November 29

It's getting closer to Christmas.

I got back from camp on Sunday, and it was great fun, though I got very sunburnt.

I finished John Flanagan's new book The Outcasts today, and it's really good. I can't wait to see what happens next! I've read the first 10 Ranger's Apprentice books, and I think The Outcasts is just as good.

On this day:
1832- Louisa May Alcott was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on her father's birthday. She published over 30 books and collections of stories, but is best known for her book, Little Women, and its sequels, Little Men and Jo's Boys.
2000- The Blue Mountains were listed as a World Heritage Area. It consists of six national parks and four wilderness areas, covering 1 million hectares of sandstone cliffs, deep gorges, rivers, and eucalyptus forests.

My Father had a profound influence on me. He was a lunatic.
Spike Milligan

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Lao Tzu

November 25

Did you know it's only a month until Christmas? The shops around here are already crowded.

I'm going on camp this afternoon, and it should be awesome fun. It'll last the whole weekend.

Today:

By resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem on that day. Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

On 20 December 1993 the General Assembly, by resolution 48/104, adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.

“Violence against women and girls takes many forms and is widespread throughout the globe. […] On this International Day, I urge governments and partners around the world to harness the energy, ideas and leadership of young people to help us to end this pandemic of violence. Only then will we have a more just, peaceful and equitable world.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women
25 November 2011

My sister has just informed us that your thigh bone is stronger than concrete. My brother would like to test that.In my opinion, that is something only a boy would say. Why any boy would want to test if their thigh bone is stronger than concrete, or even how they would test, is unknown to me.

24 November

It is very hot and muggy here, not nearly as hot as yesterday, which was a maximum of 34 degrees Celsius, but still hot, especially because it's been raining, which doesn't sound logical, but is still true. Anyway, it is really hot. My sister is practicing on the keyboard again. She and I will be doing a duet at our end of year concert, me singing and her playing on keyboard and singing.

Music expresses that which cannot be said
and on which it is impossible to be silent.
~Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885) ~

23 November

Normally I would put in something about what happened today in history, but I can't find anything that happened that I'm interested in.

Christmas is coming very soon, at least it feels like it. I haven't bought any Christmas presents this year, although I have got some ideas in mind.

Today is 23 November. I finish school for the year on December 7. But what are good things to do during the holidays. I'm not Phineas and Ferb, I don't come up with something new every day. However, I am a good reader, so I'll probably read: a lot. And there is a whole lot of end of year activities, like different group break ups, and Christmas parties.

Who out there would so love to buy chocolate at a dollar a kilo? I think that would sort out a few Christmas presents, but only if it was good chocolate.

As a final thought for today...

November 22

"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness."- James Thurber


Today is November 22, and my sister is singing "Frosty the Snowman", while practicing it on the keyboard. An interesting choice, as we live in Queensland, Australia, and its been incredibly hot this week. Nothing close to snow.

On this day:
1712- English pirate, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
1963- American President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 46. 99 minutes later, Vice President Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as President.
1943-Lebanon achieved independence from France, and now celebrates with a national holiday.


"Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever." - Margaret Cho

21 November

Today is November 21. It's also Monday.
On this day:
1995- Toy Story, the first full length feature film created wholly by computer generated imagery, was released.
1920- Bloody Sunday in Dublin.
1991- Gerard d'Aboville rowed across the Pacific Ocean.
1904- Motorised buses began replacing Paris' horse-drawn carriages.

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - Author Unknown

November 18

What are you doing today? I'm getting ready for the end of the year. It's coming, coming, coming, closer, closer, closer...

On this day:
1840- The Eden, the last convict transport to Sydney, unloaded 267 men.
320- Pappus of Alexandria, a Greek philosopher, sees an eclipse of the sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer.
1928-New Zealand's Harold Williams, foreign editor for the London Times, spoke 58 languages. He was one of the greatest linguists of all time.
1867- United States takes possession of Alaska after buying it off Russia for $7.2 million.

November 17

17 November. Today is, at least in my part of the world, Thursday, 17 November. Is it different where you are? For that matter, where are you?

On this day:
1869: The Suez Canal was opened ceremoniously.
1913: Louise became the first vessel to use the Panama Canal.
1603: Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.
1800: The Unites States Congress has its first session at Washington DC.

Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn't exist and never shall. ~ Christopher Paolini

16 November

There are only 46 more days left in the year. Doesn't sound like much, does it?

On this day:
1952-Shigeru Miyamoto, the inventor of Mario, Donkey Kong and the Legend of Zelda, was born. In 1998, he was the first person inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Miyamoto is reputed to have said "Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll."
1532-The Inca Empire fell to Spain when King Atahualpa was taken prisoner. He was originally held for ransom, but later murdered.
1384-Hedwig was crowned King of Poland, even though she was a woman.

November 15

Today is November 15, but you probably already know that. Did you know, though, that today in 1940, the city of Coventry woke up to find that their streets had been decimated by German bombs, and its 14th century cathedral had been destroyed? Or that today is Steve Irwin Day? How about that today in 1952 The Argus, a newspaper in Melbourne, was the world's first to publish colour photographs? Pretty neat.

Interesting things happen everyday. What will go down in the history books for today? If, in sometime years to come, somebody Google's "November 15, 2011", what will they find? Any ideas?

November 14 (and 12, and 13)

I was on goodreads.com earlier, and it's a really good site. Talk about books, and just random stuff. Really cool.

Yesterday, 13 November, 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson was born. The day before, 12 November, 1917, Australia's Transcontinental Railway was opened, linking the west and east coasts of Australia.

Then there's today, 14 November. On this day:

• 1851: Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, was published in America. It had been published in Britain 3 weeks earlier as The Whale, so as not to offend the public with the real title's wording. However, the publisher accidentally left out the epilogue, leaving the readers and critics totally confused as to how it all ends. Herman Melville's literary genius was never acknowledged during his lifetime, and died in poverty in 1891. Today, Moby Dick is considered one of the greatest English novels.

• 1889-Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, using the pseudonym Nellie Bly, left New York to mimic Jules Verne's famous book, Around the World in 80 Days. 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds later, she returned to New York, beating the record of Jules Verne's fictional character, Phileas Fogg. In 1880, the Pittsburgh Dispatch's most popular writer, Erasmus Wilson wrote that women belonged in the home doing domestic tasks such as sewing, cooking and raising children and called the working woman "a monstrosity." Elizabeth was outraged at this and wrote a fiery letter to the editor, signing it "Lonely Orphan Girl". The editor was so impressed that he offered a job to the man who wrote the letter. You would think that the "Lonely Orphan Girl" would be a hint that it wasn't a man writing, but when the editor found out that it wasn't a man who had written the letter, he refused to give her the job. Nevertheless, she talked her way into it and found her way out of fashion and gardening stories (the usual tasks for female journalists) by becoming a foreign correspondent in Mexico. Though only 21, she spent nearly 6 months reporting on the conditions in Mexico, a dictatorship at the time. After being threatened with arrest by the Mexican authorities, she decided to go back to Pittsburgh. However, she was put back on fashion and gardening stories, so she left for New York. She was hired by New York World, and was tasked with a story on brutality at the Womens Lunatic Asylum. She feigned insanity, and was in the asylum for 10 days. This prompted major changes for the asylums. More about Nellie Bly.
• 1922-The British Broadcasting Company Limited (BBC) was launched.
• 1985-A Colombian volcano that had been dormant for 400 years erupted. It killed about 20,000 people, mainly because of mudslides from broken dams.
  

November 10

Today is a new day.

On this day, in years gone by:
1871-Sir Henry Stanley uttered the well-known phrase "Dr Livingstone, I presume?". He found Dr Livingstone in what is now Tanzania, at lake Tanganyika. He was sent to find Dr David Livingstone as a correspondent and journalist for the New York Herald. Dr Livingstone was looking for the source of the Nile "somewhere" in Africa, and hadn't been heard of for five years.
1918- The first movie edition of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was released in New York.
1983-Microsoft released its first Windows operating system.
1918-The Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia receives a top-secret coded message from Europe (that would be sent to Ottawa, Ontario and Washington, DC) that said on November 11, 1918 all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.
1483-Martin Luther is born.
1969- Sesame Street premieres on PBS TV.
1908-First Gideon Bible placed in a hotel room.
1793-France ends forced worship.

What can only be taught by the rod and with blows will not lead to much good; they will not remain pious any longer than the rod is behind them.

Martin Luther (born 10 Nov 1483)

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.

Martin Luther

November 9

Christmas is coming closer! How come it just seems to sneak up on you, so that it goes from being months away to being just under 2 months? Doesn't seem right.

However, today is November 9. It is the 313th day of 2011, and there are 52 days left in the year. On this day:
1796- Captain John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales, ordered houses to be numbered. Sydney had a settlement of nearly 4000 people, and escapees and arson were becoming a problem. If houses were numbered, the militia could search for escapees more easily.
1825-Limelight was found to have a use when Thomas Drummond heated some in front of a reflector. As it could be seen up to 106km away, it was used in lighthouses and theatres.
1888- Tamworth, Australia, became the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to be lit by electricity.
1906- Theodore Roosevelt became the first US President to make an official visit outside the United States when he visited the Panama Canal site.
1989- The Berlin Wall fell after 28 years of splitting Germany in two. Constructed in 1961 by the East German government to keep the East Berliners from escaping to West Berlin, it was originally just made of barbed wire. Later it was replaced by over 160km of concrete, guards, minefields, as well as the original barbed wire. In 1989, after it was mistakenly announced that the travel restrictions were lifted, thousands of East Germans fled to the wall, overwhelming the guards. The began dismantling the Wall and were greeted by West Berliners. In 1990, the two parts of Germany were officially reunited. For 28 years, East Germans had risked their lives to cross the wall, and nearly 200 died while fleeing.
1888-Jack the Ripper kills Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.
Today is World Freedom Day.

8 November

Aren't old stories great? I was reading the parable of the Old man, the boy and the donkey.

Today is Tuesday 8 November. Did you know today is World Urbanism Day? I didn't until now. On this day:
1519-Hernan Cortes enters Tenochtitlan and Aztec ruler Montezuma welcomes him with great celebration, believing him to be the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.
1602-The Bodleian library at Oxford University is opened to the public.
1895-William Roentgen discovered X-rays. He called them x-rays because x is the mathematical symbol for unknown. William Roentgen won the first Nobel Prize for Physics. He was born in Prussia, 1845, and died in Munich in 1923.
1865- The death penalty is officially abolished in the UK.
1656-Edmund Halley, best known for the comet named after him, was born. he was the English Astronomer Royal and first observed the comet in 1682. He accurately predicted its return in 1758. It won't come again until 2061.
1958-The Hope Diamond was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Originally it was a 112 carat steel-blue diamond embedded in a Hindu statue. After passing through many owners, including Marie Antoinette and the British banking firm that the diamond is named after, it is now a 44 carat diamond worth US$1.5 million.

Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.

John F. Kennedy (elected President 8 Nov)

It is magnificent, but it is not war; it is madness.

Pierre Bosquet (born 8 Nov)

November 7

On this day: 1861, the first Melbourne Cup was run. Archer, ridden by J Cutts, won. 1918, Billy Graham, evangelist, was born in Charlottesville, North Carolina. That's all, folks!

4 November

A very busy day was today, and it's not finished yet.
On this day:
1922- King Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered by Howard Carter. King Tut had ruled from age 10-18, when he died. His 3500 year old tomb had been discovered with almost all its treasures intact, while most other tombs had been plundered by grave robbers.
1941- New Zealander Charles Upham was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery under fire in WWII. He won it again in 1942 when, after leading his company into a major attack, he was shot through the elbow. He refused to quit, and alone, he detonated a German tank and killed several soldiers while leading his men to safety. Charles Upham was captured and held in the infamous Colditz fortress. After his release, he returned home to Christchuch, where the awed citizens had raised 10,000 pounds for him. He refused the money and suggested that it go into a scholarship fund for the children of soldiers who were killed. He was one of only 3 people to receive the Victoria Cross twice. When the King asked his adviser, Major-General Howard Kippenberger, if he really thought this honour was deserved, the Major-General replied "In my respectful opinion, sir, Upham won the VC several times over."

November 1

There are 60 days left in the year, and 53 days/1281 hours/76804 minutes/4608111 seconds and counting till Christmas! Not that I'm excited at all. The name November comes from the Latin 'novem,' meaning nine, because November was the ninth month of the Roman calendar. Even though we have a different calendar, we still keep all the old names. Also on this day:

1512- the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited for the first time to the public.
1611- William Shakespeare's The Tempest is presented for the first time at Whitehall Palace in London.

There's nothing that will change someone's moral outlook quicker than cash in large sums.

Larry Flynt, born today

Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; Once we have left it, we can never return.

Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, born today

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