<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Peanut Butter Fudge Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Fudge):
'Fudge is a type of confectionery which is made by mixing sugar, butter and
milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at 240 °F (116 °C), and then
beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy
consistency. Fruits, nuts, caramel, candies, and other flavors are
sometimes added either inside or on top'.
[The Hankster says] Everything is better with peanut butter in it. Well, almost everything.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Beautiful Day'.
[The Hankster says] A celebration of what you can find, if you look for it.
* 'National Absurdity Day'.
[The Hankster says] Let loose and enjoy the day. If you couldn't find anything beautiful maybe you can find something absurd. Enjoy the day, either way.
* 'Name Your PC Day'.
[The Hankster says] Choose a good name, at least to amuse your PC repairman.
* '2016 Pasadena Doo Dah Parade'.
- From Wikipedia (Doo Dah Parade):
'The Pasadena Doo Dah Parade is a popular farcical and flamboyant parade
held in Pasadena, California, about once a year, usually in the fall or
winter, although in recent years it has moved to the nearest Saturday to
May Day. The event has been copied by the Columbus, Ohio, Ocean City, New
Jersey, and Kalamazoo, Michigan Doo Dah Parades'.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Health
* 'GERD Awareness Week'. November 20-26. A focus on Gastroesophageal reflux
disease,.
- From Wikipedia (Gastroesophageal reflux disease):
'Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), also known as acid reflux, is a
long term condition where stomach contents come back up into the esophagus
resulting in either symptoms or complications. Symptoms include the taste
of acid in the back of the mouth, heartburn, bad breath, chest pain,
vomiting, breathing problems, and wearing away of the teeth. Complications
include esophagitis, esophageal strictures, and Barrett's esophagus.
Risk factors include obesity, pregnancy, smoking, hiatus hernia, and taking
certain medicines. Medications involved include antihistamines, calcium
channel blockers, antidepressants, and sleeping medication. It is due to
poor closure of the lower esophageal sphincter (the junction between the
stomach and the esophagus). Diagnosis among those who do not improve with
simpler measures may involve gastroscopy, upper GI series, esophageal pH
monitoring, or esophageal manometry.
Treatment is typically via lifestyle changes, medications, and sometimes
surgery. Lifestyle changes include not lying down for three hours after
eating, losing weight, avoiding certain foods, and stopping smoking.
Medications include antacid, H2 receptor blockers, proton pump inhibitors,
and prokinetics. Surgery may be an option in those who do not improve with
other measures.
In the Western world between 10 and 20% of the population are affected by
GERD. Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) once in awhile, without significant
symptoms or complications, is more common. The condition was first
described in 1935 by Asher Winkelstein. The classic symptoms had been
described earlier in 1925'.
* 'Skin Cancer Action Week'. November 20-26 in Australia.
- From Wikipedia (Skin cancer):
'Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the
development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to
other parts of the body. There are three main types: basal-cell skin cancer
(BCC), squamous-cell skin cancer (SCC) and melanoma. The first two together
along with a number of less common skin cancers are known as nonmelanoma
skin cancer (NMSC). Basal-cell cancer grows slowly and can damage the
tissue around it but is unlikely to spread to distant areas or result in
death. It often appears as a painless raised area of skin, that may be
shiny with small blood vessel running over it or may present as a raised
area with an ulcer. Squamous-cell cancer is more likely to spread. It
usually presents as a hard lump with a scaly top but may also form an
ulcer. Melanomas are the most aggressive. Signs include a mole that has
changed in size, shape, color, has irregular edges, has more than one
color, is itchy or bleeds.
Greater than 90% of cases are caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation
from the Sun. This exposure increases the risk of all three main types of
skin cancer. Exposure has increased partly due to a thinner ozone layer.
Tanning beds are becoming another common source of ultraviolet radiation.
For melanomas and basal-cell cancers exposure during childhood is
particularly harmful. For squamous-cell cancers total exposure,
irrespective of when it occurs, is more important. Between 20% and 30% of
melanomas develop from moles. People with light skin are at higher risk as
are those with poor immune function such as from medications or HIV/AIDS.
Diagnosis is by biopsy.
Decreasing exposure to ultraviolet radiation and the use of sunscreen
appear to be effective methods of preventing melanoma and squamous-cell
cancer. It is not clear if sunscreen affects the risk of basal-cell cancer.
Nonmelanoma skin cancer is usually curable. Treatment is generally by
surgical removal but may less commonly involve radiation therapy or topical
medications such as fluorouracil. Treatment of melanoma may involve some
combination of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted
therapy. In those people whose disease has spread to other areas of their
bodies, palliative care may be used to improve quality of life. Melanoma
has one of the higher survival rates among cancers, with over 86% of people
in the UK and more than 90% in the United States surviving more than 5
years.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, globally accounting for at
least 40% of cases. It is especially common among people with light skin.
The most common type is nonmelanoma skin cancer, which occurs in at least
2-3 million people per year. This is a rough estimate, however, as good
statistics are not kept. Of nonmelanoma skin cancers, about 80% are
basal-cell cancers and 20% squamous-cell cancers. Basal-cell and
squamous-cell cancers rarely result in death. In the United States they
were the cause of less than 0.1% of all cancer deaths. Globally in 2012
melanoma occurred in 232,000 people, and resulted in 55,000 deaths.
Australia and New Zealand have the highest rates of melanoma in the world.
The three main types of skin cancer have become more common in the last 20
to 40 years, especially in those areas which are mostly Caucasian'.
* 'Transgender Day of Remembrance'. Since 1999. In the memory of those who
have been killed as a result of transphobia and to raise awareness of the
continued violence against transgenders. It commemorates the murder of Rita
Hester, a transgender African American Woman.
* 'Universal Children's Day'. Since 1954. A U.N. recognition day.
Celebrated on the day of the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of
the Child.
- From Wikipedia (Children's Day - Universal Children's Day):
'Universal Children's Day takes place annually on 20 November. First
proclaimed by the United Kingdom in 1954, it was established to encourage
all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and
understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and
promote the welfare of the world's children.
That is observed to promote the objectives outlined in the Charter and for
the welfare of children. On 20 November 1959 the United Nations adopted the
Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The United Nations adopted the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989 and can be found
on the Council of Europe website.
In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals outlined by world leaders in
order to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. Albeit this applies to all
people, the main objective is with regard to children. UNICEF is dedicated
to meeting the six of eight goals that apply to the needs of children so
that they are all entitled to basic rights written in the 1989
international human rights treaty. UNICEF delivers vaccines, works with
policymakers for good health care and education and works exclusively to
help children and protect their rights.
In September 2012, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations
led the initiative for the education of children. He firstly wants every
child to be able to attend school, a goal by 2015. Secondly, to improve the
skillset acquired in these schools. Finally, implementing policies
regarding education to promote peace, respect and environmental concern.
Universal Children's Day is not simply a day to celebrate children for who
they are, but to bring awareness to children around the globe that have
succumbed to violence in forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination.
Children are used as labourers in some countries, immersed in armed
conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences be it religion,
minority issues, or disabilities. Children feeling the effects of war can
be displaced because of the armed conflict and/or suffer physical and
psychological trauma. The following violations are described in the term
children and armed conflict: recruitment and child soldiers,
killing/maiming of children, abduction of children, attacks on
schools/hospitals and not allowing humanitarian access to children.
Currently there are about 153 million children between the ages of 5 and 14
who are forced into child labour. The International Labour Organization in
1999 adopted the Prohibition and Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child
Labour including slavery, child prostitution and child pornography.
A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child can
be found on the UNICEF website.
Canada co-chaired the World Summit for children in 1990 and in 2002 the
United Nations reaffirmed the commitment to complete the agenda of the 1990
World Summit. This added to the UN Secretary-General's report We the
Children: End-of Decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for
Children.
The United Nations children's agency released a study referencing the
population increase of children will make up 90 per cent of the next
billion people'.
o Other:
* 'National Family Week'. November 20-26.
- From Wikipedia (National Family Week):
'National Family Week originated in Canada and takes place the week before
Thanksgiving every year. It was proclaimed an official week by the
government of Canada in 1985. National Family Week is celebrated throughout
the country with special events put on by community organizations. National
Family Week also exists in The United Kingdom, The United States and
Australia.
It is a distinct event from Family Day which is a statutory holiday created
by the provincial governments of Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
National Family Week in the United States takes place the week of American
Thanksgiving. It was first proclaimed by Ronald Reagan on November 19,
1987. It is organized by the Alliance for Children and Families'.
* 'World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims'. . Since 1993 by the
U.N. on the third Sunday of November.
- From Wikipedia (World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims):
'The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims takes place on the
third Sunday in November every year as the appropriate acknowledgment of
victims of road traffic crashes and their families. It was started by the
British road crash victim charity, RoadPeace, in 1993 and was adopted by
the United Nations General Assembly in 2005'.
* 'Africa Industrialization Day'. Since 1989. A U.N. observance day.
<> Historical events on November 20
* 'In 1820, An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from
Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South
America.
- From Wikipedia: 'Essex was an American whaler from Nantucket,
Massachusetts, launched in 1799. While under the command of Captain George
Pollard, Jr., in 1820 a sperm whale attacked and sank her. The sinking
stranded the twenty-man crew in the southern Pacific Ocean with little food
and water. During the 95 days that the survivors were at sea, they ate the
bodies of five crewmen who had died. When that was insufficient, members of
the crew drew lots to determine whom they would sacrifice so that the
others could live. A total of seven crew members were cannibalized before
the eight survivors were rescued. First mate Owen Chase and cabin boy
Thomas Nickerson wrote accounts of their ordeal these accounts inspired
Herman Melville to write his famous 1851 novel Moby-Dick'.
* 'In 1866, Pierre Lalemont patents rotary crank bicycle. In this early
model, the peddles were attached to the front wheel. Before his invention,
people road the 'Dandy Horse', a bicycle that one straddled and pushed with
the feet. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Pierre Lallement (French: October 25, 1843 – August 29,
1891) is considered by some to be the inventor of the pedal bicycle.
Lallement was born on October 25, 1843 in Pont-à-Mousson near Nancy,
France.
In 1862 while Lallement was employed building baby carriages in Nancy he
saw someone riding a dandy horse, a forerunner of the bicycle that required
the rider to propel the vehicle by walking. Lallement modified what he had
seen by adding a transmission comprising a rotary crank mechanism and
pedals attached to the front-wheel hub, thus creating the first true
bicycle.
He moved to Paris in 1863 and apparently interacted with the Olivier
brothers who saw commercial potential in his invention. The Oliviers formed
a partnership with Pierre Michaux to mass-produce a 2-wheeled velocipede.
Whether these bicycles used Lallement's design of 1864 or another by Ernest
Michaux is a matter of dispute. Lallement himself may have been an employee
of Michaux for a short time'.
* 'In 1888, Willard Bundy patents timecard clock. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Bundy Manufacturing Company was a 19th-century
American manufacturer of timekeeping devices that went through a series of
mergers, eventually becoming part of International Business Machines then
Simplex Time Recorder Company. The company was founded by the Bundy
Brothers.
Willard Legrand Bundy was born on 8 December 1845 in Otsego, New York, and
died on 19 January 1907. His family later moved to Auburn, New York, where
he worked as a jeweler and invented a time clock in 1888. He later obtained
patents of many mechanical devices.
Harlow E. Bundy was born in 1856 in Auburn, New York. He was a graduate of
Hamilton College. He died in 1916 in Pasadena, California, after retiring
from business in 1915.
An early and influential time clock, sometimes described as the first, was
invented on November 20, 1888, by Willard Le Grand Bundy, a jeweler in
Auburn, New York. His patent of 1890 speaks of mechanical time recorders
for workers in terms that suggest that earlier recorders already existed,
but Bundy's had various improvements for example, each worker had his own
key. A year later his brother, Harlow Bundy, organized the Bundy
Manufacturing Company, and began mass-producing time clocks.
In 1900, the time recording business of Bundy Manufacturing, along with two
other time equipment businesses, was consolidated into the International
Time Recording Company (ITR).
In 1911, ITR, Bundy Mfg., and three other companies were consolidated,
forming Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), which would later
change its name to IBM.
The Bundy Clock was used by Birmingham City Transport to ensure that bus
drivers did not depart from outlying termini before the due time now
preserved at Walsall Arboretum'.
* 'In 1902, Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle
race. .
- From Wikipedia: The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle
race primarily held in France, while also occasionally making passes
through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1903 to increase
paper sales for the magazine L'Auto it is currently run by the Amaury Sport
Organisation. The race has been held annually since its first edition in
1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Tour gained
prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to
extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French
field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race
each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams
that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with the exception of
the teams that the organizers invite.
'The Tour de France was created in 1903. The roots of the Tour de France
trace to the emergence of two rival sports newspapers in the country. On
the one hand was Le Vélo, the first and the largest daily sports newspaper
in France which sold 80,000 copies a day. On the other was L'Auto, which
had been set-up by journalists and business-people including Comte
Jules-Albert de Dion, Adolphe Clément and Édouard Michelin in 1899. The
rival paper emerged following disagreements over the Dreyfus Affair, a
cause célèbre (in which de Dion was implicated) that divided France at the
end of the 19th century over the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus, a French army
officer convicted—though later exonerated—of selling military secrets to
the Germans. The new newspaper appointed Henri Desgrange as the editor. He
was a prominent cyclist and owner with Victor Goddet of the velodrome at
the Parc des Princes. De Dion knew him through his cycling reputation,
through the books and cycling articles that he had written, and through
press articles he had written for the Clément tyre company.
L'Auto was not the success its backers wanted. Stagnating sales lower than
the rival it was intended to surpass led to a crisis meeting on 20 November
1902 on the middle floor of L'Auto's office at 10 Rue du Faubourg
Montmartre, Paris. The last to speak was the most junior there, the chief
cycling journalist, a 26-year-old named Géo Lefèvre. Desgrange had poached
him from Giffard's paper. Lefèvre suggested a six-day race of the sort
popular on the track but all around France. Long-distance cycle races were
a popular means to sell more newspapers, but nothing of the length that
Lefèvre suggested had been attempted. If it succeeded, it would help L'Auto
match its rival and perhaps put it out of business. It could, as Desgrange
said, nail Giffard's beak shut. Desgrange and Lefèvre discussed it after
lunch. Desgrange was doubtful but the paper's financial director, Victor
Goddet, was enthusiastic. He handed Desgrange the keys to the company safe
and said: Take whatever you need. L'Auto announced the race on 19 January
1903.
The first Tour de France was staged in 1903. The plan was a five-stage race
from 31 May to 5 July, starting in Paris and stopping in Lyon, Marseille,
Bordeaux and Nantes before returning to Paris. Toulouse was added later to
break the long haul across southern France from the Mediterranean to the
Atlantic. Stages would go through the night and finish next afternoon, with
rest days before riders set off again. But this proved too daunting and the
costs too great for most and only 15 competitors had entered. Desgrange had
never been wholly convinced and he came close to dropping the idea.
Instead, he cut the length to 19 days, changed the dates to 1 to 19 July,
and offered a daily allowance to those who averaged at least 20 km/h on all
the stages, equivalent to what a rider would have expected to earn each day
had he worked in a factory. He also cut the entry fee from 20 to 10 francs
and set the first prize at 12,000 francs and the prize for each day's
winner at 3,000 francs. The winner would thereby win six times what most
workers earned in a year. That attracted between 60 and 80 entrants – the
higher number may have included serious inquiries and some who dropped out
– among them not just professionals but amateurs, some unemployed, some
simply adventurous.
The first Tour de France started almost outside the Café Reveil-Matin at
the junction of the Melun and Corbeil roads in the village of Montgeron. It
was waved away by the starter, Georges Abran, at 3:16 p.m. on 1 July 1903.
L'Auto hadn't featured the race on its front page that morning.
Among the competitors were the eventual winner, Maurice Garin, his
well-built rival Hippolyte Aucouturier, the German favourite Josef Fischer,
and a collection of adventurers including one competing as Samson
Many riders dropped out of the race after completing the initial stages as
the physical effort the tour required was just too much. Only a mere 24
entrants remained at the end of the fourth stage. The race finished on the
edge of Paris at Ville d'Avray, outside the Restaurant du Père Auto, before
a ceremonial ride into Paris and several laps of the Parc des Princes.
Garin dominated the race, winning the first and last two stages, at 25.68
km/h. The last rider, Millocheau, finished 64h 47m 22s behind him.
L'Auto's mission was accomplished as throughout the race circulation of the
publication doubled, making the race something much larger than Desgrange
had ever hoped for'.
* 'In 1923, Garrett Morgan invents and patentsthe traffic signal. It was a
manual lever device with semaphore like stop, go and caution signs.
- From Wikipedia: 'Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. (March 4, 1877 – July 27,
1963) was an African- American inventor and community leader. He was the
subject of a newspaper feature in Cleveland, Ohio, for a heroic rescue in
1916 of workers trapped within a water intake tunnel, 50 ft (15 m) beneath
Lake Erie. He performed his rescue using a hood fashioned to protect his
eyes from smoke and featuring a series of air tubes that hung near the
ground to draw clean air beneath the rising smoke. This enabled Morgan to
lengthen his ability to endure the inhospitable conditions of a
smoke-filled room. Morgan is also credited as the first African American in
Cleveland to own an automobile, and as the inventor of the electric traffic
signal feature red yellow and green indicators. His other inventions
include the development of a chemical for hair-straightening.
The first American-made automobiles were introduced to consumers just
before the turn of the twentieth century, and pedestrians, bicycles,
animal-drawn wagons and motor vehicles all had to share the same roads. To
deal with the growing problem of traffic accidents, a number of versions of
traffic signaling devices began to be developed, starting around 1913.
Morgan had witnessed a serious accident at an intersection, and he filed a
patent for traffic control device in 1922.
In 1923, the US Patent Office granted Patent No. 1,475,024 to Garrett
Morgan for his three-position traffic signal. Though Morgan's was not the
first traffic signal (that one had been installed in London in 1868), it
was an important innovation nonetheless. By having a third position besides
just Stop and Go, it regulated crossing vehicles more safely than earlier
signals had'.
* 'In 1929, The radio program, The Rise of the Goldbergs, later known as,
The Goldbergs, made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Goldbergs is a comedy-drama broadcast from 1929 to
1946 on American radio, and from 1949 to 1956 on American television. It
was adapted into a 1948 play, Me and Molly a 1950 film, The Goldbergs and a
1973 Broadway musical, Molly.
The program was devised by writer-actress Gertrude Berg in 1928 and sold to
the NBC radio network the following year. It was a domestic comedy
featuring the home life of a Jewish family, supposedly located at 1038 East
Tremont Avenue in the Bronx. In addition to writing the scripts and
directing each episode, Berg starred as bighearted, lovingly meddlesome,
and somewhat stereotypical Jewish matriarch Molly Goldberg. The show began
as a portrait of Jewish tenement life before later evoking such growing
pains as moving into a more suburban setting and struggling with
assimilation while sustaining their roots.
The Goldbergs began as a weekly 15-minute program called The Rise of the
Goldbergs on November 20, 1929, going daily in 1931. The series moved to
CBS in 1936 with the title shortened to The Goldbergs. Like other 15-minute
comedies of the day, such as Amos 'n' Andy, Lum and Abner, Easy Aces, Vic
and Sade and Myrt and Marge, The Goldbergs was a serial with running
storylines. Berg's usual introduction—in character as Molly, hollering,
Yoo-hoo! Is anybody...?—became a catchphrase. In the 1940s, this was
followed by Bud Collyer warbling, There she is, folks—that's Molly
Goldberg, a woman with a place in every heart and a finger in every pie
When Gertrude Berg missed a couple of weeks due to illness, stations
carrying the popular show were flooded with get-well mail. At the height of
the show's popularity, Life wrote: For millions of Americans, listening to
The Goldbergs... has been a happy ritual akin to slipping on a pair of
comfortable old shoes that never seem to wear out
Radio historians Frank Buxton and Bill Owen, in The Big Broadcast
1920–1950, noted that The Goldbergs, which they considered a soap opera as
much as a comedy, differed from most of the other 'soaps' in that its
leading characters lived through relatively normal situations. Even though
it was the story of a poor Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, it had
identification for a wide segment of listeners Of the 15-minute serial
comedies, only Amos 'n' Andy enjoyed a longer radio life than The
Goldbergs.
The role of husband Jake Goldberg was first played by Himan Brown and later
by James R. Waters. When Waters died suddenly in 1945, Berg resisted
recasting the role. Instead, she simply had Molly refer to Jake,
occasionally setting up dialogue in which his reply was not heard when she
spoke to him.
Berg's portrayal of the Jewish mother stereotype emphasized the positive.
This series has done more to set us Jews right with the 'goyim' than all
the sermons ever preached by the Rabbis, wrote one Jewish educator'.
* 'In 1943, During World War II:, the Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic)
begins. The United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert
Islands. The battle ended on November 23. The US Marines suffered 1,009
killed, 2,101 wounded. The US Navy suffered 687 killed when the USS Liscome
Bay was sunk. The Japanese suffered 4,690 killed, 17 soldiers captured and
129 forced labors (mostly Koreans) captured. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Battle of Tarawa was a battle in the Pacific Theater
of World War II that was fought from November 20 to November 23, 1943. It
took place at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. Nearly 6,400
Japanese, Koreans, and Americans died in the fighting, mostly on and around
the small island of Betio, in the extreme southwest of Tarawa Atoll.
The Battle of Tarawa was the first American offensive in the critical
central Pacific region. It was also the first time in the war that the
United States faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing.
Previous landings had met little or no initial resistance, but this time
the 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared, and they
fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the United States
Marine Corps. The U.S. had suffered similar casualties in other campaigns,
for example over the six months of the Guadalcanal Campaign, but in this
case the losses were incurred within the space of 76 hours.
The Gilbert Islands are part of Micronesia. They became a colony of the
British Empire in January 1916. They were invaded and occupied by the
Empire of Japan in December 1941. The battle was fought almost two years
later. In July 1979 the islands became independent from the United Kingdom
and now comprise part of the nation of Kiribati'.
* 'In 1953, Scott Crossfield in a Douglas Skyrocket, is the first to break
Mach 2.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket (or D-558-II) was a rocket
and jet-powered supersonic research aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft
Company for the United States Navy. On 20 November 1953, shortly before the
50th anniversary of powered flight, Scott Crossfield piloted the Skyrocket
to Mach 2, or more than 1,290 mph (2076 km/h), the first time an aircraft
had exceeded twice the speed of sound'.
* 'In 1954, KTRK TV channel 13 in Houston, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting.
KHOU was in March 1953 and KPRC in Jan. 1949.
- From Wikipedia: 'KTRK-TV, virtual channel and VHF digital channel 13, is
an ABC owned-and-operated television station located in Houston, Texas,
United States. The station is owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations
subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (through its Disney-ABC Television
Group division). KTRK maintains studio facilities located on Bissonnet
Street in Houston's Upper Kirby district, and its transmitter is located in
unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County (near Missouri City).
The station grew out of the Federal Communications Commission-imposed VHF
freeze, when three entities vying for the channel 13 assignment, including
the Houston Chronicle, decided to merge as Houston Consolidated Television.
The group also bought the studio facilities of KNUZ-TV (channel 39), a
DuMont affiliate which had gone dark. The station first signed on the air
on November 20, 1954 as KTRK-TV as the Chronicle was the largest
shareholder in the company, the callsign was derived from the Chronicle's
radio station, KTRH. The station has been aligned with ABC since its debut
during the late 1950s, the station also had a brief affiliation with the
NTA Film Network. The station's original studio facilities were located at
4513 Cullen Boulevard (at the defunct Texas Television Center district on
the University of Houston campus) this studio later housed KHTV (now KIAH,
the present channel 39) and PBS member station KUHT (channel 8).
In 1955, the Chronicle bought out its partners. Although this theoretically
left the paper free to change its callsign to KTRH-TV to match its radio
sister, it opted not to. However, for years it called itself The Houston
Chronicle Station. Soon afterward, the station moved to its current
Bissonnet Street facility. The studio was the first domed structure in
town, predating the better-known Astrodome by ten years. Both projects were
built by the same architect, Hermon Lloyd. Like many stations located on
unlucky channel 13, it used a black cat as its mascot'.
* 'In 1962, Cuban missile crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union
agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy
ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October
Crisis (Spanish: Crisis de octubre), the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile
Scare, was a 13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United
States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile
deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile
deployment in Cuba. Along with being televised worldwide, it was the
closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, and the presence of
American Jupiter ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey, Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to place nuclear
missiles in Cuba to deter future harassment of Cuba. An agreement was
reached during a secret meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July
1962 and construction of a number of missile launch facilities started
later that summer.
The 1962 midterm elections were under way in the United States and the
White House had denied charges that it was ignoring dangerous Soviet
missiles 90 miles from Florida. These missile preparations were confirmed
when an Air Force U-2 spy plane produced clear photographic evidence of
medium-range (SS-4) and intermediate-range (R-14) ballistic missile
facilities. The United States established a military blockade to prevent
further missiles from entering Cuba. It announced that they would not
permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the
weapons already in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the USSR.
After a long period of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between
President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would
dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet
Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a U.S.
public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba again without direct
provocation. Secretly, the United States also agreed that it would
dismantle all U.S.-built Jupiter MRBMs, which were deployed in Turkey and
Italy against the Soviet Union but were not known to the public.
When all offensive missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers had been
withdrawn from Cuba, the blockade was formally ended on November 20, 1962.
The negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out
the necessity of a quick, clear, and direct communication line between
Washington and Moscow. As a result, the Moscow–Washington hotline was
established. A series of agreements sharply reduced U.S.–Soviet tensions
during the following years'.
* 'In 1998, The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is
launched. .
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in November
Food
Banana Pudding Lovers Month
Diabetic Eye Disease Month
Epilepsy Awareness Month
Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month
National Georgia Pecan Month
National Peanut Butter Lovers Month
National Pomegranate Month
Health
American and National Diabetes Month
Lung Cancer Awareness Month
MADD's Tie One On For Safety Holiday Campaign
National PPSI AIDS Awareness Month
National Alzheimer's Disease Month
National COPD Month
National Diabetes Month
National Family Caregivers Month
National Healthy Skin Month
National Home Care and Hospice Month
National Impotency Month
National Long-term Care Awareness Month
National PPSI Aids Awareness Month
NET Cancer Awareness Month
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
Stomach Cancer Awareness Month
Vegan Month
Animal and Pet
Adopt A Senior Pet Month
Adopt A Turkey Month
Manatee Awareness Month
National Pet Cancer Awareness Month
Pet Diabetes Month
Other
American Indian Heritage Month
Aviation History Month
Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month
Family Stories Month
Historic Bridge Awareness Month
Military Family Appreciation Month
National Entrepreneurship Month
National Inspirational Role Models Month
National Memoir Writing Month
National Native American Heritage Month
National Family Literacy Month
National Novel Writing Month
National Runaway Prevention Month
National Scholarship Month
Picture Book 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 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More