Nov. 22, 1943:Lebanese Independence Day, Lebanon gains independence from France. 2004:The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from 2004 presidential election results. The revolution comprised a series of popular protests and political events occurring from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote for 2004's Ukrainian presidential election that had been compromised by massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud.

Nov. 23, 1981:Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Nov. 24, 1859:Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.2007:Nearly 150 years later, Christian fundamentalists continue their political and ideological battle to blur distinctions between church and state in order to ban evolution from US public school science curriculums.

Nov. 25, 1867:Alfred Nobel--who, upon his death will fund the creation of the Nobel Prizes, including the Nobel Peace Prize--patents dynamite on this day.1947:During the US McCarthy era, the "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.

Nov. 26, 1778:In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui. Generations of indigenous Hawaiians have tried to stem the influx of European descendants ever since.

Nov. 27, 1868:At the battle of Washita River, US Army Lt. Colonel George Custer leads an attack on Cheyenne living on reservation land. It is estimated that 50 warriors died, with as many left wounded.1978:In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.

Nov. 28, 1821:Panama separates from Spain and joins the Great Colombia, a short-lived republic in South America encompassing the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, as well as smaller parts of Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil and Guyana.1893:For the first time, women vote in a national election, New Zealand's general election. New Zealand bests the US in granting women suffrage by over two decades, while women in many places including Brunei, Saudi Arabia, and Vatican City still cannot vote today.

Nov. 29, 1781:The crew of the slave ship Zongmurder 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea in order to claim insurance. 1947:The UN General Assembly approves Resolution 181 which planned to partition Palestine from Jerusalem. Fighting begins almost as soon as the plan is approved, beginning with the Jerusalem Riots of 1947. Res. 181 never takes affect. Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Nov. 30, 1954:In Sylacauga, Alabama an 8.5 lb (3.86 kg) meteorite crashes through a roof and hits Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio, giving her a bad bruise, in the only unequivocally known case of a human being hit by a space rock.1999:In Seattle, Washington protests against the WTO meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies. Negotiations quickly become overshadowed by massive street protests, in what becomes the second phase of the US' anti-globalization movement.

Dec. 1, 1988: Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state. (Flash forward to Nov. 2007: Bhutto is placed under house arrest as ordered by President General Pervez Musharraf after criticizing his recently declared "state of emergency").1998:Exxon announces a $73.7 billion deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the largest company on the planet.

Dec. 2, 1859: Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harper's Ferry. 1970:The US Environmental Protection Agency begins operations. How is it doing now? The EPA has recently relaxed policies regarding limits for ground-level ozone, particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and lead. New policies will minimize scientists' interaction in steering policy decisions, and rely more on policy makers with less scientific knowledge. Also: In 2007's Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, the court ruled the EPA has the authority to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases in automobile emissions, stating that "greenhouse gases fit well within the Clean Air Act's capacious definition of air pollutant," also stating that the EPA must regulate in this area unless it is able to provide a scientific reason for not doing so. We're still holding our breath for the clean air to come.

Dec. 3, 1964: Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building protesting the UC Regents' decision to forbid protests on UC property. 1984: A methyl isocyanate leak from Dow's Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000-600,000 others, (some 6,000 of whom later die from their injuries), in one of the worst industrial disasters in history. Over 120,000 continue to suffer from disaster-related health effects.

Dec. 4, 1959: Sam, a rhesus monkey, returns to Earth safely after being launched 55 miles into space by the United States space program. 1969:> Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers. 2005:>Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy, calling on the Government to allow universal and equal suffrage.

Dec. 5, 1865: Peru allies with Chile against Spain in the Chincha Islands Wars, a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies; the war's origin: Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost influence in its former South American empire.1893: First appearance of an electric car. You might imagine, with all the intervening opportunities for technological improvement, that our roads would be swarming with zero-emissions vehicles by now...

Dec. 6, 2005: Several villagers are shot dead during protests in Dongzhou, China. The village in Shanwei prefecture-level city, Guangdong Province, China organized in opposition to government plans to partially infill the bay and build a new power plant. After the shootings, protests resume in Nov. 2006.