2011

'2011' ('MMXI') will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. According to the North Korean Juche calendar, this will be Juche year 100. This year will also be the 100th of the Republic of China Era year(民國100年).

Contents

Pronunciation

Predicted and scheduled events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Unknown dates

Major religious holidays

References

Pronunciation

:''See also: Year pronunciation''
Among experts and the general public, there is a debate as to how specific years of the 21st century, including 2011, should be pronounced in English. Although the majority of English-speakers say "''two thousand (and) 'X'''" for any specific year post–1999, it is often suggested that the continuation of this type of pronunciation for the entire 21st century would be inappropriate or unnatural, given the alternative "''twenty 'X'''" option.
Many experts agree that majority usage of "two thousand (and) 'X'" is a result of influences from the Y2K hype, as well as the way "2001" was pronounced in the influential 1968 film, ''. Experts also suggest that since former years such as 1805 and 1905 were commonly pronounced as "eighteen oh" or "nineteen oh" five, the year 2005 should naturally have been pronounced as "twenty oh-five".^[1]
Many people, ranging from linguistic and academic experts to Internet bloggers, predict that the "twenty 'X'" pronunciation method will eventually prevail, but a timeframe as to when this change will occur often differs. The year 2010 is suggested by many,^[2][3] while 2011¹ and 2013 are popular as well. The latest timeframe for change is usually placed at 2020¹ or 2100.
According to a recent press release, David Crystal, author of the ''Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language'', has predicted that the change will occur in 2011, to "twenty eleven", explaining that the way people pronounce years depends on rhythm, rather than logic. Crystal claims that the rhythm or "flow" of "two thousand (and) ten", beats out that of "twenty ten", but the flow of "twenty eleven" beats out "two thousand (and) eleven".¹ Alternatively, Ian Brookes, editor-in-chief of ''Chambers Dictionary'', suggests the change will occur in 2013. The UK Times has suggested 2020 as a final timeframe for the change, saying "If people can have “twenty-twenty” vision, then surely they should also live in the year “twenty twenty”."¹
In addition, the Vancouver olympics, taking place in 2010, are being officially referred to by ''Vancouver 2010'' as "the ''twenty-ten'' olympics", and the London olympics, taking place in 2012, are also being officially referred to by ''London 2012'' as "the ''twenty-twelve'' olympics". Chicago 2016, which operates the official Chicago bid for the 2016 games, refers to the "''twenty-sixteen'' games".

Predicted and scheduled events

January

★ January - Southern Sudan will hold a referendum on independence.

★ January 1 - The estate tax in the United States, after its gradual repeal through 2010, returns in full force.^[4]

★ January 1 - Start of the Hungarian presidency of the European Union.

★ January 2 — Conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus, Jupiter 34' south. Third conjunction of triple conjunction Jupiter/Uranus.

★ January 3 — The 112th session of the United States Congress will convene on or around this date.

★ January 4 — Partial solar eclipse

★ January 30 — The 2011 Asian Winter Games will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan until February 6.

February

★ February — Alpine World Ski Championships 2011 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

★ February — 2011 Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey.

★ February 6 — Super Bowl XLV will be played in Arlington, Texas.

March

★ March 18 — NASA's Pluto probe ''New Horizons'' will cross the orbit of Uranus, after 5 years journey. This will be faster than Voyager 2, which took 8 years.

★ March 20 — Parliamentary election to be held in Finland.

★ NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in orbit around Mercury.

★ The remaining sections of Kyushu Shinkansen and Tōhoku Shinkansen, both Japanese high speed rail lines are scheduled to start services. When these tracks are completed, Aomori, (the northernmost part of Honshū), and Kagoshima, (the southernmost part of Kyushu Island), will both be linked by Shinkansen service through Tokyo.

★ Narita Rapid Railway, which will connect central Tokyo and Narita International Airport in 36 minutes(15 minutes faster than current fastest trains), is scheduled to start service.

April

★ April 2–4 — NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four to be held at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

★ April 8–21 — Cricket World Cup to be held in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

★ April 24 — Easter will not have fallen this late since 1943.

May

★ May — Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Mars all visible within a roughly 6° area of sky.

★ May 5 — Elections for the Scottish Parliament and for the Welsh Assembly.

★ May 6 — Singapore holds 11th general election.

★ May 17 — Canadian 2011 census.

June

★ June 1 — Partial solar eclipse.

★ June 13–June 19 — the United States Golf Open 2011 is scheduled at Congressional Country Club (Blue Course).^[5]

July

★ July 1 — Partial solar eclipse.

★ July 1 — Start of the Polish presidency of the European Union.

★ July 15-July 26 — Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China

★ July 24 — Analog television broadcasts will cease in Japan.

★ July — The International Olympic Committee is set to meet and decide the location of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

★ July — The 2011 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship will be held in a TBA location.

August

★ August 15 — The comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková will approach Earth and pass with significantly close proximity.

★ August 31 - Canada expected to switch off its analogue television signal.

September

★ September 15 — The deadline for the completion of all recommendations made during the 2005 U.S. Base Realignment and Closure round.

October

★ October - Guadalajara will host the XVI Pan American Games.

★ October - 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in New Zealand.

November

★ November 11 — The big "eleven eleven" party at 11:11:11 11/11/11

★ November 25 — Partial solar eclipse.

Unknown dates

★ The F-35 Lightning II will begin replacing the USAF's F-16 Fighting Falcon and A-10 Thunderbolt fleets (to be complete by 2025 and 2028 respectively).

★ Predicted Solar maximum (also predicted by other research groups for 2012).^[6]

★ The Isle of Man will host the IV Commonwealth Youth Games.

★ An Irish presidential election is due this year.

★ The Egyptian Presidential Elections of 2011

★ The United Kingdom plans to continue 5-year process to cease analog television broadcasts region-by-region, with Central Television, Yorkshire Television and Anglia Television [3].

★ Dublin Institute of Technology will complete its move to Grangegorman.

★ The DSM-V is tentatively scheduled to be published.

★ Scheduled completion of Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, the largest infrastructure project in eastern Germany.

★ Scheduled completion of the Freedom Tower in New York City.

★ Possible start of manned test flights of both the Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares I rocket.

★ Elections to be held in Nigeria.

★ Portsmouth F.C. expected to move into a new stadium.

★ California plans to open the world's largest solar power plant.^[7]

★ Park Place shopping centre in Croydon, is due to be unveiled by Minerva plc, and is expected to put Croydon in the top 5 retail destinations.

★ The 43rd edition of the Copa América, South America's main soccer tournament between countries, is scheduled to take place. Argentina are the favorites to host the tournament, but Chile and Mexico are also tipped for hosting.

★ There will be a census taking place this year in the United Kingdom. The UK census is carried out every 10 years.

★ Sweden will host the 22nd World Scout Jamboree.

Major religious holidays

★ February 1 — Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places)

★ March 20 — Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara

★ April 24 — Easter

★ May 11 — Beltane, a Cross-quarter day.

★ June 21 — Summer solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha

★ August 1 — Lammas, a Cross-quarter day

★ September 23 — Fall Equinox, also known as Mabon

★ November 1 — Samhain, a Cross-quarter day and Neopagan new year

★ December 25 — Christmas

References

1. Experts clash over millennium bugbear — UK Times
2. [1]
3. [2]
4. Senate Plan to Repeal Inheritance Tax Fails
5. http://www.usopen.com/future/ retrieved 14 June 2007
6. NASA article relating to Solar Maximum
7. CNN article relating to Californians plan to have largest Solar Plant