November 7th is
Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day
Canine Lymphoma Awareness Day *
Madame Curie Day *
International Merlot Day
Journée Très Absurde *
(very absurd day)
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MORE! Butch Cassidy, Albert Camus and Joni Mitchell, click
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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
Bangladesh – Revolution Day
India – Bihar: Suryodaya Argh/Chhath Dala
(Hindu – Lords Surya, sun, and Kartikeya, war)
Kyrgyzstan – Social Revolution Day
Liberia – Thanksgiving Day
Russia – Accord & Reconciliation Day
Tonga – National Day
Tunisia – Commemoration Day
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On This Day in HISTORY
680 – Sixth Ecumenical Council of Orthodox, Catholic and other Christian leader meets in Constantinople to condemn as heresy the idea that Christ has single energy and will instead of two energies and two wills (divine and human)
1492 – The Ensisheim meteorite, the oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, hits Earth around noon in a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France
1665 – The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published as The Oxford Gazette (it was renamed the following year)
1687 – William Stukeley is born, English pioneer in archaeology at Stonehenge
1775 – John Murray, Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore’s Offer of Emancipation, to free slaves who abandon their colonial masters to fight with the British
1786 – Stoughton Music Society, oldest U.S. performing musical organization, founded
1837 – Abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy is shot dead by a mob in Alton IL, while attempting to protect his printing press from being destroyed a third time
1867 – Marie Curie, Polish chemist and physicist, is born – Madame Curie Day *
1874 – A Thomas Nast cartoon in Harper’s Weekly, considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the Republican Party (U.S.)
1885 – Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada’s first transcontinental railway is completed at the Last Spike ceremony at Craigellachie, British Columbia
1893 – Women in Colorado are granted the right to vote, the second U.S. state to do so
1905 – William Alwyn, English composer, is born
1908 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reported killed in San Vicente, Bolivia
1910 – The Wright Brothers and department store owner Max Moorehouse undertake the first air freight shipment, from Dayton to Columbus in Ohio
1912 – The Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opens with a production of Beethoven’s Fidelio
1913 – Albert Camus born, French philosopher and author, 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature, Journée Très Absurde *
1914 – The New Republic publishes its first issue
1916 – Jeannette Rankin is the first woman elected to the United States Congress
1917 – Gregorian calendar date of the October Revolution, named for the Julian calendar date of 25 October. On this day, the Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace
1918 – The influenza epidemic spreads to Western Samoa, killing about 20% of the population by the end of the year
1926 – Joan Sutherland, Australian-Swiss soprano, is born
1929 – In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public
1933 – Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City
1943 – Joni Mitchell is born, Canadian singer-songwriter
1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt elected for a record fourth term as U.S. President
1967 – Carl B. Stokes is elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, the first African American mayor of a major American city, and LBJ signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS)
1973 – U.S. Congress overrides President Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval
1979 – The Rose, movie starring Bette Midler, premieres in Los Angeles CA
1987 – Singapore’s first Mass Rapid Transit line opens
1990 – Mary Robinson is the first woman elected President of the Republic of Ireland
1994 – WXYC, student radio station of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, does the world’s first internet radio broadcast
1996 – NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor
2015 – Terry Simons starts Canine Lymphoma Awareness Day *
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Visuals
- Glass of Merlot
- International flags
- The Oxford Gazette #1
- The only surviving drawing of original placement of stones at Stonehenge (1723, by William Stukeley)
- Thomas Nast’s 1874 Republican elephant cartoon in Harper’s Weekly
- Albert Camus, with happy ending quote
- Joan Sutherland as the Queen in Les Huguenots
- Mary Robinson, first woman elected President of the Republic of Ireland
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On this day in 1965, Art Arfons set a record for land speed vehicles. He set a new record of 576.553 miles per hour. Arfons and Craig Breedlove passed the record back and forth several times. A week later, on November 15, 1965, Art Arfons lost the record for the last time when Craig Breedlove drove his car, “Spirit of America” 600.601 miles per hour.
A year later, in November 1966, Art Arfons tried again. He drove his Green Monster through the traps at 610 miles per hours, but on the required return trip, a wheel bearing froze, sending the car off the carefully groomed track. The car was totally destroyed, but Arfons was uninjured.
It was also in 1965 that Sabrina “Sib” Jackintell drove Art Arfons’ Green Monster over 300 mph at Bonneville, setting a new women’s land speed record.
It was also on November 7, 1940 that the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed only a few months after it was built. The wind was blowing at a brisk 42 mph, but harmonics built into the bridge structure had not been understood at the time. That mistake has not been repeated in the decades since.
The driver of the lone car on the bridge at the time tried to rescue his cocker spaniel from the car, but the frightened dog snarled and snapped at him, refusing to leave the car. The car owner was forced to flee on foot as the bridge rocked even more wildly. The only casualty that day was the dog, who plunged 140 feet into the water, sinking with the hapless automobile.