Today is November 17 2014

Homemade Bread Day: More
National Baklava Day : More

• International Student Day: More
  
• National Unfriend Day: More
• World Prematurity Awareness Day: More
  Preterm death awareness day
• Take A Hike Day: More
• World Peace Day: More
• The Little Mermaid Day: More
  1990 release date of the film.
• Electronic Greeting Card Day: More
• Get Smart About Antibiotics Day: More
  First day of weekly event

• In 1869, The Suez Canal opens connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Suez Canal (Egyptian Arabic: Kanat El Sewes) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869. After 10 years of construction, it was officially opened on November 17, 1869. The canal offers watercraft a shorter journey between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Mediterranean and Red seas by avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans, in turn reducing the journey by approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi). It extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km (120.11 mi), including its northern and southern access channels. In 2012, 17,225 vessels traversed the canal (47 per day).
  
  The canal is a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it. In general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez.
  
  The canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag."
  
  In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km (22 mi) to speed the canal's transit time. The expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities and individuals. The "New Suez Canal", as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel. This side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, will serve East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal anytime of day and night. East Container Terminal is located in the Suez Canal itself; before constructing the new side channel, as long as the Suez Canal convoy was running, there was no chance for vessels to berth or unberth at East Terminal'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1933, The Marx brothers film 'Duck Soup' starring the Marx Brothers is released in the U.S.
  From Wikipedia: 'Duck Soup is a 1933 Marx Brothers anarchic comedy film written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, with additional dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin, and directed by Leo McCarey. First released theatrically by Paramount Pictures on November 17, 1933, it starred what were then billed as the "Four Marx Brothers" (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo) and also featured Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern and Edgar Kennedy. It was the last Marx Brothers film to feature Zeppo, and the last of five Marx Brothers movies released by Paramount.
  
  Compared to the Marx Brothers' previous Paramount films, Duck Soup was a box-office disappointment, although it was not a "flop" as is sometimes reported. The film opened to mixed reviews, although this by itself did not end the group's business with Paramount. Bitter contract disputes, including a threatened walk-out by the Marxes, crippled relationships between them and Paramount just as Duck Soup went into production. After the film fulfilled their five-picture contract with the studio, the Marxes and Paramount agreed to part ways.
  
  While contemporaneous critics of Duck Soup felt it did not quite meet the standards of its predecessors, critical opinion has evolved and the film has since achieved the status of a classic. Duck Soup is now widely considered among critics to be a masterpiece of comedy, and the Marx Brothers' finest film.
  
  In 1990 the United States Library of Congress deemed Duck Soup "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1970, Douglas Engelbart gets a patent for the first computer mouse.
  From Wikipedia: 'Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly while at his Augmentation Research Center Lab in SRI International, which resulted in the invention of the computer mouse, and the development of hypertext, networked computers, and precursors to graphical user interfaces. These were demonstrated at The Mother of All Demos in 1968. Engelbart's Law, the observation that the intrinsic rate of human performance is exponential, is named after him.
  
  In the early 1950s, he decided that instead of "having a steady job" – such as his position at NASA's Ames Research Center – he would focus on making the world a better place. He reasoned that because the complexity of the world's problems were increasing, and that any effort to improve the world would require the coordination of groups of people, the most effective way to solve problems was to augment human intelligence and develop ways of building collective intelligence. He believed that the computer, which was at the time thought of only as a tool for automation, would be an essential tool for future knowledge workers to solve such problems. He was a committed, vocal proponent of the development and use of computers and computer networks to help cope with the world’s increasingly urgent and complex problems. Engelbart embedded a set of organizing principles in his lab, which he termed "bootstrapping". His belief was that when human systems and tool systems were aligned, such that workers spent time "improving their tools for improving their tools" it would lead to an accelerating rate of progress.
  
  Engelbart applied for a patent in 1967 and received it in 1970, for the wooden shell with two metal wheels (computer mouse – U.S. Patent 3,541,541), which he had developed with Bill English, his lead engineer, a few years earlier. In the patent application it is described as an "X-Y position indicator for a display system". Engelbart later revealed that it was nicknamed the "mouse" because the tail came out the end. His group also called the on-screen cursor a "bug", but this term was not widely adopted.
  
  He never received any royalties for his mouse invention. During an interview, he said "SRI patented the mouse, but they really had no idea of its value. Some years later it was learned that they had licensed it to Apple Computer for something like $40,000." Engelbart showcased the chorded keyboard and many more of his and ARC's inventions in 1968 at The Mother of All Demos'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1967, Surveyor 6 becomes the first man-made object to lift off the Moon. It went up 12 feet and successfully lands again.
  From Wikipedia: 'Surveyor 6 was the sixth lunar lander of the American unmanned Surveyor program that reached the surface of the Moon. Surveyor 6 landed on the Sinus Medii. A total of 30,027 images were transmitted to Earth.
  
  This spacecraft was the fourth of the Surveyor series to successfully achieve a soft landing on the moon, obtain post landing television pictures, determine the abundance of the chemical elements in the lunar soil, obtain touchdown dynamics data, obtain thermal and radar reflectivity data, and conduct a Vernier engine erosion experiment. Virtually identical to Surveyor 5, this spacecraft carried a television camera, a small bar magnet attached to one footpad, and an alpha-scattering instrument as well as the necessary engineering equipment. It landed on November 10, 1967, in Sinus Medii, 0.49 deg in latitude and 1.40 deg w longitude (selenographic coordinates)–the center of the moon's visible hemisphere. The spacecraft accomplished all planned objectives. The successful completion of this mission satisfied the Surveyor program's obligation to the Apollo project. On November 24, 1967, the spacecraft was shut down for the two-week lunar night. Contact was made on December 14, 1967, but no useful data was obtained.
  
  Lunar soil surveys were completed using photographic and alpha particle backscattering methods. A similar instrument, the APXS, was used onboard several Mars missions.
  
  In a further test of space technology, Surveyor 6's engines were restarted and burned for 2.5 seconds in the first lunar liftoff on November 17 at 10:32 UTC. This created 150 lbf (700 N) of thrust and lifted the vehicle 12 feet (4 m) from the lunar surface. After moving west 8 feet, (2.5 m) the spacecraft once again successfully soft landed and continued functioning as designed'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1970, The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

Two food holidays tomorrow. 'Homemade Bread Day' and 'National Baklava Day'.
[The Hankster says] With all the fragrances of room deodorants. why hasn't some company made Baking-bread', room spray?

Tomorrow is 'International Student Day'. It started as a commemoration of the more than 1000 students from the University of Prague who died in WW II. It is now, also, a day to celebrate multiculturalism among students of the world.

Tomorrow is 'Take A Hike Day'.
[The Hankster says} this is another day that everyone agrees exists, but there is confusion as to whether it is a day to go on a hike in the woods or tell someone to take a hike. If it is the first, please make sure you are within Wi-Fi distance, or you won't be able to finish readin this post.

We have three awareness days tomorrow. 'World Prematurity Awareness Day' (A Preterm death awareness day),'World Peace Day'. and 'Get Smart About Antibiotics Day'.

Tomorrow, celebrate, 'The Little Mermaid Day' on it's release date of the film back in 1989.

Tomorrow is comedian Jimmy Kimmel's second annual 'National Unfriend Day'. A day on which you are to clean out your unwanted social media friends.
[The Hankster says} Now be careful with this one. While deleting those unwanted friends you may ....wait a minute where are you going? Anyone out there? Hello, hello! I

Osbert Sitwell once said 'In reality, killing time is only the name for another of the multifarious ways by which Time kills us. '
[The Hankster says} If time has malicious intent, to punish our wastefulness, let us take refuge in the past and do a postmortem on November 17, in hopes of making the now and the future, more productive.

In 1869, The Suez Canal opens connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1967, Surveyor 6 becomes the first man-made object to lift off from the Moon. It went up 12 feet and successfully lands again. The Surveyor series, tested many abilities that would be needed for the moon Apollo landings

In 1970, The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.

In 1970, Douglas Engelbart gets a patent for the first computer mouse.

No. 1 song

• Baby Love - The Supremes: More
  'Last Kiss' has been displaced by 'Baby Love', which will hold the no. 1 spot until November 28 1964, when 'Leader of the Pack', takes over.

Top movie

• Roustabout More
  Having displaced 'Kitten with a Whip', it will be there until the weekend box office of December 13 1964 when, 'Father Goose', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: November 17 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: November 17 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 17th November More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 17th November More
• On-This-day.com history 17th November More
• On-This-day.com music history 17th November More
• Wikipedia.com: History November 17 More

Food:
National Peanut Butter Lover's Month
National Georgia Pecan Month
National Pepper Month
Other:
National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month
National American Indian Heritage Month
National Bladder Health Awareness Month
National Candle Month
National Child Mental Health Month
National Diabetes Awareness Month
National Epilepsy Awareness Month
National Family Caregivers Month
National Fragrance Month
National Healthy Skin Month
National Home Care Month
National Lifewriting Month
National Long Term Care Awareness Month
National Marrow Awareness Month
National Military Family Month
National Native American Heritage Month
National Novel Writing Month
National Pet Awareness Month
National Scholarship Month
National Senior Pet Month

November is:

November origin (from Wikipedia): 'November is the eleventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of four months with the length of 30 days. November was the ninth month of the ancient Roman calendar. November retained its name (from the Latin novem meaning 'nine') when January and February were added to the Roman calendar. '

'November is a month of spring in the Southern Hemisphere and autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, November in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of May in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.'

November at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1964 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2014 Postal Holidays More
• 2014 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More