27 October                   

                                     Happy  Birthday  Roberto ! 

28 October           Greek soldiers come into WWII smiling

Italians and Greeks are best friends  but unfortunately Italy was fascistic that times and Greeks are always on the side of Democracy and Freedom 

Τhe singer of the Victory was Sofia Vempo, she asked by herself to go on the mountains and sing to the Greek soldiers before and after every battle and the Greek Air Force has given a plane in her convenience to help her move in the front line from one place to another 

http://en.protothema.gr/women-of-epirus-the-unsung-heroes-of-the-greek-italian-war-photos/

29 October                 Henry Dunant

A Memory of Solferino (French: Un souvenir de Solférino) is a manuscript of the Swiss humanist and philanthropist Henry Dunant which he wrote after witnessing the suffering of thousands of wounded soldiers of the Battle of Solferino  in Lombardy, south of Lake Garda, in 1859.

 In the book, he describes the battle, the sufferings, the organisation of aid and asks:

• "Would it not be possible, in time of peace and quiet, to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?"
• "On certain special occasions, as, for example, when princes of the military art belonging to different nationalities meet at Cologne or Châlons, would it not be desirable that they should take advantage of this sort of congress to formulate some international principle, sanctioned by a Convention inviolate in character, which, once agreed upon and ratified, might constitute the basis for societies for the relief of the wounded in the different European countries ?"
•  http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1060754/f2.item.r=henry%20dunant

The publication of the book 3 years later led to the establishment of the International Committee of the Red Cross (International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement) and the Geneva Conventions

Henry Dunant  in 1901 received the first Nobel Peace Prize together with Frédéric Passy, making Dunant the first Swiss Nobel laureate.

In February 1863 in Geneva, Henry Dunant founded the "Committee of the Five" (together with four other leading figures from well-known Geneva families) as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. Their aim was to examine the feasibility of Dunant's ideas and to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, aside from Dunant himself, were Gustave Moynier, lawyer and chairman of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare; physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown.

The five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battle field. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, Second French Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria,  Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse,  Austrian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Saxony, and Spanish Empire. Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on 29 October 1863, were:

• The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;
• Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;
• The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;
• The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties; and
• The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerlandand.  State parties (signatories) to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols have given the ICRC a mandate to protect victims of international and internal armed conflicts. Such victims include war wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians, and othernon-combatants.

 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the oldest and most honoured organization within the Movement and one of the most widely recognized organizations in the world, having won three Nobel Peace Prizes in 1917, 1944, and 1963.

The official mission statement says that: "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose independently humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance." It also conducts and coordinates international relief and works to promote and strengthen humanitarian lawand universal humanitarian principles. 

The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes are:

• to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions
• to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield
• to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war and make confidential interventions with detaining authorities
• to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)
• to organize protection and care for civil populations
• to act as a neutral intermediary between warring parties

The ICRC drew up seven fundamental principles in 1965 that were adopted by the entire Red Cross Movement. They are humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, volunteerism, unity, and universality

30 October          All Hallow's Eve from Mars in 1938 

The War of the Worlds is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on Sunday, October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898)

The talented Orson Welles' was so persuasive in his Halloween radio performance that caused mass hysteria, convincing thousands of panicked listeners across North America that Earth was being attacked by Mars. 

 It boasted a distinctly modern twist. Keen on cementing his reputation as a theatrical wunderkind, the 23-year-old actor-director reworked the plodding Victorian narrative about a Martian invasion of Earth into a gripping faux newscast with real moments of shock and awe.

Welles introduced his radio play with a spoken introduction, followed by an announcer reading a weather report. Then, seemingly abandoning the storyline, the announcer took listeners to “the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra.” Putrid dance music played for some time, and then the scare began. An announcer broke in to report that “Professor Farrell of the Mount Jenning Observatory” had detected explosions on the planet Mars. Then the dance music came back on, followed by another interruption in which listeners were informed that a large meteor had crashed into a farmer’s field in Grovers Mills, New Jersey.

Soon, an announcer was at the crash site describing a Martian emerging from a large metallic cylinder. “Good heavens,” he declared, “something’s wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now here’s another and another one and another one. They look like tentacles to me … I can see the thing’s body now. It’s large, large as a bear. It glistens like wet leather. But that face, it… it … ladies and gentlemen, it’s indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it’s so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate.”

The Martians mounted walking war machines and fired “heat-ray” weapons at the puny humans gathered around the crash site. They annihilated a force of 7,000 National Guardsman, and after being attacked by artillery and bombers the Martians released a poisonous gas into the air. Soon “Martian cylinders” landed in Chicago and St. Louis. The radio play was extremely realistic, with Welles employing sophisticated sound effects and his actors doing an excellent job portraying terrified announcers and other characters. An announcer reported that widespread panic had broken out in the vicinity of the landing sites, with thousands desperately trying to flee. In fact, that was not far from the truth.

31 October                        

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol" premieres in St Petersburg in 1887. Rimsky-Korsakov originally intended to write the work for a solo violin with orchestra, but later decided that a purely orchestral work would do better justice to the lively melodies. The Russian title is Каприччио на испанские темы (literally, Capriccio on Spanish Themes).

                                  And Yet, It Moves

It took 350 years only for "Dogma" to move and meet "Reason" 

25 years ago on 30 October 1992 Vatican accepted Galileo Galilei was right that the Earth was not fixed by God on its foundation, not to be moved forever

1 November              Sistine Chapel ceiling

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art.

The ceiling is that of the Sistine Chapel, the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named.  It was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II. The chapel is the location for papal conclaves and many other important services.  The Sistine Chapel ceiling was exhibited to the public for the first time on 1 November 1512.  "The whole world came running when the vault was revealed, and the sight of it was enough to reduce them to stunned silence."

Johann Wolfgang Goethe said: "Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving."

The ceiling's various painted elements form part of a larger scheme of decoration within the Chapel, which includes the large fresco The Last Judgment on the sanctuary wall, also by Michelangelo, wall paintings by several leading painters of the late 15th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pietro Perugino, and a set of large tapestries by Raphael, the whole illustrating much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis of which The Creation of Adam is the best known, having an iconic standing equaled only by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the hands ofGod and Adam being reproduced in countless imitations. The complex design includes several sets of individual figures, both clothed and nude, which allowed Michelangelo to fully demonstrate his skill in creating a huge variety of poses for the human figure and which have provided an enormously influential pattern book of models for other artists ever since.

To reach the chapel's ceiling, Michelangelo designed his own scaffold, a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall near the top of the windows, rather than being built up from the floor. Contrary to popular belief, he painted in a standing position, not lying on his back.  "The work was carried out in extremely uncomfortable conditions, from his having to work with his head tilted upwards".

Michelangelo described his physical discomfort  under which he worked in a humorous sonnet accompanied by a little sketch.

I've grown a goitre by dwelling in this den–

As cats from stagnant streams in Lombardy,

Or in what other land they hap to be–

Which drives the belly close beneath the chin:

My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in,

Fixed on my spine: my breast-bone visibly

Grows like a harp: a rich embroidery

Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin.

My loins into my paunch like levers grind:

My buttock like a crupper bears my weight;

My feet unguided wander to and fro;

In front my skin grows loose and long; behind,

By bending it becomes more taut and strait;

Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow:

Whence false and quaint, I know,

Must be the fruit of squinting brain and eye;

For ill can aim the gun that bends awry.

Come then, Giovanni, try

To succour my dead pictures and my fame;

Since foul I fare and painting is my shame.

The painting technique employed was fresco, in which the paint is applied to damp plaster. Michelangelo had been an apprentice in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, one of the most competent and prolific of Florentine fresco painters, at the time that the latter was employed on a fresco cycle at Santa Maria Novella and whose work was represented on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. At the outset, the plaster, intonaco, began to grow mold because it was too wet. Michelangelo had to remove it and start again. He then tried a new formula created by one of his assistants, Jacopo l'Indaco, which resisted mold and entered the Italian building tradition. 

Because he was painting fresco, the plaster was laid in a new section every day, called a giornata. At the beginning of each session, the edges would be scraped away and a new area laid down. The edges between giornate remain slightly visible; thus, they give a good idea of how the work progressed. It was customary for fresco painters to use a full-sized detailed drawing, a cartoon, to transfer a design onto a plaster surface—many frescoes show little holes made with a stiletto, outlining the figures. Here Michelangelo broke with convention; once confident the intonaco had been well applied(the final, very thin layer of plaster on which a fresco is painted), he drew directly onto the ceiling. His energetic sweeping outlines can be seen scraped into some of the surfaces, while on others a grid is evident, indicating that he enlarged directly onto the ceiling from a small drawing.

Michelangelo painted onto the damp plaster using a wash technique to apply broad areas of colour, then as the surface became drier, he revisited these areas with a more linear approach, adding shade and detail with a variety of brushes. For some textured surfaces, such as facial hair and woodgrain, he used a broad brush with bristles as sparse as a comb. He employed all the finest workshop methods and best innovations, combining them with a diversity of brushwork and breadth of skill far exceeding that of the meticulous Ghirlandaio.

The work commenced at the end of the building furthest from the altar, with the latest of the narrative scenes, and progressed towards the altar with the scenes of the Creation. The first three scenes, from the story of Noah, contain a much larger number of small figures than the later panels. This is partly because of the subject matter, which deals with the fate of Humanity, but also because all the figures at that end of the ceiling, including the prophets and Ignudi, are smaller than in the central section. As the scale got larger, Michelangelo's style became broader, the final narrative scene of God in the act of Creation was painted in a single day.

The bright colours and broad, cleanly defined outlines make each subject easily visible from the floor. Despite the height of the ceiling, the proportions of the Creation of Adam are such that when standing beneath it, "it appears as if the viewer could simply raise a finger and meet those of God and Adam". Vasari tells us that the ceiling is "unfinished", that its unveiling occurred before it could be reworked with gold leaf and vivid blue lapis lazuli as was customary with frescoes and in order to better link the ceiling with the walls below it which were highlighted with a great deal of gold. But this never took place, in part because Michelangelo was reluctant to set up the scaffolding again, and probably also because the gold and particularly the intense blue would have distracted from his painterly conception.

Some areas were, in fact, decorated with gold: the shields between the Ignudi and the columns between the Prophets and Sibyls. It seems very likely that the gilding of the shields was part of Michelangelo's original scheme, since they are painted to resemble a certain type of parade shield, a number of which still exist and are decorated in a similar style with gold.

2 November                 Balfour Declaration

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government during World War Iannouncing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine

67 words written by Leopold Amery and Arthur Balfour 100 years ago and 100 days after they received this letter from Lord Rothchild where the author is calling the other party "opponents", so we cannot speak about a friendly and peaceful declaration in its genesis. 

 Below an actor dressed as Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a new work by UK artist Banksy, etched into Israel's controversial West Bank barrier.

The carving reads "Er... Sorry", alluding to the centenary of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which Britain expressed its support for a Jewish national home.

Israel and Jewish communities view the pledge as momentous, while Palestinians regard it as a historical injustice.

3 November                            Laika

 Laika, a stray dog in the streets of Moscow was looking at the stars every night and she had a feeling that she will be up there one day.  Laika was part husky or other Nordic breed, and possibly part terrier,  she was selected from ten candidates at the Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine, because of her even temperament, she was the only one who did not quarrel with other dogs, Laika was ready to travel in the stars and become a hero sacrificing herself paving the way for human spaceflight.

Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on 3 November 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a Soviet space dog named Laika.  Aside from the primary mission of sending a living passenger into space, Sputnik 2 also contained instrumentation for measuring solar irradiance and cosmic rays.

Three dogs were trained for the Sputnik 2 flight: Albina, Mushka, and Laika. Soviet space-life scientists Vladimir Yazdovsky and Oleg Gazenko trained the dogs.The dogs were trained to eat a special high-nutrition gel that would be their food in space  Before the launch Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky took Laika home to play with his children. In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine,  he wrote, "Laika was quiet and charming...I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live."

4 November                      Yitzhak Rabin

         was assassinated in Israel because he believed in Peace 

Yitzhak Rabin was the first native-born prime minister of Israel, an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize Laurette. In 1992, Rabin was re-elected as prime minister on a platform embracing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. He signed several historic agreements with the Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords.  Rabin has become a symbol of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.

On the evening of 4 November 1995, Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli student https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin_assassination_conspiracy_theories 

Rabin had been attending a mass rally at the Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) in Tel Aviv, held in support of the Oslo Accords. When the rally ended, Rabin walked down the city hall steps towards the open door of his car, at which point Amir fired three shots at Rabin who was taken to the nearby Ichilov Hospital with considerable delay, where he died on the operating table less than 40 minutes later due to blood loss and a punctured lung.

Rabin's assassination came as a great shock to the Israeli public and much of the rest of the world. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis thronged the square where Rabin was assassinated to mourn his death. Young people, in particular, turned out in large numbers, lighting memorial candles and singing peace songs. 

5 November                  Happy Deepawali Tihar

Tihar (Nepali: तिहार) is a five-day-long Hindu festival celebrated in Nepal. starting 2 days before the new moon of Kartika and ends 2 days after. It is the festival of lights, as diyas are lit inside and outside the houses to make it illuminate at night.

Tihar is the second biggest Nepalese festival after Dashain. It is considered to be of great importance as it shows a contribution to not just the humans and the gods, but also to the animals like crows, cows, and dogs that maintain an intimate relationship with humans. People make patterns on the floor of living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals outside their house, called Rangoli, which is meant to be a sacred welcoming area for the Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism mainly Goddess Laxmi

Crows and ravens are worshiped by offerings of sweets and dishes placed on the roofs of houses. The cawing of crows and ravens symbolizes sadness and grief in Hinduism, so devotees offer crows and ravens food to avert grief and death in their homes. Tihar represents the divine attachment between humans and other animals.

Day 1 is called Kaag Tihar (Crow Festival) is the first day of Tihar festival of Nepalese,Hindu people. In this particular day crow is worshipped. Religious belief in Nepal regard crow as messenger of Yamraja. People worship it to bring good luck in their houses.

According to Dr. Jagaman Gurung in ancient time people used to roam from one place to another. similarly Crow also roam. it is assumed/believed that when crow/crows and flews to east, then something good/benefit will happen. similarly when it flews to west , then bad/pain/suffering/grevience etc. will happen.

likewise when it flews to north then glorious/fame (faming) news will be coming/happening, & when it flews toward south, it is believed that some harmful/ loss/damage /destruction etc kind of message will becoming. or crow carries that kind of message.

The second day is called Kukur Tihar (Dog Festival).. People offer garlands, tika and delicious food to dogs and acknowledge the cherished relationship between humans and dogs.

Dogs occupy a special place in Hindu mythology every home or street and they get special treatment in this day. As mentioned in the Mahabharata, Bhairava, a fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva, had a dog as a vahana (vehicle). Yama, the god of death, is believed to own two guard dogs – each with four eyes. The dogs are said to watch over the gates of Naraka, the Hindu concept of Hell. Owing to this belief, this day is also observed as Naraka Chaturdashi.

The morning of the third day is Gai Tihar (worship of the cow). In Hinduism, cow signifies prosperity and wealth. In ancient times people benefited a lot from the cow. Its milk, dung, even urine was used for purposes like purification. Thus, on this day people show their gratefulness to the cow by garlanding and feeding them with the best grass. Houses are cleaned and the doorways and windows are decorated with garlands made of Saya Patri (marigolds) and makhamali (Gomphrena globosa) flowers.

In the evening Laxmi, the goddess of wealth is thanked for all the benefits that were bestowed on the families by lighting oil lamps (Diyo) or candles on doorways and windows to welcome prosperity and well being. At night the girls enjoy dancing and visiting all the houses in the neighborhood with musical instruments singing and dancing known as Bhailo all night long collecting money as a tip from houses and share the bounty amongst themselves.

From the third day onward Tihar is celebrated with Deusi and Bhailo with light and fireworks. Ceremony is mostly sung by the boys while the Bhailo is sung by the girls. Deusi is balladic and tells the story of the festival, with one person narrating and the rest as the chorus. In return, the home owners give them money, fruit and selroti (a Nepali roundel made of rice flour and sugar). Nowadays social workers, politician, and young people visit local homes, sing these songs, and collect funds for welfare and social activities.

Coincidentally, Laxmi Puja also marks the birthday of Laxmi Prasad Devkota, who is widely revered and honoured as the greatest poet of Nepali language

Goddess Laxmi, theHindu Goddess of wealth and prosperity.

On the fourth day of Tihar, there are three different known pujas, depending on the people's cultural background. Mainly ox is worshipped in this day by giving different foods. It is observed as Goru Tihar or Goru Puja (worship of the oxen). People who follow Vaishnavism perform Govardhan Puja, which is worship towards Govardhan mountain. Cow dung is taken as representative of the mountain and is worshiped. Additionally, the majority of the Newar community on the night perform Mha Puja (worship of self). This day is seen as the beginning of the new Nepal Sambat calendar year.

The fifth and last day of Tihar is called Bhai Tika . It is observed by sisters applying "tilaka" or "tika" to the foreheads of their brothers to ensure long life and thank them for the protection they provide. It is believed that Yamraj, the God of Death, visited his sister, Goddess Yamuna, on this day during which she applied the auspicious tika on his forehead, garlanded him and fed him special dishes. Together, they ate sweets, talked and enjoyed themselves to their hearts' content. Upon parting, Yamraj gave the Yamuna a special gift as a token of his affection and, in return, Yamuna gave him a lovely gift which she had made with her own hands. That day Yamraj announced that anyone who receives tilak from his sister will never die on that day.

Sisters make a special grandly for their brothers from a flower that wilts only after a long time, symbolizing the sister's prayer for her brother long live. Brothers sit on the floor while their sisters perform their puja. The puja follows a traditional ritual in which sisters circle brothers, dripping oil on the floor from a copper pitcher and applying oil to their brother's hair, following which a seven-color tikas is applied on the brother's forehead. Next, brothers give tikas to their sisters in the same fashion with an exchange of gifts. This ritual is practiced regardless of whether the brother is younger or older than the sister. Those without a sister or brother join relatives or friends for tika. This festival strengthens the close relationship between brothers and sisters.

In addition to these, Newars make colourful Ashtamangala mandalas and recite chants and procedures in accordance with Tantric rituals. Along with the seven-coloured tika, sisters provide brothers with Sagun, sweets,Makhamali (Gomphrena globosa) garland, and a sacred cotton thread of Tantric importance, similar to Janaithread meant to protect their bodies.

6 November                           Meet The Press

It was Sunday afternoon 5 November 1947 in NBC studios when the longest running television program in history, 'Meet the Press' made its debut, and it was already 6 November Tomorrow's News  in Europe and the rest of the World.

The program has been hosted by 12 different moderators to date, beginning with creator Martha Rountree, an American pioneering broadcast journalist and entrepreneur. She was the creator and first moderator of a public-affairs program, first on radio as The American Mercury from June 24, 1945, and as Meet the Press on the NBC television network from November 6, 1947. She is the only female moderator in the seven-decade history of the show.

On November 6, 1947 Meet the Press was originally presented as a 30-minute press conference with a single guest and a panel of questioners. Its first guest was James Farley, one of the first Irish Catholic politicians in American history to achieve success on a national level. He simultaneously served as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Postmaster General under the first two administrations of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Meet the Press specializes in interviews with leaders in Washington, D.C., across the country and even the world on issues of politics, economics, foreign policy and other public affairs, along with panel discussions that provide opinions and analysis. It originates from NBC's bureau in Washington, D.C.

The longevity of Meet the Press is attributable in part to the fact that the program debuted during what was only the second official "network television season" for American television. The program's innovative idea was to have public figures respond to probing questions without prior preparation and for those being interviewed to be held accountable on issues of the day.

7 November

If you are the best athlete in the World you become a Thrill

 but if you garland this talent with Truth you become Immortal

In a press conference held on November 7, 1991, Earvin Magic Johnson made a public announcement that he would retire immediately. He stated that his wife Cookie and their unborn child did not have HIV, and that he would dedicate his life to "battle this deadly disease"

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-magic-johnson-fought-the-aids-epidemic

After announcing his infection in November 1991, Johnson created the Magic Johnson Foundation to help combat HIV, although he later diversified the foundation to include other charitable goals. In 1992, he joined the National Commission on AIDS, a committee appointed by members of Congress and the Bush Administration. Johnson left after eight months, saying that the White House had "utterly ignored" the work of the panel, and had opposed the commission's recommendations, which included universal healthcare and the expansion of Medicaid to cover all low-income people with AIDS. He was also the main speaker for theUnited Nations (UN) World AIDS Day Conference in 1999, and has served as a United Nations Messenger of Peace

8 November                       Storming into the Winter Palace

 October Revolution

In the early hours on 8 November 1917 a bloodless insurrection occurred with a final assault against the Winter Palace, with 3,000 cadets, officers, cossacks and female soldiers poorly defending the Winter Palace. The Bolsheviks delayed the assault because the revolutionaries could not find functioning artillery. The Bolsheviks also prolonged the assault for fear of violence since the insurrection did not generate violent outbreaks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/07/russian-revolution-then-and-now

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/08/bolsheviks-seize-power-in-petrograd-archive-1917

At 6:15 p.m of the previous day., a large group of artillery cadets abandoned the palace, taking their artillery with them. At 8:00 p.m., 200 cossacks left the palace and returned to their barracks.  While the cabinet of the provisional government within the palace debated what action to take, the Bolsheviks issued an ultimatum to surrender. Workers and soldiers occupied the last of the telegraph stations, cutting off the cabinet's communications with loyal military forces outside the city. As the night progressed, crowds of insurgents surrounded the palace, and many infiltrated it. While Soviet historians and officials tended to depict the event in heroic terms, the insurrection and even the seizure of the Winter Palace happened almost without resistance.

At 9:45 p.m, the cruiser Aurora fired a blank shot from the harbor. Some of the revolutionaries entered the Palace at 10:25 p.m. and there was a mass entry 3 hours later. By 2:10 a.m on 26 October Bolshevik forces had gained control of the palace. After sporadic gunfire throughout the building, the cabinet of the provisional government had surrendered. The only member who was not arrested was Kerensky himself who had already left the Palace

9 November     

Monday, November 9, 1964. Prime Minister George Papandreou the Elder inaugurated the Panhellenic Institution of Students' food rations for 600.000 Greek children

At that time, there was illiteracy especially in the villages of mountainous and semi-mountainous Greece, so to achieve the attendance of all children in Primary schools, and the institution was established with economical help from US, and for that reason Kirk Douglas with his wife Ann visited Greek schools to support that humaitarian action

Given the change I would like to add this heartfelt video where Kirk and Anne Douglas tell about their new book that features letters from their life together and how important is writing and reading letters for human heart

 One year later, on 9 November 1965 another famous couple of the movies visited Athens

                     Orson Welles and Jeanne Moreau

for the shooting of the film "The Sailor from Gibraltar" 

https://cinemasojourns.com/2014/12/20/any-port-in-a-storm/

10 November                   The Great Wall of China

Generally I don't like walls, but the Great Wall of China is something else, looks like a mighty dragon who unfolds over the mountains, allowing the transportation of goods along the Silk Road. It is unbelievable that this architectural miracle remained closed for the people until the 10 November 1970 when the first tourists walked on the Great Wallfor the first time

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/china/articles/The-Great-Wall-China-Trip-of-a-Lifetime/ 

'He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man', as this famous Chinese saying goes, the Great Wall of China, a great engineering marvel, always attracts throngs of adventurous tourists from all over the world.

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/travel.htm

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese statesand empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe with an eye to expansion. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built in 220–206 BC by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. The Great Wall has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced over various dynasties; the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

http://zafigo.com/stories/zafigo-stories/5-things-visiting-great-wall-of-china/

http://www.wildgreatwall.com/14-things-you-should-know-before-visiting-great-wall-china/

Animals and Nature on the Great Wall of China

http://www.greatwallforum.com/forum/forum/other-topics/other-great-wall-topics/936-animals-and-nature-at-the-great-wall

The frontier walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they stretch from Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from present-day Sino-Russian border in the north to Qinghai in the south; along an arc that roughly delineates the edge of Mongolian steppe. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the walls built by the Ming dynasty measure 8,850 km (5,500 mi).

 This is made up of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) sections of actual wall, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and 2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measures out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi). Today, the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history and is characterised a world heritage site by UNESCO

11 November       King Phillip II the Macedon,  father of Alexander the Great

Archaelogist Manolis Andronikos after discovering the Vergina Tomb 3 days earlier, finally breaks through the unpillaged tomb of King Phillip II the Macedon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergina

20 miles away from my town Thessaloniki  

http://en.protothema.gr/thessaloniki-the-glorious-heart-of-northern-greece/

King Philip II was a powerful fourth-century B.C. military ruler from the Greek kingdom of Macedonia

founded and initially ruled by the Royal Argean Dynasty from Peloponnisos with the capital Aigai-Vergina where King Phillip had his Palace

 Using the combination of warfare, diplomacy, and marriage alliances, Philip II took control of all the Balkan Peninsula

The golden reliquary containing bones of Philip II and a gold crown representing the gold oak twig with golden acorns. It has 313 leaves and 68 acorns. The oak is the sacred tree of Zeus

Gold-and-ivory 'ceremonial' shield with male and female device on the outer side, from the Tomb of Philip at Vergina, third quarter of 4th century BC, Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum.

detail from the internal of the shield of Philip IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Macedon

The researchers examined the bones and fragments and found that they belonged to the Macedonian King Philip II, Alexander the Great's father. http://books.google.gr/books?id=0Av7u5Df1bQC&pg=PA88&dq=logistical+range+of+philip%27s+army&hl=el&sa=X&ei=dg1nVK6XG8PgywOproC4DQ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=logistical%20range%20of%20philip's%20army&f=false

Iron cuirass with gold detail from the Tomb of Philip at Vergina, 4th century BC, Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum.

The tomb also had the bones of a woman warrior. As per the team of Greek researchers working on the project, the bones might belong to the daughter of the Skythian King Athea.

Gold 'gorytos' (quiver-and-bow-case) with repousse representation of the capture of a city, from the Tomb of Philip second half of 4th century BC, Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum.

Archaelogist Manolis Andronikos finally breaks through the unpillaged tomb of King Phillip II the Macedon

"I got the small hoe for the excavation which I carried with me since 1952, I bent the pit and began to dig with stubbornness and anguish the soil below the key of the vault while my partners were gathered all around me"(...) (Manolis Andronikos, "The Chronicles of Vergina")

"I kept digging and soon I was sure. The stone of the west wall was in place, undisturbed, solid. (...) - The grave was unpillaged! It was closed! I was profoundly happy. So I found the first Macedonian unpillaged tomb"

That moment I was not interested in doing anything else. That night -as all the next- was impossible to sleep more than two or three hours. Around 12 midnight, I took the car and went to make sure if the guards were in place. It was the same at 2 and 5 am. Certainly, meditated, in the sarcophagus to be hiding a nice surprise.

The only difficulty we encountered was that while lifting the cover, saw clearly any content and should be able to keep calm and carry on our work, mole that our eyes were dazzled by what we saw and the heart we go to break with emotion.

Within the sarcophagus was a golden urn. Top on the cover of a prestigious embossed star with sixteen rays, and in the center of a rosetteWith a lot more attention and emotion I lifted the lid on the star by grasping the two corners of the front panel. We expected to see in it the burnt bones of the dead.

But what we saw in the opening cut us once again breathless, dazzled our eyes and our flooded awe really into the shrine were burnt bones. But the most unexpected thing was a golden wreath of oak leaves and fruit that was folded and placed on the bones  

I had never imagined such a marvellous image. Can I bring in my consciousness crystal clear response I tried as I said to myself: "If you have a suspicion, that the tomb belongs to Philip, it is true-and the golden urn came to reinforce the correctness of this suspected outbreak you held in your hands the shrine with the bones. It is incredible and such a marvellous thought, that seems completely unrealistic. "I do not think I've ever tried in my life such a fuss, nor will ever try it once again. "(Manolis Andronikos, "The Chronicles of Vergina")

12 November                

 Scott of the Antarctic'

Robert Falcon Scott was a naval officer and explorer, who died attempting to be the first to reach the South Pole. In November 1912, on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, the surviving members of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition were searching for their leader. Scott and his party had vanished into the snows the previous year - never returning from their quest for the South Pole.

On November 12th, one of the group, physicist Charles Wright, saw “a small object projecting above the surface” of the snow. It was part of a tent. They had discovered the final resting place of Scott and two of his men, Henry “Birdie” Bowers and Edward Wilson. Scott lay between them, his diary recording their final days: “It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more,” the last entry ran, “For God’s sake look after our people.” In his final starved, frostbitten days, Scott worried about the financial burden on the families he and his men had left behind.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-snow-tomb-of-captain-robert-falcon-scott-antarctica

When The Ice Caps Melt, You Should Be Very Scared About What They Are Hiding, Warns Global Warming Scientist

https://www.inquisitr.com/5118205/when-the-ice-caps-melt-you-should-be-vey-scared-about-what-they-are-hiding-warns-global-warming-scientist/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report?CMP=share_btn_tw

                       https://sailtraininginternational.org/vessel/europa/

14 November   

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed

Anti-Austerity demonstrations all-over Europe

Europe has become "The Little Shop Of Horrors" with the carnivorous plant of Austerity which needs people's blood to be fed

On 14 November 2012

Europe's capital cities ground to a halt on that Wednesday with a series of anti-austerity marches and co-ordinated strikes.

Protests are taking place on Wednesday across the EU over rising unemployment and austerity measures being imposed by governments. Workers' parties in countries including Spain, Greece and Italy blame bankers for the financial crisis and will call on leaders to address growing social anxiety and abandon austerity measures.

The demonstrations, which amount to the biggest pan-European attack on tough austerity budgets across a number of EU countries, were organised as part of a 'European day of action and solidarity' by the European Trade Union Congress (ETUC).

 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/nov/14/eurozone-crisis-general-strikes-protest-day-of-action

In Portugal and Greece - both "rescued" (Attacked by Banks) with European funds and under strict austerity programmes - the economic downturn sharpened in the third quarter, data showed in Wednesday.

Eurozone finance ministers wrapped up their meeting in Brussels in the early hours of Wednesday without reaching an agreement on Greece’s next round of bailout money.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/nov/14/european-strikes-who-protesting-why

This time, the delay had little to do with Greece, which has accepted drastic spending cuts to fulfil the bailout requirements. "The problem lies with the creditors, the European Uunion and the IMF,” says the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Athens. “They are split on how to deal with Greece in the long-term. What they want is to form some kind of long term strategy to reduce Greece’s debt to a more manageable level before they give the country yet more bailout funds.”

Another meeting,(thousandsof them) to discuss the plan is scheduled for Monday... etc.   The well-known method of unending procrastinations, negotiations for the next meeting etc until the country completely surrenders and the people be enslaved to the Banks

https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-banks-and-austerity-simple-story-of.html

http://www.cadtm.org/Ten-years-on-the-crisis-of-global-capitalism-never-really-ended