Today is Tuesday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2009. There are 345 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. On this date: In 1801, Secretary [...]
Archive for May, 2009
Today In History – January 20
Posted in History, This day in history, tagged January 20 on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Today In History – January 19
Posted in History, This day in history, tagged January 19 on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Monday, Jan. 19, the 19th day of 2009. There are 346 days left in the year. This is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Today’s Highlight in History On Jan. 19, 1809, author, poet and critic Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. On this date: In 1736, James Watt, inventor of the [...]
Today In History – January 18
Posted in History, This day in history, tagged January 18 on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Sunday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2009. There are 347 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Jan. 18, 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, held to negotiate peace treaties ending World War I, opened in Versailles, France. On this date: In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the [...]
Today In History – January 17
Posted in History, This day in history, tagged January 17 on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Saturday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2009. There are 348 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Jan. 17, 1961, in his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against the rise of “the military-industrial complex.” On this date: In 1562, French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of [...]
Today In History – January 16
Posted in History, This day in history, tagged January 16 on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Friday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2009. There are 349 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Jan. 16, 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. It was later repealed by [...]
Today In History – January 15
Posted in History, This day in history, tagged January 15 on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Thursday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2009. There are 350 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Jan. 15, 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior was born in Atlanta. On this date: In 1559, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey. In 1777, the people [...]
Archie commits – finally
Posted in Arts and Entertainment, Living, Popular culture on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
After 67 years, Riverdale’s playboy finally picks that vixen Veronica to be his wife. Upset? Our reaction reveals a lot about how we view relationships, experts say. One is blond, loyal and kind. The other, raven-haired, charming and rich. Both great catches in the eyes of many, but after 67 years of being entangled in [...]
Enter Nominee. Cue Applause (Stage Left), Posturing (Stage Right).
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Law on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Let’s go out on a limb and say that, unless somebody leaks photos of Sonia Sotomayor abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, she will almost certainly be the next Supreme Court justice. As Bob Dole might say: You know it, I know it, and the American people know it. She’s been sent by a Democratic president [...]
We’ve Got Mail — From A. Lincoln
Posted in History, tagged Lincoln on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Even lionized super-presidents occasionally placed boneheads in prominent positions, and paid a price for it. A certain memo from Abraham Lincoln, donated to the National Archives by a private collector yesterday, reminds us of this. Four days before he went to Gettysburg in 1863 to deliver a certain address, Lincoln made time to deal with [...]
Arctic contains 13% of remaining oil
Posted in Energy and Environment, Law on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Svalbard U.S. Geological Survey also updates natural gas deposits as Canada and its polar neighbours pursue competing claims in the region. The forbidding landscape of the Arctic contains 13 per cent of the world’s remaining undiscovered oil and as much as 30 per cent of its natural gas deposits, a new study from the U.S. [...]
The march to the millionth word
Posted in Language on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
One amateur linguist who tracks our evolving language is determining which new addition to English will be the one-millionth. Read the story and test your expanding vocabulary. What fundoo. To mark a potentially Phelpsian achievement, a quendy-trendy online dictionary is predicting that the English language is about to acquire its one-millionth word. Maybe it’s already [...]
Think tank pulls copyright reports after admitting plagiarism
Posted in Law, Strange but true on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Think tank’s approach to Hollywood: Copy that Conference Board of Canada pulls copyright reports containing information copied from U.S. lobby group study. One of Canada’s most respected research organizations has a black eye after being forced to withdraw three reports on copyright and intellectual property because they contained plagiarized information from a study by [...]
Man Uses Live Swan to Beat up Victim
Posted in Animals, Law, Strange but true on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
A swan dives for food at a lake in Zbilje, Slovenia, February 14, 2007. A man who grabbed a live swan by the neck and used the bird as a club to beat up another man has been sentenced by a court in Munich, local media reported on Wednesday. The swan survived the attack unhurt and [...]
GM Reaches Tentative Deal to Give Bondholders Stake in Company
Posted in Economy and business, Politics, tagged Bondholders, General Motors on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
General Motors announced today that it has reached a tentative deal with some of its lenders, which would give them a 10 percent stake in the new company and the ability to buy more shares if the recovery of the automaker goes well. The bondholders would receive warrants to buy an additional 15 percent stake [...]
The ‘Empathy’ Nominee (Wall Street Journal) – The President’s Pick (Washington Post) – The New Justice (New York Times)
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Law, tagged Sotomayor on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Is Sonia Sotomayor judically superior to ‘a white male’? In making Sonia Sotomayor his first nominee for the Supreme Court yesterday, President Obama appears to have found the ideal match for his view that personal experience and cultural identity are the better part of judicial wisdom. This isn’t a jurisprudence that the Founders would recognize, [...]
‘Padre Oprah’ Joins Episcopal Church
Posted in Arts and Entertainment, Religion, tagged Cutie on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
A popular Miami priest and media personality known as ”Father Oprah”‘ has left the Catholic Church and joined the Episcopal Church after he was photographed cavorting on the beach with his girlfriend. The Rev. Alberto Cutie (KOO’-tee-ay) was removed from his Miami Beach church after photos of him kissing and embracing a woman appeared in [...]
Berlusconi denies ‘spicy’ affair
Posted in Politics, tagged Berlusconi, Italy, Lario, Letizia on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Ms Letizia sports the gold and diamond pendant given to her by the PM Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has denied having an affair with an underage girl and said he would resign if he was caught lying about it. Mr Berlusconi said that if someone asked had he had “a spicy or more than [...]
The Truth about the Gunshot that Changed Germany
Posted in Conflicts and wars, History, Photo galleries, Politics, tagged Benno Ohnesorg, East Germany, Karl-Heinz Kurras, Stasi, West Germany on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Karl-Heinz Kurras, on November 3, 1967, at the beginning of his trial It was the shot that changed the course of German history. On June 2, 1967, a West Berlin police officer shot and killed leftist demonstrator Benno Ohnesorg. The event triggered a whole generation of leftist activism. Would history have turned out differently if [...]
North Korea Will Never Disarm
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Editorials and opinion, Politics, tagged North Korea on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Let’s look on the bright side: North Korea’s latest underground nuclear test should put to rest several misperceptions about the country’s motivations. It is no longer possible for anyone to go on claiming that everything Kim Jong-il does is an effort to get America’s attention, or that he just wants to go into the next [...]
Taliban Warn of ‘Major Attacks’ in Pakistan
Posted in Conflicts and wars, tagged Pakistan, Taliban on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Back-to-back blasts ripped through a busy street in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Thursday. Taliban groups claimed responsibility on Thursday for the bombing that killed at least 26 people and injured several hundred in Lahore a day earlier, and issued an extraordinary warning for people to evacuate Pakistani cities, saying they were preparing “major attacks.” Hours after the [...]
Bloodied by Google, Microsoft Tries Again on Search
Posted in Computers, tagged Bing, Microsoft on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Microsoft has been bloodied and repeatedly humbled in its battle with Google in online search. That explains why Steven A. Ballmer, the typically bullish and boisterous chief executive of Microsoft, is speaking cautiously about his company’s latest volley against Google — a new version of its search engine that Mr. Ballmer was scheduled to demonstrate [...]
Ocean monster shows hidden depths
Posted in Physical sciences, tagged Chikyu on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
The Chikyu carries the tallest ship-borne rig in the world For a while during its design, Asahiko Taira told me, the ship became known as “Godzilla-maru”, so unusual and top-heavy were its projected lines. “We started planning the Chikyu about 15 years ago, and there were some people who thought we were too ambitious,” he [...]
‘Empathy’ Is Code for Judicial Activism
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Law, Politics on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
What damage did Democrats suffer when they attacked Miguel Estrada? Both President Barack Obama and Republicans get something they want from the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Mr. Obama said he wanted to replace Justice David Souter with someone who had “empathy” and who’d temper the court’s decisions with a concern for the downtrodden, [...]
Left Out of D-Day Events, Queen Elizabeth Is Fuming
Posted in History, Politics, tagged D-Day on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Queen Elizabeth is not amused. Indeed, she is decidedly displeased, angry even, that she was not invited to join President Obama and France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, next week at commemorations of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, according to reports published in Britain’s mass-circulation tabloid newspapers on Wednesday. Pointedly, Buckingham Palace did [...]
South Korea and U.S. Raise Alert Level
Posted in Politics, tagged North Korea on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
One day after North Korea warned of a possible attack against the South, the United States and South Korea ordered their forces here to their highest alert for three years, increasing surveillance flights and satellite reconnaissance to counter what officials termed a “grave threat.” The move was the latest sign of escalating tensions on the [...]
When I’m heading off on assignment as a wildlife writer, to study spider webs in Costa Rica, or chase lemurs in Madagascar, people often say, “You’re going where? You’re going to do what?” Doubtfully, they add, “And somebody’s actually paying you for this?” Then they ask if they can come along. Secretly, my neighbors suspect [...]
Bamboozling Ourselves
Posted in Arts and Entertainment, History, Law, Photo galleries, tagged Van Meegeren on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Oh World — the Devil’s Orb — Your vanity shall lead you to hell. — Martien Berversluis, Teekeningen 1 1. A Grudge “Supper at Emmaus” by Han van Meegeren Why do people believe in imaginary returns, frauds and fakes? Bernard Madoff, A.I.G. , W.M.D.’s … How did this happen? Do we believe things because it [...]
