November 2024: Five Fridays, Five Saturdays, 30 Days
November 2024 opened on Friday, November 1 and closed on Saturday, November 30, a month bookended by its two five-time weekdays. Fridays fell five times, Saturdays fell five times and every other weekday managed four. That gave the month 30 days, 21 business days and nine weekend days, with week numbers 44 through 48. The pattern set early: this November kept its extras at the edges. Its five Saturdays fell on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th.
Fridays and Saturdays, five each
The count: 30 days, 21 business days, nine weekend days. Five Fridays and five Saturdays; four Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Week numbers ran 44 to 48.
The moon ran new on November 1, first quarter November 9, full November 15, last quarter November 23. The phases arrived weekly, like a metronome nobody had to wind.
The month bent around a Tuesday
Tuesday, November 5 was election day in the United States, and the month leaned on it. Donald Trump won the presidency with 312 electoral votes, the first Republican national popular-vote win since 2004. His party took the Senate as well. The Federal Reserve followed on Thursday, November 7 with a quarter-point rate cut, its second of the year.
Markets ran with the result. Bitcoin crossed 90,000 dollars for the first time on Wednesday, November 13, then 95,000 on Thursday, November 21. No calendar predicted any of it, and calendars know their lane.
A ring, two premieres and a title
Friday, November 15 moved boxing to streaming. Jake Paul outpointed 58-year-old Mike Tyson in Texas while Netflix logged 108 million viewers, the most-streamed sports event to that date. The stream peaked near 65 million concurrent viewers.
Friday, November 22 doubled the marquees under one nickname: “Glicked”. Wicked opened with 114 million dollars in North America, the biggest start ever for a stage-musical film. Gladiator II took 55.5 million beside it. Moana 2 followed on Wednesday, November 27 with a 225-million-dollar five-day debut.
Formula 1 settled its championship on Saturday, November 23 in Las Vegas. Max Verstappen sealed his fourth straight title with two races still to run. George Russell won the race itself; the title was the story.
What the month settled
Sony's PS5 Pro went on sale on Thursday, November 7, the priciest PlayStation yet at 699.99 dollars. At COP29 in Baku, delegates ran past their deadline. On Sunday, November 24, they agreed to a climate-finance goal of at least 300 billion dollars a year by 2035.
In the Middle East, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday, November 27. It paused more than 14 months of cross-border fighting.
A month with five Fridays and five Saturdays nearly plans itself. November 2024 still saved the last square for you.