as noticed in THIS DAY IN HISTORY -- www.nytimes.com/
- ON THIS DAY -
On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
400th Anniversary of Authorized Version (King James translation of Bible) -- an entire read-through event
From King James Bible Trust : calendar of events (2011)
Location: St Michael’s Without, Broad Street, Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom
Organisation: St Michael’s Without
Topic: Bible
Website: http://www.stmichaelsbath.org.uk/welcome_/the_king_james_bible_challenge_2011.phtml
In the beginning was the Word...
Bath Literature Festival and St Michael’s Without celebrate the 400th anniversary of The King James Bible with a continuous Bible reading challenge; and they need your help!
Bath Literature Festival 2011, in collaboration with The Observer Newspaper and The Church of St Michael’s Without, is excited to reveal its plans for the ambitious Bath Bible Challenge as part of a series of events to celebrate the literary significance of the 1611 King James Bible.
Due to start on Tuesday 1 March, a non-stop read of the King James Bible will continue day and night until Saturday 5 March. Taking place at St Michael’s Without on Broad Street, the church will be open to ALL members of the public to participate and join a number of high profile readers, local celebrities and LitFest authors in this extraordinary commemoration of arguably the singularly most influential piece of literature in the English language.
Volunteers can sign up for one hour slots throughout the five day period, during which they will take it turns to read for approximately fifteen minutes. Teams of volunteers are encouraged, as are those looking for a personal challenge and might want to sign-up for an all-nighter! Event managers will be onsite to ensure the smooth running of the event, so countless volunteers are needed. For those who feel they need any coaching before their reading, theatre director Hannah Drake will be on hand with professional tips and techniques.
So far, the writers Alexander McCall Smith, Kate Mosse, Amanda Vickery, Adam Nicolson and Bel Mooney, the pianist Joanna MacGregor, the film director Roger Michell, the celebrity chef Valentine Warner, the broadcasters Daisy Goodwin and Sheena McDonald, the actor Bill Paterson, and the Chief Executive of English Heritage Simon Thurley have all agreed to take part.
The reading will be completed by the actor Timothy West. It will then be marked by a special peal of church bells that will ring out across the city.
Location: St Michael’s Without, Broad Street, Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom
Organisation: St Michael’s Without
Topic: Bible
Website: http://www.stmichaelsbath.org.uk/welcome_/the_king_james_bible_challenge_2011.phtml
In the beginning was the Word...
Bath Literature Festival and St Michael’s Without celebrate the 400th anniversary of The King James Bible with a continuous Bible reading challenge; and they need your help!
Bath Literature Festival 2011, in collaboration with The Observer Newspaper and The Church of St Michael’s Without, is excited to reveal its plans for the ambitious Bath Bible Challenge as part of a series of events to celebrate the literary significance of the 1611 King James Bible.
Due to start on Tuesday 1 March, a non-stop read of the King James Bible will continue day and night until Saturday 5 March. Taking place at St Michael’s Without on Broad Street, the church will be open to ALL members of the public to participate and join a number of high profile readers, local celebrities and LitFest authors in this extraordinary commemoration of arguably the singularly most influential piece of literature in the English language.
Volunteers can sign up for one hour slots throughout the five day period, during which they will take it turns to read for approximately fifteen minutes. Teams of volunteers are encouraged, as are those looking for a personal challenge and might want to sign-up for an all-nighter! Event managers will be onsite to ensure the smooth running of the event, so countless volunteers are needed. For those who feel they need any coaching before their reading, theatre director Hannah Drake will be on hand with professional tips and techniques.
So far, the writers Alexander McCall Smith, Kate Mosse, Amanda Vickery, Adam Nicolson and Bel Mooney, the pianist Joanna MacGregor, the film director Roger Michell, the celebrity chef Valentine Warner, the broadcasters Daisy Goodwin and Sheena McDonald, the actor Bill Paterson, and the Chief Executive of English Heritage Simon Thurley have all agreed to take part.
The reading will be completed by the actor Timothy West. It will then be marked by a special peal of church bells that will ring out across the city.
Today is the birthday of Anthony Burgess (born in England 1917)
from The Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor list serv) -- minnesota public radio
Today (Feb. 25) is the birthday of the novelist who said, 'Every grain of experience is food for the greedy growing soul of the artist.' That's Anthony Burgess, best-known as the author of the dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange (1962). He was born in Manchester, England, on this day in 1917.
He grew up a cradle Catholic in England, wanted to be a classical musician, didn't get in to music school, and majored in English literature instead. Then he joined the army. He resented authority, was not very well liked by his peers, and did things that got him in trouble. Once, he did not report back from leave on time, and the British military police hunted him down, treating him as a deserter. Still, he did well in the army and rose through the ranks. He was good at languages, and he held important positions in military intelligence and as an instructor. It was an incident that occurred during his unhappy army days of World War II that would inspire him to write A Clockwork Orange two decades later.
After the army, he got a job with the British colonial service, and was posted to Malaysia. He taught in a boys school, became fluent in Malaysian, published some books of literary criticism, and wrote novels for pleasure on the side. At the time, he thought of fiction writing as a 'gentlemanly hobby,' expecting to make no money from it.
From Malaysia he went to a teaching post in Borneo. He started to get headaches, and then one day he collapsed in front of the classroom while giving a history lecture. The Colonial Service flew him back to London, checked him into a neurological ward, and doctors proclaimed that he had a brain tumor -- an inoperable one -- and that he had one year to live. He also no longer had a job.
He might have spent his 'terminal year' traveling, but he didn't have any money. In fact, he was determined to make money for his future widow, and decided he would do this by writing at a furious pace. He wrote five novels in the year following his diagnosis. It turns out that he did not have a brain tumor, and he did not die. He kept writing at a furious pace, though, outliving his wife by many years and eventually dying of lung cancer (he was a heavy smoker) in 1993, more than 30 years and 30 books later.
His wrote his most famous book, A Clockwork Orange, in just three weeks. He wrote it in 1962, but it was based on something that happened a couple of decades before, when he was in the army. He was newly married, and his wife was pregnant. One night, while he was at the army base, his wife was mugged by four young U.S. Army deserters in London. After the attack, his wife miscarried their child.
A Clockwork Orange is set in futuristic England and features a teenage anti-hero named Alex who leads his gang of friends on acts of random violence. Originally, the book had 21 chapters. He chose the number carefully, he said, for '21 is symbol of human maturity, or used to be, since at 21 you got to vote and assumed adult responsibility.' But the American publisher didn't like the last chapter, the one where the anti-hero Alex -- as Anthony Burgess himself describes it -- 'grows up and realizes that ultraviolence is a bit of a bore, and it's time he had a wife and a malenky googoogooing malchickiwick to call him dadada. This was meant to be a mature conclusion, but nobody in America has ever liked the idea.'
Burgess was desperate for money, and he didn't really think his book was all that good. He actually thought the American publisher was 'being charitable in accepting the work at all.' So he accepted the cutting of the final chapter for the U.S. edition.
And then Stanley Kubrick bought the film rights, and it was the American version of A Clockwork Orange that he used as a basis for the movie --- the one without the final chapter of Alex's maturation and redemption. Kubrick's movie made Burgess' book a big best-seller. Burgess was grateful that Kubrick made him rich, but was sorry that his book "became known as the raw material for a film that seemed to glorify sex and violence."
Today (Feb. 25) is the birthday of the novelist who said, 'Every grain of experience is food for the greedy growing soul of the artist.' That's Anthony Burgess, best-known as the author of the dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange (1962). He was born in Manchester, England, on this day in 1917.
He grew up a cradle Catholic in England, wanted to be a classical musician, didn't get in to music school, and majored in English literature instead. Then he joined the army. He resented authority, was not very well liked by his peers, and did things that got him in trouble. Once, he did not report back from leave on time, and the British military police hunted him down, treating him as a deserter. Still, he did well in the army and rose through the ranks. He was good at languages, and he held important positions in military intelligence and as an instructor. It was an incident that occurred during his unhappy army days of World War II that would inspire him to write A Clockwork Orange two decades later.
After the army, he got a job with the British colonial service, and was posted to Malaysia. He taught in a boys school, became fluent in Malaysian, published some books of literary criticism, and wrote novels for pleasure on the side. At the time, he thought of fiction writing as a 'gentlemanly hobby,' expecting to make no money from it.
From Malaysia he went to a teaching post in Borneo. He started to get headaches, and then one day he collapsed in front of the classroom while giving a history lecture. The Colonial Service flew him back to London, checked him into a neurological ward, and doctors proclaimed that he had a brain tumor -- an inoperable one -- and that he had one year to live. He also no longer had a job.
He might have spent his 'terminal year' traveling, but he didn't have any money. In fact, he was determined to make money for his future widow, and decided he would do this by writing at a furious pace. He wrote five novels in the year following his diagnosis. It turns out that he did not have a brain tumor, and he did not die. He kept writing at a furious pace, though, outliving his wife by many years and eventually dying of lung cancer (he was a heavy smoker) in 1993, more than 30 years and 30 books later.
His wrote his most famous book, A Clockwork Orange, in just three weeks. He wrote it in 1962, but it was based on something that happened a couple of decades before, when he was in the army. He was newly married, and his wife was pregnant. One night, while he was at the army base, his wife was mugged by four young U.S. Army deserters in London. After the attack, his wife miscarried their child.
A Clockwork Orange is set in futuristic England and features a teenage anti-hero named Alex who leads his gang of friends on acts of random violence. Originally, the book had 21 chapters. He chose the number carefully, he said, for '21 is symbol of human maturity, or used to be, since at 21 you got to vote and assumed adult responsibility.' But the American publisher didn't like the last chapter, the one where the anti-hero Alex -- as Anthony Burgess himself describes it -- 'grows up and realizes that ultraviolence is a bit of a bore, and it's time he had a wife and a malenky googoogooing malchickiwick to call him dadada. This was meant to be a mature conclusion, but nobody in America has ever liked the idea.'
Burgess was desperate for money, and he didn't really think his book was all that good. He actually thought the American publisher was 'being charitable in accepting the work at all.' So he accepted the cutting of the final chapter for the U.S. edition.
And then Stanley Kubrick bought the film rights, and it was the American version of A Clockwork Orange that he used as a basis for the movie --- the one without the final chapter of Alex's maturation and redemption. Kubrick's movie made Burgess' book a big best-seller. Burgess was grateful that Kubrick made him rich, but was sorry that his book "became known as the raw material for a film that seemed to glorify sex and violence."
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tarwacki murder -- update in S. Bend Tribune / WSBT coverage reporter (Lou Mumford)
www.wsbt.com/
By LOU MUMFORD
Tribune Staff Writer
NILES—Despite rumors fueled by an entry on a Facebook page, the Feb. 5, 2010, slayings of Niles area couple John and Carolyn Tarwacki remain unsolved, a Michigan State Police investigator said Thursday.
"If it's on Facebook, it's got to be true, right?'' said Detective Sgt. Fabian Suarez. "But, no, there have been no arrests, nothing.''
Because police monitor social networking sites like Facebook, they're aware of entries such as the one that spawned rumors that someone is in custody, Suarez said. But accusing someone of a crime is much different than obtaining the necessary evidence to make an arrest, he said.
As for whether police have a suspect in the case, Suarez said he had no comment.
"We're moving ahead. ... I think we're getting closer,'' he said.
The Tarwackis were discovered dead in their home on Carberry Road, just south of Yankee Street and about a quarter mile outside the east Niles city limits, a little more than a year ago. John Tarwacki Sr., of South Bend, the father of John Tarwacki, discovered the crime after he was notified the couple had failed to show up for a business meeting. Both worked in music education for Quinlan & Fabish.
Police said they believe the killer parked his car on Yankee near Carberry shortly after 6:30 a.m. that day, hiked a short distance through a wooded area, jumped a fence to the backyard of the Tarwacki residence and entered through the back door. There was no sign of forced entry.
Suarez said last month police had conducted more than 300 interviews and followed up on nearly 700 tips, managing to eliminate potential suspects but otherwise having little success. He called the case the most difficult in his 22-year career, pointing out the Tarwackis' apparent down-to-earth lifestyle should have kept them out of harm's way.
By LOU MUMFORD
Tribune Staff Writer
NILES—Despite rumors fueled by an entry on a Facebook page, the Feb. 5, 2010, slayings of Niles area couple John and Carolyn Tarwacki remain unsolved, a Michigan State Police investigator said Thursday.
"If it's on Facebook, it's got to be true, right?'' said Detective Sgt. Fabian Suarez. "But, no, there have been no arrests, nothing.''
Because police monitor social networking sites like Facebook, they're aware of entries such as the one that spawned rumors that someone is in custody, Suarez said. But accusing someone of a crime is much different than obtaining the necessary evidence to make an arrest, he said.
As for whether police have a suspect in the case, Suarez said he had no comment.
"We're moving ahead. ... I think we're getting closer,'' he said.
The Tarwackis were discovered dead in their home on Carberry Road, just south of Yankee Street and about a quarter mile outside the east Niles city limits, a little more than a year ago. John Tarwacki Sr., of South Bend, the father of John Tarwacki, discovered the crime after he was notified the couple had failed to show up for a business meeting. Both worked in music education for Quinlan & Fabish.
Police said they believe the killer parked his car on Yankee near Carberry shortly after 6:30 a.m. that day, hiked a short distance through a wooded area, jumped a fence to the backyard of the Tarwacki residence and entered through the back door. There was no sign of forced entry.
Suarez said last month police had conducted more than 300 interviews and followed up on nearly 700 tips, managing to eliminate potential suspects but otherwise having little success. He called the case the most difficult in his 22-year career, pointing out the Tarwackis' apparent down-to-earth lifestyle should have kept them out of harm's way.
Shuttle Discovery reaches orbit -- on way to Space Station (delayed since last fall)
NASA dot-gov -- mission pages / Shuttle
Space shuttle Discovery has reached orbit and is on its way to the International Space Station. "Good to be here," Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey radioed soon after the three main engines shut off and the external fuel tank was jettisoned. The official launch time was 4:53:24 p.m. EST.
The post-launch news conference is expected to begin at about 6 p.m. on NASA TV. The participants will be Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations; Mike Moses, launch integration manager and chairman of the Mission Management Team; and Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Space shuttle Discovery has reached orbit and is on its way to the International Space Station. "Good to be here," Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey radioed soon after the three main engines shut off and the external fuel tank was jettisoned. The official launch time was 4:53:24 p.m. EST.
The post-launch news conference is expected to begin at about 6 p.m. on NASA TV. The participants will be Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations; Mike Moses, launch integration manager and chairman of the Mission Management Team; and Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
What if Lincoln were a Wisconsin State Legislator -- Chicago Tribune blogging columnist E. Zorn
Published online at www.chicagotribune.com/
Events in Wisconsin -- particularly the indignation of Republicans who are now seething at the Democratic state senator's parliamentary trick of running away to avoid a legislative quorum -- prompts me (Eric Zorn )to reprint this passage from Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And other frequently asked questions about Abraham Lincoln by my long-time friend Gerald J. Prokopowicz, history department chairman at East Carolina University and former historical director of the Lincoln Museum in Fort Ft. Wayne, Ind.
In the 1840s. the Whigs’ grandiose plans to build canals and railroads across Illinois were in ruins, victim of the economic downturn that historians call the Panic of 1837.
The Democrats in the state legislature, who had opposed the plan, now had an opportunity to destroy one of the most important elements in the Whig plan for centralized economic development, the State Bank of Illinois.
Previous legislation had specified that the state bank would be required to pay its debts in gold instead of paper money, starting with the end of the next legislative session. The bank did not have nearly enough gold on hand to meet its obligations, so the requirement to pay specie was tantamount to the ruin of the bank.
The Whigs thought that they had until March, 1841, when the regular legislative session normally ended, to find a solution. But the Democrats cleverly moved to adjourn the legislature in December, 1840, which would trigger the bank’s demise, after which they would immediately begin a new session.
There was only one way that Lincoln and his fellow Whigs could find to stop the Democratic majority from passing a motion to adjourn: Don’t show up.
With the Whigs absent, there would be no quorum. The Democratic Speaker sent the sergeant at arms into the streets and saloons of Springfield to round up any nearby Whig legislators, while Lincoln and two comrades sat in the back of the room making sure that their strategy was working.
Whatever satisfaction they felt at having pulled off their parliamentary trick evaporated when the Speaker recognized them as present and announced that a quorum had been met.
Lincoln and his fellow Whig enforcers quickly tried to leave, and, finding the chamber doors locked, resorted to climbing out of a window and dropping to the ground. Their self-defenestration was in vain, however, as the motion to adjourn passed, with the predicted consequences for the state bank. Lincoln was afterward embarrassed by what he had done and did not speak of it.
Events in Wisconsin -- particularly the indignation of Republicans who are now seething at the Democratic state senator's parliamentary trick of running away to avoid a legislative quorum -- prompts me (Eric Zorn )to reprint this passage from Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And other frequently asked questions about Abraham Lincoln by my long-time friend Gerald J. Prokopowicz, history department chairman at East Carolina University and former historical director of the Lincoln Museum in Fort Ft. Wayne, Ind.
In the 1840s. the Whigs’ grandiose plans to build canals and railroads across Illinois were in ruins, victim of the economic downturn that historians call the Panic of 1837.
The Democrats in the state legislature, who had opposed the plan, now had an opportunity to destroy one of the most important elements in the Whig plan for centralized economic development, the State Bank of Illinois.
Previous legislation had specified that the state bank would be required to pay its debts in gold instead of paper money, starting with the end of the next legislative session. The bank did not have nearly enough gold on hand to meet its obligations, so the requirement to pay specie was tantamount to the ruin of the bank.
The Whigs thought that they had until March, 1841, when the regular legislative session normally ended, to find a solution. But the Democrats cleverly moved to adjourn the legislature in December, 1840, which would trigger the bank’s demise, after which they would immediately begin a new session.
There was only one way that Lincoln and his fellow Whigs could find to stop the Democratic majority from passing a motion to adjourn: Don’t show up.
With the Whigs absent, there would be no quorum. The Democratic Speaker sent the sergeant at arms into the streets and saloons of Springfield to round up any nearby Whig legislators, while Lincoln and two comrades sat in the back of the room making sure that their strategy was working.
Whatever satisfaction they felt at having pulled off their parliamentary trick evaporated when the Speaker recognized them as present and announced that a quorum had been met.
Lincoln and his fellow Whig enforcers quickly tried to leave, and, finding the chamber doors locked, resorted to climbing out of a window and dropping to the ground. Their self-defenestration was in vain, however, as the motion to adjourn passed, with the predicted consequences for the state bank. Lincoln was afterward embarrassed by what he had done and did not speak of it.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Juror Summons -- date and time -- 2/22/11
I am serving during the Week of MIDTERM EXAMINATIONS (seventh week of Winter Semester) -- not what I call opportune. Becky is, by the way, doing better with medication and rest from work with her illness: Shingles. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers.
AS A BERRIEN COUNTY resident with a driver's license, my name was "in the juror pool" -- assigned to group 00003
Candidate ID : 0000025877
Status: Confirmed
Pending Request: None
Pool ID : 0001110203
Next Reporting Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 01:00 PM
Original Summons Date: Monday, February 21, 2011
On-Call: No (See "Next Reporting Date" above and report as indicated)
Court Location: BERRIEN COUNTY TRIAL COURT- St. Joseph
Court Address: 811 Port Street Click here for map & directions
St. Joseph, MI 49085
AS A BERRIEN COUNTY resident with a driver's license, my name was "in the juror pool" -- assigned to group 00003
Candidate ID : 0000025877
Status: Confirmed
Pending Request: None
Pool ID : 0001110203
Next Reporting Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 01:00 PM
Original Summons Date: Monday, February 21, 2011
On-Call: No (See "Next Reporting Date" above and report as indicated)
Court Location: BERRIEN COUNTY TRIAL COURT- St. Joseph
Court Address: 811 Port Street Click here for map & directions
St. Joseph, MI 49085
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