Michelle Thaller speaks with NASA’s Alex Young about the space agency’s impressive fleet of Sun-monitoring satellites — including the upcoming Solar Probe Plus.
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Join Sky & Telescope in Chile – the “astronomy capital of the world” – from March 18 to 26, 2017. Our tour group will visit world-class observatories, see breathtaking landscapes, and observe the southern sky in crystal-clear night skies.
The United Nations’ (UN) World Teachers’ Day celebrates the role teachers play in providing quality education at all levels. This enables children and adults of all ages to learn to take part in and contribute to their local community and global society.
Various events are arranged in many countries around the world on or around October 5. These include celebrations to honor teachers in general or those who have made a special contribution to a particular community. The day may also be marked by conferences emphasizing the importance of teachers and learning, extra training sessions for teachers, recruitment drives for the teaching profession among university students or other suitably qualified professionals and events to increase the profile of teachers and the role they play in the media.
Trade unions or other professional organizations that represent teachers play an important role in organizing World Teachers’ Day events in many countries. These include:
The Australian Education Union.
The Canadian Teachers’ Federation.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (Canada).
The All India Secondary Teachers’ Federation.
The Japan Teachers’ Union.
The Teachers Council (New Zealand).
The National Union of Teachers (United Kingdom).
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (United Kingdom).
The National Education Association (United States).
Moreover, international organizations such as TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Education International organize international, national and local events. In some areas posters are displayed and pupils and ex-pupils are encouraged to send e-cards or letters of appreciation to teachers who made a special or memorable contribution to their education.
Public Life
World Teachers’ Day is a global observance and not a public holiday.
Background
On October 5, 1966, the Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers in Paris, France, was closed and the “Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers” was signed by representatives of UNESCO and International Labour Organization. On October 12, 1997, the 29th session of UNESCO’s General Conference was opened. During this conference, on November 11, 1997, the “Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel” was adopted.
On October 5, 1994, the first World Teachers’ Day was held. This event has been organized on the same date each year since then. However, local events may be on some other date close to October 5, so that they do not fall during fall (northern hemisphere) or spring (southern hemisphere) school vacations. In 2002, Canada Post issued a postage stamp to commemorate World Teachers’ Day.
2016 Theme: “Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies”
In addition to the United States Supreme Court reconvening on the first Monday in October after its summer hiatius, also on this day is the recognition of World Habitat Day.
The United Nations’ (UN) World Habitat Day is annually celebrated on the first Monday of October to reflect on the state of human settlements and people’s right to sufficient shelter. It also aims to remind people that they are responsible for the habitat of future next generations.
What Do People Do?
World Habitat Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, including in places such as Angola, China, India, Mexico, Poland, Uganda and the United States. Various activities around the world are organized to examine the problems of rapid urbanization and its impact on the environment and human poverty. Activities may include awards ceremonies, including the “Habitat Scroll of Honour” award.
Public Life
World Habitat Day is a global observance and not a public holiday.
Background
The UN’s World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme “Shelter is My Right”. Nairobi was allocated as the host city for the observance that year. This annual event is held on the first Monday of October with a new theme each year. Previous themes included: “Shelter for the Homeless” (1987); “Our Neighbourhood” (1995); “Future Cities” (1997); “Safer Cities” (1998); “Women in Urban Governance” (2000); “Cities without Slums” (2001) and “Water and Sanitation for Cities” (2003).
An important highlight of the day is the “Habitat Scroll of Honour” award, which was launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHSP) in 1989. It is believed to be the world’s most prestigious human settlements award and aims to acknowledge initiatives that make outstanding contributions in areas such as shelter provision, highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post conflict reconstruction, and developing and improving the human settlements and the quality of urban life.
Symbols
The UNHSP logo and slogan are often associated with World Habitat Day. The logo features The logo features a wreath consisting of crossed conventionalized branches of an olive tree encapsulating a circle. Within the circle is a figure of a person with his/her arms stretched out. The figure appears to be standing in front of a triangle. Underneath the image are the words “UN-HABITAT”. The slogan: “Shelter For All” is written in capital letters and sometimes appears next to the logo.
The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Non-Violence is a global observance that promotes non-violence through education and public awareness. It is annually held on October 2 to coincide with renowned Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
Many people, governments, and non-government organizations around the world observe the International Day of Non-Violence through various events and activities such as:
News articles and broadcast announcements promoting the day.
Public lectures, seminars, discussions, and press conferences about non-violence.
Photo exhibitions highlighting issues, such as the dangers of the illicit trade of small arms.
Street awareness campaigns.
Light ceremonies promoting non-violence and peace.
Multi-faith prayer meetings.
The International Day of Non-Violence has strong connections with the works, beliefs, and methods of peace leader Mahatma Gandhi, who is known as India’s “Father of the Nation”.
Public Life
The International Day of Non-Violence is a global observance but it is not a public holiday.
Background
The principle of non-violence, also known as non-violent resistance, rejects the use of physical violence to achieve social or political change. Many groups throughout the world use this method in social justice campaigns. There are three main categories of non-violence action:
Protest and persuasion, including marches and vigils.
Non-cooperation.
Non-violent intervention, such as blockades and occupations.
The UN recognizes a philosophical connection between the human rights principles in its universal declaration and those that Mahatma Gandhi used. Gandhi was born in India on October 2, 1869. He is remembered today for his contributions towards India’s freedom and for sharing with the world a doctrine for dealing with injustice and disharmony. He taught people the philosophy of Ahimsa, which encourages the use of non-violence as a tool for the peaceful resolution of differences. India gained its freedom on August 15, 1947, through Gandhi’s efforts. He was assassinated on January 30, 1948.
The UN General Assembly came up with a resolution in 2007 to establish the International Day of Non-Violence. The day aimed to spread the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness, around the world. The resolution reflected universal respect for Gandhi and his philosophy. October 2, which is Gandhi’s birthday, was allocated as the day’s date. The first International Day of Non-Violence was on October 2, 2007.
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.
Arnold Palmer hits from a sand trap during the annual Masters Par 3 golf tournament in 2008.Hans Deryk / Reuters
September 25, 2016
Arnold Palmer, one of the most renowned professional golfers of the 20th century, died on Sunday. He was 87 years old.
Nicknamed “the King,” Palmer’s exploits on the green in the postwar boom years helped transform golf from a patrician country-club hobby into a mass-marketable sport. Charming and aggressive, his unique play style won him legions of fans, a following he later harnessed to build a small business empire.
From 1958 through 1964, Palmer was the charismatic face of professional golf and one of its dominant players. In those seven seasons, he won seven major titles: four Masters, one United States Open and two British Opens. With 62 victories on the PGA Tour, he ranks fifth, behind Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan. He won 93 tournaments worldwide, including the 1954 United States Amateur.
But it was more than his scoring and shotmaking that captivated the sports world. It was how he played. He did not so much navigate a course as attack it. If his swing was not classic, it was ferocious: He seemed to throw all 185 pounds of his muscular 5-foot-10 body at the ball. If he did not win, he at least lost with flair.
In 2004, Palmer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for his lifelong devotion to the sport he helped popularize. Congress also awarded him a Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.
“For more than 50 years, over thousands of miles of fairway, and in 92 professional championships, Arnold has given his all, playing with style and a daring that changed the game of golf,” President George W. Bush said at the 2004 ceremony. “He drew millions of fans, and every big crowd we see at a golf tournament today started with Arnie’s Army.”
The big hits of 1963 included “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Puff the Magic Dragon” and, in England anyway, a rush of hits by some next big thing called The Beatles, but in terms of sheer recall-ability, a song from that year by advertising executive Richard Trentlage might best them all. It begins, “Oh I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer weiner…”
Trentlage, a former ad man with McCann-Erickson and D’Arcy who wrote the Oscar Mayer jingle, died of congestive heart failure at 87 on September 21 at a hospital in Libertyville, Ill. His death was confirmed by his daughter Linda Bruun to The New York Times.
Youtube
Trentlage also wrote memorable jingles for McDonald’s (“McDonald’s is your kind of place!”) and V-8 (“It sure doesn’t taste like tomato juice”), but it was the Oscar Mayer Weiner Song (initially called “The Marching Song” by the ad team) that would go on to hover near the top of countless “Greatest Jingle” lists over the decades. Though the opening line is sometimes remembered as “Oh, I wish I were…” rather than the original “Oh, I’d love to be…,” the song remains firmly entrenched in at least several generations of impressionable TV-absorbing minds.
Oh, I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer wiener.
That is what I’d truly like to be.
‘Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener,
Everyone would be in love with me.
Oh, I’m glad I’m not an Oscar Mayer wiener. That is what I’d never want to be. Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener. There would soon be nothing left of me!
Trentlage often told the story of the song’s origins: After learning of a jingle contest being sponsored by the deli meat company, Trentlage was inspired by his young son’s comment that he wished he could be “a dirt-bike hot dog” like his cool friend. The tune won the contest, and served as the company’s signature tune from 1963 until 2010. It’s only rival in customers’ hearts was its corporate sibling song that begins “My baloney has a first name…”
Trentlage was born on Dec. 27, 1928, and is survived by a wife, two sons, two daughters, two stepdaughters, a stepson and 19 grandchildren.
AGNES NIXON, CREATOR OF POPULAR DAYTIME SOAP OPERA ‘ALL MY CHILDREN’
Agnes Nixon arrives at the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards in Las Vegas. Nixon created the popular soap operas “One Life to Live” and “All My Children.” Photo: Chris Pizzello, Associated Press
Associated Press
Published 12:26 pm, Saturday, October 1, 2016
LOS ANGELES — Agnes Nixon, the creative force behind the enduring TV soap operas “One Life to Live” and “All My Children,” has died. She was 93.
Ms. Nixon died Wednesday at a Haverford, Pa., physical rehabilitation facility close to her Rosemont home, said her son, Bob Nixon. She had checked in to gain strength for a planned book tour, he said.
She had just completed her memoir, “My Life to Live,” on Sunday, a week before it was due to publisher Penguin Random House for publication in early 2017, her son said.
“She was really a great wife, mother and human being — but above all, a writer. She was writing up until last night,” he said, and had called him with a few changes for the book.
The cause of death was not immediately known, he said.
Ms. Nixon suffered a stroke four years ago with serious complications, her son said, but she fought to regain her health. He confirmed her birth month as December 1922, despite media reports that she was 88.
“I am devastated to learn that we have lost Agnes. I adored her and admired her and I am forever grateful to her!” Susan Lucci, who starred as Erica Kane on “All My Children,” said in a statement.
Ms. Nixon created, wrote and produced the long-running ABC daytime serials, which were canceled in 2011 as the network bowed to the reality that soaps had faded as a daytime TV force. Both subsequently had short-lived online runs.
“All My Children” aired for nearly 41 years, while “One Life to Live” made it to 44 years. They were set in the fictional Philadelphia-area towns of Pine Valley and Llanview.
Social issues including child abuse, AIDS, alcoholism and gay rights made their way into the series’ story lines. Erica Kane was the first regularly appearing TV character to undergo a legal abortion, in 1973.
In a 2003 episode of “All My Children,” Bianca, who was Erica’s daughter, and the character Lena shared what was billed as daytime TV’s first same-sex kiss.
“The theme of ‘All My Children’ from the beginning is the belief that, as God’s children, we are all bound to each other by our common humanity, despite our many personal differences,” Ms. Nixon said at the time. “The Bianca story is our latest effort to dramatize that belief.”
“Agnes’ impact on daytime television and pop culture is undeniable,” said Robert Iger, chairman and CEO of ABC parent The Walt Disney Co., in a statement. “She was the first to champion socially relevant topics, and the towns and characters Agnes brought to life leave an indelible imprint on television that will be remembered forever.”
Ms. Nixon, a native of Chicago, was mentored by the grande dame of the soap opera genre, Irna Phillips, back in the radio age.
She was writing for a TV soap, “Search for Tomorrow,” as early as 1951. In the late 1960s, while raising a family and serving as head writer for “The Guiding Light,” Ms. Nixon created a “bible” detailing “All My Children.”
The show was rejected by CBS, but after Ms. Nixon breathed new life into NBC’s flagging “Another World,” she was approached by ABC to create a new serial. That was the start of “One Life to Live,” which earned such solid ratings in its first year that ABC asked for another.
“I said to my husband, ‘I can’t think of another one,’” Ms. Nixon told the AP in 2013. “He said, ‘How about “All My Children”?’ So I opened the desk drawer and took out the ‘bible’ and sent it to ABC. They said, ‘Boy, that was fast work!’”
The stories and characters of Ms. Nixon’s fictional worlds never ended for her, Bob Nixon said: “It might not have been on the air but it was in her head.”
Agnes Nixon was married to the late Robert Nixon, and the couple’s four children are among her survivors. Services were planned for Saturday in Rosemont, with a private burial to follow.
President Shimon Peres addresses members of the Foreign Press Association during a visit to the southern Israeli town of Sderot in July 2014, following Palestinian rocket attacks on the city.
Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
The last surviving leader of Israel’s founding generation, Shimon Peres was a three-time prime minister, the architect of the country’s secretive nuclear program and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.
Peres, who died Tuesday at 93 according to Israeli officials, was at the center of recurring Middle East dramas throughout his more than six decades of public life. Still in his mid-20s, Peres was put in charge of securing weapons for the main paramilitary in Israel’s 1948 war of independence, and he remained in prominent roles until he stepped down as the country’s president in 2014, at age 90.
In a remarkable career filled with great triumphs and bitter setbacks, he held more senior positions than any other Israeli, often at pivotal moments in the country’s turbulent history. In addition to his tenures as president and prime minister, he served as foreign minister (three times), defense minister (twice), finance minister and transportation minister in Israel’s ever-rotating coalition governments.
However, Peres was unable to obtain the prize he sought most: an Israel fully at peace with its Arab neighbors. And while Peres was celebrated internationally, he always struggled in Israeli elections, and many Palestinians felt his actions fell far short of his dovish proclamations.
Immigrant from Eastern Europe
Like many of Israel’s founders, Peres’ story began in a tiny Eastern European town. He was born Aug. 2, 1923, in Wiszniew, Poland, which is now Vishnyeva, Belarus. His family immigrated a decade later to what was then called Mandatory Palestine, under British rule.
In the first major Arab-Israeli war, in 1948, Peres played a key role in procuring arms for the Haganah, a militia that evolved into the Israeli military following the country’s independence. Peres was rapidly promoted within the Defense Ministry, becoming director general several years later at age 29.
That made Peres a central figure during the 1956 Suez Canal crisis, when Israel, Britain and France joined forces in a bid to seize the crucial waterway from Egypt. While the military operation was a success, the political blowback from the U.S. and the Soviet Union forced those three countries to retreat and return the canal to Egypt.
This episode reflected Peres’ more aggressive side during his younger years. Yossi Beilin, who would become a Peres ally and negotiate the secret Oslo Accord with the Palestinians in the 1990s, described Peres as “more hawkish than others” for decades.
Architect of Israel’s nuclear program
Peres, meanwhile, would also make his mark as the man who developed Israel’s nuclear program during the late 1950s.
“It was Shimon Peres who persuaded [Israel’s first prime minister] David Ben-Gurion in 1956-57 that the time was right to initiate the nuclear project. From the beginning Peres was entrusted by Ben-Gurion to lead Israel’s pursuit of a nuclear capability,” wrote Avner Cohen, a leading authority on Israel’s nuclear program.
Ben-Gurion and Peres believed a nuclear deterrent was crucial for the small, fledgling country surrounded by much larger Arab states. Peres rapidly built the program by working closely with France, a leading ally of Israel’s at the time.
“Of all the countries engaged in nuclear research and development, only France might be prepared to help us,” Peres would later write. “I believed, therefore, that all our diplomatic efforts should be focused on France.”
Israel does not discuss details of its nuclear program to this day, but according to the CIA and others it is widely believed to have 100 or more nuclear weapons.
Throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Peres moved from one top government job to another as coalition governments formed, fell apart and formed again. He was never far from the action whether it was a military, diplomatic or economic matter.
In the 1980s, Israel’s economy crashed as inflation spiked to more than 400 percent a year. Peres negotiated with union leaders, major employers and central bank officials and forged deals to cut wages and freeze prices, moves that helped stabilize the economy. In the years that followed, he would be a leading advocate of the country’s high-tech sector.
Peres first served as prime minister for just two months in 1977. He held the job again, from 1984-86, in an unusual arrangement brought on by a deadlocked election between his left-leaning Labor Party and the right-leaning Likud Party. Peres led the country for the first two years of a four-year term and was then replaced by the hawkish Yitzhak Shamir.
Secret peace talks
In 1987, the Palestinians launched an uprising, or intifada, that would last for six years. That was one of several developments, along with the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, that led to a major international push to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israelis and Palestinians held secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway, and reached an interim deal that was signed on the White House lawn in 1993. With President Clinton presiding, Israel was represented by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Peres, then the foreign minister, and the Palestinians by their leader, Yasser Arafat.
The agreement called for talks to permanently end the conflict, and though that deal still needed to be negotiated, the three men were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (from left), Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin pose with their medals and diplomas after receiving the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 1994. The three were awarded the prize for “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East.” AP
“Let us become a civic community,” Peres said in his speech on the White House lawn. “Let us bid once and for all farewell to wars, to threats, to human misery. Let us bid farewell to enmity, and may there be no more victims on either side.”
But it was not to be. The negotiations were fraught from the beginning. Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli ultra-nationalist in 1995. Peres took over as prime minister, but seven months later, he lost a tight election to the hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu and the peace talks largely stalled.
In 2000, the Palestinians launched a second uprising that would leave almost 1,000 Israelis and several thousand Palestinians dead over the next five years.
Peres issued repeated calls to revive negotiations, but he faced increasingly skeptical, if not outright hostile responses from both sides. He suffered repeated political bruises, said Collette Avital, who worked closely with him in the Foreign Ministry.
“He was the most hated man in Israel for many, many years. Nobody trusted him, nobody liked him, except a few of us,” Avital said.
While many Israelis criticized him for pursuing peace talks, some Palestinians distrusted him as a peacemaker.
Abdullah Abdullah, a longtime Palestinian foreign affairs official, said many Arabs were killed during Peres’ time in office. He recalled a 1996 fight between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. During that battle, the Israeli military fired artillery that killed more than 100 civilians taking shelter in a United Nations compound in southern Lebanon.
“Like makeup on an ugly face, he beautifies the face, the crimes of Israel,” Abdullah said of Peres.
Elder statesman
Peres served in the mostly ceremonial position of president from 2007 to 2014, and celebrated his 90th birthday while still in office. Beilin says that in that role, Peres became an elder statesman respected both at home and abroad, rising above the hurly-burly of daily politics.
“In a way, he became the father of the nation. Belatedly. He had been so controversial. And suddenly he became a consensus [builder],” said Beilin. “Which was really a prize he deserved after all these years.”
President Obama said in a statement Wednesday that Peres “was guided by a vision of the human dignity and progress,” and that he changed the course of history through his moral foundation and “unflagging optimism.”
Peres suffered from a stroke two weeks ago and died Tuesday. His body will lie in state at Israel’s parliament on Thursday, and his funeral will be held Friday.
President Obama, Prince Charles and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, as well as other heads of state, will attend the funeral, Israel’s Foreign Ministry says.
ALMA, currently the largest telescope array in the world, just took a look at the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest-ever image, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Here’s what it found.
By Monday, the waxing crescent Moon is thicker and easier to see now in the west-southwest in twilight, though it’s still pretty low. Venus is now about 4° below it (two or three finger-widths at arm’s length).
Early risers get a triple treat this week and next: a ravishing dawn Moon, an excellent apparition of Mercury, and a hint of Halloween in the ghostly zodiacal light.
Tour October’s Sky: Planets in Transition Download our monthly astronomy podcast to track down Saturn in the evening sky one last time. Mars is still hanging around, and Venus is climbing higher each evening.
The November 2016 issue of Sky & Telescope, just off the press, celebrates the magazine’s 75 years of monthly publication since November 1941 – and recaps the 75 most exciting years for astronomy in human history.
Wondering where to go to witness next year’s total solar eclipse? We at Sky & Telescope are proud to offer a newly developed tour based in eastern Wyoming.
The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Older Persons is celebrated annually on October 1 to recognize the contributions of older persons and to examine issues that affect their lives.
International Day of Older Persons is a special day for older persons or senior citizens all over the world. In many countries, politicians make speeches, particularly those responsible for government departments that focus on senior citizens, at this time of the year. Some radios, televisions or newspapers publish interviews with senior citizens on various issues such as achievements they made to create a better society.
Other activities surrounding this day include: displays of promotional material on the International Day of Older Persons in schools, tertiary institutions, office buildings and public notice boards; media announcements on the day and activities that promote older persons; and inter-generational cooperation on voluntary activities focused on the environment, health, education or community services.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which is the UN’s directing and coordinating authority for health related issues, and other groups have been actively involved in promoting public awareness and attention on the International Day of Older Persons. Discussions are centered on topics such as: ageing populations and the provision of adequate healthcare for aged persons; volunteer work; social care; and ways to be more inclusive of older persons in the workforce.
Public Life
The International Day of Older Persons is a global observance and not a public holiday.
Background
On December 14, 1990, the UN General Assembly made October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons, following up on initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, which was adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing and endorsed later that year by the assembly. The International Day of Older Persons was observed for the first time throughout the world on October 1, 1991.
In 1991 the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons. In 2002 the second World Assembly on Ageing adopted the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing to respond to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages.
Symbols
The WHO logo is often seen on promotional material for the International Day of Older Persons. The logo is often featured in the color white on a mid-blue background. It shows a stereographic projection of the Earth centered on the North Pole under a serpent coiled around a staff. Two ears of wheat “cradle” the image. The projection symbolizes the global nature of the organization, while the serpent and staff are known to symbolize medical help and knowledge. Images of older people from different cultures and backgrounds around the world have been also used in UN promotional tools for the International Day of Older Persons.
The United Nations (UN), via the International Maritime Organization (IMO), created World Maritime Day to celebrate the international maritime industry’s contribution towards the world’s economy, especially in shipping. The event’s date varies by year and country but it is always on the last week of September.
World Maritime Day focuses on the importance of shipping safety, maritime security and the marine environment and to emphasize a particular aspect of IMO’s work. The day also features a special message from the IMO’s secretary-general, which is backed up by a discussion paper on the selected subject in more detail.
World Maritime Day is celebrated in many countries worldwide, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Many maritime organizations and unions hold special events and activities to celebrate this day. These activities and events range from symposiums to luncheons, as well as school lessons that focus on the day. Some classes may organize a trip to a maritime museum so students can understand the significance of the maritime industry in shaping world history and its importance in world trade.
Public Life
World Maritime Day is a global observance and not a public holiday.
Background
Throughout history, people have understood that international regulations that are followed by many countries worldwide could improve marine safety so many treaties have been adopted since the 19th century. Various countries proposed for a permanent international body to be established to promote maritime safety more effectively but it was not until the UN was established that these hopes were realized. An international conference in Geneva in 1948 adopted a convention formally establishing the IMO, a specialized UN agency that develops and maintains a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping.
The IMO’s original name was the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) but the name was changed in 1982 to IMO. The IMO focuses on areas such as safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping.
World Maritime Day was first held on March 17, 1978 to mark the date of the IMO Convention’s entry into force in 1958. At that time, the organization had 21 member states. It now has about 167 member states and three associate members. This membership includes virtually all the nations of the world with an interest in maritime affairs, including those involved in the shipping industry and coastal states with an interest in protecting their maritime environment.
Note: The dates below are a rough guide on when World Maritime Day is observed, based on the most recent previous dates it was observed by the UN. It is also important to note that the exact date is left to individual governments but is usually celebrated during the last week in September.
Ann
BEAUTIFUL, ALSO, ARE THE SOULS OF MY BLACK SISTERS 