For the previous and so far longer calendar posting see: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/03/update-for-week-11-of-2025-march-lunar.html I might post more in a day.
karlof1.substack.com/p/explanation-the-long-lineage-of-russophobia
ohiobarbarian.substack.com/p/the-last-total-war-iran-iraq-war
In Canada: edberg.substack.com/p/the-empires-green-fabric
theworker.news/2025/03/17/missouri-legislature-exposes-farce-of-bourgeois-democracy/
theworker.news/2025/03/17/trump-promises-to-classify-vandalism-against-tesla-as-domestic-terrorism
/
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/03/nimby-contrarianism.html
Free Syrian refugee propaganda for the US government: On NPR (on 1A?) March 21st there was a quote from a refugee youth who came to the US and got a degree during the civil war and is now returning to Syria (?) -- he said something like, in the USA, 100% work gets 100% reward, in Turkey, 100% gets something like 10% (20%?), and in pre-Islamist Syria, 100% got you in prison. Greg Myri (sic?) added something about a tech conference that just happened to be going on at his hotel in Syria. I didn't hear everything, but I didn't hear them bring up the continuing occupations of parts of Syria, or the Islamist attacks on Alawite areas and Lebanon. I'm sure they used to complain about Ba'athist Syria's presence in Lebanon.
NPR has been hammering all week, including today (the 22nd), about the great "journalism" done by the VOA for the benighted regions that suffer from "propaganda" or a lack of independent or capable media, for whatever reason, ever since WWII in Europe (they make it about WWII, not the Cold War, and they don't explain why the US needed to duplicate the BBC). NPR and probably the BBC literally say "the propagandists" in Moscow, but the VOA has nothing to do with the US government, and is publicly-funded, not bad "state-funded" media. Trump helps them, by condemning VOA, but if these organizations weren't serving the US government it seems like the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Marti, etc. would have been defunded long before now.
They also talked some about the not so peaceful "US Institute of Peace." A Congressman (from Iowa?) who helped found it, at the urging on Mennonites (?) didn't sound so bad, but what is the point of an Institute of Peace if it is about "soft power" against US "enemies," and I would imagine, encouraging compradorism in Palestine, rather than building peace between the US and Russia, China, Iran, etc.
On the 22nd that very British-sounding woman who advised the first Trump administration on Russia and then campaigned against Trump lectured morning listeners about the Ukraine War, etc. Advisors like her probably helped cause the current disaster. She said that other countries have spent more than the US on Ukraine, but a problem is the need for US weapon systems. Not that long ago the BBC was ridiculing or attacking Germany for only donating helmets, etc. and not going all out with offensive weapons for Ukraine. A few days ago the BBC was interviewing gungho pro-war Ukrainians, but at least some of them are safely in the UK.
Emily Fang, now in Washington, DC (?) joined in, with stories almost daily on All Things Considered; beginning around March 17th or 18th -- on how Trump 2.0 = China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to some US scholars of China (!), how much the Chinese (such as the poor college students sent to the countryside, and now middle class, if not rich) benefitted from VOA or Radio Free Asia broadcasts, and then one on her new book about how bad PR China is (I haven't heard that story, but apparently she is of Chinese ancestry). If I remember correctly she was based in Shanghai, then in Taiwan (probably because of that vilified Chinese government), and recently in the Near East (where they don't vilify anyone who serves US government interests) and the US.
Israel violated the ceasefire in Gaza on the night of the 18th, with US support, and after a wait, Yemen, Hamas, and someone in Lebanon launched a few missiles back at Israel, beginning around the 20th. Hezbollah has denied firing missiles, and they didn't fit Hezbollah's usual method? Israel bombed Lebanon on March 22nd anyway. Israel has been bombing much of the region in March.
NPR didn't talk about Mahmoud Khalil for very long or very strongly (and said little or nothing about similar cases), before moving on to the alleged Venezuelan gang members, and now that is old news. They never reported what country operated the deportation flight. If it was a US operation, it seems like US law would apply, even if it was over "international waters." If the US is paying for their imprisonment in El Salvador, it seems like there would be leverage to have them brought back for immigration hearings. What are they being held for if not convicted of crimes, and for how long? In the most recent issue of Harper's magazine it was argued that Trump's second term will go like the first and like many second terms, not accomplishing as much as people fear/hope. And the USA survived two terms under Reagan and two terms under George W Bush.
From mid-February:
On February 8th and 9th, Toothache Day (?), The People's Pharmacy with Joe and Terry Graedon on WUNC/NPR discussed F [see the periodic table], part one of two, to air next weekend (early in the morning Saturday and mid-afternoon on Sunday): www.peoplespharmacy.com ... show-1417 ... Weighing the pros and cons of [adding F] seems like a 'dangerous' topic to bring up on NPR; I'm surprised they were allowed to cover it. I had the impression that they had to be very careful in discussing the ... in 2024 or '23. In January and February I heard two or three other NPR shows cover [adding F], but only as beneficial and harmless. As I said, I use products containing extra [F], but there are questions that seem legitimate. On the other hand it has been suggested that the Trump administration uses this approach to disrupt things.
February 10th NPR's Morning Edition interviewed an anthropologist about a new book, and while they mentioned distortion of Haiti's development by France and the US, they didn't mention anything more recent than 1915.
In the afternoon on February 10th WRAL profiled Shoku (?), a former Albanian street dog that somehow ended up up for adoption at the Hugs... animal shelter here.
February 11th: WUNC on a UNC Press blog post on authors being denied entry to the US ("Academic Freedom and Open Discourse"); WUNC didn't mention Palestine, though the books mentioned aren't about Palestine; the UNC Press statement did reference "critic[ism] of US policy on Palestine;" neither of them mentioned earlier examples of this behavior, and worse [until recently], in Germany, Switzerland, etc. regarding Palestine: uncpressblog.com/2025/01/31/academic-freedom-and-open-discourse/ and www.wunc.org/
Republican versus Democratic party politicians on "Fort Liberty" going back to "Ft Bragg," though not renaming it for General Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 in Warrenton, in Warren County, North Carolina – September 27, 1876 in Galveston, Texas: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braxton_Bragg ).
Hepatica was already blooming on the Haw River Trail: ncbg.unc.edu/2025/02/06/further-afield-winter-green-wintergreen-along-the-haw-river-trail/
Early on February 9th I heard a killdeer or a similar shorebird flying over with a shriek, and then what might have been a raccoon yowl. The waxing, mostly full Moon appeared low in the west, revealing the rapidly moving lower clouds. The clouds thinned and I was struck by how bright Spica was. I think it became cloudy again before dawn, then it cleared and became very warm. During the day I heard and saw two hawks (I didn't realize that they had quietly come in to perch in nearby trees, separately, at different points) and there might have been more. I might have heard a kingfisher. Red-winged blackbirds were calling loudly. One or more brown-headed nuthatches visited a birdfeeder. I haven't seen any brown-headed or white-breasted nuthatches in a while; they live here all year, while red-breasted nuthatches are uncommon winter visitors. I might have heard a skink in the warm leaf litter. A small thrush (not a hermit thrush??) was resting in a Chinese holly. Overnight into February 10th it was overcast again and rained. February 10th is supposed to be Umbrella Day. The BBC reported February 10th that a road in Bath, UK was temporarily closed to protect amphibians migrating to a lake to breed. I heard a first chorus of frogs singing here a few days ago and spotted salamanders breed at night at the beginning of the year. I might have heard an owl in the afternoon February 9th or 10th. The or a yellow-rumped/myrtle warbler came February 11th; I didn't see one every day last week, and I've only been seeing one at a time. I saw a female (?) downy (?) woodpecker drinking from a bucket around the 9th and it came for suet on the 10th. I might have seen a thrush. Pairs of titmice, Carolina wrens, cardinals, towhees, etc.? Belligerent white-throated sparrows. The juncos remain. Finches, chickadee(s), etc. Heard a or the yellow-bellied sapsucker in the morning on the 11th. In the 30's and overcast again, but dry for now. I might have heard an owl on the 11th and the 10th, and some recently. I might have heard multiple owls far off on February 12th or 13th. Some sun late in the day. Saw a silent sapsucker that had been on the ground? For the second time saw an unfamiliar and skittish brownish long-haired cat with a white spot on its nose. Not for the first time, a winged tuliptree seed blew something like 200' from the only large tuliptree in the neighborhood to land by my door. There was a seedling one year. Tuliptrees can be common in the area, but are very rare in my community. For some reason the power 'blinked' a few days ago, and only some devices were reset. I heard a chainsaw nearby late on the 13th. The power flickered in January as well, but more devices lost power. Cloudy again after sunset on the 13th. I might have heard one or more frogs around 9:30pm. Windy and colder towards 10pm. Vega is up much earlier now. Two white Asplundh trucks were parked here around mid-day on the 14th, maybe cutting along the powerlines for Duke Energy. Hawks calling in the afternoon. Maybe a squirrel reached the birdfeeder and knocked it down again. An unknown bird pecking by the window again. Venus, at peak brightness for this appearance, was visible in the evening on Valentine's Day. Mostly cloudy, with pearly altocumulus and the Moon later that night. Are the yellow daffodils running 'late' in sending up foliage?? Predicted to be cold again next week, possibly with winter precipitation one day.
February 13th: RTI International, based in RTP and an Iraq War contractor (?), temporarily laid off employees (from memory, around 221 in all, and 26 in North Carolina??), due to Trump's aid freeze. What were they being funded to do?
February 13th the BBC reported that a man kayaking with his father off the south end of Chile sometime recently was somehow swallowed and then spit out (?), kayak and all by a "blue and white" humpback whale, and his father just happened to get a video of it. I think such baleen whales can't actually swallow a human into their stomach, though other whales could. An episode of Nature on PBS showed an unfortunate gull (?), on the surface of the water, with a school of fish below, being swallowed by a baleen whale, though maybe it too was ejected alive, off camera. The man still wants to kayak in the ocean?
The afternoon of February 14th WRAL had a story about an angry-looking possum in Nebraska (?) that apparently has to go through 'detox' after eating an entire chocolate cake from Costco, chocolate apparently being toxic to opossums and other animals; I knew an elderly cat that raided the human food supply various times and ate chocolate cookies (mini-Oreos?), powdered sugar and chocolate donuts (Hostess?), kind of hard plain rolls, cooked green beans (with a cheese sauce), etc. safely [or no medical intervention was required]. I thought that cats don't taste or desire sweetness or sugar.
Astronomy / stargazing in February
From recent issues of the magazines Astronomy and Sky and Telescope (the last in on Ukraine War, as in, with NATO/the US government) -- The Moon again occluded the Pleiades, on the shoulder of Taurus, February 5-6th, with the best view in the West (including Alaska, much of Canada, and eastern Russia, but I think that the Eastern US could see some of it; it was cloudy here?). This is one of a series of Moon-Pleiades occultations visible around the world from September 5, 2023 to July 7, 2029, not to be repeated until 2042. The Moon was or will be near Uranus on the 5th, Jupiter on the 6th, Mars on the 9th, the bright star Regulus in Leo on the 12th (rainy here), Spica in Virgo on the 17th (the lunar apogee will be at 8:10pm), Antares on the 21st (near dawn the Moon will be close to tau Scorpii and occult it as seen from the North American Great Lakes), and Pluto on the 25th; Neptune and Venus were on the 1st and Venus and Neptune 'met' on the 3rd. The Moon passed in front of Mars as seen from northeast Canada, Greenland, and parts of Scandinavia and Russia February 9th. Mercury and Saturn will be close together February 24th and the Moon and Mercury on the 28th, but they might be low and hard to see. Saturn will be too dim to see with the unaided eye by the 23rd?
Mars will end its retrograde motion February 24th ("stationary" at 5am) and again move east, in direct motion, for about two years. Mars, Pollux, and Castor, in Gemini, were lined up as they set on the morning of the 10th (I didn't go out and missed it?).
Venus, in the west of Pisces, will be brightest on the 14th, at 6pm. It was highest in the sky January 29th and "stationary" at 10pm on the 27th. Deneb Kaitos in Cetus is to the east of Venus and later in the night Alphard in Hydra is there in the south, after Canis Major and Sirius pass by. Jupiter was "stationary" February 4th, at 8am.
There will be a total lunar eclipse March 13-14th over much of the Atlantic "Western" world -- in the March issue of Astronomy magazine. A partial solar eclipse from the US Northeast, Virginia, Quebec, and Iceland to northwestern Africa and northwestern Russia the morning of March 29th -- the March issue of Sky and Telescope.
A 300' asteroid might dangerously approach the Earth in something like 2032. Earth "quasi-" and "mini-moons" in the February issue of Sky and Telescope.
In late March:
Daffodils are rapidly fading; yellow and orange ones had faded by the 17th and some all yellow ones had wilted by the 22nd. A white weeping ornamental cherry, a white-flowered evergreen ornamental Viburnum, a white 5-petalled ornamental, Bradford pears, yellow Forsythias, some dark Vinca major (some with variegated leaves), lots of lighter Vinca minor (a number with four instead of the usual five 'petals'), dandelions, maybe nearby silver maples, Veronica (?), etc. have been blooming. A Chinese holly began blooming by the 19th. The native redbuds on the street began blooming by about the 18th. A peach sapling was leafing out by the 19th? Deciduous hollies, trifoliate oranges, and a red oak in a pot are just beginning to leaf out I saw around the 18th, and buds are swelling on a Japanese maple and downy arrowwood, a native deciduous Viburnum. A semi-evergreen groundsel and Hypericum began growing new foliage earlier. Lilies, irises, white 5-petalled star of Bethlehem, cattails, lizard's tail, and a white-flowered knotweed sent up new leaves. About four deer came through after sunset on the 14th. I noticed a silken Eastern tentworm nest high in a small black cherry on the 19th. I saw different anoles out on the 18th and 19th, so at least two to four out of the local population must have survived the cold winter. Someone else might have seen a male signalling with his dewlap around the 20th or 19th. Various stinkbugs and ants have been out, and crickets call on milder nights. Carpenter bees, honeybees, and a yellowjacket queen (?) were out, visiting a Chinese holly around the 19th. Around the same day another very small bee species (territorial males?) was around a patch of Vinca minor. A first light yellowish and black bumblebee and carpenter bees were at the light violet-blue Vinca minor on the 19th.
A major lunar standstill in 2024-2025; the Moon was unusually low, in Sagittarius, the morning off March 22nd, and will be between Taurus and Auriga on April 3rd and in Sagittarius again on April 18th. The next major lunar standstill will begin in about 18 years, in 2042 (the cycle is 18.6 years, I think related to eclipses; maybe I'm thinking of the Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris, about 19 years long – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonic_cycle ): the April issue of Sky and Telescope magazine ; see also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_standstill and EC Krupp's 1983 (?) book on archaeoastronomy.
NOAA forecasts a strong geomagnetic storm (so there will be auroras at very low latitudes again?) as a CME from the Sun directly hits the Earth on the 23rd: spaceweather.com (March 22nd entry)
A partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Europe, Africa, and North America March 29th.
I didn't observe enough, but during the total lunar eclipse on March 14th the Moon became a bright rosy red, like a hot coal high in the western morning sky.
Venus will become a "morning star" again in late March, joining Saturn and Mercury?
The Moon appeared close to the star Antares on the 20th and will appear by Pluto on the 24th,
Venus and the Moon will appear close twice in March, the evening of March 1st (joined by Mercury) and March 27th in the morning.
There will be a partial solar eclipse around 6:32am EDT on the 29th (the New Moon), visible from northwestern Russia to the US Northeast, and from northwestern Africa to Greenland, but best seen from northern Quebec, Canada and dropping to 1% coverage of the Sun in Washington, DC; see is.gd/2025partial
Mars will appear closer than half a degree from Pollux, the brightest star in Gemini, on March 30th.
The Moon will be at perigee March 30th at 1:25am EDT.
Venus and Saturn will appear 10 degrees apart on the 30th, around 2am?
Very dim asteroid 29 Amphitrite is now in Leo and was discovered March 1, 1854 by German Albert Marth, observing from a location in London, UK.
The relatively strong Lyrid meteor shower is visible April 14-30, and peaks on the 22nd.
Asteroid Vesta will reach opposition May 2nd, and be closest to the Earth five days later; potentially it could be seen just by eyesight.
Smartphones can be used to detect space weather. – Astronomy magazine for March 2025.
www.solareclipses.pl/index2.php?Id=preface
eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JSEX/JSEX-index.html
The Aztec Xiuhpohualli solar calendar:
There is uncertainty about how Aztec solar calendar (Xiuhpohualli) and our Gregorian calendar should line up; the occasion of Atemoztli (Descent of Water) might have been December 26-January 14th or November 29-December 18th: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_calendar ; in The Aztecs (1992) Richard F Townsend gives the dates December 11-30th. In The Aztecs of Mexico: Origin, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation (1953) George C Valliant gives December 9-28th. The following occasion is Tititl (Stretching); Townsend gives December 31-January 19; Valliant gives December 29-January 17; Wikipedia has January 15-February 3 or December 19-January 7. Next is Izcalli or Huauhquiltamalcualiztli (Growth / Eating of Tamales Stuffed with Greens); Townsend gives January 20-February 8; Valliant gives January 18-February 6; and Wikipedia February 4-23 or January 8-27; Nemontemi (Useless Days); Townsend gives February 9-13; Valliant gives February 7-11; and Wikipedia February 24-28 or January 28-February 1. Atlcaualo or Cuauhitleua (Ceasing of Water / Raising of Trees); Townsend gives February 14-March 5; Valliant gives February 12-March 3; and Wikipedia March 1-20 or February 2-21; Tlacaxipehualiztli ( ... ); Townsend gives March 6-25 and Wikipedia March 21-April 9 February 22-March 13; in The Aztecs of Mexico: Origin, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation (1944 to 1953) George C Valliant gives March 4-23; Tozoztontli or Xochimanaloya (Small Vigil / Offering of Flowers); Townsend gives March 26-April 14, Wikipedia April 10-29 or March 14-April 2, and Valliant March 24-April 12 Huey Tozoztontli (Great Vigil); Townsend gives April 15-May 4, Wikipedia April 30-May19 or April 3-22, and Valliant April 13-May 2; Toxcatl (Dryness); Townsend gives May 5-22, Wikipedia May 20-June 8 or April 23-May 12, and Valliant May 3-22; Etzalcualiztli (Eating of Maize and Beans); Townsend gives May 23-June 13, Wikipedia June 9-28 or May 13-June 1, and Valliant May 23-June 11; Tecuilhuitontli (Small Feast of the Lords); Townsend gives June 14-July 3, Wikipedia June 29-July 18 or June 2-June 21, and Valliant June 12-July 1; Huey Tecuilhuitl (Great Feast of the Lords); Townsend gives July 4-23, Wikipedia July 19-August 7 or June 22-July 11, and Valliant July 2-21.
The 52-year interval "binding of the years" was called xiuhmolpilli, and there was a ceremony, Toxiuhmolpilli (the Binding of the Years, the New Fire ceremony at Huixachtlan or Huixachtecatl (?) the Hill of the Star, next to Culhuacan, now part of greater Mexico City?); every 8 years there was Atamalcualiztli (Eating of Water Tamales; the Venusian cycle of 584 days was noted, etc.?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_calendar
Current dates in reconstructed Tonalpohualli and Xiuhpohualli calendars: www.azteccalendar.com/
The Inca months (?) about equivalent to December-November were Capac Raimi (Magnificent Festival), Huchuy Pocoy (Small Ripening), Hatun Pocoy (Great Ripening), Paucar Warai (Garment of Flowers), Airiway (Dance of Young Maize), Aimuari (Song of the Harvest), Inti Raimi (Festival of the Sun), Anta Situwa (Earthly Purification), Capac Situwa (General Purification--Sacrifice), Coya Raimi (Festival of the Queen (what queen?), Uma Raimi (Festival of the Water), and Ayamarca (Procession of the Dead) according to The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas (1957 to 1961) by Victor Wolfgang von Hagen (born February 29, 1908 in Saint Louis – March 8, 1985 in Italy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Wolfgang_von_Hagen ). Different in Mexico and Peru by Lewis Spence, 1920 and 1994 (James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence November 25, 1874 – March 3, 1955: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Spence )?
"Moons" further north: spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2024/03/can-you-see-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html
How to see the cherries blooming at Duke Gardens in Durham this year, around construction: indyweek.com/culture/how-to-navigate-duke-gardens-cherry-blossom-season-during-construction/
The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC will be March 20th-April 13th: nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
Creek Week 2025 was March 15-22 in Durham County (the 17th -- www.keepdurhambeautiful.org/events/creek-week-2025 ), Orange County (the fourth -- www.orangecountync.gov/3491/Creek-Week ), Chatham County (regional, with the Clean Water Education Partnership (CWEP) -- www.chathamcountync.gov/government/departments-programs-i-z/watershed-protection/regional-creek-week -- "Water Connects Us"), Raleigh (regional, with the CWEP -- raleighnc.gov/stormwater/services/regional-creek-week ), and in New Brunswick County at the end of the Cape Fear River (Cape Fear Creek Week -- brunswick.ces.ncsu.edu/natural-resources-2/cape-fear-creek-week/ ); Guilford Creek Week might be in summer (since 2018 -- www.guilfordcreekweek.org ). Alamance County no longer has a Creek Week? In a previous year I think Rowan County, in western NC, had its Creek Week in the fall.
NC Governor Stein's State of the State address was in March, on...
Israeli Apartheid Week (March 21-30; “People Power Makes Apartheid History” "Resist. Rise. Decolonize." – bdsmovement.net ) and National Farmworker Awareness Week (March 25-31; saf-unite.org/national-farmworker-awareness-week/ ) are at the end of March. More? It was or still is Agriculture Week?
A book sale in Pittsboro, or did it end before the 23rd?
March 24th at 7pm: actionnetwork.org/events/bike-durham-march-2025-community-meeting
Order a Durham compost bin by March 24th: www.durhamnc.gov/935/Composting
March 29th at 10am at the Constitution Party of North Carolina State Convention – 3901 Raeford Road in Fayetteville NC 28304: secure.anedot.com/the-constitution-party-of-north-carolina/gunraffle
Stop the Coup – March 29th at 1pm at 1898 Memorial Park in Wilmington, NC (1018 North 3rd Street): emancipatenc.org/stop-the-coup/
Participatory Budgeting (PB Durham) by March 31st: www.pbdurham.org
The Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival and Sakura Weekend in Philadelphia will be in early April: PhillySakura.org
March 28th-May 11th: ackland.org/exhibition/phantom-limb-selected-works-by-the-mfa-class-of-2025/
Durham's annual Full Frame Film Festival will be...
Raleigh's Dreamville music festival, the last, will be...
The Party for the Pine 2025 will be April 5th 10am-3pm at Weymouth Woods State Park in Southern Pines, NC: friendsofwewo.org/party-for-the-pine-2025
NC Pilgrimage for Peace and Justice should be in mid-April? See Witness for Peace SE, renamed?
From Powwows.com:
Annual Youth Pow Wow 2025 (Eden, NC)
April 26 - April 26
134 N. Pierce St., Eden, NC - 27288
Roanoke Island Native American Heritage Festival and Pow Wow 2025
April 26 - April 27
829 Wingina Ave, Manteo , NC - 27954
For events in Mexico and Spain for the Year of the Indigenous Woman in 2025 see: diario-octubre.com/2025/02/10/mexico-busca-reivindicar-a-mujeres-indigenas-su-lengua-e-historia/ and the update for week 11 on DS.
The 2025 Longleaf Celebration at Harris Lake County Park in western Wake County will have events throughout May; the Harris Spook-tacular will be during October: www.wake.gov/departments-government/parks-recreation-open-space/all-parks-trails/harris-lake-county-park/harris-lake-programs-events/harris-lake-major-events
The Ocrafolk Festival, held on Ocracoke Island, will be June 6-8th.
Something crashed into Jupiter around December 5, 1690 and again before November 1, 1880? –the April issue of Astronomy magazine
December 16, 2024: the launch of the first set of Guowang satellites by China, joining the Thousand Sails project.
December 16-17, 2024: a 9 hour, 6 minute EVA by two taikonauts (from 太空 --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut ) at China's Tiangong space station (during the three taikonaut Shenzhou 19 mission)
"This week in history: February 10-16" www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02/10/ninu-f10.html
portside.org/2025-02-10/week-peoples-history-feb-12-18
"This week in history: January 13-19" – www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/01/12/erlb-j12.html
portside.org/2025-01-13/week-peoples-history-jan-15-17
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, the MPLA) was founded December 10, 1956: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPLA
January 1, 1984
The new namesake for "Fort Bragg" in NC -- Roland Leon Bragg (June 11, 1923 – January 12, 1999): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_L._Bragg
The Fujian People's Government (or the Fukien People's Government, Chinese: 福建人民政府; Fújiàn Rénmín Zhèngfǔ), officially the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China (中華共和國人民革命政府; Zhōnghuá Gònghéguó Rénmín Gémìng Zhèngfǔ) existed from November 22, 1933 to January 13, 1934 in the Republic of China's coastal Fujian Province, facing Taiwan: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_People%27s_Government
The South Asian Makar/Makara Sankrānti (Sanskrit: मकरसङ्क्रान्ति, romanized: Makarasaṅkrānti, meaning Capricorn Festival), Uttarāyana, Makara, or Sankrānti is around January 14th: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makar_Sankranti
Japan's Sagichō Fire Festival (Japanese: 左義長), or Dondoyaki (どんど焼き) is around January 14-15th: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagichō_Fire_Festival
An accident report, a first, on the January 18, 2024 crash of Ingenuity on Mars.
January 20th ... pardon ...
A local American Astronomical Society was founded Monday, January 22, 1883 in the Brooklyn Heights area of Brooklyn, New York (?); it influenced today's AAS: the April issue of Sky and Telescope magazine.
January 22 or 23 in 2025 – the Chinese Little New Year (小年) or the Festival of the Kitchen God: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_New_Year
In with F (see the periodic table) in 1945 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, etc.? – portside.org/2025-01-20/week-peoples-history-jan-22-28 and portside.org/2025-01-12/open-letter-cnn-regarding-your- F -coverage
January 22nd – National Library Shelfie Day – the Days of the Year website
Warren J "Andrew" Wimmer, Jr, May 3, 1955-Monday, January 22, 2024: www.schrader.com/obituary/warren-j-andrew-wimmer-jr
The Aymara Alasitas/Alacita,/Alacitas,/Alasita fair, or Feria de las Alasitas, is January 24th in La Paz, Bolivia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alasitas
A shooting at a food truck on Highway 55 in Durham January 24, 2025?
Trump visited WNC to see the post-Helene cleanup and recovery efforts on the 24th.
The 19th Annual Carrboro Film Fest was January 24-26th: www.carrborofilm.org/
The first annual EagleFest, held near the Jordan Lake dam, was moved to Saturday, January 25, 2025, 7am-12pm.
The 2025 NC TACAS Chinese New Year Festival was January 25th 10am-5pm at Dorton Arena, in the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. There are probably many Lunar New Year events in the area. See: triangleonthecheap.com
The 24th Annual African American Cultural Celebration was January 25th 10:30am-4:30pm at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh: www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/events-and-programs/festivals-and-concerts/24th-annual-african-american-cultural-celebration or nc-aacc.com/
Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936), a Kaw (or Kanza/Kansa) US Senator and vice president, from Kansas: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Curtis and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaw_people ]
January 25th – Seed Swap Day, etc.? – the National Day Calendar website.
The opening reception of the NCBG's Birds of North Carolina: A Community Photo Exhibit was moved to Sunday, January 26th, 2-4pm. On exhibit until...
January 27th anniversary: consortiumnews.com/2025/01/27/remembering-robert-parry-who-died-7-yrs-ago-today/
Explore Scientific’s 165th Global Star Party online, was January 28th, beginning at 6pm Central (7pm Eastern), with David Levy, David Eicher, Adrian Bradley, etc.; Br. Guy Consolmagno – 8:30-9pm CST (9:30-10 ET) (?): www.vaticanobservatory.org/sacred-space-astronomy/br-guy-to-speak-at-the-global-star-party-online-tonight/and www.explorescientific.com/de/pages/beyond-the-horizon-165th-global-star-party-explore-alliance 2.]
On NPR January 29th – Corn Chip Day; Puzzle Day – the National Day Calendar website.
January 26th on WRAL: A dual-national from Chapel Hill was released from captivity in Gaza Saturday, February 1st, his wife had been released after 51 days?
Also on WRAL: US income tax 'season' is January 27-April 15th this year, longer in North Carolina, due to Helene damage?
Agnes Sampson, or the "Wise Wife of Keith," of Nether Keith, Scotland, was executed January 28, 1591 during the North Berwick witch trials; King James VI of Scotland or British James I met with her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Sampson
A year of the snake (wood) (Chinese: 蛇 or Japanese: 巳) begins with the East Asian lunar new year on January 29th, though Japan goes with the Western new year, January 1st; some images and graphics (年賀状/nengajou postcard-type images) marking the occasion collected by ANN: www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2025-01-03/happy-new-year-from-around-the-anime-world-snakes-on-a-plane-part-xii/.219696 and www.spoon-tamago.com/japanese-designer-new-years-cards-of-2025/ See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_(zodiac) 2024 was a year of the dragon (wood) (龍, 龙, or 辰), beginning February 10, 2024: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(zodiac) A year of the horse (fire) (馬, 马 , or 午 ) begins February 17, 2026. www.nippon.com/en/features/jg00110/ , www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02174/ , www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/b09806/ , www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu900291/ , "Japan in 2025: Key Events in the Year Ahead:" www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02241/
Imbolc, Groundhog Day, Candlemas, Setsubun, Risshun, Izcalli, Valentine's Day, the Pisces period, Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras, the spring equinox, etc. came up after Lunar New Year 2025. Ramadan will start at the end of February?
In 2025: the Lunar New Year was January 29; Imbolc or Christian St Brigid's Day is February 1st; Groundhog Day, Candlemas, Setsubun (節分) were February 2nd; Lichun/Ipchun/Risshun and lập xuân (立春).was February 3rd.
The Virgen de Copacabana in Copacabana, Bolivia has feast days February 2nd and August 5th: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgen_de_Copacabana
January 29th – Kansas Day
The Anti-War Action Network Founding Conference was held in Saint Paul, Minnesota in February: www.eventbrite.com/e/anti-war-action-network-founding-conference-tickets-1126416474999?aff=oddtdtcreator
Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal had passed around the African Cape of Good Hope by February 4, 1488: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias
Constance Georgine Markievicz (born Gore-Booth) February 4, 1868 – July 15, 1927): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Markievicz
A February 4, 1999 oil spill near Coos Bay, Oregon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Carissa ]
February 4th is World Cancer Day.
February 4th is Thank A Mail Carrier Day/Thank a Mailman Day, Hemp Day, Homemade Soup Day, etc.?
"February 4th -- Worst mass shooting in Swedish history claims 11" liveswww.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02/07/ease-f07.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Risbergska_school_shooting
Michalina Anna Wisłocka (born Braun), author of [a book], 1978), a first (?); July 1, 1921 in Łódź, Poland – February 5, 2005 in Warsaw: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michalina_Wisłocka ] And: [her book is linked above]
On WRAL: A (leaderless?) "50501 movement" demonstration at the old governor's mansion and the State Capitol in downtown Raleigh the afternoon of February 5th.]
February 6th is Sámi National Day (1917) and New Zealand's Waitangi Day? And National Weatherperson’s Day, etc.
The Civil War Battle of Roanoke Island, part of the Burnside Expedition under Union Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside (the namesake of sideburns), was February 7–8, 1862 on the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina; the relatively shallow sounds were used to good advantage by the Confederate Mosquito Fleet early in the War: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roanoke_Island and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Burnside See the book Silk Flags and Columbiads.
February 7, 1865 -- Seattle, Washington incorporated and expelled Native Americans?
February 7th -- Grenada's independence day, 1974.
The Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, UK were announced February 7, 2014.
February 7th -- Periodic Table Day?
DPR Korea's Military Foundation Day 25 조선인민군 창건일), commemorating the founding of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in 1948, is February 8th (the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA), part of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, had been founded April 25, 1932): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Foundation_Day , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_People%27s_Army , and diario-octubre.com/2025/02/10/coreanos-rinden-homenaje-a-lideres-de-la-rpdc/
The Orangeburg Massacre in South Carolina was February 8, 1968.
February 8th -- Kite Flying Day.
Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, "Founding President of the Republic of Namibia" and "Father of the Namibian Nation"(May 12, 1929 in Ongandjera, Ovamboland in the colony of South West Africa, now Omusati Region, Namibia) – February 8, 2025 in Windhoek, Namibia): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Nujoma
McCarthyism began in early February?
February 9th -- Read in the Bathtub Day -- Days of the Year website.
On February 9th was Toothache Day, etc.: the National Day Calendar website.
There were elections in Kosova and Ecuador (there will have to be a runoff) February 9th.
The Mongol Siege of Baghdad, now in Iraq, was January 29th or 30th to February 10th in 1258, followed by a campaign of looting and killing; the Mongol forces were led by Prince Hulegu Khan, against the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta'sim: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad
The naval Battle of Elizabeth City, part of the Union Burnside Expedition under US Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside during the Civil War, was February 10, 1862 in the Pasquotank River near Elizabeth City, NC; the Confederate Mosquito Fleet on the relatively shallow NC sounds was neutralized: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elizabeth_City
February 10th is supposed to be Umbrella Day, Clean Out Your Computer Day, etc.: from the National Day Calendar and Days of the Year websites.
February 10th is supposed to be Shut-in Visitation Day, etc. --
February 11th (660 BCE) is National Foundation Day in Japan?
Scottish author Anna "Nan" Shepherd (February 11, 1893 – February 27, 1981): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Shepherd
The Commercial Press (商务印书馆; Shāngwù Yìnshūguǎn) was founded February 11, 1897 in Shanghai; it was a first in China and has published the well-known Xinhua Dictionary since 1957. One of the four founders, 26 at the time, was Xia Ruifang (夏瑞芳; Xià Ruìfāng; courtesy name Cuifang (粹芳; : Cuìfāng 1871 – assassinated January 10, 1914). The company set up the privately owned but public Oriental Library, a first, on Baoshan Road in Zhabei, Shanghai in 1925. It came to have 463,083 volumes, more than competitor Zhonghua Book Company or the National Peking Library, but most of the books were lost February 1, 1932 after bombing from the air by Japanese forces during the January 28 Incident in early 1932. Around 5,000 Song and Yuan books, centuries old and kept at a bank, survived the bombing. The company was back in business by August 1st. The 12th edition of the Xinhua Dictionary or Xinhua Zidian (新华字典; Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn) came out in August 2020. I found a pocket-sized version, or a knock-off, at an FODL book sale. The Commercial Press' headquarters were relocated to Beijing in 1954 ("operations" relocated from China after the liberation of Shanghai in 1949?). There are branches throughout the Chinese-speaking world. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Press , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xia_Ruifang , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Library,_Shanghai , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_28_incident , and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhua_Dictionary
February 11th is supposed to be White Shirt Day or White T-Shirt Day to commemorate the resolution of an car factory strike February 11, 1937: the National Day Calendar website.
Margaret Thatcher became the head of the UK's Conservative Party or the Tories February 11, 1975 and was later elected prime minister: www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02/10/ninu-f10.html
Charles Robert Darwin (February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire – April 19, 1882 at Down House, Down, Kent, England): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin ; Darwin Day is February 12th at the NCBG, etc.
According to WRAL, the Triangle's "Snowpocalypse" (sic?) was February 12, 2014 (?), with heavy snowfall beginning at mid-day and freezing rain that night. We had far more snow in one storm around 2001 or 2002 and in the 1990's? It could still snow substantially before April in 2025. wral.com your voice seeks viewer input on the snowstorm 11 years ago.
Korea's Daeboreum (대보름; Great Full Moon) is celebrated at the first Full Moon in the new Lunar Year: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daeboreum
Budapest, Hungary was captured February 13, 1945, during WWII -- diario-octubre.com/2025/02/14/operacion-budapest-la-victoria-sovietica-marca-un-punto-de-inflexion-en-el-frente-oriental/
Tu BiShvat (ט״ו בִּשְׁבָט, Ṭū bīŠvāṭ, the 15th of the month of Shevat) or Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot (ראש השנה לאילנות, New Year of the Trees), a Jewish holiday now similar to Earth Day, extended from sunset February 12th to night on the 13th in 2025 (it will be February 1-2 in 2026 and January 22-23 in 2027): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_BiShvat
February 13th is supposed to be Black Love Day: Days of the Year website.
February 13, 1997 4,756,940 Legoes, including 51,800 Lego sharks, packed in a shipping container on the Tokio Express were lost; in August 2024 (?) Richard West, 35, of Plymouth, on the south coast of UK, netted the first of the diminutive sharks, about 20 miles south of Penzance, Cornwall, at the southwest of the UK. The report didn't say how much the lost Legoes were worth, but I think Legoes can be very valuable. -- From the February 2025 (FT454) issue of Fortean Times magazine. There is also coverage of the 2024 mystery drone flap.
February 15th is supposed to be Red Sock Day, for (leg?) health awareness: the National Day Calendar website.
The traditional Aquarius period is around January 20th to February 18th, followed by Pisces, but today the Sun is 'in' Aquarius around February 17th to March 13th. According to Chartrand's 1982 Skyguide, the Sun is now in Sagittarius December 19th-January 19th (and then in Capricornus). Sagittarius is a symbol of Isfahan, Iran: www.dailyartmagazine.com/symbol-of-sagittarius-isfahan/ Find historic images of Capricorn and other signs at: iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/
The NC Green Party's 2025 Winter Gathering was held February 22nd in Cornelius, NC.
FR Germany ... February 23rd.
A few recent passenger aircraft disasters and anniversaries – 67 people were killed January 29th in a collision along the Potomac River in Washington, DC; focused attention; 20 people on a Beechcraft 1900 were killed January 29th in Unity State, South Sudan; one person survived; 7 people on a Learjet 55 were killed January 31st in Philadelphia; 9 people on a Boeing 747-122 were killed February 24, 1989 over the Pacific Ocean near Honolulu: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811 Alaska and the recent fighter jet crash to add, etc.
Astronomer Angelo Secchi S.J. (June 28, 1818 – February 26, 1878): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Secchi
Assassinated February 28, 1986: covertactionmagazine.com/2024/05/09/swedish-prime-minister-olof-palme-compared-u-s-crimes-in-vietnam-to-those-of-the-nazis-in-the-1970s-and-then-was-assassinated-under-mysterious-circumstances/
The total lunar eclipse this month is related to a famous 'Columbian' eclipse March 1, 1504, 521 years, or one Hypersaros, ago? There are 521-year Hypersaros and 633-year Icosa-Inex-Triple-Saros (IITS) eclipse cycles, and 1154, 1284, 1787, 1917, and 2308-year cycles? -- arxiv.org/abs/2502.01019
Asteroid 29 Amphitrite, now in the constellation Leo, was discovered March 1, 1854 by German Albert Marth, looking from London, UK. -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29_Amphitrite and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Marth
The founder of Aum Shinrikyo, Shoko Asahara (麻原 彰晃, Asahara Shōkō), born Chizuo Matsumoto (松本 智津夫, Matsumoto Chizuo) was born March 2, 1955 in Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan and was executed, by hanging, at the Tokyo Detention House in Katsushika, July 6, 2018): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara
China and Japan fought an urban war in the Shanghai International Settlement January 28-March 3, 1932: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_28_incident
James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (November 25, 1874 in Monifieth, Angus, Scotland, UK – March 3, 1955 in Edinburgh, Scotland): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Spence
The Chinese Lantern Festival/Shangyuan Festival/Cap Go Meh is February 12th in 2025, the 15th day of the new Lunar Year and traditionally the end of the new year festivities; it was February 24th in 2024 and was March 3rd in 2026: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival
Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday/Pancake Day/Mardi Gras was March 4th in 2025: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday Ash Wednesday was March 5th.
Victor Wolfgang von Hagen (born February 29, 1908 in Saint Louis – March 8, 1985 in Italy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Wolfgang_von_Hagen )
Clyde W Tombaugh discovered Pluto February 18, 1930 at the Lowell Observatory and the finding was announced March 13th, the anniversary of the discovery of Uranus. Pluto was considered the 9th planet, but the International Astronomical Union now classifies it as a dwarf planet (the largest yet discovered) and the first member of the Kuiper Belt to be discovered. Some researchers argue that the IAU decision was wrong on scientific grounds. Pluto orbits so far from out that it has not orbited completely around the Sun even once since 1930. A year on Pluto is equal to almost 250 of Earth's years, so it won't have orbited the Sun once since 1930 until 2178 (by the way, our north star, Polaris, in Ursa Minor/the Little Dipper, will be closest to the north celestial pole around 2105, but it would be a stretch for me to be living at the close of the 21st century). Pluto had been imaged March 19th and April 7th in 1915 at the Lowell Observatory and August 20, 1909 at the Yerkes Observatory, but it had not been noticed or recognized as significant. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto
The Dutch East India Company, apparently the world's first joint-stock company, was created March 20, 1602.
An important battle during the Tuscarora War was March 20-23, 1713 at Fort Neoheroka, near Snow Hill, Greene County in North Carolina ( blog.ecu.edu/sites/nooherooka/ ).
The first US aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, was commissioned March 20, 1922, remodeling the older USS Jupiter, a collier, following the Washington Naval Treaty limiting naval armaments. There is an article from the National Air and Space Museum here.
World Frog Day is supposed to be March 20th, and is separate from Save the Frogs Day – savethefrogs.com/
March 20th is also the UN's French Language Day / OIF International Francophonie Day, the UN's International Day of Happiness, World Storytelling Day, and the Great American Meatout, originally a protest against National Meat Week.
The UN's French Language Day is March 20th: www.un.org/fr/observances/french-language-day/ , in French.
World Sparrow Day is March 20th: www.worldsparrowday.org Specifically this day refers to house or English sparrows, which are not native to the US, but are or were common in places like strip malls. Now house finches, native to the Western US, seem to have replaced house sparrows here. House sparrows are also in decline where they are native, such as in India. American species of sparrow aren't closely related to house sparrows.
Plutarch made the first known description of the solar corona during a solar eclipse March 20, 71 CE.
March 20th: www.un.org/en/observances/happiness-day
Aum Shinrikyo's Tokyo subway sarin attack was March 20, 1995: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo
Traditionally the Pisces period is around February 19th to March 20th, followed by Aries around March 21st to April 19th, Taurus April 20th to May 20th, and Gemini May 21st to June 20th, though apparently it should be March 13th to April 19th, to April 19th to May 15th, May 14th to June 21st, and June 21st to July 21st if based on the Sun's actual position against the stars and the IAU-defined constellation boundaries: Skyguide (1982) and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac Historic images of the signs are online at: iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/
In the West Aries, a cardinal sign, became associated with the planet Mars (apparently the "Lesser Infortune"), Tuesdays (shared with Scorpio, as are rubies and the metals), iron, steel, plutonium (incorrect??), fire, the head (and a Ram with a turned head), sharp things, thorny plants, red (dark red with Scorpio, red and black with Capricorn), diamonds, rubies, bloodstones, carnelians, garnets, etc. according to the Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology (1977), etc. From Payne Publishers' planner: the birthstones by month are aquamarine for March, diamond for April, emerald for May, pearls (not really stones) for June, etc.
More to add.
The Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox was March 20th, technically at 5:01am EDT; the equinox is also Nowruz. Nowruz was March 20th in 2024 and 2025. Nowruz Day at the UN: www.un.org/en/observances/international-nowruz-day
There is a corridor oriented to the equinoctial ss in the ruins of a Mesoamericam mining center in Alta Vista (very close to the Tropic of Cancer, near Chalchihuites) in the Mexican state of Zacatecas
March 21st – Alice Henry was born in 1857; the Great Dayton Flood in 1913 in Ohio; Al Williamson was born in 1931; the Battle of Karameh was in 1968 in Jordan; Dallas "A House Divided" in 1980 – "Who shot J.R.?;" Chinua Achebe passed away in 2013; etc.
Mexican president Benito Pablo Juárez Garcia was born March 21, 1806, honored with a national holiday.
Asteroid 2003 EH1 might be a source of in January's Quadrantid meteor shower; there is a theory that a related celestial body caused a deadly rain of rocks in Qingyang, China sometime in the lunar month between March 21 and April 19, 1490 (exactly the Aries period in the West): amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/ , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(196256)_2003_EH1 , and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingyang_event
The Hungarian Soviet Republic was declared March 21, 1919, but was overthrown by outside military intervention in August 1919. It was led by Béla Kun, born February 20, 1886.
March 21st is the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: www.un.org/en/events/racialdiscriminationday/ and the Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling Against Racism and Racial Discrimination is March 21-27: www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-weeks/index.html
March 21 is also the International Day of Forests ( www.fao.org/international-day-of-forests/en/ ), World Poetry Day, International Colour Day, and World Down Syndrome Day, among others: www.unesco.org/en/days/poetry , www.un.org/en/observances/international-nowruz-day , and www.un.org/en/observances/down-syndrome-day
March 22, 1622 Indians in Virginia following Opechancanough rose up against the English colonists – This Country Was Ours: A Documentary History of the American Indian, by Virgil J Vogel, 1974.
Braxton Bragg, the former namesake of Fort Bragg in NC, was born March 22, 1817 in Warrenton, Warren County (?), North Carolina. He served in the US army during the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War. Apparently Ft. Bragg honored him for his artillery command in Mexico. He was a general in the Confederate army but is often blamed for defeats such as the loss of Wilmington, so naming a Ft. Bragg in NC seemed to be meant as an ironic insult.
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (August 28, 1749 – March 22, 1832).
The Lao People's Democratic Party, at the time called the Lao People's Party, was founded at a congress held March 22-April 14, 1955 in Vientiane, Laos.
March 22, 1971 "A large 'smoking' object plunged into the bay" in Monterey, California? – Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States, by Jim Brandon, 1978.
Through the USSR's Interkosmos program, the Soyuz 39 mission, launched March 22, 1981, to the Salyut 6 space station, included Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa, Mongolia's first cosmonaut.
March 22nd: Phan Xích Long was arrested in occupied Vietnam in 1913 – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Xích_Long ; etc. Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes, and 31 seconds in space/on Mir, returning to the ground March 22, 1995: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeri_Polyakov
Ukraine's only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia, was captured by Russia March 22, 2014 and half the crew joined the Russian navy. Russia was apparently going to return the ship but Ukraine did not renew a ceasefire that summer.
A terrorist attack, claimed by IS, in the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, near Moscow, March 22, 2024, around 20:00 local time: Wikipedia. The US warned of a heightened risk of terrorism two week earlier?
World Water Day is March 22nd: www.un.org/en/observances/international-days-and-weeks or www.un.org/en/observances/water-day
Earth Hour will be at 20:30 local time March 22nd in 2025.
International Seal Day is supposed to be March 22nd.
The Tuscaroras' Fort Neoheroka (or Neherooka, Nooherooka, or Neyuherú·kęʼ), now in Greene County, in eastern North Carolina, was besieged around March 1-23, 1713, during the Tuscarora War (September 10, 1711 to February 11, 1715). Many hundreds of people were killed or sold as slaves in the colony of South Carolina. The very bloody Yamasee War in South Carolina began around Good Friday, April 15 or 14 in 1715 (or the Pocotaligo Massacre, near Yemassee, South Carolina; the Tugaloo Massacre was January 27, 1716) and ended in 1717 -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscarora_people , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Neoheroka , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscarora_War , and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamasee_War
March 23rd: Pierre-Simon Laplace was born in 1749; Bhagat Singh was executed by the UK in 1931; etc.
Mir was de-orbited March 23, 2001: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir
Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905)
The Kosova War was February 28, 1998 to June 11, 1999; NATO began bombing Yugoslavia at 19:00 UTC on March 24th: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War
The 1881 Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro burned March 24, 2010 and reopened April 20, 2013: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_County_Courthouse
The New Madrid, Missouri earthquakes were December 16, 1811 and January 23rd and February 7th in 1812, under the Great Comet of 1811 (discovered March 25, 1811 and to return around 4785 CE: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet_of_1811 ) and around when the first steamboat plied the Mississippi basin ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_(steamboat) ; Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) patented February 11, 1809 – National Day Calendar website). Also around the War of 1812, the French invasion of Russia (it was called "Napoleon's Comet"), and the failed Eight Trigrams uprising of 1813 (癸酉之變) in China. It was used as a sign by Shawnee chief Tecumseh (born March 9, 1768; "Shooting Star" or "Celestial Panther Lying in Wait" (?) – www.nps.gov/people/tecumseh.htm ) on a diplomatic mission in Alabama ( nps.gov/articles/choctaw-warriors-consider-alliances.htm ). Wikipedia puts the birth of the Shawnee Prophet, Tenskwatawa ("Open Door") in January 1775: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenskwatawa and www.nps.gov/people/tenskwatawa.htm , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawnee , www.native-languages.org/shawnee.htm
Lady Day, England's New Year's Day from 1155 to 1752, is March 25th; the British tax year now ends on Old Lady Day, April 5th: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Day
Scottish engineer Alexander Thom (March 26, 1894 in Carradale, UK – November 7, 1985): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Thom
Noted in a recent IF DDR newsletter ( ifddr.org ; they also have an internship program in Germany): Hans Reichelt (March 30, 1925 – January 14, 2025); a minister of agriculture and forestry, etc. in the GDR; a member of the Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (DBD): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reichenbach and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Farmers%27_Party_of_Germany
One view of the DRA period: ifddr.org/en/afghanistan-cannot-be-allowed-to-set-a-precedent/
Land Day in Palestine is March 30th, commemorating 1976: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Day
A tribute to Ana Belen Montes (born February 28, 1957; accused of giving Cuba information about a secret US Army base in El Salvador, which was attacked by the FMNL March 31, 1987, during the civil war; she was imprisoned September 21, 2001-January 6, 2023 and is now in Puerto Rico (?): groups.io/g/cubanews/topic/103239943
French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier (November 20, 1715 – April 3, 1799): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Charles_Le_Monnier
Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 in Chicago – April 15, 2000 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts); I recently saw a very large or page-sized commemorative ad in a review of books magazine, in 2025: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gorey
US Federal income taxes are due by April 15th in 2025, except in Federally-declared disaster areas, etc. -- www.irs.gov/filing/individuals/how-to-file
The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO; Afrikaans: Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; German: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), now renamed the SWAPO Party of Namibia, was founded April 19, 1960: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAPO
The US government attack on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas began February 28, 1993 and the siege came to a fiery end April 19th.
Discovered April 20, 1902 by Max Wolf, working in Heidelberg -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/532_Herculina and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Wolf
Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet statesman Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov) (Владимир Ленин) [Владимир Ильич Ульянов] April 22, 1870 – January 21, 1924: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
April 26, 1781 the March 13th discovery of Uranus was announced: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus
Mary Docherty (April 27, 1908 in Cowdenbeath, Scotland – February 2, 2000 in Auchtertool, Scotland) of the CPGB: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Docherty
Romania ... May 4th?
Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
In the decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu, March 13 to May 7, 1954, the Viet Minh, under General Võ Nguyên Giáp, defeated the US-backed French military. The First Indochina War ended soon after, as did the government of French prime minister Joseph Laniel. France agreed to withdraw from Indochina, which became divided Vietnam, with an election on re-unification to be held in July 1956; Laos; and Cambodia.
Red Army Day/Soviet Army and Navy Day is February 23rd. It was replaced by Defender of the Fatherland Day in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, South Ossetia, Tajikistan, Transnistria, and Turkmenistan, also on the 23rd, while in Kazakhstan it is May 7th, around WWII Victory Day.
Swedish naturalist Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander (February 19, 1733 – May 13, 1782): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Solander
According to Wikipedia, president Theodore Roosevelt signed the first agreement to lease Guantánamo Bay from Cuba February 23, 1903. This was one of the demands of the Platt Amendment giving the US control of Cuba in exchange for ending the direct military occupation that followed the Spanish-American War. The Platt Amendment was added to Cuba's constitution verbatim December 25, 1901 and the same demands were included in a treaty signed May 22, 1903. Today the US government attempts to hide some of its crimes, such as extrajudicial detention and torture, by carrying them out on stolen Cuban territory.
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