Today is Martyr’s Day, a public holiday in the United Arab Emirates. On 19 August 2015, President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed declared that 30 November each year will be a national holiday called Martyrs’ Day to mark the sacrifice of those who died for the UAE in the line of duty.
The United Arab Emirates is an elective monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates, consisting of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. Each emirate is an absolute monarchy governed by a ruler, and together the rulers form the Federal Supreme Council. In 2020, the country had a population of 9.28 million. Emiratis are estimated to form 11.6% of the UAE population with the remaining being expatriates.
I know many people like this…
maybe same day
The holidays are coming up. Time to send that awkward family photo!
Today is the birthday, in 1915, of American folk music and blues singer and guitarist, Brownie McGhee. He is best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. McGhee died of stomach cancer on 16 February 1996 in Oakland, California, aged 80. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX3KOaJvly4
Today is William Tubman’s Day, a public holiday in Liberia. This holiday honors William Tubman, the longest-serving President in Liberia’s history on the anniversary of his birthday.
William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman was born on November 29th 1895, in the coastal town of Harper. At birth he was one of 5 children who had grown up poor. He was also a descendant of early American slaves. Tubman’s grandfather, Alexander Tubman, was a stonemason, general in the Liberian army, and a former Speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives, as well as a Methodist preacher. Alexander’s parents, Sylvia and William Shadrach Tubman, were freedmen, part of a group of 69 freed slaves whose transportation to Liberia in 1844 was paid by their former mistress Emily Thomas Tubman, a widow and philanthropist in Augusta, Georgia. She was instrumental in the manumission of enslaved African Americans and paying for their transportation to Liberia for “repatriation”.
William Tubman joined the True Whig party and in 1923, aged 28, he became the youngest senator in the history of Liberia. He became the 17th different President of Liberia in January 1944, aged 48, and went to on to serve for 27 years until his death on July 23rd 1971.
Regarded as the “father of modern Liberia”, he was responsible for enacting many reforms and social policies such as the enactment of suffrage and property rights for all adult females and the establishment of a nationwide public school system. Tubman also pushed a policy of national unification by improving the rights of all tribesmen and contributed to the emancipation of African colonial territories into statehood.
Tubman’s legacy also includes his economic “Open Door” policy which increased foreign investment in Liberia. By the time of his death, Liberia could boast the largest mercantile fleet in the world and the world’s largest rubber industry, making the country the envy of many other African nations.
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Denny Doherty, from American folk rock vocal group The Mamas & the Papas who had the 1965 hit ‘California Dreamin”, the 1966 US No.1 single ‘Monday Monday’ and the 1967 hit ‘Dedicated to the One I Love’. Doherty died on 19th Jan 2007 at the age of 66 after a short illness. Doherty started his musical career in 1956 with a band called the Hepsters and in 1963, established a friendship with Cass Elliot when she was with a band called The Big 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUr5_QVPCAI
Today is Independence Day in Albania. Independence Day (Albanian: Dita e Pavarësisë) is an annual public holiday in Albania on November 28th each year. This is Albania’s National Day and commemorates the date when Albania proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
At the start of the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was expanding into South-Eastern Europe, invading and controlling numerous lands ruled by local kingdoms. By 1431, the Ottomans ruled most of modern-day Albania.
In 1443, a local revolt was led by a deserter from the Ottomans called Skanderbeg. His heroic military campaigns to defend Albania against the might of the Ottoman Empire meant that he became a national hero to the Albanians. It is often said that Skandberg’s stand against the Ottomans may have prevented further expansion by the empire into more western regions of Europe.
Following Skanderbeg’s death, Albania fell back under Ottoman control in 1479 and it remained a part of the Ottoman Empire until just before the start of the first world war.
In the late nineteenth century, a wave of desire for nationhood had been sweeping across Eastern Europe and while Albania enjoyed a privileged position within the empire, it too was stirred into the various uprising against Ottoman rule. With the Ottomans having been weakened by the defeat in the Balkan Wars, an Albanian uprising of 1912 led to the proclamation of independence by Ismail Qemali, the leader of the Albanian national movement, on November 28th 1912.
octopus onesie…
Bada BING!!!
I’ve done some terrible things for money. Like getting up early to go to work.
If you think you love freedom but don’t care if it applies to everyone, then what you actually love is “Privilege.”
Whatever you do today, do it with the confidence of a 4-year-old in a Batman t-shirt.
Nothing refreshes my memory of what I need at the grocery store like coming home from the grocery store.
Golf – The adult version of an easter egg hunt.
Never in the history of calm down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down.
I told my girlfriend she should embrace her mistakes. She gave me a hug.
Great minds think alike. Unfortunately, so do stupid ones.
IN CASE OF FIRE Please leave the building before posting it on social media.
Red States… Where you can live ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, but you can’t read it.
That look you make when you’re the tech person in the family and you hear someone say Grandma got a new phone.
I once lived a stone’s throw away from a family who all died of mysterious head injuries.
I don’t like making plans for the day because then the word “premeditated” gets thrown around in the courtroom.
Shame on you people making fun of George Santos, a man whose mother died not once but twice and possibly even three times!
Please help my wife and I decide on dinner. We’ve narrowed it down to “It doesn’t matter” and “It’s your turn to choose”.
Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Randy Newman, singer, songwriter, Composer of ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’, ‘Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear’, 1977 US No.2 single ‘Short People.’ Film soundtracks including ‘Ragtime.’ Once hailed as the greatest songwriter alive by Paul McCartney. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer, his film scores include Ragtime, Toy Story; A Bug’s Life; Toy Story 2; Monsters, Inc.; Cars; Toy Story 3; and Monsters University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bfyS-S-IJs
Today if Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone, the eighth month in the Burmese calendar. It usually falls in November in the Western calendar. The full moon of Tazaungmone marks the end of the rainy season in Myanmar as well as the end of the Kathina festival during which monks are offered alms including new robes.
The number nine is a lucky and auspicious number in Myanmar and 9,999 candles are lit up as offerings to Buddha in the Chaukhtatgyi Paya Pagoda on the night of the full moon day of Tazaungmone.
Following on from Thadingyut, celebrated on the previous full moon, Tazaungmone is another festival of lights as the festival of Tazaungdaing is also held at this time. Across Myanmar, hot-air balloons are lit with candles and released into the night sky. The balloons are released as an offering to the home of the devas in Buddhist cosmology and as a way to drive away evil spirits.
Lebanon was a part of the Ottoman Empire for many years. After World War I, despite the promises that had been made, the Middle East was partitioned into British and French sectors with Lebanon going to the French. During World War II, the Vichy government troops in Lebanon were defeated by the Free French and British troops in the area and on November 26, 1941, a representative of the Free French Government under de Gaulle proclaimed Lebanese independence.
The French didn’t leave, however, and continued exercising authority under their ‘mandate’. On 8 November, 1943, newly-elected local ministers announced that the ‘mandate’ was ended. The French promptly threw them in jail. The incident united the Christians and Muslims against the mandate, led to international pressure on France and massive street protests.
Finally France yielded and released the prisoners on November 23, 1943 and since then this date has been celebrated as Lebanon Independence Day.
Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American musician and actor Steven Van Zandt, (Little Steven or Miami Steve), guitarist with South Side Johnny, then Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul. Created music-industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid as an action against the Sun City resort in South Africa, Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan and Run DMC, collaborated on ‘Sun City’. He starred as Silvio Dante in the TV Series The Sopranos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBTL4IwOTaU
Comments