01 | December | 2014 | M'chelsMusings

Monday, the 1st of December, 2014 is the 335th day in 2014 and in the 49th calendar week.

Universal Human Rights Month

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The need for this document grew out of the human tragedy of World War II, and represents the first global expression of human rights. Human rights are the fundamental rights which every living person is entitled to, and are considered to be universal rights or laws regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, country or time. Human Rights Month encourages greater awareness of human rights, and promotes the continuing struggle to ensure that all people have access to life’s basic necessities.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

General Events:

World AIDS Day
December 1, 2014 in the World

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. It is common to hold memorials to honor persons who have died from HIV/AIDS on this day. Government and health officials also observe the event, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an official proclamation on World AIDS Day. Governments of other nations have followed suit and issued similar announcements.

AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Bunn and Netter took their idea to Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Programme on AIDS (now known as UNAIDS). Dr. Mann liked the concept, approved it, and agreed with the recommendation that the first observance of World AIDS Day should be 1 December, 1988.

Where is World AIDS Day?
Worldwide

Great Union Day in Romania
December 1, 2014 in Romania

Great Union Day in Romania is celebrated on December 01, 2014. Great Union Day is the national holiday of Romania. It commemorates the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia, which declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania. This holiday was set after the 1989 Romanian Revolution and it marks the unification of Transylvania, but also of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918. Prior to 1918, the national holiday of Romania was set to be on May 10, which had a double meaning: it was the day on which Carol I set foot on the Romanian soil (in 1866), and it was the day on which the prince ratified the Declaration of Independence (from the Ottoman Empire) in 1877. In Communist Romania, the date of the national holiday was set to August 23 to mark the 1944 overthrow of the pro-fascist government of Marshal Ion Antonescu.

Where is Great Union Day in Romania?
Nationwide Romania

Rosa Parks Day
December 1, 2014 in the USA

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in both California and Ohio.

Rosa Parks Day promotes equal opportunities, civil rights, and fairness across communities in the U.S. Church leaders, politicians, and organizational leaders unite in states like California and Ohio to promote the day with a range of events and activities. Many schools have classroom activities that focus on Rosa Parks’ struggles for equality and achievements against discrimination

On December 1, 1955, African Amerian seamstress Rosa Parks was travelling in a Montgomery City bus when the bus driver asked her to vacate her seat for a white man. The driver’s request was standard practice of racial segregation in buses at the time. Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat on the grounds of fairness, freedom and equality. As a result, she was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation, known as the “Jim Crow” laws. She appealed her conviction and formally challenged the legality of segregation. At the same time, civil rights activists, including Martin Luther King Jr, boycotted the Montgomery bus system.

The boycott lasted for 381 days, into December 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation law was unconstitutional and the Montgomery buses should be integrated. This boycott kickstarted other civil rights protests throughout the U.S. Over the years, the Rosa Parks bus has become a symbol of the fight for equal rights. It has been fully restored and is now displayed in the Henry Ford Museum. Rosa Parks’ Day, on February 4, is also known as the Day of Courage.

Where is Rosa Parks Day?
Nationwide USA

Natural Events:

Beginning of meteorological winter
December 1, 2014 in Northern Hemisphere

In meteorology for the Northern hemisphere, winter begins on December 01, 2014. It is also called the beginning of meteorological winter. The meteorological seasons are divided according to the calendar months. Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three calendar months with the lowest average temperatures. This corresponds to the months of December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere.

The coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January in the Northern hemisphere. Nighttime predominates the winter season, and in some regions it has the highest rate of precipitation as well as prolonged dampness because of permanent snow cover or high precipitation rates coupled with low temperatures, precluding evaporation. Blizzards often develop and cause many transportation delays.

Accumulations of snow and ice are commonly associated with winter in the Northern Hemisphere, due to the large land masses there. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.

Where is Beginning of meteorological winter?
Worldwide Northern Hemisphere

Historical Events on 1st December:

1640 – Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule

1783 – Jacques Charles & Nicolas Roberts make first untethered ascension with gas hydrogen balloon in Paris

1821 – Santo Domingo (Dominican Rep) proclaims independence from Spain

1835 – Hans Christian Andersen publishes his 1st book of fairy tales

1887 – Sherlock Holmes 1st appears in print: “Study in Scarlet”

1891 – James Naismith creates the game of basketball

1913 – Continuous moving assembly line introduced by Ford (car every 2:38)

1918 – Danish parliament passed an act to grant Iceland independence under Danish crown

1918 – Yugoslavia declares independence; monarchy established

1929 – Game of Bingo invented by Edwin S Lowe