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Today is November 29 2016

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   I.
Today's Holidays and Historical Events (updated daily)
Today's Food Holiday
  • National Lemon Cream Pie Day: More
    - From Wikipedia (Cream pie): 'A cream pie is a type of pie or cake filled with a rich custard or pudding that is made from milk, cream, flour, and eggs. It can come in many forms, including vanilla, lemon, lime, peanut butter, banana, coconut, and chocolate. A constant feature of all cream pies is the whipped cream topping. The custard filling is related to the French crème patissière which is a key component of various French cakes and tarts. It is a one-crust pie. The crust may be a standard pie crust made with flour and lard, or one made from crumbled cookies or graham crackers'.
Other celebrations/observances today:
  • Electronic Greetings Day: More
    E-Cards have been around since about 1994.
    - From Wikipedia (E-card): 'An E-card is similar to a postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available by publishers usually on various Internet sites, where they can be sent to a recipient, usually via e-mail. It is also considered more environmentally friendly compared to traditional paper cards. E-card businesses are considered environmentally friendly because their carbon footprint is generally much lower compared to paper card companies because paper is not used in the end product.

    E-cards are digital "content", which makes them much more versatile than traditional greeting cards. For example, unlike traditional greetings, E-cards can be easily sent to many people at once or extensively personalized by the sender. Conceivably they could be saved to any computer or electronic device or even viewed on a television set, and digital video E-cards have begun emerging.

    Typically an E-card sender chooses from an on-line catalog of E-cards made available on a publisher's web site. After selecting a card, the sender can personalize it to various degrees by adding a message, photo, or video. Finally the sender specifies the recipient's e-mail address and the web site delivers an e-mail message to the recipient on behalf of the sender.

    The greeting card metaphor was employed early in the life of the World Wide Web. The first postcard site, The Electric Postcard was created in late 1994 by Judith Donath at the MIT Media Lab. It started slowly: 10-20 cards a day were sent in the first weeks, 1000-2000 a day over the first summer, and then it gained momentum rapidly. During the 1995-96 Christmas season, there were days when over 19,000 cards were sent; by late spring of 1996 over 1.7 million cards had been sent in total. The source code for this service was made publicly available, with the stipulation that users share improvements with each other. The Electric Postcard won numerous awards, including a 1995 GNN Best of the Net award.

    MIT’s postcards and remained the dominant and the only documented E-card service until the late fall of 1995. In Nov 1995, Awesome Cyber Cards and also then known as marlo.com (located at marlo.com until Oct 2010, now moved), began developing the Internet greeting card, a digital Internet card including a fixed or suggested greeting as well as an image.

    By mid-1996, a number of sites had developed E-cards. By mid October 1996, directly emailable greeting cards and postcards ("Email Express") were developed and introduced by Awesome Cards, based on new capabilities introduced in the Netscape 3.0 browser. This is the first time the E-card itself could be emailed directly by the card sender to the recipient rather than having an announcement sent with a link to the card's location at the E-card site.

    Between Sep 1996 and Thanksgiving 1997, a paper greeting card company named Blue Mountain developed E-cards on its web site. Blue Mountain grew quickly by allowing visitors to create greetings for others to use. Blue Mountain further expanded when Microsoft promoted its service on its free Hotmail service. This affiliation ceased and Blue Mountain sued Microsoft in Nov 1998 for putting email card announcements from it and other E-card companies in the junk folder of its Hotmail users.

    By 1999, major capital was starting to flow into the Internet, beginning the dotcom boom. Of the E-card sites, Blue Mountain Arts was noteworthy in this period for its sale in October 1999 to Excite@Home for $780M (which represent a price of $71 per unique monthly user). The transaction has been referenced by CNN and Business 2.0 as evidence of the Dot-com bubble. On September 13, 2001, three weeks before filing for bankruptcy on October 1, 2001, Excite@Home sold BlueMountain.com to American Greetings for $35M, or $3.23 per unique monthly user. The web site BlueMountain.com remains a large web site, primarily focused on E-cards. In June 2008, JustAnotherDotCom.com purchased the free E-card site Greeting-cards.com and added it to their own greeting card site, which made them one of the largest E-card sites in the world.

    Originally, most E-cards were free, often sponsored by advertising. While free greeting cards are still the most prevalent and popular, some sites charge for either all E-cards or special premium E-cards. Others charge an annual membership which enables members to send cards for the duration of the membership.

    Several non-profit organizations offer free E-cards as a way of having a supporter introduce the organization to another individual. In 2006, SOS Children's Villages - USA began offering free E-cards for many occasions such as birthdays, thank yous, and Mother's Day'.
  • Square Dancing Day: More
    - From Wikipedia (Square dance): 'A square dance is a dance for four couples (eight dancers) arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances were first documented in 17th-century England but were also quite common in France and throughout Europe. They came to North America with the European settlers and have undergone considerable development there. In some countries and regions, through preservation and repetition, square dances have attained the status of a folk dance. The Western American square dance may be the most widely known form worldwide, possibly due to its association in the 20th century with the romanticized image of the American cowboy. Square dancing is, therefore, strongly associated with the United States. Nineteen U.S. states have designated it as their official state dance.

    The various square dance movements are based on the steps and figures used in traditional folk dances and social dances from many countries. Some of these traditional dances include English Country Dance, Caledonians and the quadrille. Square dancing is enjoyed by people of all ages around the world, and people around the world are involved in the continuing development of this form of dance.

    In most American forms of square dance, the dancers are prompted or cued through a sequence of steps (square dance choreography) by a caller to the beat (and, in some traditions, the phrasing) of music. In some forms of traditional square dancing, the caller may be one of the dancers or musicians, but in modern Western square dancing the caller will be on stage, giving full attention to directing the dancers. Modern Western square dances are not learnt as complete routines; the dancers learn basic movements, each with its own distinctive call, but do not know in what order they will be called.

    The American folk music revival in New York City in the 1950s was rooted in the resurgent interest in square dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s, which gave musicians such as Pete Seeger popular exposure'.
  • National Day of Giving / Giving Tuesday: More
    Since 2001 by New York 92nd Street Y.
    - From Wikipedia (Giving Tuesday): 'Giving Tuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hook activism, refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a movement to create an international day of giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday)'.
Awareness / Observance Days on: November 29
  • Other
    • International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: More
      A U.N. observance.
      - From Wikipedia (International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People): 'The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a UN-organized observance. Events are held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, as well as at the United Nations offices at Geneva and Vienna. It is generally held on November 29 each year to mark the anniversary of resolution 181. In 2003, it was observed on December 1.

      The annual observance was established in UN General Assembly Resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977, to start in 1978. In Resolution 34/65 D of 12 December 1979, the issue of commemorative postage stamps was requested.

      Special commemorative activities are organized by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat, in consultation with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

      In 2012, The General Assembly voted to grant Palestine non-member observer State status at the United Nations by a vote of 138 in favour to 9 against with 41 abstentions by the 193-member Assembly, Resolution 67/19'.
Events in the past on: November 29
  • In 1775, The U.S. Congress establishes a Committee of Secret Correspondence. It later was rename Foreign Affairs and now, The Department of State.
    From Wikipedia: 'The Committee of Secret Correspondence was a committee formed by the Second Continental Congress and active from 1775 to 1776. The Committee played a large role in attracting French aid and alliance during the American Revolution. In 1777, the Committee of Secret Correspondence was renamed the Committee of Foreign Affairs.

    The Committee of Secret Correspondence was created for "the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain and other parts of the world". However, most of the efforts of the committee went not to making friends in Great Britain, but towards forging alliances with other foreign countries that would sympathize with the patriot cause during the American Revolution.

    While forming foreign alliances, the committee also employed secret agents abroad to gain foreign intelligence, conducted undercover operations, started American propaganda campaigns to gain patriot support, analyzed foreign publications to gain additional foreign intelligence, and developed a maritime unit separate from the Navy. It also served as the "clearinghouse" for foreign communications with foreign countries'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
  • In 1877, Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.
    From Wikipedia: 'He announced his invention of the first phonograph, a device for recording and replaying sound, on November 21, 1877 (early reports appear in Scientific American and several newspapers in the beginning of November, and an even earlier announcement of Edison working on a 'talking-machine' can be found in the Chicago Daily Tribune on May 9), and he demonstrated the device for the first time on November 29 (it was patented on February 19, 1878 as US Patent 200,521)'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1929, U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.
    From Wikipedia: 'Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. However, his claim to have reached the North Pole is disputed.

    When he returned to the United States from the Arctic, Byrd became a national hero. Congress passed a special act on December 21, 1926, promoting him to the rank of commander and awarding both him and Floyd Bennett the Medal of Honor. Bennett was promoted to the warrant officer rank of Machinist. Byrd and Bennett were presented with Tiffany Cross versions of the Medal of Honor on March 5, 1927, at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge. The widespread acclaim from the flight enabled Byrd to secure funding for the subsequent attempt to fly over the South Pole.

    In 1928, Byrd began his first expedition to the Antarctic involving two ships and three airplanes: Byrd's Flagship was the City of New York (a Norwegian sealing ship previously named Samson that had come into fame as a ship some claimed was in the vicinity of the RMS Titanic when the latter was sinking); a Ford Trimotor called the Floyd Bennett (named after the recently deceased pilot of Byrd's previous expeditions) flown by Dean Smith; a Fairchild FC-2W2, NX8006, built 1928, named "Stars And Stripes" (now displayed at the Virginia Aviation Museum, on loan from the National Air and Space Museum); and a Fokker Universal monoplane called the Virginia (Byrd's birth state). A base camp named "Little America" was constructed on the Ross Ice Shelf and scientific expeditions by snowshoe, dog-sled, snowmobile, and airplane began.

    Photographic expeditions and geological surveys were undertaken for the duration of that summer, and constant radio communications were maintained with the outside world. After their first winter, their expeditions were resumed, and on November 28, 1929, the first flight to the South Pole and back was launched. Byrd, along with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot/radioman Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, flew the Ford Trimotor to the South Pole and back in 18 hours, 41 minutes. They had difficulty gaining enough altitude, and they had to dump empty gas tanks, as well as their emergency supplies, in order to achieve the altitude of the Polar Plateau, but they were ultimately successful.

    As a result of his fame, Byrd was promoted to the rank of rear admiral by a special act of Congress on December 21, 1929. As he was only 41 years old at the time, this promotion made Byrd the youngest admiral in the history of the United States Navy.

    After a further summer of exploration, the expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930. A 19-year-old American Boy Scout, Paul Allman Siple, was chosen to accompany the expedition. Unlike the 1926 flight, this expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. This was also seen in the film With Byrd at the South Pole (1930) which covered his trip there.

    Byrd, by then an internationally recognized, pioneering American polar explorer and aviator, served for a time as Honorary National President (1931–1935) of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in the social sciences. He carried the Society's flag during his first Antarctic expedition to dramatize the spirit of adventure into the unknown, characterizing both the natural and social sciences'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1944, The first surgery to correct blue baby syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
    From Wikipedia: 'Blue baby syndrome (or simply, blue baby) occurs when newborn babies have cyanotic heart defects, such as: Persistent truncus arteriosus, Transposition of the great vessels, Tricuspid atresia, Tetralogy of Fallot[1], Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1948, The children's puppet TV show 'Kukla, Fran, and Ollie' premiers. It began a year before as a local show 'Junior Jamboree.'
    From Wikipedia: 'Fran' was Fran Allison, a radio comedienne and singer who was usually the only human to appear on screen, filling the role of big sister and cheery voice of reason as the puppets engaged each other concerning their foibles. The design style of puppets was in the style of Neapolitan puppet shows, or Punch and Judy without the slapstick, but their personalities were less caricatured'. '
    'The puppet cast included 'Kukla', the earnest leader of the troupe; 'Ollie', or 'Oliver J. Dragon', a roguish one-toothed dragon (who would slam his flat chin on the stage in frustration or roll on his back to be endearing); Madame Oglepuss, a retired opera diva; Beulah Witch, a liberated witch; Fletcher Rabbit, the troupe's mailman and resident fussbudget; Cecil Bill, the troupe's union stagehand who spoke in 'tooie talk'; Colonel Crackie, a Southern gentleman; Dolores Dragon, Ollie's younger cousin, and a number of others'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube (1961): More
  • In 1961, The Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 5 Mission – Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico.
    From Wikipedia: 'Enos (died November 4, 1962) was the second chimpanzee launched into space and the first chimpanzee to achieve Earth orbit.

    Enos was brought from the Miami Rare Bird Farm on April 3, 1960. He completed more than 1,250 training hours at the University of Kentucky and Holloman Air Force Base. Training was more intense for him than for his predecessor Ham, because Enos was exposed to weightlessness and higher gs for longer periods of time. His training included psychomotor instruction and aircraft flights.

    Enos was selected for flight only three days before launch. Two months prior, NASA launched Mercury Atlas 4 on September 13, 1961, to conduct an identical mission with a "crewman simulator" on board. Enos flew into space aboard Mercury Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961. He completed his first orbit in 1 hour and 28.5 minutes.

    Enos was scheduled to complete three orbits, but the mission was aborted after two due to two issues: capsule overheating and a malfunctioning "avoidance conditioning" test subjecting the primate to 76 electrical shocks. The capsule was brought aboard the USS Stormes (DD-780) in the late afternoon and Enos was immediately taken below deck by his Air Force handlers. The Stormes arrived in Bermuda the next day.

    Enos's flight was a full dress rehearsal for the next Mercury launch on February 20, 1962, which would make Lt. Colonel John Glenn the first American to orbit Earth, after astronauts Alan Shepard, Jr. and Gus Grissom's successful suborbital space flights. On November 4, 1962, Enos died of shigellosis-related dysentery, which was resistant to then-known antibiotics. He was constantly observed for two months before his death. Pathologists reported no symptoms that could be attributed or related to his previous space flight. Many believe Enos's remains were dissected like Ham, who was extensively studied postmortem at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Some of Ham's remains, minus the skeleton (which remained with AIP), were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico. Recent attempts by space scholars to locate Enos's remains were unsuccessful. Some confirmed post-mortem study was undertaken, but no evidence of final disposition has been found. Enos's body may have been discarded when examinations completed'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1972, The Atari company announces the release of its first video game 'Pong'.
    From Wikipedia: 'Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games and the very first sports arcade video game. It is a table tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity. The aim is to defeat an opponent in a simulated table-tennis game by earning a higher score. The game was originally manufactured by Atari, which released it in 1972. Allan Alcorn created Pong as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell based the idea on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, which later resulted in a lawsuit against Atari. Surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work, Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney decided to manufacture the game.

    Pong quickly became a success and is the first commercially successful arcade video game machine, which helped to establish the video game industry along with the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that copied Pong's gameplay, and eventually released new types of games. As a result, Atari encouraged its staff to produce more innovative games. The company released several sequels that built upon the original's gameplay by adding new features. During the 1975 Christmas season, Atari released a home version of Pong exclusively through Sears retail stores. It was also a commercial success and led to numerous copies. The game has been remade on numerous home and portable platforms following its release. Pong has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows and video games, and has been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  II.
Henry's Heads Up! - previous days social media post (updated daily)

<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):


* 'National Lemon Cream Pie Day'. - From Wikipedia (Cream pie): 'A cream pie is a type of pie or cake filled with a rich custard or pudding that is made from milk, cream, flour, and eggs. It can come in many forms, including vanilla, lemon, lime, peanut butter, banana, coconut, and chocolate. A constant feature of all cream pies is the whipped cream topping. The custard filling is related to the French crème patissière which is a key component of various French cakes and tarts. It is a one-crust pie. The crust may be a standard pie crust made with flour and lard, or one made from crumbled cookies or graham crackers'.
[The Hankster says] This is the second day we have had a cream pie as the food of the day. I am going to issue a Three Stooges alert as a result. It may be a coincidence, but let's be careful out there. A pie is a terrible thing to waste.


<> Other holidays / celebrations


* 'Electronic Greetings Day'. E-Cards have been around since about 1994. - From Wikipedia (E-card): 'An E-card is similar to a postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available by publishers usually on various Internet sites, where they can be sent to a recipient, usually via e-mail. It is also considered more environmentally friendly compared to traditional paper cards. E-card businesses are considered environmentally friendly because their carbon footprint is generally much lower compared to paper card companies because paper is not used in the end product.

E-cards are digital content, which makes them much more versatile than traditional greeting cards. For example, unlike traditional greetings, E-cards can be easily sent to many people at once or extensively personalized by the sender. Conceivably they could be saved to any computer or electronic device or even viewed on a television set, and digital video E-cards have begun emerging.

Typically an E-card sender chooses from an on-line catalog of E-cards made available on a publisher's web site. After selecting a card, the sender can personalize it to various degrees by adding a message, photo, or video. Finally the sender specifies the recipient's e-mail address and the web site delivers an e-mail message to the recipient on behalf of the sender.

The greeting card metaphor was employed early in the life of the World Wide Web. The first postcard site, The Electric Postcard was created in late 1994 by Judith Donath at the MIT Media Lab. It started slowly: 10-20 cards a day were sent in the first weeks, 1000-2000 a day over the first summer, and then it gained momentum rapidly. During the 1995-96 Christmas season, there were days when over 19,000 cards were sent by late spring of 1996 over 1.7 million cards had been sent in total. The source code for this service was made publicly available, with the stipulation that users share improvements with each other. The Electric Postcard won numerous awards, including a 1995 GNN Best of the Net award.

MIT’s postcards and remained the dominant and the only documented E-card service until the late fall of 1995. In Nov 1995, Awesome Cyber Cards and also then known as marlo.com (located at marlo.com until Oct 2010, now moved), began developing the Internet greeting card, a digital Internet card including a fixed or suggested greeting as well as an image.

By mid-1996, a number of sites had developed E-cards. By mid October 1996, directly emailable greeting cards and postcards (Email Express) were developed and introduced by Awesome Cards, based on new capabilities introduced in the Netscape 3.0 browser. This is the first time the E-card itself could be emailed directly by the card sender to the recipient rather than having an announcement sent with a link to the card's location at the E-card site.

Between Sep 1996 and Thanksgiving 1997, a paper greeting card company named Blue Mountain developed E-cards on its web site. Blue Mountain grew quickly by allowing visitors to create greetings for others to use. Blue Mountain further expanded when Microsoft promoted its service on its free Hotmail service. This affiliation ceased and Blue Mountain sued Microsoft in Nov 1998 for putting email card announcements from it and other E-card companies in the junk folder of its Hotmail users.

By 1999, major capital was starting to flow into the Internet, beginning the dotcom boom. Of the E-card sites, Blue Mountain Arts was noteworthy in this period for its sale in October 1999 to Excite@Home for $780M (which represent a price of $71 per unique monthly user). The transaction has been referenced by CNN and Business 2.0 as evidence of the Dot-com bubble. On September 13, 2001, three weeks before filing for bankruptcy on October 1, 2001, Excite@Home sold BlueMountain.com to American Greetings for $35M, or $3.23 per unique monthly user. The web site BlueMountain.com remains a large web site, primarily focused on E-cards. In June 2008, JustAnotherDotCom.com purchased the free E-card site Greeting-cards.com and added it to their own greeting card site, which made them one of the largest E-card sites in the world.

Originally, most E-cards were free, often sponsored by advertising. While free greeting cards are still the most prevalent and popular, some sites charge for either all E-cards or special premium E-cards. Others charge an annual membership which enables members to send cards for the duration of the membership.

Several non-profit organizations offer free E-cards as a way of having a supporter introduce the organization to another individual. In 2006, SOS Children's Villages - USA began offering free E-cards for many occasions such as birthdays, thank yous, and Mother's Day'.
[The Hankster says] I guess this post is sort of an electronic card. So, Greetings.


* 'Square Dancing Day'. - From Wikipedia (Square dance): 'A square dance is a dance for four couples (eight dancers) arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances were first documented in 17th-century England but were also quite common in France and throughout Europe. They came to North America with the European settlers and have undergone considerable development there. In some countries and regions, through preservation and repetition, square dances have attained the status of a folk dance. The Western American square dance may be the most widely known form worldwide, possibly due to its association in the 20th century with the romanticized image of the American cowboy. Square dancing is, therefore, strongly associated with the United States. Nineteen U.S. states have designated it as their official state dance.

The various square dance movements are based on the steps and figures used in traditional folk dances and social dances from many countries. Some of these traditional dances include English Country Dance, Caledonians and the quadrille. Square dancing is enjoyed by people of all ages around the world, and people around the world are involved in the continuing development of this form of dance.

In most American forms of square dance, the dancers are prompted or cued through a sequence of steps (square dance choreography) by a caller to the beat (and, in some traditions, the phrasing) of music. In some forms of traditional square dancing, the caller may be one of the dancers or musicians, but in modern Western square dancing the caller will be on stage, giving full attention to directing the dancers. Modern Western square dances are not learnt as complete routines the dancers learn basic movements, each with its own distinctive call, but do not know in what order they will be called.

The American folk music revival in New York City in the 1950s was rooted in the resurgent interest in square dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s, which gave musicians such as Pete Seeger popular exposure'.
[The Hankster says] Yes, that is exactly what I am when I try to dance.


* 'National Day of Giving / Giving Tuesday'. Since 2001 by New York 92nd Street Y. - From Wikipedia (Giving Tuesday): 'Giving Tuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hook activism, refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a movement to create an international day of giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday)'.


<> Awareness / Observances:

o Other:
* 'International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People'. A U.N. observance. - From Wikipedia (International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People): 'The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a UN-organized observance. Events are held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, as well as at the United Nations offices at Geneva and Vienna. It is generally held on November 29 each year to mark the anniversary of resolution 181. In 2003, it was observed on December 1.

The annual observance was established in UN General Assembly Resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977, to start in 1978. In Resolution 34/65 D of 12 December 1979, the issue of commemorative postage stamps was requested.

Special commemorative activities are organized by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat, in consultation with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

In 2012, The General Assembly voted to grant Palestine non-member observer State status at the United Nations by a vote of 138 in favour to 9 against with 41 abstentions by the 193-member Assembly, Resolution 67/19'.


<> Historical events on November 29


* 'In 1775, The U.S. Congress establishes a Committee of Secret Correspondence. It later was rename Foreign Affairs and now, The Department of State. . - From Wikipedia: 'The Committee of Secret Correspondence was a committee formed by the Second Continental Congress and active from 1775 to 1776. The Committee played a large role in attracting French aid and alliance during the American Revolution. In 1777, the Committee of Secret Correspondence was renamed the Committee of Foreign Affairs.

The Committee of Secret Correspondence was created for the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain and other parts of the world However, most of the efforts of the committee went not to making friends in Great Britain, but towards forging alliances with other foreign countries that would sympathize with the patriot cause during the American Revolution.

While forming foreign alliances, the committee also employed secret agents abroad to gain foreign intelligence, conducted undercover operations, started American propaganda campaigns to gain patriot support, analyzed foreign publications to gain additional foreign intelligence, and developed a maritime unit separate from the Navy. It also served as the clearinghouse for foreign communications with foreign countries'.


* 'In 1877, Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time. - From Wikipedia: 'He announced his invention of the first phonograph, a device for recording and replaying sound, on November 21, 1877 (early reports appear in Scientific American and several newspapers in the beginning of November, and an even earlier announcement of Edison working on a 'talking-machine' can be found in the Chicago Daily Tribune on May 9), and he demonstrated the device for the first time on November 29 (it was patented on February 19, 1878 as US Patent 200,521)'. .


* 'In 1929, U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole. . - From Wikipedia: 'Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. However, his claim to have reached the North Pole is disputed.

When he returned to the United States from the Arctic, Byrd became a national hero. Congress passed a special act on December 21, 1926, promoting him to the rank of commander and awarding both him and Floyd Bennett the Medal of Honor. Bennett was promoted to the warrant officer rank of Machinist. Byrd and Bennett were presented with Tiffany Cross versions of the Medal of Honor on March 5, 1927, at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge. The widespread acclaim from the flight enabled Byrd to secure funding for the subsequent attempt to fly over the South Pole.

In 1928, Byrd began his first expedition to the Antarctic involving two ships and three airplanes: Byrd's Flagship was the City of New York (a Norwegian sealing ship previously named Samson that had come into fame as a ship some claimed was in the vicinity of the RMS Titanic when the latter was sinking) a Ford Trimotor called the Floyd Bennett (named after the recently deceased pilot of Byrd's previous expeditions) flown by Dean Smith a Fairchild FC-2W2, NX8006, built 1928, named Stars And Stripes (now displayed at the Virginia Aviation Museum, on loan from the National Air and Space Museum) and a Fokker Universal monoplane called the Virginia (Byrd's birth state). A base camp named Little America was constructed on the Ross Ice Shelf and scientific expeditions by snowshoe, dog-sled, snowmobile, and airplane began.

Photographic expeditions and geological surveys were undertaken for the duration of that summer, and constant radio communications were maintained with the outside world. After their first winter, their expeditions were resumed, and on November 28, 1929, the first flight to the South Pole and back was launched. Byrd, along with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot/radioman Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, flew the Ford Trimotor to the South Pole and back in 18 hours, 41 minutes. They had difficulty gaining enough altitude, and they had to dump empty gas tanks, as well as their emergency supplies, in order to achieve the altitude of the Polar Plateau, but they were ultimately successful.

As a result of his fame, Byrd was promoted to the rank of rear admiral by a special act of Congress on December 21, 1929. As he was only 41 years old at the time, this promotion made Byrd the youngest admiral in the history of the United States Navy.

After a further summer of exploration, the expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930. A 19-year-old American Boy Scout, Paul Allman Siple, was chosen to accompany the expedition. Unlike the 1926 flight, this expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. This was also seen in the film With Byrd at the South Pole (1930) which covered his trip there.

Byrd, by then an internationally recognized, pioneering American polar explorer and aviator, served for a time as Honorary National President (1931–1935) of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in the social sciences. He carried the Society's flag during his first Antarctic expedition to dramatize the spirit of adventure into the unknown, characterizing both the natural and social sciences'.


* 'In 1944, The first surgery to correct blue baby syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas. - From Wikipedia: 'Blue baby syndrome (or simply, blue baby) occurs when newborn babies have cyanotic heart defects, such as: Persistent truncus arteriosus, Transposition of the great vessels, Tricuspid atresia, Tetralogy of Fallot[1], Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection'.


* 'In 1948, The children's puppet TV show 'Kukla, Fran, and Ollie' premiers. It began a year before as a local show 'Junior Jamboree.' - From Wikipedia: 'Fran' was Fran Allison, a radio comedienne and singer who was usually the only human to appear on screen, filling the role of big sister and cheery voice of reason as the puppets engaged each other concerning their foibles. The design style of puppets was in the style of Neapolitan puppet shows, or Punch and Judy without the slapstick, but their personalities were less caricatured'. ' 'The puppet cast included 'Kukla', the earnest leader of the troupe 'Ollie', or 'Oliver J. Dragon', a roguish one-toothed dragon (who would slam his flat chin on the stage in frustration or roll on his back to be endearing) Madame Oglepuss, a retired opera diva Beulah Witch, a liberated witch Fletcher Rabbit, the troupe's mailman and resident fussbudget Cecil Bill, the troupe's union stagehand who spoke in 'tooie talk' Colonel Crackie, a Southern gentleman Dolores Dragon, Ollie's younger cousin, and a number of others'. .


* 'In 1961, The Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 5 Mission – Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico. . - From Wikipedia: 'Enos (died November 4, 1962) was the second chimpanzee launched into space and the first chimpanzee to achieve Earth orbit.

Enos was brought from the Miami Rare Bird Farm on April 3, 1960. He completed more than 1,250 training hours at the University of Kentucky and Holloman Air Force Base. Training was more intense for him than for his predecessor Ham, because Enos was exposed to weightlessness and higher gs for longer periods of time. His training included psychomotor instruction and aircraft flights.

Enos was selected for flight only three days before launch. Two months prior, NASA launched Mercury Atlas 4 on September 13, 1961, to conduct an identical mission with a crewman simulator on board. Enos flew into space aboard Mercury Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961. He completed his first orbit in 1 hour and 28.5 minutes.

Enos was scheduled to complete three orbits, but the mission was aborted after two due to two issues: capsule overheating and a malfunctioning avoidance conditioning test subjecting the primate to 76 electrical shocks. The capsule was brought aboard the USS Stormes (DD-780) in the late afternoon and Enos was immediately taken below deck by his Air Force handlers. The Stormes arrived in Bermuda the next day.

Enos's flight was a full dress rehearsal for the next Mercury launch on February 20, 1962, which would make Lt. Colonel John Glenn the first American to orbit Earth, after astronauts Alan Shepard, Jr. and Gus Grissom's successful suborbital space flights. On November 4, 1962, Enos died of shigellosis-related dysentery, which was resistant to then-known antibiotics. He was constantly observed for two months before his death. Pathologists reported no symptoms that could be attributed or related to his previous space flight. Many believe Enos's remains were dissected like Ham, who was extensively studied postmortem at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Some of Ham's remains, minus the skeleton (which remained with AIP), were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico. Recent attempts by space scholars to locate Enos's remains were unsuccessful. Some confirmed post-mortem study was undertaken, but no evidence of final disposition has been found. Enos's body may have been discarded when examinations completed'.


* 'In 1972, The Atari company announces the release of its first video game 'Pong'. . - From Wikipedia: 'Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games and the very first sports arcade video game. It is a table tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity. The aim is to defeat an opponent in a simulated table-tennis game by earning a higher score. The game was originally manufactured by Atari, which released it in 1972. Allan Alcorn created Pong as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell based the idea on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, which later resulted in a lawsuit against Atari. Surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work, Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney decided to manufacture the game.

Pong quickly became a success and is the first commercially successful arcade video game machine, which helped to establish the video game industry along with the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that copied Pong's gameplay, and eventually released new types of games. As a result, Atari encouraged its staff to produce more innovative games. The company released several sequels that built upon the original's gameplay by adding new features. During the 1975 Christmas season, Atari released a home version of Pong exclusively through Sears retail stores. It was also a commercial success and led to numerous copies. The game has been remade on numerous home and portable platforms following its release. Pong has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows and video games, and has been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions'.

 III.
Top Song & Movie 50 years ago today (last updated Nov 27 2016 next Dec 3 2016

No. 1 song

  • Winchester Cathedral - The New Vaudeville Band
    - On YouTube: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    'Good Vibrations' has been displaced by 'Winchester Cathedral', which will hold the no. 1 spot until Dec 3 26 1966, when 'You Keep Me Hangin' On - The Supremes', takes over.- From Wikipedia: '"Winchester Cathedral" is a song released in late 1966 by Fontana Records, whereupon it shot to the #1 spot in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles charts and shortly thereafter in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was released by The New Vaudeville Band, a British novelty group established by the song's composer, Geoff Stephens. Stephens was a big fan of tunes from the British music hall era (or what Americans would call "vaudeville"), so he wrote "Winchester Cathedral" in that vein, complete with a Rudy Vallée soundalike (John Carter) singing through his hands to imitate a megaphone sound. Although the song was recorded entirely by session musicians, when it became an international hit, an actual band had to be assembled, with Fontana trying unsuccessfully to recruit the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The recording is one of the few charting songs to feature a bassoon. The band toured extensively under the tutelage of Peter Grant, who later went on to manage The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.

    The tune went to No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. It went all the way to the top in the U.S., however, displacing "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by the Supremes on December 3, 1966. After a one-week run at No. 1, "Winchester Cathedral" was knocked off the summit by the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations", only to rebound to the top spot the following week. After two additional weeks, it was knocked off the top for good by "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees.

    "Winchester Cathedral" topped the Billboard Easy Listening chart for four weeks. Cover records by Dana Rollin and The New Happiness reached no higher than No. 70. The Shadows recorded an instrumental version of this song on their album, Jigsaw. Singer Rudy Vallée, whose voice and style the original recording imitated, did his own cover of the song in 1967 when he was in his late 60s. (It did not chart.) The Four Freshmen recorded a cover of the song on their 1968 album In a Class by Themselves. Frank Sinatra also recorded a version of the song for his 1966 album That's Life.

    Global sales of the single were over three million, with the RIAA certification of gold disc status.

    The song won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R and R) Recording, despite not being a rock and roll song. An initial long-playing album including the song was issued in late 1966 by Fontana Records, also titled Winchester Cathedral. Stephens received the 1966 Ivor Novello award for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically".

    To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the song's release, a new version by Geoff Stephens was released on CD by Signum Classics, sung by the choristers of Winchester Cathedral. The premier performance of this version was to take place during a Gala Concert in Winchester Cathedral on March 12 to help raise funds for the Cathedral's Appeal'.

Top movie

  • The Bible: In the Beginning
    - At Wikipedia:  More
    - On IMDb: More
    - On YouTube (trailer): More
    Having displaced 'Penelope', it will be there until the weekend box office of Dec 18 27 1966 when, 'A Man for All Seasons', takes over.- From Wikipedia: 'The Bible: In the Beginning... is a 1966 American-Italian religious epic film produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Huston. It recounts the first 22 chapters of the biblical Book of Genesis, covering the stories from Adam and Eve to the binding of Isaac. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film was photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno in Dimension 150 (color by DeLuxe Color), a variant of the 70mm Todd-AO format. It stars Michael Parks as Adam, Ulla Bergryd as Eve, Richard Harris as Cain, John Huston as Noah, Stephen Boyd as Nimrod, George C. Scott as Abraham, Ava Gardner as Sarah, and Peter O'Toole as the Three Angels.

    In 1967, the film's score by Toshiro Mayuzumi was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures included the film in its "Top Ten Films" list of 1966. De Laurentiis and Huston won David di Donatello Awards for Best Producer and Best Foreign Director, respectively'.
  IV.
Today in the Past (reference sites): November 29
   V.
This month November 2016 (updated once a month - last updated - Nov 29 2016)

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

  VI.
TV fifty years ago 1966 (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2016)

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

 VII.
Best selling books fifty years ago (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2016)

Best selling books of 1966 More

VIII.
Fun (Last link added October 1 2014, but content on each site may change daily)
  • 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
  IX.
Other Holiday Sites (Last link added October 1 2014. Link content changes yearly)

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


US Government Holidays

  • 2016 Postal Holidays More
  • 2016 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

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