Some previous winter/spring calendar posts:
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/02/update-for-week-8-of-2025-proposal-to.html
The censored: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/02/events-and-anniversaries-around-lunar.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-2025-new-years-message-from-usmlo-few.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/02/more-than-year-of-war-in-middle-east.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/03/la-flamme-struggle-against-imperialism.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/02/some-events-and-anniversaries-around.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/04/some-additional-events-and.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/01/some-events-and-anniversaries-around.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/02/some-events-and-anniversaries-in-late.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/11/adc-statements-on-ceasefire-in-lebanon.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/10/biden-harris-and-pro-war-cheney.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/12/some-events-and-anniversaries-in-late.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/12/additional-events-and-anniversaries-in.html
durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/12/more-events-and-anniversaries-in-early.html
There will be a red total lunar eclipse the night of March 13-14th (the Full Moon, "between Leo and Virgo), visible in Western Europe, across the USA and Canada, across the majority of Latin America, in New Zealand, etc. The BBC calls it a red "blood Moon." There is a half of a Moon now. – spaceweather.com , WRAL.com , etc. Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines: the eclipse will begin at 11:56pm EDT March 13th, deepen at 1:09am EDT March 14th, peak at 2:59am (totality will extend from 2:26-3:32am), weaken at 4:48am, and end by 6;02am. In Califonia it will begin at 10:09pm PDT and the mid-point will be at 11:59pm.
The Moon will be at apogee March 17th at 12:37pm EDT.
The Moon will appear to be close to the star Antares on theb 20th, Pluto on the 24th,
Venus and the Moon 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; 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.
Smartphones can be used to detect space weather. – Astronomy magazine for March 2055.
www.solareclipses.pl/index2.php?Id=preface
eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JSEX/JSEX-index.html
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science postdoctoral positions: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news-events/career/opportunities
A gigantic jet lightning flash November 19, 2024 over the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans? On spaceweather.com recently and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning#Gigantic_jets
"UNPRECEDENTED STARLINK REENTRIES:" spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=05&month=02&year=2025
["Mexican People’s Fight for Sovereignty – Breaking the Noose That Wants to Hang Us" –cpcml.ca/ITN2025/TI5540.HTM ]
[ meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/deportation-of-aliens ]
[ mpr21.info/con-dos-paraguas-no-te-mojas-menos-que-con-uno/
mpr21.info/como-lograr-que-las-astronomicas-deudas-de-estados-unidos-las-paguen-los-demas/
mpr21.info/gladio-sigue-operando-en-espana/
On Indonesian independence: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n03/vincent-bevins/operation-product See the book on the deep connections between French and English by Bernard Cerquiglini, an article on Josephine Bonaparte, Terezia Tallien, and Juliette Recamier, Elamite, etc. More?
www.counterpunch.org/2025/03/15/first-they-came-for-mahmoud-khalil/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/03/14/on-my-husbands-unconstitutional-arrest/
www.finebooksmagazine.com/auction-guide/2025/spring/swann
jonathancook.substack.com/p/the-forever-wars-may-be-over-but
diario-octubre.com/2025/03/15/rinden-homenaje-en-nicaragua-a-heroe-nacional-jose-dolores-estrada/
diario-octubre.com/2025/03/16/el-nazi-ucraniano-demian-ganul-fue-ejecutado-ayer-en-odesa/
diario-octubre.com/2025/03/15/concentracion-16-de-marzo-contra-la-masacre-al-pueblo-sirio/
diario-octubre.com/2025/03/15/consigna-erronea-solo-el-pueblo-salva-al-pueblo-y-una-mierda/
sonar21.com/trumps-bombast-towards-yemen-and-iran-could-sink-his-presidency/
mronline.org/2025/01/28/deepseeks-geopolitical-impacts/
mronline.org/2025/01/23/neofascism-in-the-white-house/
mronline.org/2025/02/21/resisting-the-right-wing-vibe-shift/
mronline.org/2025/03/05/exposing-the-big-con-the-false-promise-of-artificial-intelligence/
mronline.org/2025/02/15/nyt-advises-trump-to-kill-more-venezuelans/
mronline.org/2025/02/26/yes-ukraine-started-the-war/
mronline.org/2025/03/13/more-than-7000-massacred-in-syria/
mronline.org/2025/03/06/ukraine-war-propaganda-and-the-return-of-russiagate/
mronline.org/2025/03/03/imperialisms-revival-strategy/
mronline.org/2025/03/04/conquered-lands/
mronline.org/2025/02/24/canadian-political-prisoner-yves-engler/
mronline.org/2025/03/12/romania-a-captured-state/
mronline.org/2025/03/08/the-aukus-chickens-are-coming-home-to-roost-already/
mronline.org/2025/03/14/the-scramble-for-greenland/
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/erdogans-syria
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/bitter-pill
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/guns-and-foodbanks
Federal searches, but no arrests, at Columbia University March 13th; "Columbia also expelled and fired Student Workers of Columbia union president Grant Miner, according to the union, just one day before contract negotiations were set to begin with the university." – zeteo.com/p/breaking-dhs-agents-descend-on-columbias
From Progressive Hub – portside.org/2025-03-13/mahmoud-khalils-wife-speaks-out-his-unconstitutional-arrest
www.racket.news/p/timeline-the-arrest-of-mahmoud-khalil
[Taking control of the Panama Canal? – www.pekingnology.com/p/beijing-condemns-ck-hutchisons-panama ]
[ mpr21.info/blackrock-se-ha-convertido-en-un-protagonista-importante-del-transporte-maritimo/ ]
"To Be Hinged or to Be Unhinged -- That Is the Question for Canada's New Prime Minister" -- cpcml.ca/ITN2025/TI5538.HTM
"Escape is struggle: Adachi Masao’s new film about fugitive militant Kirishima Satoshi" – new at: throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/
A letter from Congressional Democrats on the detention of Mahmoud Khalil//x.com/RepRashida/status/1899474793553875255
secure.rightsanddissent.org/a/mahmoud-khalil
mondoweiss.net/2025/03/the-shift-the-detention-of-mahmoud-khalil/
the307.substack.com/p/un-report-proves-israel-is-guilty
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/donald-trumps-free-speech-plans-are
www.dropsitenews.com/p/mahmoud-khalil-speaks-with-attorneys-ice-detention
the307.substack.com/p/the-trump-administrations-free-speech
[From Haaretz: portside.org/2025-03-13/smokescreen-antisemitism-how-trump-fueled-arrest-mahmoud-khalil-endangers-jews ]
From the NYT: portside.org/2025-03-10/greatest-threat-free-speech-red-scare
From Jacobin: portside.org/2025-03-12/democrats-must-defend-mahmoud-khalil
From New York state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Hoylman-Sigal ) and Assemblyman Micah Lasher ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_Lasher ), representing Manhattan, both from the Democratic Party: nypost.com/2025/03/02/us-news/anti-israel-protesters-with-terror-group-flags-could-land-4-years-behind-bars-under-new-ny-state-bill/
? – portside.org/2025-03-10/why-did-we-start-drinking-milk-ancient-rise-dairy-consumption
roburie.substack.com/p/note-trump-administration-resumes
mltoday.com/trumps-bid-for-ukraines-resources-reveals-harsh-truths-about-this-war/
diario-octubre.com/2025/03/13/un-par-de-lecciones-para-ignorantes-progres/
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas thinks that no Russian civilians have been killed in the Ukraine War (in addition, what about civilians in eastern Ukraine, now held by Russia?) – diario-octubre.com/2025/03/13/putin-todos-los-militares-ucranianos-que-se-encuentran-en-kursk-deben-ser-tratados-como-terroristas/
diario-octubre.com/2025/03/13/denuncian-planes-de-ultraderecha-venezolana-en-conjura-con-exxonmobil/
? – the 21st anniversary in Madrid – diario-octubre.com/2025/03/13/espana-complice-del-terrorismo-islamista/
"This week in history" – www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/03/10/hxqn-m10.html
[ www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/03/16/lznw-m16.html ]
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/03/03/nbge-m03.html
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02/24/qngh-f24.html
portside.org/2025-03-03/week-peoples-history-mar-5-11-2025
portside.org/2025-02-24/week-peoples-history-feb-26-mar-4-2025
mpr21.info/una-coalicion-de-voluntarios-para-instalar-tropas-en-las-mismas-narices-de-rusia/
mpr21.info/la-guerra-de-ucrania-ha-terminado-aunque-algunos-europeos-todavia-no-se-han-enterado/
mpr21.info/el-fbi-investiga-a-la-oposicion-venezolana-por-malversacion-de-fondos/
? – On Georgism applied in the UK a century ago? – worksinprogress.co/issue/the-failure-of-the-land-value-tax/ and worksinprogress.co/issue-18/
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/world-war-iii-is-going-to-be-brilliant
www.kitklarenberg.com/p/britains-secret-overseas-meddling
patrianuestra.wordpress.com/2025/03/04/el-enigma-de-la-coubre-2/
husseini.substack.com/p/are-zelensky-trump-theatrics-a-distraction
www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/08/19/Kentucky-Meat-Shower-Bath-County-History-Museum/3581724084786/
monocle.com/radio/shows/the-urbanist/698/bosco-verticale-a-decade-on/
www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-war-agriculture-farmland-livestock
thebaffler.com/latest/feminist-fascisms-byron
Pro-NATO? – www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-ukraine-imperialism
? – fair.org/slider/did-left-journalists-buy-into-right-wing-ideology-or-were-they-bought/
www.reuters.com/article/us-georgia-russia-report-idUSTRE58T4MO20090930/
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/president-trump-promises-to-do-one
On Germany's BSW: www.thomasfazi.com/p/the-bsw-should-have-the-election
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/donald-trumps-free-speech-plans-are
www.dropsitenews.com/p/mahmoud-khalil-speaks-with-attorneys-ice-detention
the307.substack.com/p/the-trump-administrations-free-speech
On Hassan Nasrallah's public funeral: theworker.news/2025/02/28/more-people-went-to-hassan-nasrallahs-funeral-than-to-queen-elizabeth-iis-a-nova-democracia/
? – H Bruce Franklin, Veneceremos, etc. – tannerfboyle.substack.com/p/forbidden-science-dispatches-4a
[ actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-our-letter-to-usfws-protect-the-monarch-butterfly ]
An "antidote" to the news; a mallard duck nested inside an elementary school; the elementary school I attended is on a hill, but I think twice newly hatched, aquatic black and yellow baby mud turtles were at the doors: mastodon.social/@benroyce/114113913155903553
[In Savannah, Georgia? – thecurrentga.org/2025/03/14/nesting-owls-delay-tree-removal/ ]
Frogs have come out and are breeding in the UK:
katebradbury.substack.com/p/on-frogs-hope-and-dreams-of-spring
tootlepedal.wordpress.com/2025/02/27/jam-today-6/
www.themarginalian.org/2025/02/28/the-souls-of-animals/
www.themarginalian.org/2024/05/05/cicadas/
Two foxes, one injured, and an RSPCA officer's phone camera in Bagshot, Surrey, UK, about a year ago? – the December 2024 issue of Fortean Times (FT451).
?? – Twain – www.advocatemagazine.com/article/2017-july/mark-twain-tickles-the-legal-funny-bone
?? – Twain – www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100220357
[On the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb: bendbranches.com/2025/03/17/poulnabrone-portal-tomb-in-ireland-ttt/ ]
[On owls – nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com/2022/03/warlordowl-uto-aztecan-pun.html ]
[On names – nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com/2014/11/nahuatl-names-nahuatl-names-in-1544.html ]
[ nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com ]
[ www.malinal.net ]
[Rainbow-colored obsidian in Teotihuacan, México? – www.themarginalian.org/2024/02/16/endling/www.themarginalian.org/2025/03/08/teotihuacan-magnetite/ ]
The 2000-year-old Octagon Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio and lunar standstills: www.atlasobscura.com/articles/octagon-earthworks-ohio and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Earthworks
The Moon will be low in Sagittarius near dawn March 22nd because of a major lunar standstill.
I forgot to mention before that a brown paper wasp was out on a windy, sunny afternoon, I think Sunday, March 2nd. More were out in mid-afternoon on the 12th, and the first large, mostly shiny black carpenter bee of the year, a white-faced male (?). I think a big, mottled American bird grasshopper or locust was here March 13, 2024, and I hope to write about those, and again on cicadas, etc. in the near future. Sometime maybe I will be able to post photos of the area's late April pinxterflowers. [A few (very few) slugs have been out in March and before in 2025.] On the 11th I realized that many purplish blue (or bluish violet?) and purplish red star-violets (actually a pretty small species of Houstonia, not a Viola) have been blooming just next door. Taller, very pale UNC or sky blue bluets bloom in wooded areas around now and into about May and an even smaller white species blooms in lawn at Jordan Lake State Park in early spring, but I'm missing those. Many yellow, white and yellow, and yellow and orange daffodils are blooming, along with more Forsythias, Vinca minor, Bradford pears (? ; since before the 8th?), and a white ornamental bush of some kind. I've probably missed a lot. The white [and pale yellow, small] daffodils [here] aren't blooming yet. [They started opening by the 14th.] Daylilies, a purple-leaved orange hawkweed, vetch, etc. are coming up. A pokeweed is coming up in an inside/outside pot. The 'domesticated' blueberries and evergreen yellow jessamine have swelling flower buds and will bloom soon. For the first time in a while the street was swept March 12th (two trucks came this time; I think it is done for water quality in Jordan Lake and the neighborhood seems to have more litter than it used to, some lost on trash collection days). One or more hawks were flying around and calling and probably casting shadows I saw in the afternoon on the 12th. Barred owls were carrying on nearby, across the street, as the Moon was rising at dusk on the 11th. Woodpeckers have been drumming, many Carolina wrens called one morning (the 11th?), red-winged blackbirds and juncos are still here, I probably saw a myrtle warbler high in the flowering red maple the morning of the 11th, etc. It has been warm, but mostly dry, and I haven't heard any frogs. There are many mole tunnels. I might hear a ballfield, though I thought that was more of a fall sound. I saw Sagittarius and the sting of Scorpius above the trees in the southeast near dawn on the 11th or 12th, though they would have been visible before then. I happened to seee the Moon and Mars in Gemini on March 8th (?). The evening of the 12th I saw an unusually bright satellite, or an airplane (I heard an airplane at the time), out the window. A loud sound at 10:08pm.
[Thundering March16th and maybe on the 15th.]
Anti-war writer Yves Engler of Canada was arrested in late February over speech supporting Palestine and embarrassing the local police: yvesengler.com/2025/02/18/im-being-charged-for-responding-to-anti-palestinian-hate-on-x/ , theworker.news/2025/02/28/pro-palestine-journalist-yves-engler-charged-and-arrested-in-canada-red-herald/ , etc. [ mronline.org/2025/02/24/canadian-political-prisoner-yves-engler/ ]
On NPR's All Things Considered the afternoon of February 28th: A new recording of Soviet disco-type (?) music (originally from Tashkent?), "Synthesizing Silk Roads," has been released.
There was a demonstration against DOGE, organized by the NC Democratic Party, at the NC General Assembly in downtown Raleigh March 12th.
Activists with Jewish Voice for Peace (?) flooded the lobby at Trump Tower in New York City March 13th? – Adrian Florido Suddenly NPR is moving its reporters around the world?
[I just heard March 17th that there has been an ongoing anti-Trump protest of some kind going on at the Chatham County Courthouse circle in the center of Pittsboro, NC (on Saturdays?), though a sympathizer seems to think that Trump has "Communist leanings" while Musk is "a South African naz (sic) ..., both determined to sink this country."] [It's like ~2002-2005 in Chapel Hill again, but in Pittsboro??]
[March 17th in Carrboro, NC: Mayor Foushee signs onto Monarch Butterfly Pledge – www.carrboronc.gov//CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2941 ]
[Seeing the cherries blooming at Duke Gardens in Durham this year: indyweek.com/culture/how-to-navigate-duke-gardens-cherry-blossom-season-during-construction/ ]
[In the news again: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo ]
Israel denounced a "scathing" new UN report that Israel used "widespread" and "systematic," and therefore "intentional," sexual violence against Palestinians, with basically no accountability, and destroyed a Palestinian fertility clinic, destroying 4000 embryos, to prevent Palestinian births (the BBC focused on this. For a change, Israel had a spokesman with a strong British accent denouncing this news on the BBC early on the 13th. They didn't want to go into the most disturbing charges on The World in the afternoon. Israel declared that the UN is anti-Jewish.
the307.substack.com/p/un-report-proves-israel-is-guilty
Poland [its president] wants to 'host' US nuclear weapons, meaning that it would surely be hit by Russian, Chinese, etc. missiles in WWIII, and be a willing party to an attempted nuclear mass killing. Europeans used to be against US nuclear weapons, etc. being in their countries. They call nuclear weapons and NATO defensive. Stop the "warmongers," meaning the "wicked" Putin, by any means necessary, say BBC listeners texting in, they say. What country is the BBC comparing to Iraq? (Syria.)
Maya archaeology in Belize with Dr Jaime Awe on the BBC's Outlook program at 11pm (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Awe and bvar.org ); a rerun?
[March 17th: Syria under HTS has attacked Lebanon, not Israel.]
[Over the weekend I realized again how much the February post was censored.]
From the New Hope Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon) March 13th:
ACTION ALERT: You have another chance to save Sandy Creek Park and its incredible variety of wildlife and birds from the effects of an oversized development on adjoining property!
Last month, the Durham City Council delayed its decision on allowing a 4-5 story building, plus parking (together covering more than 80% of buildable land), to be built next to Sandy Creek Park. It asked the developer to address bird protection. The developer ignored NHBA’s recommendations on best practices for bird-safe building and lighting, and has promised only inadequate measures.
Next week, March 17, the Durham City Council will vote. Two council members missed the previous meeting. We hope they will agree with the Planning Commission’s decision not to support this development. Other council members may still be persuadable. Therefore, PLEASE take action to help:
1. Contact City Council members before March 17 (email template and phone number below)
2. Join us at the March 17th meeting (City Hall, beginning 7:00 p.m.) to show support for the team of speakers planning to address the several reasons why this development is too large for such an environmentally-sensitive site.
Suggested email message:
TO: citycouncilonly [at durhamnc gov ]
SUBJECT: Please Vote No Rezoning Petition Z2400001, Pickett Rd. Apartments
Thank you for listening to concerns about protecting Sandy Creek Park, a critical habitat in the City of Durham for birds and wildlife, and renowned nationally as a birding “Hot Spot.” More than 180 bird species have been identified by park visitors from all over the city, region, and beyond.
Please follow the Planning Commission’s recommendation not to allow such a large development next to sensitive wetlands and already-impaired Sandy Creek.
The developer’s proffer to “treat” windows is vague and ineffective. The developer’s plan also fails to prevent light trespass into critical breeding habitat for birds already threatened by habitat loss elsewhere.
We support building more affordable housing in Durham, but this is the wrong site and size. Many apartments, constructed or planned in the vicinity, are closer to public transportation and sidewalks and do not threaten a rare wetland habitat and the wildlife it supports.
Or call: (919) 560-4396 to get in touch with the Durham City Council and voice your concerns.
The NCGP recently held its 2025 Winter Gathering in...
"Focus on American Indian Art on Paper" March 14th 6-6:45pm or 7-7:45pm: events.ackland.org/event/focus-march2025-6pm/
Creek Week 2025 in Durham and maybe in neighboring counties is March 15-22
March 15-16th: historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/bentonville-battlefield , www.johnstoncountync.org/160th-bentonville-reenactment/ , and historicsites.nc.gov/events Many NC events are listed at: historicsites.nc.gov/events
Spring Lights Out for Birds! – 11pm-6am March 15th-May 30th; September 10th-November 30 in the fall.
Sunshine Week begins March 16th? – portside.org/2025-03-03/week-peoples-history-mar-5-11-2025
[The WNC Organic Growers School 2025 Spring Conference was Friday, March 14th-Sunday, March 16th, with the theme: "Resilience, Recovery, and Renewal": organicgrowersschool.org ]
["Hedgehog Noontime Discussion: Is Neoliberalism Over?" with Blake Smith Tuesday, March 18, at 12 pm (EST), moderated by Hedgehog Review editor Jay Tolson and senior editor Kyle Edward Williams: virginia.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZESYHmA9T0mrjRjuE-yfpA#/registration ]
[South Carolina Native Plant Society meeting March 18th at 6:30 at The Citadel's Duckett Hall in Charleston, SC – "Lowcountry Lecture: Revisiting F.P. Porcher’s 1863 Resources of Southern Fields and Forests" – scnps.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/scnps/event.jsp?event=1187 ]
The Coal Glen Mine Disaster in Chatham County – May 27, 1925; there will be a commemoration online Wednesday, March 19, 12-1pm, organized by the State Archives of NC: www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_hDIPyOYhQHuSX-KzJM9Zaw#/registration
The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC will be March 20th-April 13th: nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
From bdsmovement.net – Israeli Apartheid Week 2025 is March 21st (the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) to March 30th (Land Day), with the theme “People Power Makes Apartheid History” "Resist. Rise. Decolonize."
[From the Chatham County Government:
PITTSBORO, NC— Celebrate the Spring Equinox as Chatham Community Library hosts local naturalist Andy Upshaw for a walk around the campus path to learn more about our native birds and plants. This program is free and open to the public.
WHAT: Spring Bird Walk with Andy Upshaw
WHEN: Friday, March 21, 2025, 10:30 a.m. – noon
WHERE: Meet by the bike rack near the front doors at the Chatham Community Library
Andy Upshaw will lead this beginner-friendly program and share tips for identifying common birds and their habitats. Participants will meet by the bike rack near the front doors at 10:30 a.m. This event will be held rain or shine, so be sure to bring a raincoat or umbrella if the forecast says there could be precipitation. If you own binoculars, bring those too!
Residents may visit the libraries’ website www.chathamlibraries.org, or contact the Library at Call: (919) 545-8084 for more information on this and other events and programs.
Kara Lusk
Public Information Officer
Chatham County Government"]
Harpal Brar, 85, founder and chairman of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), passed away January 25, 2025. There will be a memorial and fundraiser for Palestine Saturday, March 22nd 1-7pm at Bolivar Hall in London (54 Grafton Way, W1T 5DL) thecommunists.org/events/harpal-brar-memorial-fundraiser-for-palestine/ He was born October 5, 1939 in Muktsar, Punjab Province, British India: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpal_Brar
[FREE MAHMOUD FREE PALESTINE! – March 22nd at 8pm in New York City: peoplesforum.org/freemahmoud or www.eventbrite.com/e/fight-for-our-rights-free-mahmoud-tickets-1286989272559 ]
[Some events in Mexico and Spain for the Year of the Indigenous Woman in 2025:
Lengu Abuelas: Ancestry – February 21st at Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology – from a Google translation – "a tribute to native languages with music and poetry out loud."
Mesoamerican Huastec Women: Goddesses, Warriors and Governors – through June 27th at the Regional Museum of La Laguna, in Coahuila.
Interpretive Stations Dedicated to Them in April at the Museum of Anthropology
Mesoamerican Women: Mexican Governors will be exhibited in September at the Casa de México in Spain.
There will be a National Meeting of Women Writers in Indigenous Languages March 15th.
The first Black Dance Festival will be August 9th to 31st.
Recorders of Stories: Women in the Graphic Arts of the Villages of Mexico will be exhibited November 2025 to March 2026.
There will be a concert and a showing of 15 films at the National Film Library.
For more see: diario-octubre.com/2025/02/10/mexico-busca-reivindicar-a-mujeres-indigenas-su-lengua-e-historia/ ]
From Powwows.com:
UNC Pembroke BraveNation Pow Wow and Gathering 2025
March 22 - March 22
Jones - 1 University Drive, Pembroke, NC - 28372
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
March 28th-May 11th: ackland.org/exhibition/phantom-limb-selected-works-by-the-mfa-class-of-2025/ ]
[March 24th at 7pm: actionnetwork.org/events/bike-durham-march-2025-community-meeting?source=linktree
[Order a Durham compost bin by March 24th: www.durhamnc.gov/935/Composting ]
National Farmworker Awareness Week is March 25-31: saf-unite.org/national-farmworker-awareness-week/
[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
US income taxes are due in mid-April...
[ClydeFEST will be Sundy, April 13th 12-4pm.]
[NC Pilgrimage for Peace and Justice should be in mid-April? See Witness for Peace SE?
International Dark Sky Week will be April 21-28 in 2025: idsw.darksky.org/ ]
Earth Day is April 22nd.
[The 75th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be April 23-26: www.wildflowerpilgrimage.org/ ]
[In Durham: "The RetroGothic Film Series Returns to the Carolina Theatre April 25 – May 1" – tickets.carolinatheatre.org/default.asp?search=retrogothic ]
The 17th Annual Celebration of Spring Pottery Tour-Spring Kiln Openings will be April 25-27, 2025, 10am – 5pm in Seagrove, NC: discoverseagrove.com
[April 26-27th: the second annual Durham Garden Tour: DurhamGardenTour.org ]
Workers' Memorial Day is April 28th.
International Workers' Day/May Day is May 1st, also Celtic Beltane ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane ).
Brood XIV of 17-year cicadas will emerge in western North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, etc., including in areas devastated by Hurricane Helene, presumably very good news for the fish (brook and other trout?), birds, etc. Worry was expressed on WUNC's Due South recently that there wouldn't be as much food for fish this spring, due to the floods. – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas
[The Parkwood Spring Flea Market will be 8am-12pm May 3rd, at the corner of Revere and Seaton roads in southern Durham.]
The 25th anniversary UFO Fest 2025 at McMenamins Hotel in McMinnville, Oregon will be May 16-17th: mcmenamins.com
Is there going to be a Mothman Festival in West Virginia, a Kecksburg UFO festival in Pennsylvania, etc. in 2025? – www.stangordon.info/wp/2024-upcoming-events/ in Pennsylvania.
[Animazement 2025 will be May 22nd-25th at the downtown Raleigh Convention Center: www.animazement.com
MomoCon 2025 will also be May 22nd-25th at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia: www.momocon.com ]
June 6th-August 31st: ackland.org/exhibition/radical-clay-contemporary-women-artists-from-japan/
June 16-22: www.pollinator.org/pollinator-week
The Socialism 2025 conference will be July 3-6 in Chicago.
[The annual Cullowhee Native Plant Conference will be July 16-19 at Western Carolina University, in Cullowhee, NC; registration opens April 1st, and fills up quickly: www.wcu.edu/engage/professional-enrichment/conferences-and-community-classes/the-cullowhee-native-plant-conference/ ]
July 19-27: nationalmothweek.org
The 68th annual NC AFL-CIO Convention will be in Wilmington September 10-12.
State Proposes Access Pass for Game Lands
Audubon encourages members, public to weigh. –
nc.audubon.org/news/state-proposes-access-pass-game-lands
www.ncwildlife.org/conservation-access-pass
A pass would be required for those without a hunting or fishing license. How would this be enforced, when many gamelands can be entered from adjacent yards, public roads, the ATT, parks, navigable waterways, etc.? I doubt that they have enough officers to look for people out in the woods. People living next to gamelands could get away without a pass. Has the NC Wildlife Resources Commission been keeping this proposal quiet? I didn't see it mentioned in their email newsletters or magazine, though maybe I missed something. Is this aimed at alleged "animal rights activists," or is the NC WRC underfunded? Individual NC tax refund money can be donated to the NC WRC and I've done that. [March 7th: According to the HRA the comment period ends March 28th – "Please make your comment here. You can read more HERE."]
See the articles for the NC WRC's contact information.
Also from the HRA, March 7th:
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LIBRARY BOOKSALES
There will be a Friends of the Chatham Community Library book sale March 20-22 at the Chatham Community Library in Pittsboro (197 NC Hwy 87 North): friendsccl.org/Spring-2025-Book-Sale
The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library will have book sales April 11-13, August 22-24, December 5-7 in 2025 and April 10-12, August 21-23, December 4-6 in 2026 (!!) -- friendschpl.org/
CREEK WEEKS
The 17th annual Durham Creek Week will be March 15-22: www.keepdurhambeautiful.org/creek-week
[The 4th Annual Orange County Creek Week will be March 15-22: www.orangecountync.gov/3491/Creek-Week ]
[From Keep Durham Beautiful:
- March 15-23 - Durham Creek Week!
- March 17 - Bid For Better: A Nonprofit Auction
- March 18 - Spring Tree ID Walk at Matthews Tract
- March 18 - Durham Garden Forum: Tick Talk!
- March 19 - Spring Tree ID Walk at New Hope Creek Bottomlands Trail
- March 20 - Lunch and Learn - Refabricate Screening
- March 21-22 - Invasive Plant Removal at Rock Quarry Park
- March 22 - Durham Master Gardeners Plant Festival
- March 23 - Invasive Plant Removal at Garrett Rd Park
- March 23 - Craft & Supply Swap at Glass Jug RTP
- March 27 - Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Urban Forestry & Birds
- March 27 - Art Swap & Artist Mingle at Ment Beverage Co
- March 29 - Durham Library Garden Club Plant Swap
- March 29 - Weeds and Wildflowers: Native Plants, Healthy Ecosystems, People, Planet
- March 29 - African American Legacy in Gardening and Horticulture Symposium
- March 30 - Cook Rd & MLK Blvd Cleanup ]
[Over the past year, a team of 5 organizations (Haw River Assembly, Cape Fear River Watch, MountainTrue, NC Conservation Network, and the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic) have been working to compile a report of the cost of cleaning up litter in NC.
They collected data from state government, 19 municipalities, and 44 nonprofits/civic groups (including Keep Durham Beautiful!) and found that in 2023, North Carolinians spent $56.3M cleaning up 14.6M lbs of litter - a significant underestimate due to the challenges in reporting!
Read the full report here, and then share your thoughts in this survey.]
PLANT / GARDEN SALES
[From Keep Durham Beautiful:
The Durham Master Gardener's 3rd Annual Plant Festival is Saturday, March 22 from 10AM-12PM, and this year's Plant Sale is Saturday, April 5, from 10AM until sold out. Both events will be held at the Cooperative Extension building at 721 Foster Street.
Learn more here! ]
[Lowcountry Spring Native Plant Market! – April 19th 10am-1pm at Boone Hall Farms - Willie's Roadside Market (2434 Highway 17 North, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464; enter from Highway 17): www.facebook.com/events/1853901535446081 ]
Brunswick County[, NC]?
SEED LIBRARIES
Spring Lights Out for Birds! – 11pm-6am March 15th-May 30th; September 10th-November 30 in the fall.
CALENDAR
The first annual Space Piracy Conference was held at the US Naval Academy in February? – the December 2024 issue of Fortean Times (FT451).
[The 10-day 33rd Havana International Book Fair began February 13th or 14th -- Diario Octubre.]
Around February 17–20, 1894 domestic cats reached Stephens Island, in the Cook Strait of New Zealand, and the Lyall's wren or Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli) soon went extinct. The last known South Island piopio or New Zealand thrush was killed on the Island by Hugo H. Schauinsland around December 31-January 7, 1896: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyall%27s_wren ]
[Stalin and Mao signed the 30-year Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance February 16, 1950; China attacked Vietnam February 17, 1979, the day after the expiration date of the Treaty: www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02/10/ninu-f10.html ]
Swedish naturalist Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander (February 19, 1733 – May 13, 1782): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Solander
Construction of the Soviet space station Mir (Peace or World in Russian) began February 19, 1986. Until 2010 the record for longest continuous human presence in space was the habitation of Mir and some individual cosmonauts spent at least a year on the station. Mir was retired and deorbited into the South Pacific in late March 2001.
The so advanced F-22's first kill was a lost Chinese research "airship"/weather balloon or a sinister Chinese spy balloon, violating US sovereignty, until it was shot down at great expense as it was leaving US territory off of South Carolina February 4th (near Hainan, China January 15, 2023, the Aleutians in AK January 28th, over Canada January 30th, Idaho January 31st, seen from an airliner, near Billings, Montana February 1st; NORAD supposedly knew about it for days before February 2nd). The US media portrayed it as China accidentally or intentionally derailing an attempt to cool US-China tensions, but it could be asked whether a faction in the US government created an incident to worsen relations. A military official expected the US war with China to start in 2025, and earlier testimony to Congress predicted war by something like 2028, rather than decades from now. Consider the comments at: www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/02/chinese-spy-balloon-over-the-us-an-aerospace-expert-explains-how-the-balloons-work-and-what-they-can-see.html First aircraft shot down over the USA after WWII and the highest air-to air ever, supposedly?? February 2 Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela; February 9-10 Beaufort Sea, Alaska; February 11 Yukon; February 11-12 Lake Huron; February 12 Shandong; February 14 Romania and Moldova; February 16 Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport in Hebei; February 19 northeast of Hawaii; April-May over Hawaii, going towards Mexico, but these UFOs stopped being news: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_high-altitude_object_events_in_2023 ]
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
English official and noted diarist Samuel Pepys was born February 23, 1633 in London, and passed away May 26, 1703 in nearby Clapham, Surrey.
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.
The Tuscarora tribes' 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
Eastern Clean Monday was March 3rd in 2025: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Monday
The first human in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was born March 9, 1934 and went into space April 12, 1961.
The US firebombing of Tokyo the night of March 9 - 10, 1945 is thought to have killed 100,000 people, injured a million more, and left one million homeless. It levelled 16 square miles of the densely inhabited Japanese capital city. There were other bombing raids on Tokyo, but this was the most destructive and resulted in more immediate deaths than any other attack during World War II, including the atomic bombings: www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm and Wikipedia.
Around 3am March 13, 2020 Julius Giron, an elderly leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines; his wife Lourdes Tan Torres; and their aide were killed in Baguio City by military and police forces supposedly carrying out an arrest warrant. The government of the Philippines said that it wanted to negotiate, but killed the "principle peace consultant to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines:" www.fightbacknews.org/2020/3/19/frso-condemns-murder-communist-party-philippines-leader-julius-giron ; cpp.ph/red-salute-to-ka-nars/
March 14th is White Day in Japan, a commercially inspired holiday related to Valentine's Day. Apparently White Day is also celebrated in other East Asian countries.
March 14th: Write Your Story Day – Days of the Year website.
Potato Chip Day, Children's Craft Day, Learn About Butterflies Day, Pi Day, Write Your Story Day, etc. – National Day Calendar website.
[ actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-our-letter-to-usfws-protect-the-monarch-butterfly ]
Black rain was reported to have fallen from an intensely black cloud early on March 15, 1900 from Louisburg, in Franklin County, NC, through Wake Forest, to Morrisville, just southeast of Durham, in Wake County. This is referenced in the book Unnatural Phenomena: A Guide to the Bizarre Wonders of North America by Jerome Clark, quoting the March 23, 1900 edition of the Statesville Landmark, which reprinted an article from the the March 20th News and Observer of Raleigh (available online at: www.digitalnc.org/newspapers/ ).
Searching through that edition of the News and Observer – how the headlines don't change – “Our Warships in Chinese Waters,” with “no hostile meaning” (US and Canadian warships had just passed through the Taiwan Strait when I wrote this in 2023, around the time Defense Secretary Austin was calling for dialogue at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in early June 2023). In 1900 US imperialism could be named and discussed in a major newspaper, with references to William Jennings Bryan and debate at UNC's Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. Around 2023-2024 it was literally stated in the mainstream Anglophone media that only Russian and maybe Iranian imperialisms exist, the others having died out in the 20th century (this might have been stated by US-UK guest journalists on a Friday edition of NPR's 1A). It was like the “War on Terror” and the Libya War never happened, and the US military weren't occupying part of Syria and stealing the war- and disaster-torn country's resources right now. There was even empty (?) talk in Washington of invading Mexico again. Even without invading, the US government shot and killed at least one Mexican civilian, a minor, in Mexico several years ago. The media can discuss How to Hide an Empire, as long as it refers to long past events, though the US still runs Puerto Rico and has soldiers in the Philippines, etc. Some in the "West" claim that "Iranian imperialism" exists and others claim that Russian imperialism doesn't exist. Imperialism isn't only the direct military occupation of other countries and financial, economic, and diplomatic methods are currently on display against Russia, Venezuela, China, Syria, Cuba, etc. I don't recall many anti-war letters to the editor appearing in the Democratic Party-leaning N and O in recent decades, though they do receive letters.
British artist, illustrator, and art instructor Edith Blackwell Holden passed away March 15, 1920, having fallen into a part of the Thames River near the Kew Gardens Walk. She was born September 26, 1871 and is probably most known for her posthumous nature journal, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, published in 1977, and another book; the subject of a TV documentary.
The United Communist Party of Russia was founded March 15, 2014 at a congress held in Moscow: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Communist_Party
The International Day Against Police Brutality is March 15th.
March 15th: www.un.org/en/observances/anti-islamophobia-day
Flaco, a famous Eurasian eagle-owl in New York City, was found dead on West 89th Street in Manhattan February 23, 2024. It is thought that he flew into a building and died due to the impact or after falling to the ground. The collision might have happened because Flaco was sick or suffering from rodenticide or lead poisoning (lead from eating pigeons, etc). The Eurasian eagle-owl, Bubo bubo, is one of the largest species of owl and is related to and resembles native congeneric great horned owls, B. virginianus. Eurasian eagle-owls range from the south of Spain, through Italy, Greece, maybe the Gaza Strip, Iran, and Pakistan, to northern Scandinavia, across Russia, and are found in northern Japan and most of Korea and China. Flaco seems to have been intentionally released from the Central Park Zoo February 2, 2023 – I didn't know that Central Park has a zoo until this news in 2024. There were fears that he wouldn't be able to survive outside of captivity, but re-capture attempts failed and he seemed to be doing okay, so he was left alone. His birth date is listed as March 15, 2010 in Scotland Neck, Halifax County, in northeastern NC. There is a well-known bird park in eastern NC (Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park, in Scotland Neck), so maybe Flaco came from there, but I think it focuses on international waterfowl. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaco_(owl) and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_eagle-owl
March 15th: Napping Day – Days of the Year website.
President James Madison March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836
[Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: A Romance was first published March 16, 1850: thewritersalmanac.substack.com/p/the-writers-almanac-from-sunday-march-a32 and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter ]
The Civil War Battle of Averasboro was March 16, 1865 in eastern North Carolina.
UNC's Davie Poplar Jr was planted in McCorkle Place (the northern quad) March 16, 1918, by the Class of 1918. This tree is a clone of the massive Davie Poplar, growing nearby (these are tulip-poplars/yellow-poplars or tuliptrees, actually in the magnolia family; the Davie Poplar is named for Governor William Richardson Davie) ; there is a legend that the decision to build the University on this site was made under the Davie Poplar and that the University will die with the tree (fortunately, though tuliptrees grow fast, they can live for hundreds of years, contra a recent Carolina Alumni Review magazine article). A few clones and descendants of the Davie Poplar have been planted around UNC and there are a number of large tuliptrees, probably blooming in April or early May (possibly earlier than those in Durham or in more rural areas) with large yellowish-green and blaze orange flowers attractive to honey bees. Photo to add.
Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (born June 3, 1885) passed away March 16, 1919 and is buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
March 16, 1962 – Kosmos 1/Sputnik 11 was launched.
Panda Day is March 16th. – Days of the Year website, Wikipedia (?), etc..
US soldiers carried out the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam March 16th, 1968.
A few weeks ago PBS aired a documentary in which an Asian-American veteran (now in California?), said captured Vietnamese were thrown out of a helicopter and he would have been too (he was wounded and being medi-evaced ), but for a black soldier (now in Mississippi?) from his unit, also wounded. I thought this killing was something like a rumor, with confirmation to be kept hidden.
Chemical weapons were dropped on the city of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan March 16, 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War.
The 31st anniversary in 2024; Canadian Airborne Regiment soldiers tortured and killed Somali Shidane Arone, 16, and posed with his body: cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/MS5302.HTM#4 March 16
Linguist Blair Arnold Rudes (May 18, 1951 – March 16, 2008): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_A._Rudes
[March 16, 2014 in Crimea: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_status_referendum ]
March 17th – Saint Patrick's Day; the Anniversary of the Unification of Italy in 1861; the Prusso-Danish Battle of Jasmund in 1864, during the Second Schleswig War; Kosovar unrest March 17-18, 2004; etc.
Robert Simeon Arbib Jr, ornithologist and author of the award-winning 1971 book The Lord's Woods: The Passing of an American Woodland, among others, was born March 17, 1915 in Gloversville, New York, but grew up in Woodmere on Long Island. He passed away July 20, 1987.
The Battle of Zhenbao or Damansky Island, part of a long border dispute between China and the USSR, was March 2-17, 1969.
US president Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908)
Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845
The Paris Commune was March 18 to May 28, 1871. Communes were formed or attempts were made in several other French cities.
March 7, 1911, around 8am, it became very dark in Louisville, Kentucky; December 2, 1904, around 10am, in Memphis, Tennessee; March 19, 1886, around 3pm, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; August 19, 1763, mid-morning, in London, UK; in the Hammonton/Folsom Swamp area of New Jersey December 5, 1931, a 'phantom plane crash?'– Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States, by Jim Brandon, 1978. In March, during the Dust Bowl era, an anthropogenic dust storm from the Midwest even reached DC. Guthrie and 4/14/1935 dust storm? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_(storm)
Chinese revolutionary and wife of Mao Tse-tung, Jiang Qing/Chiang Ching, was born March 19, 1914.
José Díaz Ramos (May 3, 1895 – March 19, 1942): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Díaz_(politician) and www.revolutionarydemocracy.org sidebar
The war for Algerian independence from France ended March 19, 1962. The Battle of Algiers is a well-known film on the national liberation war, banned in France for years.
There is an article about The Report from Iron Mountain, a bestselling 1967 satire (?) in the current issue of Harper's magazine; in The New York Times Book Review issue of March 19, 1972 Leonard C. Lewin claimed that he had written the pro-war, anti-peace book as a hoax. A real former iron mine at Iron Mountain in Germantown, New York is used as a private storage facility and bomb shelter by various organizations: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Report_from_Iron_Mountain
The Iraq War began around March 19, 2003, though the US had been carrying out economic and "kinetic" war against Iraq throughout the period between 1991 and 2003. It is now all water under the bridge – it wasn't brought up in 2024 and in early March 2022 NPR's Morning Edition interviewed George W Bush Administration member Condoleezza Rice about the war in Ukraine. I think an angry young Iraqi poet was allowed to speak on 1A (?) in March 2023 though, and someone less angry on another show. March 2023 doesn't seem to have been very memorable in memorializing the war.
(Condemning US wars and proxy wars was "above the pay grade" of Durham City officials during the "War on Terror," even when Republicans were in the White House, but the DCC made a show of yellow and blue international solidarity with Ukraine in 2022: twitter.com/CityofDurhamNC/status/1499903958621597703 (March 4th at 7:25p.m., with 25 reposts, one quote, and 120 likes) and they 'unfriended' the city of Kostroma, Russia, ending a sister city relationship that began in 1968. Some of the same people are still on the Council. No red, white, and green for Palestine as far as I can tell. In 2024 – if I vote for a Democrat for a Durham office, am I directly supporting Biden's policies, or the entire party is becoming intolerable, from the presidency to even local office and media? I don't know. Too bad there wasn't more "anti-American" cultural retaliation over the US invasion of Iraq, like BDS. See also: cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/MS5302.HTM#4 Apparently the city council in Charlottesville, Virginia used the same sort of arguments to refuse to pass a ceasefire resolution: World Beyond War.)
NATO attacked Libya March 19, 2011 and leader Qaddafi was killed extrajudicially, possibly with something like a knife, and Obama administration officials watched it on video. Many of those captured with Qaddafi were also summarily executed. UN Security Council Resolution 1973, allowing the imposition of a "no-fly zone," was approved March 17th with 10 yes votes and five abstentions. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, France, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa, the UK, and the USA voted for the Resolution, while Brazil, China, Germany, India, and Russia abstained. Germany apparently did not directly join in the unprovoked NATO aggression. A faction in Ukraine has long wanted to join this aggressive organization run for the benefit of the US government, with some of the European imperialist powers. See also: cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/MS5302.HTM#4
Tulsi Gabbard ended her first presidential campaign March 19, 2020 and endorsed Joe Biden.
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 ( 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/
Nowruz was March 20th in 2024 and will be March 20th again in 2025. The Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox will be March 20th at 5:01am EDT.
Asteroid 2003 EH1 might be a source of the 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
March 20th is also the UN 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.
Traditionally the Pisces period is around February 19th to March 20th, followed by Aries 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 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.
Plutarch made the first known description of the solar corona during a solar eclipse March 20, 71 CE.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC will be March 20th-April 13th: nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
March 20th: www.un.org/en/observances/happiness-day
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.
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 www.unesco.org/en/days/poetry , www.un.org/en/observances/international-nowruz-day , www.un.org/en/observances/down-syndrome-day
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.
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.
International Seal Day is supposed to be March 22nd.
A terrorist attack, claimed by ISIS, 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?
March 23rd: Earth Hour (20:30 local time)?; 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
March 24th – the Shia Muslim Night of Power?; Purim; World Tuberculosis Day; etc.
Hundreds of dead and dying or injured ducks of various kinds – canvasbacks, redheads, scaups – were found in Saint Mary's City, Maryland January 25, 1969; it was as if they had run into something or been near an explosion – Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States, by Jim Brandon, 1978 and Mysteries of the Unexplained, by The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1982. A site of early religious toleration, Saint Mary's City was officially founded March 25, 1634. The Maryland Toleration Act/Act Concerning Religion was passed April 21, 1649, but it failed later.
March 26, 1934 the Press and Journal of Aberdeen and the Dundee Courier published articles about the Tarves Beastie at the Gates Croft, torn down by 1995, in Tarves district, Aberdeenshire, northeastern Scotland, UK, apparently prefiguring the Isle of Man's Gef the Talking Mongoose: the January 2025 issue of Fortean Times (FT453).
The WWII Battle of Iwo Jima was February 19 – March 26, 1945.
A "'bright light'" was reportedly seen in Lyons, Wayne County, New York December 9, 1891, January 5, 1892, February 2, February 29, March 27, April 23 – Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States, by Jim Brandon, 1978.
Hungarian sociologist Karl Mannheim (Károly Manheim, March 27, 1893 – January 9, 1947).
Emanuel Swedenborg (born Emanuel Swedberg); February 8, 1688 – March 29, 1772).
Three dead from a "sweet-smelling gas" February 1, 1944 in Coatesville PA; the UK's Springheel Jack reported, for example, February 20th (?) in 1838 in Old Ford, UK 8:45pm; before April 28, 1877 two of them were reportedly in Aldershot, UK; the Mineral Point, Wisconsin "Vampire" entity end of March 1981, in the news before the attempted assassination of Reagan on the 30th – Mysterious America: The Revised Edition, by Loren Coleman, 2001.
The Catalonia Offensive, December 23, 1938 to February 10, 1939, during the Spanish Civil War, July 17, 1936 to April 1, 1939.
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841): www.nps.gov/people/william-henry-harrison.htm
Author Michael Craig Ruppert (February 3, 1951 – April 13, 2014, allegedly by suicide): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ruppert
Kosaburo Eto (江藤 小三郎, Etō Kosaburō, April 20, 1946 in Sage Prefecture – February 11, 1969 by burning, in front of the National Diet in Tokyo, Japan): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosaburo_Eto
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007.
Louisiana became the 18th state April 30, 1812 and seceded January 26, 1861: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana
Brood XIV of 17-year cicadas will emerge in western North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, etc., including in areas devastated by Hurricane Helene, presumably very good news for the fish (brook and other trout?), birds, etc. Worry was expressed on WUNC's Due South recently that there wouldn't be as much food for fish this spring, due to the floods. – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas
The Monkey Man of Delhi in New Delhi, India was in mid-May 2001.
The Fort Fisher Hermit, Robert E Harrill, was born February 2, 1893 in Shelby, NC. He is officially supposed to have died of a heart attack June 3, 1972, but appears to have been murdered, possibly to remove an obstacle for "development."
[The new namesake for "Fort Bragg" in NC -- Roland Leon Bragg (June 11, 1923 – January 12, 1999): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_L._Bragg ]
Panamanian leader Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981, an assassination by the US?).
[May 2, 2014 – the Odessa, Ukraine trade union building killings: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odesa ]
On WRAL around February 18th: a Real ID or passport will now be necessary to fly domestically or enter certain US government buildings starting May 7th??
The Coal Glen Mine Disaster in southern Chatham County – May 27, 1925; there will be an online commemoration Wednesday, March 19, 12-1pm, organized by the State Archives of NC: www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_hDIPyOYhQHuSX-KzJM9Zaw#/registration
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