Born 221 years ago: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

February 22 is the birthday of the woman who wrote "My candle burns at both ends;/ It will not last the night; / But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends — / It gives a lovely light!"

Edna st. Vincent Millay, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, was born in 1892 in Rockland, Maine.

After being educated at Vassar, she moved to Greenwich Village in New York City and lived a Jazz Age Bohemian life, which revolved around poetry and love affairs. She was beautiful and alluring and many men and women fell in love with her. Critic Edmund Wilson asked her to marry him. She said no. He later reflected that falling in love with her "was so common an experience, so almost inevitable a consequence of knowing her in those days."

She also wrote: "Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand: / Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!"

Indonesian Cardinal-retired Archbishop declines travel to vote next month - Nat. Catholic Reporter

from http://ncronline.org/

At least one of the 117 cardinals eligible to elect a new pope will not come to Rome because of illness. Indonesian Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja, the 78-year-old retired archbishop of Jakarta, told the Rome-based AsiaNews agency Thursday that his health and particularly the "progressive deterioration" of his eyesight led to his decision not to travel to Rome.
The cardinal said he made the "free and personal" choice because not being able to see and not being able to bring an assistant into the conclave with him would impose a "serious obstacle" to participating in the cardinals' work.  The responsibility of electing a new pope requires serenity and autonomy, he said, as well as an ability to read texts and documents.
The cardinal spoke with AsiaNews by telephone from the Jesuit Emmaus House, a retirement home for priests and prelates in Ungaran, where he retired two years ago.  "I am convinced that I am no longer suitable and proper to sit with other cardinals to vote for the new pope. So I have decided not to go to Rome for that kind of important event in the history of the church," he said.  The cardinal also said he "fully understands" Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign for health reasons.
"I experienced this firsthand when I was archbishop of Jakarta, and I decided to resign when I reached 75," he said.

500th Anniversary of Renaissance masterwork: "The Prince" by Machiavelli -- historical re-enactment events

posted at Harvard University dot-edu web connection to Center for Italian Renaissance Studies

On 19 February 2013, the City Government of Florence staged a historic recreation of an event that took place exactly 500 years earlier: a Town Crier, on horseback, replete with uniform and trumpet, pronounced at the main sites in the city center an official proclamation calling for information about the whereabouts of Niccolò Machiavelli. This is part of Florence’s celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the writing of The Prince.

This reconstruction was the subject of an official press conference, organized by the Comune of Florence under the auspices of the Honorable Professor Valdo Spini, at 12:00 in the Bargello Museum on 15 February 2013. Prof. Lino Pertile, Director of the Harvard University Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti spoke briefly about Villa I Tatti’s contribution to the 500th anniversary celebrations. Prof. Stephen J. Milner (University of Manchester), who translated an edition of The Prince and other political writings (London 1995) then described his archival discoveries about the Town Crier and the proclamation against Machiavelli, and placed them in the context of Machiavelli’s writing of The Prince. Dr. Nicoletta Marcelli (Villa I Tatti), co-editor of the The Prince for the Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Machiavelli, will then speak on the subject of Fortune in the life and works of Machiavelli.

Whilst Visiting Professor at the Harvard University Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti in Florence, Prof. Milner discovered unpublished archival documents that shed new light on the moment which initiated the chain of events that led to the writing of The Prince. Whilst working on the figure of the Florentine Town-Crier in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century, Prof. Milner came across the original proclamation (‘bando’) which was read out by the town crier on 19th February 1513. The text of the proclamation, seeking information on Machiavelli's whereabouts and who might be holding him, had been known for some time.  However, using the information gathered from examining hundreds of similar proclamations made between 1470 and 1530, Prof. Milner was able to map the numerous sites within the city where the Town Crier, mounted on a horse and armed with his silver trumpet to attract the attention of the crowds, would have made his proclamation. Further archival discoveries shed light on the payments made to four horsemen who were then mandated by the authorities to search the streets of the city looking for him, and the payments they subsequently received for his capture.

These events provide a context for understanding Machiavelli’s The Prince, one of the most famous political tracts ever written; this year marks the 500th anniversary of its first draft. Often characterised as the foundational text of realpolitik and the most clinical analysis of the dynamics of power, its continued popularity has seen its maxims adapted to address the contemporary worlds of banking and finance, institutional management, and how to get ahead in business.

The circumstances of its composition are often overlooked. On the return of the Medici faction to Florence in September 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in the city’s Chancery on account of his close association with the previous leading citizen and head of the republican government, Piero Soderini. A victim of regime change, he remained under suspicion due to his extensive network of contacts and the experience gathered over the fourteen years he spent at the heart of the Florentine political machine. He was confined for a year to his smallholding in Sant’Andrea in Percussina, just outside Florence, with a surety of 1,000 gold florins.

When his name then appeared on a list of potential sympathisers to a conspiracy to overthrow the Medici which was discovered and handed in to the authorities, they wasted no time in seeking his capture, imprisoning him, and subjecting him to torture. Yet while the lead conspirators were summarily executed and their associates exiled, it seems no evidence of Machiavelli’s direct involvement in the conspiracy came to light and, under the general amnesty granted on the election of Giovanni de’ Medici as Pope Leo X in March 1513, Machiavelli was released and returned to his smallholding.

It was here that Machiavelli began a regular correspondence with Francesco Vettori a former colleague from his diplomatic missions under Soderini whose family connections meant he survived the regime change in Florence. Posted to Rome as Ambassador to the Papal Court, Vettori was in a perfect position to petition the new Medici Pope for Machiavelli’s repatriation and reintegration into the Florentine political and diplomatic world. Yet Machiavelli’s former colleague and friend proved less than enthusiastic at the prospect of being linked with a known political suspect and prevaricated and deferred in the face of Machiavelli’s regular requests for support.

This game of cat and mouse was played out through their correspondence mainly over the summer and autumn of 1513 which focused on the different types of political government found in Italy and abroad; how they were best conquered and held; and which political leaders of the day adopted the best policies in the contested world of Italian Renaissance politics. In the famous letter of 10 December 1513 Machiavelli makes the first mention of the ‘small work’ he had pulled together on the basis of their discussions, referring to the tract by the Latin title ‘De principatibus’ (‘Concerning Principalities’). Subsequently modified and amplified the first draft formed the basis of the work that we now know as The Prince.

SLIDE SHOW posted at :
http://itatti.harvard.edu/banishment-and-arrest-niccol%C3%B2-machiavelli

Today was the birthday of David Foster Wallace (raised in Urbana, IL) - Writer

February 20, 1962 was the birthday of novelist and essayist David Foster Wallace, born in Ithaca, New York (1962), author of Infinite Jest (1996), which became a best-seller even though it was more than 1,000 pages long, with 100 pages of footnotes. Wallace, who had battled devastating depression his whole life, committed suicide in 2008. His unfinished novel, The Pale King, was published in 2011.

He once wrote: "Postmodern irony and cynicism's become an end in itself, a measure of hip sophistication and literary savvy. Few artists dare to try to talk about ways of working toward redeeming what's wrong, because they'll look sentimental and naive to all the weary ironists. Irony's gone from liberating to enslaving. ... The postmodern founders' patricidal work was great, but patricide produces orphans, and no amount of revelry can make up for the fact that writers my age have been literary orphans throughout our formative years."

a fan site about the author's life and works is at http://davidfosterwallacebooks.com/about.html

151 years ago -- Feb. 20, 1862 -- a sad, sad day in the Lincoln White House

from ABRAHAM LINCOLN Online dot-com

February 20, 1862




William Wallace Lincoln, 11-year-old son of President and Mrs. Lincoln, dies in the White House.  He was preceded in death by Eddie Lincoln, his brother, who had died at the family home in Springfield, Illinois.

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln.html/

David Guterson - On the art and craft of writing - W.W. University meet 'n greet - 2013

from NEWS RELEASE - Western Washington University dot-edu

David Guterson, author of “Snow Falling on Cedars,” (1994) will speak at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in Miller Hall 138 on Western’s campus.
This program is free and open to the public.
Guterson will lead a discussion titled “On the Art and Craft of Writing,” about the writing process and craft. College and high school English classes and students are especially encouraged to attend this event.
Guterson’s book is the Whatcom Reads! 2013 choice, and is a bestseller set on a fictional island in Puget Sound in the 1950s. It tells the story of a Japanese-American man who is charged with the murder of a white fisherman. “Snow Falling on Cedars” touches on issues of race, war, honesty and betrayal.
Whatcom READS! is a community-wide reading and discussion program intended to encourage all Whatcom County residents to read the same book and create a county-wide book club experience.

http://news.wwu.edu/go/doc/1538/1705051/

Happy 82nd Birthday to Toni Morrison (Nobel Literature Laureate)!

February 18 is the birthday of Princeton University professor emerita and bestselling novelist Toni Morrison, born Chloe Wofford, in Lorain, Ohio (1931). Lorain was a steel town. Her father worked at the steel mill and in construction, and her mother raised the kids. Morrison said about her mother: "When an eviction notice was put on our house, she tore it off. If there were maggots in our flour, she wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt. My mother believed something should be done about inhuman situations."
Morrison went to college, got interested in theater and traveled around in an acting troupe, then went on to get a master's in English. She loved to read, but had never been a writer except for a few stories in high school. But after she got married and had two children, her marriage started to dissolve, and she needed an escape. She joined a writing group, but after she had workshopped her stories from high school, she was out of things to share, so she wrote a story about a black girl who wanted blue eyes. And then she started to expand it into a novel called, The Bluest Eye (1969).

Morrison went on to write eight more novels, including Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987), and most recently, Home (2012). She was the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature (1993).

CURRENT listing of this novelist's work as of Feb. 2013: "Writer's Almanac" American Public Media / Garrison Keillor

Invasive Species -- Humans counter-attack (Everglades & Burmese Python invasion)

Miami Herald coverage of Feb. 16, 2013 final accounting and declaration of winner/hunter:

Paul Shannon, Jake Carner and Brian Barrows spent six days on the challenge, going to Conservation Area 3A west of Weston — a four-hour round drive from their Fort Myers. FL homes. On Saturday, at a news conference at Zoo Miami announcing the results of the challenge, Shannon, Carner and Barrows told about their greatest catch:  They were walking along the shore line of a tree island about 2 o’clock one afternoon. Shannon looked back to see that a foot of mud had fallen off a long python that was slithering through the slime.
Shannon drew a Judge pistol that uses .410 shotgun shells and shot, apparently grazing it. As he stopped to reload, Carner grabbed the python to pull it out of the mud. The snake’s head swung around and lunged at him. Carner fell back into the bushes. The python coiled again, getting ready to strike. “This was seriously intense,” said Shannon. “Its girth must have been at last two feet.”
Shannon then shot it twice in the head. The team won $1,000 for their 14-foot, 3-inch python and Barrows was awarded $1,500 for catching the most pythons — 6 — in the general category.

They were among the 1,600 registered competitors from 38 states and Canada to take part in the hunt. Organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the competition was intended to raise awareness about the dangers of outside species invading the state, and it certainly did that. More than 10 news video cameras were on hand to record the winners of this first-of-its-kind event that has drawn national attention. Even U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D - FL) took time out for some python hunting. It wasn’t an easy task. The final count was 68 pythons caught during the month-long contest — meaning that more than 95 percent of contestants trekked through the Everglades without bagging anything.

Ruben Ramirez of Miami, a veteran hunter, won the python permit holders competition by “harvesting” — the phrase used by the organizers — 18 pythons. He also led permit holders with the longest python — 10 feet, 6.8 inches. Ramirez, 40, said he worked with a team, Florida Python Hunters, which has its own website. They hunted for 27 of the 31 days of the competition, logging more than 500 miles and spending $2,500 on fuel and food, in order to nab their 18 pythons, he said.
His team won $1,500 for the permit holders’ most catches and another $1,000 for the longest — the same amounts won by the Fort Myers group in the general categories.
Ramirez’ colleague, George Brana, said they found the best hunting was early or late on cool days, when the pythons come out to sun themselves. “We have years of experience,” Brana said. “We know where to look.”

Coming in second in the most snakes competition were Bill Booth, who caught five in the general category, and Blake Russ, who caught five in the permit holders group. Each received $750.
Second place for longest caught went to Rigoberto Figueroa, who caught a 14-foot, 2.3-incher in the general category, and Ramirez, who harvested a 10-foot, 3.6-incher in the permit category. Each received $750. The Zoo Miami event included tents set up by more than a dozen organizations to publicize the dangers of invasive species and the values of nature in Florida.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/16/3238267/1600-hunters-net-68-pythons-in.html#storylink=cpy

First Couple enjoy Valentine Dinner at chic "minibar" type restaurant (D.C. trendy site)

Part of the OBAMA Food-o-rama blog posting (Feb. 15, 2013) - http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/

The Husband in Chief returned to DC in plenty of time for their romantic interlude, which lasted until 9:08 PM.  Andrés' elaborate "avant-garde" minibar menu has dishes that "combine art and science as well as tradition and technique," says the website, which proclaims the eatery "one of the nation's most exciting dining experiences."  The $225-per-person tasting menu changes frequently, and has starred dishes like Chichuly, Garden and Glass Salad, Tiger Nut Horchata, Beef Tendon Stuffed Churros, and Olive Oil Soup with frozen Mandarin Oranges.

The President pulled out all the Valentine stops for his wife, with whom he celebrated his 20th wedding anniversary last October as he battled for re-election.

"I've already got a gift, got the flowers," President Obama said in Georgia.  "I was telling folks the flowers are a little easier, though, because I've got this Rose Garden.  Lot of people keeping flowers around."  He got appreciative laughter and applause.

The President's press pool had no sighting of the First Couple as they arrived and departed minibar, and were held at a nearby restaurant while the First Couple enjoyed their avante garde delights.  Crowds filled the closed-off streets around minibar by the time the President and Mrs. Obama had finished dining, and mingled among the black SUVs from the motorcade and police vehicles.

Papal Election details: Religion & Ethics Newsweekly (PBS) report

www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/

JOHN L. ALLEN, JR. (National Catholic Reporter): What you have in a conclave is you have a moment of change on a world scale that the change in no other office, the change of no other leader, comes close to replicating. The transition in American presidents does not have the gravity, does not have the global significance that a change in the papacy does.
KIM LAWTON (correspondent/host): The details of the process have evolved greatly over the centuries. Under current rules, after the death or resignation of a pope, cardinals under the age of 80 have between 15 and 20 days to gather in Rome for the conclave. Until a new pope is elected, the College of Cardinals governs the church, but with limited powers.
REV. THOMAS REESE, S.J. (Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown Univ.): When the cardinals meet to elect a pope, first of all they’re locked up so that they cannot be influenced by anything from the outside, and also so they can maintain secrecy. There will be no cell phones, no radios, no newspapers, no telephones, no communication with the outside world.
LAWTON: Every day, the cardinals assemble in the nearby Sistine Chapel, under the watchful eyes of Michelangelo’s restored frescoes. One of the first orders of business is swearing an oath of absolute secrecy. Under modern church rules, the conclave area is swept for bugs and other surveillance devices.
ALLEN: The cardinals are not supposed to be casting votes based on their image or based on political considerations, but based on who they really think is best for the church. And the notion is that doing that behind closed doors makes that somehow easier, makes that more possible.
LAWTON: Sequestered inside the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals vote by paper ballot, guided, the church says, by the Holy Spirit.
REESE: They have a small piece of paper, and on it they write the name of the person that they are voting for. Then they fold that piece of paper in two and hold it in their hand and march up one by one, holding it in the air so that everyone can see that there’s only one ballot here.
LAWTON: Selected “cardinal-scrutineers” count the number of ballots, making sure they correspond with the number of cardinals in the room. They then tally the ballots aloud. The pope is chosen by a two-thirds vote. There can be four votes a day. After three days, the voting can be suspended for a day of further prayer and discussion. Technically, any baptized male can be elected pope, although since the fourteenth century he has come from the College of Cardinals. After each round of voting, the ballots are burned in a special stove that has been used since the beginning of the twentieth century.
REESE: If the ballot had not elected a pope, they would put chemicals in to make the smoke black. If a pope is elected, they put certain chemicals into the stove with the ballots, so that the smoke comes out white.
LAWTON: Outside, people gather in St. Peter’s Square to pray and to await the word from the conclave. Modern popes have made their own changes that could have a huge impact on the future. In 1975, Paul VI instituted the age limit of 80 and expanded the number of voting cardinals. John Paul II and Benedict XVI further expanded and internationalized the college of cardinals.
ALLEN: The odds of a pope who is not European and not Italian are much more than they ever have been, simply because numerically the blocs from those non-European places are much larger and therefore have the political capacity to put forward their candidates.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/february-15-2013/papal-selection/14723/

Born in Pisa, Italy on Feb. 15, 1564: the father of Modern Science

from the 2013 version of "Writer's Almanac" for American Public Media (Garrison Keillor):

February 15 is the birthday of the Father of Modern Science, Galileo Galilei , born in Pisa, Italy (1564). It was Copernicus who suggested that it was the sun, and not the Earth, that was at the center of the universe. But Galileo became a famous public defender of that theory, called heliocentrism. The pope and Galileo were on friendly terms, and the pope encouraged Galileo to write a book outlining the controversy. But of course the pope instructed Galileo that he must not promote heliocentrism, and asked that his own beliefs be represented. So Galileo wrote Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which purported to be a debate between two philosophers; but one of the two, Simplicio, sounded stupid, and it was this figure that acted as a mouthpiece of the pope.

No one knows whether Galileo deliberately attacked the Pope — it's probable that he just couldn't write as convincing of an argument from a philosophy that undermined his own scientific beliefs. In any case, the pope was definitely not a fan of the book, and Galileo was put on trial for heresy. He publicly renounced his views, but he still spent the rest of his life under house arrest, and his books were banned.

Snow Warning (Lake Effect for Berrien County, MI): Feb. 15 forward

HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
* LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL DEVELOP BY FRIDAY EVENING (February 15, 2013) AND CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT (February 16, 2013). THE HEAVIEST SNOW IS EXPECTED LATE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY EVENING.
* TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS BETWEEN 4 AND 8 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED BY SUNDAY MORNING (February 17, 2013). ISOLATED HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE.
IMPACTS...
* SNOW SHOWERS... WITH BRIEF INTENSE SQUALLS... WILL CREATE SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY ROADS.
* VISIBILITY WITHIN THE HEAVIER SNOWBANDS WILL LIKELY BE REDUCED TO LESS THAN A QUARTER OF A MILE.
* WEEKEND TRAVEL WILL LIKELY BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED ON AFFECTED PARTS OF INTERSTATES 94 AND 80.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF LAKE- EFFECT SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. LAKE-EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS TYPICALLY ALIGN THEMSELVES IN BANDS AND WILL LIKELY BE INTENSE ENOUGH TO DROP 1 TO SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW PER HOUR FOR SEVERAL HOURS. VISIBILITIES VARY GREATLY AND CAN DROP TO ZERO WITHIN MINUTES. TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED.

9 a.m. Eastern Time Zone - Friday February 15, 2013

Human Rights Pioneer born on this date (1820) - Susan B. Anthony

from www.almanac.com (Old Farmer's Almanac calendar posting)

Susan B. Anthony's Birthday

The Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, New York, was the home of this women's rights leader during the most politically active period of her life. It was here that she was arrested for voting in 1872, before women had the right to vote. Today the house is a National Historic Landmark and museum. Anthony, born February 15,  1820, is best known as an advocate for woman suffrage, but she began her career as an outspoken proponent of temperance. She was not allowed to speak publicly, however, because she was a woman. In response to this outrage, she teamed up with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1852 and dedicated her life to winning voting rights for women. She died in 1906 without realizing her dream. (Women didn't get the right to vote nationally until 1920, with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.)

http://www.almanac.com/calendar/date/2013-02-15?utm_source=Almanac+Companion&utm_campaign=9dd58ccff5-Companion_2-12-13&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=9dd58ccff5&mc_eid=4e75671e5e

Shrove Tuesday lead-in to Lent: "Mardi Gras Episcopalian Style"

publicity at WNDU (local NBC - TV affiliate Community News / Public Relations):

Shrove Tuesday Pancake and Sausage Supper

February 12, 2013 at  5-7 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal Church, 9 South 4th Street, Niles, MI 49120
Mardis Gras Episcopalian Style!
Come join us at Trinity Episcopal Church in Niles (Berrien County, Michigan) for our Shrove Tuesday Pancake and Sausage Supper on Feb 12th, 5:00-7:00 p.m.  We'll be serving Carbon's pancakes, sausage, juice, and coffee for a donation at the door. Come get your sweet on before Lent!

Trinity Episcopal Church (269)-683-6060 trinityoffice2@yahoo.com

www.wndu.com/

Among the Music Competition Highlights: "Song of the Year"

Nominated for a Grammy (Feb. 10, 2013) -- broadcast 8 p.m. CBS Network

SONG OF THE YEAR
Ed Sheeran       “The A Team”
Miguel              “Adorn”
Carly Rae Jepsen   “Call Me Maybe”
Kelly Clarkson       “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
fun.                   “We Are Young”

Start of a New Year -- Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese Lunar Calendars (Feb. 10, 2013)

from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly (Interfaith Calendar):

February 10, 2013

Lunar New Year
On this day Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Year are celebrated.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/multifaith-calendar/

Asteroid near-approach -- Feb. 15, 2013

from coverage at Space dot-com/

An asteroid half the size of a football field will make a close approach to Earth, but poses no threat of smacking into the planet, NASA officials said today (Feb. 7).

The asteroid 2012 DA14 will approach within 17,200 miles (27,680 kilometers) of Earth when it zips by during its close encounter next Friday, Feb. 15. That is the closest shave ever for an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14, which is about 150 feet (45 meters) wide, that astronomers have known about in advance, NASA scientists said.

The asteroid will not only pass between Earth and the moon's orbit, but also fly lower than the ring of geosynchronous communications, weather and navigation satellites that fly high above the planet. Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be 5,000 miles (8,046 km) closer to Earth than those satellites during the flyby.

Asteroid 2012 DA14's close encounter is also a record-breaking celestial event, Yeomans said. An object this large only passes this close to the Earth about once every 40 years, and likely only hits the planet once every 1,200 years, he added.

Amateur astronomers have already captured some photos of asteroid 2012 DA14, and NASA plans to make detailed radar observations of the space rock to learn about its composition, spin and surface features, the scientists said.

The asteroid is similar in size to the object that exploded over Siberia, Russia, in 1908 in the Tunguska event. That explosion leveled hundreds of square miles of land, scientists said. While asteroid 2012 DA14 could potential create such destruction if it struck the Earth, there is absolutely no chance of an impact for the foreseeable future, NASA officials said.

"This asteroid's orbit is so well known that we can say with confidence that even considering its orbital uncertainties, it can pass no closer than 17,100 miles from the Earth's surface," Yeomans said. "No Earth impact is possible."

http://www.space.com/19686-asteroid-2012-da14-earth-flyby-nasa.html

Archaeological discovery of King Richard III's remains (Univ. of Leicester - England)

from offical university website (2012 blog - comments)

Comment from Professor Norman Housley and Dr Andrew Hopper from our School of Historical Studies

"If, as we all hope, the skeleton found in the Leicester dig is shown within a reasonable margin of doubt to be that of Richard III, this discovery’s historical significance will be threefold.

"Firstly, we will have found the remains of the last English monarch killed in battle. This will be particularly exciting for the thousands of members of the Richard III Society, for whom establishing the truth about his personality and reign has always been clouded by the disappearance of his corpse after Bosworth. Intellectually and emotionally, this will mark a new chapter in their work on behalf of Richard’s memory.

"Little reliable contemporary evidence has survived for the nature of his kingship because his reign proved so short and because his Tudor successors legitimised themselves by encouraging literary works (of which Shakespeare was not the first) that depicted him as a caricature tyrant. So, if it proves possible to nail the Tudor slander of the ‘hunchback king’ with medical evidence of severe scoliosis rather than kyphosis, it will be gilt on the gingerbread because efforts during the last three centuries to restore his reputation have never fully succeeded in undermining this enduring popular image.

"Secondly, irrespective of the Richard myth, the discovery of the body will be significant because of what is already being indicated about the cause of death. The evidence of an injury to the back of the skull and the discovery of the arrowhead between vertebrae of the upper back will stimulate debate about exactly how Richard was killed at Bosworth, and beyond that, about close combat in medieval battles. This is fitting because Richard polarised opinion during his life and from beyond the grave; his reliance on a northern regional powerbase to maintain his rule fostered a north-south divide in allegiance partially reflected in the historiography since.

"Thirdly, it will bring a pleasing sense of closure to our knowledge of the vicious civil war which Bosworth itself brought to an end. The rather whimsical name, ‘The Wars of the Roses’, has had the unfortunate effect of disguising the sheer bloodiness of this conflict. Historians have often commented on the high frequency of battles that characterized this war at a time when commanders usually avoided battles because they were so risky."

http://www2.le.ac.uk/news/blog/2012/september/richard-iii-comments-and-coverage?searchterm=None

The One and Only Ivan - transformative emergence

www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrant/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal/

2013 Medal Winner

The 2013 Newbery Medal winner is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, published by HarperCollins Children's Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers
Ivan’s transformative emergence from the “Ape at Exit 8” to “The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback,” comes to life through the gorilla’s own distinct narrative voice, which is filled with wry humor, deep emotion and thought-provoking insights into the nature of friendship, hope and humanity.
“Katherine Applegate gives readers a unique and unforgettable gorilla’s-eye-view of the world that challenges the way we look at animals and at ourselves,” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Steven Engelfried.

100 year Starship Symposium -- how to travel to another solar system -- 2012 posting

The 2012 Public Symposium kicked off with a message from President Bill Clinton, Honorary Chair, emphasizing the rewards, challenges, and promise of space exploration. The four day event hosted workshops, panels, and presentations addressing technological and societal issues surrounding interstellar travel. The group of more than 300 talented people represented physical and social sciences, engineering, education, finance, medicine, business and the arts - hailing from the USA, UK, China, South America, Africa, and Australia.

papers & presentations

Warp field mechanics
Travel faster than the speed of light
How textiles and clothing might adapt to longterm space travel
The search for intelligent life outside our planet
SERVIR: a space-based remote sensing for land management
Constitutional law and intellectual property in space
Nuclear propulsion
Organ regeneration
Preparing the next generation for space exploration
The role of organized religion onboard a starship
Red dwarf planets as possible destinations
Video games as solution for personal space in a fixed society

http://100yss.org/symposium.html

Groundhog Day (Oceanic & Atmospheric Admin.: Climatic Data Center): Background & Folklore

www.noaa.ncdc.gov/special-reports/groundhog-day.php/

Groundhog Day has its origins in an ancient celebration of a point mid-way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition has it that fair weather was seen as forbearance of a stormy and cold second half to winter. The early Christians in Europe established the custom of Candlemas Day, when the clergy would bless candles and people would light them in each window of their homes to ward off the darkness of mid-winter.
But the legend of the February 2^nd forecast also persisted, as captured in this old English saying:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

National Medals of Science, Technology, Innovation presented by Pres. Obama (Feb. 1, 2013)

NBC News general press release - background:

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed nearly two dozen researchers and innovators at the White House Friday to receive the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

"Now, this is the most collection of brainpower we've had under this roof in a long time — maybe since the last time we gave out these medals," Obama joked in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Before the citations for the awards were read, the president thanked the award recipients for contributions that have inspired Americans and changed many lives in practical ways.

"Thanks to the sacrifices they've made, the chances they've taken, the gallons of coffee they've consumed — we now have batteries that power everything from cellphones to electric cars. We have a map of the human genome and new ways to produce renewable energy," the president said.

"We're learning to grow organs in the lab and better understand what's happening in our deepest oceans. And if that's not enough, the people on this stage are also going to be responsible for devising a formula to tame frizzy hair — as well as inspiring the game Tetris."

The following is a list of the recipients of the award, starting first with the 12 astronomers, biologists and other researchers who won the National Medal of Science:

• Chemist Allen Bard, of the University of Texas at Austin, who pioneered the development of the scanning electrochemical microscope, which can be used to identify cancerous cells.
• Sallie Chisholm, a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies the ecology and evolution of microbes in the ocean.
• Sidney Drell, a Stanford University theoretical physicist and arms control specialist, who has advised the government on national security and defense.
• Sandra Faber, a University of California, Santa Cruz, astronomer who was part of the team that discovered the "great attractor," a huge concentration of galaxies and invisible matter that seems to tug at our Milky Way galaxy.

Jason Reed  /  Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama presents the National Medal of Science award to Dr. Lucy Shapiro of the Stanford University School of Medicine, California.

• James Gates, physics professor and string theorist at the University of Maryland;
• Mathematician Solomon Golomb, of the University of Southern California, who is noted for coining the term "polyominoes" (the geometric figures that eventually inspired the computer game Tetris).
• John Goodenough, a physicist and materials scientist of University of Texas at Austin, whose research led to the development of lithium-ion batteries.
• M. Frederick Hawthorne, University of Missouri, whose work with the chemical boron influenced treatments for cancer, arthritis and other diseases.
• Leroy Hood, of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, whose work helped make mapping the human genome possible.
• Harvard mathematician and number theorist Barry Mazur.
• Stanford researcher Lucy Shapiro, whose discovery that the bacterial cell is controlled by an integrated genetic circuit functioning serves as a model for cell differentiation and the generation of diversity in all organisms.
• Princeton's Anne Treisman, who has studied attentional limits in the human mind and brain.

National Medal of Technology and Innovation:

• Frances Arnold, a Caltech engineer and a pioneer in the development of sustainable biofuels and "directed evolution," which is a technique that uses evolution to steer biological processes.
• George Carruthers, a space scientist U.S. Naval Research Lab, who helped create the camera/spectrograph that was put on the moon during the Apollo 16 mission .
• Robert Langer, who runs a biomedical engineering lab out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and helped invent controlled drug-release systems.
• Norman McCombs, of AirSep Corporation in New York, who invented pressure swing adsorption oxygen-supply systems that have a wide range of medical and industrial applications.
• Gholam Peyman, of Arizona Retinal Specialists, who invented the LASIK surgical technique
• Art Rosenfeld, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, who has helped develop energy-efficient building technologies.
• Jan Vilcek, of NYU Langone Medical Center, who helped develop therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.
• A team of IBM researchers (including Samuel Blum, Rangaswamy Srinivasan and James Wynne) for their discovery of a new form of laser surgery that made modern LASIK eye surgery possible.
• http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50672568/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Happy Birthday to Rosa Parks! Centennial of the Civil Rights Pioneer's birth - White House Proclamation

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/

On December 1, 1955, our Nation was forever transformed when an African-American seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Just wanting to get home after a long day at work, Rosa Parks may not have been planning to make history, but her defiance spurred a movement that advanced our journey toward justice and equality for all.

Though Rosa Parks was not the first to confront the injustice of segregation laws, her courageous act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott -- 381 days of peaceful protest when ordinary men, women, and children sent the extraordinary message that second-class citizenship was unacceptable. Rather than ride in the back of buses, families and friends walked. Neighborhoods and churches formed carpools. Their actions stirred the conscience of Americans of every background, and their resilience in the face of fierce violence and intimidation ultimately led to the desegregation of public transportation systems across our country.

Rosa Parks's story did not end with the boycott she inspired. A lifelong champion of civil rights, she continued to give voice to the poor and the marginalized among us until her passing at the age of 92 on October 24, 2005 in Detroit, Michigan USA.  She is buried beside her husband Raymond Parks and her mother, Leona (Edwards) McCauley at the Woodlawn Cemetery at the mausoleum chapel (renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel).

As we mark the 100th anniversary of Rosa Parks's birth (her birthplace was Tuskegee, Alabama), we celebrate the life of a genuine American hero and remind ourselves that although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing. It has taken acts of courage from generations of fearless and hopeful Americans to make our country more just. As heirs to the progress won by those who came before us, let us pledge not only to honor their legacy, but also to take up their cause of perfecting our Union.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Monday February 4, 2013, as the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Rosa Parks. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate service, community, and education programs to honor Rosa Parks's enduring legacy.
[more about her at this WIKI article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks#Death_and_funeral  ]

NASA's Day of Remembrance - 10th Anniversary of 2003 Columbia tragedy - 12th NASA administrator

www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/

NASA's Day of Remembrance inspires thoughtful reflection and gratitude on behalf of the entire NASA Family, the nation and, indeed, the world.

This year, we recognize the decade that has passed since we lost 7 brave men and women aboard STS-107 Columbia, who were our friends, colleagues, and family members.

We will never forget these astronauts nor all those who have lost their lives carrying out our missions of exploration – the STS-51L Challenger crew; the Apollo 1 crew; Mike Adams, the first in-flight fatality of the space program as he piloted the X-15 No. 3 on a research flight.

These explorers, and their families, have our deepest respect. We work every day to honor and build on their legacy and create the best space program in the world -- to infuse it with the life and vitality that they worked so hard to achieve.

After the tragedy of Columbia, we not only returned to flight, we established policies and procedures to make our human spaceflight program safer than ever. Exploration will never be without risk, but we continue to work to ensure that when humans travel to space, nothing has been left undone to make them as safe as possible.

In the years after we returned the shuttles to flight, we completed an engineering marvel. The International Space Station now soars above us, an unparalleled and unique orbiting laboratory that is our foothold to the rest of the solar system. We are in a new era of exploration, where the work and sacrifice of those who have gone before will help us once again launch American astronauts from American soil and send them farther into deep space than we have ever gone.

So while the Day of Remembrance is in part a time of sadness, it is also a time of contemplation and thankfulness. It is a time to be thankful that these great men and women shared their lives with us; that they helped advance our nation and made life better on Earth; and that they are still united with us in that shared pursuit.

Today, I laid wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery for these fallen heroes, and at the Kennedy Space Center, wreaths were laid at the Space Mirror Memorial. Across the country, all flags at NASA Headquarters and the NASA centers will be flown at half-mast in memory of our colleagues lost in the cause of exploration.

And while those gestures will signify to the nation and the world that we have not forgotten, as we look to the future, we will each remember in our own personal way our colleagues and friends, and what their work meant to us. Together we will carry them with us in our hearts as we propel ourselves to the next big horizon and make their dreams reality.

Charles F. Bolden, Jr.
NASA Administrator

New Trend for thanking God: kiss your biceps tattooed with Psalm 27 and 18 verses

from Online Religion in Sports News web page

But with the Super Bowl XLVII less than a week away (Sunday Feb. 3, 2013), QB Kaepernick himself says he wants the credit to go to God.

Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers kisses his right bicep after scoring a touchdown, but The Sports Xchange reports that he has “faith” inscribed on it, and “to God the glory” on his right arm, as well. He says he’s kissing those words, not himself: The tattoos “show people this is what I believe in. God has brought me this far, He’s laid out a phenomenal path for me, and I can’t do anything but thank Him.”

Last year Kaepernick spoke at Summit Christian Church in Sparks, Nev., and said, “God guides me through every day and helps me take the right steps and has helped me to get to where I’m at. When I step on the field, I always say a prayer, say I am thankful to be able to wake up that morning and go out there and try to glorify the Lord with what I do on the field.”

Kids who have moved from 2011’s Tebowing craze to bicep-kissing “Kaepernicking” this year should know that Kaepernick’s arms also sport Psalm 27:3 (“Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear though war break out against me, even then I will be confident”) and Psalm 18:39 (“You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me”).

http://www.worldmag.com/2013/01/kaepernicking_revisited

February 1 : Winter Storm cancels School Day - Local Community College classes

Winter Snow Storm Warning -- hazardous driving conditions - below Zero Degree windchills

Lake Michigan College-Bertrand Crossing - Status: Closed Friday, February 1, 2013

 

Niles Community Schools - Status: Closed Friday

 

Berrien Springs Public Schools - Status: Closed Friday

Information: Closed due to weather conditions