Thursday, November 12, 2009

Almanacs “The Almanac - Nov. 12 - Post Chronicle” plus 4 more

Almanacs “The Almanac - Nov. 12 - Post Chronicle” plus 4 more

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The Almanac - Nov. 12 - Post Chronicle

Posted: 12 Nov 2009 04:45 AM PST

Today is Thursday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2009 with 49 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Venus, Mars and Saturn. The evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include French physicist Jacques Charles in 1746; women's suffrage activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1815; Baha'u'llah (born Mirza Husayn Ali), founder-prophet of the Baha'i faith, in 1817; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun in 1908; singer Jo Stafford in 1917; actress Kim Hunter in 1922; Princess Grace of Monaco, the former American movie star Grace Kelly, in 1929; rock musician Neil Young in 1945 (age 64); actress Megan Mullally in 1958 (age 51); Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci in 1961 (age 48); and baseball star Sammy Sosa in 1968 (age 41).

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On this date in history:

In 1799, the first North American meteor shower on record took place. Early American astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglass said, "The whole heaven appeared as if illuminated with sky rockets."

In 1892, the first professional football game was played in Pittsburgh. The Allegheny Athletic Association defeated the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, 4-0. (Touchdowns at the time were worth 4 points.)

In 1941, the German army's drive to take Moscow was halted on the city's outskirts in World War II.

In 1948, a war crimes tribunal in Japan sentenced former premier Hideki Tojo and six other World War II Japanese leaders to death by hanging.

In 1980, the Voyager 1 spacecraft passed Saturn and sent back stunning pictures.

In 1981, the shuttle Columbia became the first spacecraft launched twice from Earth.

In 1982, former KGB chief Yuri Andropov succeeded the late Leonid Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

Also in 1982, Polish authorities freed Solidarity founder Lech Walesa after 11 months of imprisonment.

In 1990, Akihito was crowned the 125th emperor of Japan.

In 1991, about 50 people were killed when Indonesian troops opened fire on protesters in the province of Timor Leste.

In 1992, Volker Keith Meinhold became the first openly gay person on active duty in the U.S. military when, armed with a court order, he reported to work at Moffett Naval Air Station in Mountain View, Calif., for reinstatement as a chief petty officer.

In 1993, pop star Michael Jackson, hounded by allegations that he had molested a teenage boy, canceled the rest of his worldwide "Dangerous" tour, citing an addiction to painkillers.

In 1997, Ramzi Ahmed and Eyad Ismoil were convicted of involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Four other men had been convicted in 1994.

In 2001, an American Airlines Airbus crashed shortly after takeoff from JFK Airport in New York. More than 260 people died in the crash.

In 2002, a tape surfaced from suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden in which he warned U.S. allies to be ready for the consequences of supporting Washington against his al-Qaida network.

In 2003, actor Art Carney, who won fame and Emmy Awards as sewer worker Ed Norton on the "Honeymooners" TV show in the 1950s and an Oscar in 1974 for "Harry and Tonto," died at age 85.

In 2004, the Palestinian people gave their leader Yasser Arafat an emotional, chaotic farewell, disrupting official burial plans in Ramallah on the West Bank.

In 2005, al-Qaida reportedly named Queen Elizabeth II of England "one of the severest enemies of Islam," said to be justification for July bombings in London.

In 2007, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco opened a criminal investigation into a shipping accident that dumped 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay after a fog-bound bridge collision.

Also in 2007, police in Jokela, Finland, said they believed a teenager who killed eight high school classmates may have had Internet contact with a Philadelphia youth who was arrested for planning a similar attack.

In 2008, the Bush administration says it will use part of the $700 billion bailout package to help banks lend to consumers rather than buying troubled mortgage assets from banks and financial institutions as originally planned.

Also in 2008, a Taipei court ordered former President Chen Shui-bian, an advocate of independence for Taiwan, detained on corruption and other charges. The ruling came one day after Chen was questioned for six hours on embezzlement, fraud, bribe and money-laundering allegations.

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A thought for the day: women's suffrage activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal." (c) UPI

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AUTO ALMANAC - Owen Sound Sun Times

Posted: 12 Nov 2009 05:06 AM PST

Posted By WHEELBASE COMMUNICATIONS

Posted 1 hour ago

DRAWING BOARD

2011 Chevrolet Caprice PPV:

After announcing that a planned Chevrolet Caprice version of the departing Pontiac G8 was cancelled, General Motors has changed its mind . . . sort of. The Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV) is built on a stretched (by 10 centimetres) version of GM's rear-wheel-drive platform. It's offered with either a V6 or a 355-horsepower V8. An assortment of standard and optional content specifically designed for law-enforcement use will also be offered.

IT'S HISTORY

Although the Duryea brothers, Charles and Frank, are credited with creating the first American automobile in 1893, it was Ransom E. Olds who made the world's first mass-produced car eight years later.

After Henry Ford's first car company failed in 1902, the firm went on to make automobiles under the Cadillac brand.

EBAY WATCH

1963 Chevrolet Impala, not sold,

last bid US $10,000: This isn't an actual police cruiser, but a very close black-and-white replica, right down to its "gumball" roof light, fender-mounted siren, Motorola two-way radio and police-style dog-dish hubcaps. Under the hood resides a 327-cubic-inch (5.3-litre) V8 connected to a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission. The bidding would indicate that the seller's reserve might be too high for this specialty item.

Visit www.ebaymotors.com.

PARTS BIN

Advertisement

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Daily almanac - Columbus Dispatch

Posted: 12 Nov 2009 03:19 AM PST

Today is Thursday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2009. There are 49 days left in the year.

Highlights in History

• On Nov. 12, 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over the Japanese.)

• In 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

• In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war-crimes tribunal.

• In 1977, the city of New Orleans elected its first black mayor, Ernest "Dutch" Morial.

• In 1982, Yuri V. Andropov was elected to succeed the late Leonid I. Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee.

• In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, en route from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff, killing 265 people.

• Ten years ago: President Clinton signed a measure knocking down Depression-era barriers and allowing banks, investment firms and insurance companies to sell one another's products.

• Five years ago: A jury in Redwood City, Calif., convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. (Peterson, who maintains his innocence, was later sentenced to death.)

• One year ago: Same-sex marriages began in Connecticut, a month after the state Supreme Court ruled that gays had the right to wed.

Thought for Today

"Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better." -- Florence Nightingale, English nursing pioneer (1820-1910)

Source: Associated Press

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Preuss Pharmacy in downtown Menlo Park to close; business sold to ... - The Almanac Online

Posted: 12 Nov 2009 12:06 AM PST

Preuss Pharmacy, in business in downtown Menlo Park since 1947, will close Nov. 19, owner and chief pharmacist John Celedon announced Wednesday.

The business has been sold to Safeway, and Mr. Celedon will be working at the Safeway pharmacy, he said.

Mr. Celedon bought the pharmacy, located at 844 Santa Cruz Ave., in 1990.

"It was a difficult decision but it has become very difficult amid the current economy and other factors to remain profitable", said Bryan Celedon, son of the owner.

See more details in the next edition of The Almanac.

Broadcast media’s commitment to diversity challenged - Twin Cities Planet

Posted: 11 Nov 2009 09:07 PM PST

Although local outlets claim progress in multicultural programming, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has questioned National Public Radio's (NPR) commitment to diversity.

According to Richard Prince's website, which reports on media diversity issues, Greg Peppers, a 22-year NPR veteran who supervised its newscast unit, was fired on October 16. On the same day, Walt Swanston, another Black manager, resigned as NPR diversity management director, citing health reasons.

Peppers' dismissal came less than 24 hours after NPR hosted the NABJ at their Washington, D.C., headquarters, Prince wrote as he referred to NPR's seemingly "checkered history" regarding Black men. Only two Black males have held top positions. Tavis Smiley and Ed Gordon once hosted programs but eventually left, both claiming poor management support in terms of promoting their shows.

NABJ President Kathy Times and Broadcast Vice-President Bob Butler strongly questioned NPR's diversity efforts in an October 27 letter sent to its president and CEO, Vivian Schiller. "Who are the managers of color at NPR?" they asked. "Mr. Peppers' firing comes 10 months after NPR dismissed Next Generation Radio creator Doug Mitchell, who has trained scores of young journalists, including many African Americans, for jobs in the broadcasting industry."

Schiller later responded that diversity is integral to NPR's mission and provided some specifics to support her contention. According to Schiller, nearly 24 percent of NPR management is staffed by people of color; 13 percent of the 313-person NPR news/programming staff is Black; and people of color comprise almost 28 percent of NPR's total staff of 754.

MSR recently inquired about Minnesota Public Radio's (MPR) diversity commitment. According to MPR Senior Vice President and General Manager Tim Roester and News Director Chris Worthington, people of color make up 13 percent of its newsroom staff, including two persons of color who were hired in the last two years.

"I'm optimistic we will have a third [person of color] in the next seven months," predicted Worthington.

MPR also has a nine-month journalism fellowship program, he added. "We take somebody with no radio experience but reporting experience, and we teach them radio," Worthington explained. "Four of the last five years, they have been journalists of color. We are aggressively looking for reporters of color in the newsroom."

"We don't feel satisfied with where we are in regards to diversity," noted Roester, who added that a diversity consultant from the West Coast has worked with him for almost three years. "One of the strong [recommendations] he had is that it is not only about recruiting, but also about retention," claimed Roester.

MPR did not carry Smiley and Gordon's programs when they aired, nor are they currently carrying NPR's "Tell Me More," hosted by Michelle Martin. Roester says MPR instead prefers "live and local" programming, such as MPR's "Youth Radio" monthly series, which uses ethnic youth who produce and air reports on their communities.

"Sometimes the various [NPR] programs that we are considering will be put up against that 'live and local' filter, which is really important for us," said Roester. Worthington added that MPR is still deciding whether to add "Tell Me More" to its program schedule: "It is still on the table," he says.

MPR's news coverage "is very inclusive," said Worthington, adding that because Minnesota's general population is becoming more diverse, "I think we are doing a pretty good job covering that story." He said he often challenges his reporters "to talk to people you don't typically talk to" when reporting on diverse communities.

According to data provided by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) Director of Recruiting, Training and Diversity Sean Fetterman, 25 percent of its full-time, part-time and intermittent staff comes from a diverse background. However, Vice President and General Counsel Allen Giles is the only Black person on its senior management staff.

"We have a full time, 24-hour television service primarily made up of local and Minnesota content," TPT Programming Executive Director Thomas Holter pointed out. He added that TPT regularly airs programs focused on a particular ethnic group: "We do acknowledge six heritage months throughout the year."

Now, with its multiple over-the-air channels, including TPT MN, that features diverse programming daily, "I think just about any given week we have something in our schedule that celebrates, or documents, or analyzes the complexities of the multicultural America," Holter said.

Almanac, a longtime weekly public affairs program, regularly features Black contributors, and its producer, Brendan Henehan, is Black.

"Every week there is either on-screen text or history about the African American community in just about every episode [of the show]," noted Holter.

"Much of it [comes] from the newspapers around the state - a lot of it is from the Spokesman-Recorder."

This might be viewed by some as "spoon-feeding a bit of [Black] history to our audience," admits Holter. "[Nevertheless], it's important history that's often underreported or under-told. This is something that the whole audience, not just African Americans, ought to be interested in and knowledgeable about."

The local public broadcasting officials all agree that diversity on the air and behind the scenes is very important. "I would suggest if you are going to take measure of our commitment to diversity or interest in diverse issues, that you consider the whole," stated MPR's Worthington. "Do we need more diverse on-air staff? Absolutely."

"We want to cover the general community as well as we possibly can from diverse perspectives," added Roester, MPR's top executive.

"The purpose of public television is to serve all citizens throughout [Minnesota]," Holter concluded.

Next week: Diversity in commercial over-the-air television's top-tier newsroom management

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

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