of seven Munchkins at the 2007 unveiling of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dedicated to the film’s little people. Only 3 of the 124 actors playing Munchkins remain.

Mr. Slover was born Karl Kosiczky on Sept. 21, 1918, in what is now the Czech Republic.

“In those uninformed days his father tried witch doctor treatments to make him grow,” Mr. Fricke said. Young Karl was immersed in heated oil until his skin blistered and then attached to a stretching machine at a hospital, all in an attempt to make him taller. When he was 9, he was sold by his father to a traveling show in Europe, Mr. Fricke said.

Mr. Slover was paid $50 a week for “Oz” and told friends that Toto, Judy Garland’s canine co-star, made more money.

SOURCE   

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WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC VICTIMS: NOVEMBER 20, 2011

 

WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC VICTIMS

Quick Facts

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims serves as a major advocacy day for road traffic injury prevention.

Local names

Name Language
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims English
Día mundial en recuerdo de las víctimas de los accidentes de tráfico Spanish

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims 2011

Sunday, November 20, 2011

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims 2012

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is held on the third Sunday of November each year. It is a day to remember those who died or were injured from road crashes and the plight of their loved ones who must cope with the consequences of their deaths or injuries.

Organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, play a major role to promote the day.

Road victims are remembered on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims ©iStockphoto.com/Slobo Mitic

What do people do?

Remembrance services and flower-laying ceremonies are held in memory of dead road victims around the world on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Police officers, associations supporting families of road victims, governments and communities unite families and friends of those who died or were injured from road traffic crashes in promoting the day through various activities.

These activities include: media campaigns and coverage;  websites dedicated to the day; celebrity involvement; information distribution via the internet, posters and leaflets; DVD presentations on road traffic crashes; advocacy messages from world leaders; moments of silence; seminars and workshops; exhibitions and displays of photographs of injuries and road crash scenes; and marches or processions. These activities occur in many countries in nearly every continent.

A book, titled World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims: a guide for organizers, provides practical guidance to people or groups who organize events related to this day. WHO, the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) and RoadPeace worked together in developing this book.

Public life

The UN’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is a global observance and not a public holiday.

Background

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, road crashes are the leading cause of death in people aged between five to 34 years in the United States. It is the leading cause of death globally for children and young people aged between 10 to 24 years, and the third leading cause of death globally among people aged between 30 to 44 years. Every six seconds someone is killed or injured on the world’s roads, including drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was first observed by RoadPeace in 1993 and has since been held by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in many countries. Since then it has been observed and promoted worldwide by several non-governmental organizations, including the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) and its associated organizations. On October 26, 2005, the United Nations endorsed it as a global day to be observed every third Sunday in November each year.

Symbols

RoadPeace uses an image of red, bleeding flower on a black background with the words “Remember Me” underneath the flower to promote the day. WHO’s emblem is also found in promotions for the day. The emblem, which was chosen by the first World Health Assembly in 1948, is often associated with the UN’s promotional material for World Mental Health Day. The emblem consists of the UN symbol surmounted by a staff with a snake coiling round it. The staff with the snake has long been a symbol of medicine and the medical profession. It originates from the story of Aesculapius who was revered by the ancient Greeks as a god of healing and whose cult involved the use of snakes.

Note: Although the day became an official UN day on the third Sunday of November in 2005, many people around the world celebrated the day since 1993.

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims Observances

Weekday Date Year Name Holiday type Where it is observed
Sun Nov 21 1993 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 20 1994 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 19 1995 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 17 1996 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 16 1997 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 15 1998 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 21 1999 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 19 2000 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 18 2001 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 17 2002 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 16 2003 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 21 2004 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 20 2005 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 19 2006 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 18 2007 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 16 2008 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 15 2009 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 21 2010 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 20 2011 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 18 2012 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 17 2013 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 16 2014 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day
Sun Nov 15 2015 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims United Nation day

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AFRICA INDUSTRIALIZATION DAY: NOVEMBER 20, 2011

 

AFRICA INDUSTRIALIZATION DAY

Quick Facts

Africa Industrialization Day aims to stimulate the international community’s commitment to the industrialization of Africa.

Local names

Name Language
Africa Industrialization Day English
Día de la Industrialización de África Spanish

Africa Industrialization Day 2011

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Africa Industrialization Day 2012

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Africa Industrialization Day is celebrated on November 20 each year. It is a time when governments and other organizations in many African countries examine ways to stimulate Africa’s industrialization process. It is also an occasion to draw worldwide media attention to the problems and challenges of industrialization in Africa.
Africa Industrialization Day themes have focused on business and technology in previous times. ©iStockphoto.com/bonnie jacobs

What do people do?

Various events are held to mark Africa Industrialization Day. Many of these involve local and national leaders and representatives of national and international non-governmental organizations. A special effort is made to unite leaders or representatives of as many African countries as possible to stimulate discussion on the industrialization of Africa and assess the progress made in the past year. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) plays an important role in coordinating events on or around Africa Industrialization Day.

In addition, statements are delivered at UNIDO’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria. These statements are from leaders from the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, and the UN. It is hoped that these parties will raise global consciousness of the importance of industrialization in Africa and remind the international community that more than 30 of the world’s 50 least developed countries are located in Africa

Public life

Africa Industrialization Day is a global observance and not a public holiday.

Background

The 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 1989. During this session, November 20 was declared to be Africa Industrialization Day. On December 22, 1989, the UN General Assembly also proclaimed this date to be Africa Industrialization Day. It was first observed on November 20, 1990.

Each year events around Africa Industrialization Day concentrate on a particular theme. In the past the themes have been: “New information and communication technologies” (2002); “Acceleration of Africa’s integration in the global economy through effective industrialization and market access” (2003); “Strengthening productive capacity for poverty reduction within the framework of NEPAD” (2004); “Generating African competitiveness for sustainable market access” (2005); “Reducing poverty through sustainable industrial development” (2006); “Technology and innovation for industry: investing in people is investing in the future” (2007); and “Business through technology” (2008).

Symbols

A common symbol of Africa Industrialization Day is a geographical representation of the continent, including the island of Madagascar. Flags of international organizations in Africa, such as the African Union, or a selection of national flags may also be displayed.

Africa Industrialization Day Observances

Weekday Date Year Name Holiday type Where it is observed
Thu Nov 20 1980 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Fri Nov 20 1981 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sat Nov 20 1982 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sun Nov 20 1983 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Tue Nov 20 1984 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Wed Nov 20 1985 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Thu Nov 20 1986 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Fri Nov 20 1987 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sun Nov 20 1988 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Mon Nov 20 1989 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Tue Nov 20 1990 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Wed Nov 20 1991 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Fri Nov 20 1992 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sat Nov 20 1993 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sun Nov 20 1994 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Mon Nov 20 1995 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Wed Nov 20 1996 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Thu Nov 20 1997 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Fri Nov 20 1998 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sat Nov 20 1999 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Mon Nov 20 2000 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Tue Nov 20 2001 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Wed Nov 20 2002 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Thu Nov 20 2003 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sat Nov 20 2004 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sun Nov 20 2005 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Mon Nov 20 2006 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Tue Nov 20 2007 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Thu Nov 20 2008 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Fri Nov 20 2009 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sat Nov 20 2010 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Sun Nov 20 2011 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Tue Nov 20 2012 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Wed Nov 20 2013 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Thu Nov 20 2014 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance
Fri Nov 20 2015 Africa Industrialization Day United Nations observance

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SKYWATCH: S&T RETROSPECTIVE, PLANNING FOR IMPACTS, AND MORE

NewsObservingPhoto GalleryMagazine ArchiveShop at Sky

News
Sky and Telescope turns 70

The S&T Staff

Bulletin at a Glance

News Observing This Week’s Sky at a Glance Community

S&T’s 70th Anniversary Video Is Here!

November 16, 2011                                                                | Watch a behind-the-scenes video of how S&T came to be and what it’s like working at the magazine today. > read more

If An Impact Looms, Then What?

November 18, 2011                                                                | A group of scientists, policy-makers, and science journalists recently tackled the tough who-where-how-and-why questions that will have to be answered if astronomers discover an asteroid or comet on a collision course with Earth. > read more

Europa’s Subsurface Lakes

November 17, 2011                                                                | Extensive lens-shaped lakes beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa may explain strange features spread across the satellite’s ice shell. > read more

A “Whodunit” of Cosmic Proportions

November 14, 2011                                                                | Most everyone credits Edwin Hubble with discovering that the universe is expanding. But historians believe the honor should really be shared with a lesser-known Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître. So what’s the real story? > read more

Observing

Jupiter through a 12½-inch telescope

Sean Walker

Jupiter: Big, Bright, and Beautiful

September 23, 2011                                                                | The “King of Planets,” which will dominate the evening sky from late 2011 through early 2012, is a captivating sight no matter how you look at it. > read more

Ceres and Vesta in 2011

September 8, 2011                                                                | The two brightest asteroids are in fine view for binoculars or a telescope. Here are instructions and charts to find them. > read more

Tour November’s Sky by Eye and Ear!

October 28, 2011                                                                  | With the return to Standard Time for North America and Europe, northern stargazers can catch some of the evening’s offerings before dinnertime. Venus and Jupiter are planetary bookends at sunset, with Venus lurking low in the western twilight just as the King of Planets rises in the east. > read more

Uranus and Neptune in 2011

May 31, 2011                                                                  | Uranus and Neptune are easy to find with the aid of the charts in this article. > read more

Trusty Comet Garradd

September 1, 2011                                                                  | Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd is shining at 7th or maybe even 6th magnitude as it traverses southeastern Hercules. > read more

This Week’s Sky at a Glance

Dawn view

This Week’s Sky at a Glance

November 18, 2011                                                                  | Venus shines low in the twilight, Jupiter blazes high all evening, the Mars-Regulus pair is up after midnight, and the Saturn-Spica pair is up at dawn. > read more

Community

NASA / JPL-Caltech / UMD, processed by Sean Walker

NASA Probe Offers Do-It-Yourself Imagery

November 16, 2011                                                                | Try your hand at processing raw images of deep-sky object taken by NASA’s EPOXI spacecraft. > read more

William T. Clark 1928-2011

November 14, 2011                                                                | The founder of one of the world’s best-known manufacturers of observatory domes passed away earlier this month. > read more

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