This is the archive for July 2006
By Challiss McDonough, VOA News
Qana, Lebanon
An Israeli airstrike on the village of Qana has killed at least 54 people, more than half of them children, with other bodies believed buried in rubble. Israel says it was trying to attack Hezbollah, a group the State Department has designated a terrorist organization.
Posted by courier at 05:34 AM. Filed under: News
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Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (August 25, 1767 – July 28, 1794), usually known as Saint-Just, was a French revolutionary leader. Closely allied with Robespierre, he served with him on the Committee of Public Safety and perished with him after the events of 9 Thermidor.
Read Louis de Saint-Just's "Speech Against the King" one of many resources available free at
www.saint-just.net
Saint-Just
Posted by courier at 12:23 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Ana Hontz Ward, VOA News
As the conflict in the Middle East heats up and the death toll continues to mount, world leaders are trying to end the crisis with diplomacy and dialogue. In an idyllic setting in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine, young people from the Middle East region are using the same approach, on a smaller scale.
Visit the Seeds of Peace homepage
David Good, Director of the India, Nepal and Sri Lanka Affairs Office, talks with a Seeds of Peace Camper during the session at the State Department. A special Internet forum has been set up for all Seeds of Peace alumni to continue dialogue with their new friends and gives them a chance to meet other Seeds. (State Dept.)
Posted by courier at 05:52 AM. Filed under: News
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Posted by courier at 03:07 AM. Filed under: Comics
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Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento d'Espiñoza in his native Amsterdam, was a Jewish-Dutch philosopher. He is considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy and, by virtue of his magnum opus the Ethics, one of the definitive ethicists. His writings, like those of his fellow rationalists, reveal considerable mathematical training and facility. Spinoza was a lens crafter by trade, an exciting engineering field at the time because of great discoveries being made by telescopes. The full impact of his work only took effect some time after his death and after the publication of his Opera Posthuma. He is now seen as having prepared the way for the 18th century Enlightenment, and as a founder of modern biblical criticism. Gilles Deleuze referred to Spinoza as "The absolute philosopher, whose Ethics is the foremost book on concepts". (Deleuze, 1990.)
Read Spinoza's The Ethics, one of
12 examples of his work available free from
Project Gutenberg.
Baruch Spinoza
Posted by courier at 12:48 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Steve Herman, VOA News
Tokyo
Japan is celebrating the return home of troops after two-and-a-half years in Iraq without a single casualty. The controversial mission was seen as a test of Japan's long policy of pacifism.
Posted by courier at 09:25 AM. Filed under: News
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First up is
The Cobweb Hotel by Max Fleischer. Newly-wed flies go to stay at the Cobweb Hotel which is run by a hungry spider. Animation by David Tendlar and William Sturm. Music by Sammy Timberg and Bob Royhberg. Produced in 1936.
Click the picture to watch the cartoon, streaming in 256k MPEG4, free from the
Internet Archive. For more information and format options,
click here.
Next is "
A Day at the Zoo," a Merry Melody cartoon and, in the words of one viewer, "a classic Tex Avery screwball production."
The hijinks involve cartoon characters spending a silly day at the Kalama Zoo. Produced in 1939.
Click the picture to watch the cartoon, streaming in 256k MPEG4, free from the Internet Archive. For more information and format options,
click here.
Posted by courier at 03:42 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, more commonly known as Horace Walpole, (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), was a politician, writer, architectural innovator and namesake of his cousin Horatio Nelson.
Read Horace Walpole's book,
The Castle of Otranto, one of
nine of his works available free from
Project Gutenberg.
Horace Walpole
Posted by courier at 12:50 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Steven Rea and Carrie Rickey
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
ARMY OF SHADOWS 4 stars. Jean-Pierre Melville's taut 1969 study of the French Resistance movement during World War II — and a small band of men (and a few women) who risked to fight the Nazi occupation — is nothing short of a masterpiece. 2 hrs. 25 No MPAA rating (violence, profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea.
THE BREAK-UP 2 stars. Though the Vince Vaughn-Jennifer Aniston vehicle is marketed as a romantic comedy, this war of nerves is a mostly melancholy saga about a prickly pair who would rather play head games than house. Comic support comes from Jon Favreau and Judy Davis. 1 hr. 47 PG-13 (brief nudity, profanity, sexual candor) —Carrie Rickey
Posted by courier at 07:27 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Philip Hersh
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis described his successful comeback attempt in the Tour de France as "the Hail Mary pass," a desperate plea to a higher power when the situation seems hopeless.
Posted by courier at 05:51 AM. Filed under: Sports
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Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States, and therefore is seen as the first First Lady of the United States (although that title was not coined until after her death; she was simply known as "Lady Washington").
"Washington's Family" by Edward Savage, painted between 1789 and 1796, shows (from left to right): George Washington Parke Custis, George Washington, Eleanor Parke Custis, Martha, and an enslaved servant, probably William Lee.
Read more about Martha Washington at the official website of the Whitehouse, residence of the President of the United States.
Posted by courier at 12:12 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By VOA News
The head of Russia's state arms trading agency says Russia has signed contracts to sell Venezuela 24 jet fighter planes and 53 military helicopters.
Vladimir Putin, from
wikipedia
Posted by courier at 09:10 PM. Filed under: News
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By Marie McCullough
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
PHILADELPHIA _ Over the centuries, coffee has been cursed for making soldiers undependable, women infertile, peasants rebellious and worse.
Coffee each day may help keep the doctor awayWikipedia photo
Posted by courier at 03:22 AM. Filed under: News
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William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism.
Read William James' book,
Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals, one of
five of his books available free from
Project Gutenberg.
William James
Posted by courier at 12:37 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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Courier staff report
Most New Haven Unified School District students who still haven't passed the California State High School Exit Exam and need to in order to get a 2006 diploma seem to have given up trying, but the few that decided to take one last crack at the high-stakes test had to endure sweltering temperatures in the Pavilion while taking the Language Arts portion of the test Tuesday morning.
Twenty-five of 150 eligible students chose to take the CAHSEE Tuesday
Posted by courier at 03:32 AM. Filed under: News
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Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter of the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism, an active communist supporter, and wife of the Mexican muralist and cubist painter Diego Rivera.
Kahlo was noted for her unconventional appearance, declining to remove her facial hair (she had a small mustache and unibrow which she exaggerated in self portraits), and for her flamboyantly styled clothing, drawn largely from traditional Mexican dress.
View 11 of Kahlo's works of art, free from Fundación Proa
This wax representation of Frida Kahlo is on display at the Wax Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Posted by courier at 12:44 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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Members of Class of 2006 who have so far failed to conquer the California High School Exit Exam will continue the struggle today in classrooms across the state, and also in a San Francisco courtroom.
California Department of Education table
Posted by courier at 01:38 AM. Filed under: News
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Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing as of July 2, 1937), daughter of Edwin and Amy Earhart, was an American aviator and noted early female pilot who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational flight in 1937.
Watch a 1937 Pathe newsreel, which includes a segment on Earhart, free from the Internet Archive.
Cover of one of Amelia Earhart's books.
Posted by courier at 12:07 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Sonja Pace, VOA News
Jerusalem
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is in Israel for talks on how to end the conflict with Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. The secretary's visit comes as the violence enters its second week amid continued cross-border attacks and ground fighting.
Secretary Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. State Dept photo.
Posted by courier at 05:49 PM. Filed under: News
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By Tom Hundley
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
PARIS _ For the eighth year in a row, an American rider led the pack into Paris to claim victory in the Tour de France. The only difference is that the rider was not Lance Armstrong, who retired after his 2005 victory.
Posted by courier at 06:53 AM. Filed under: News
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By VOA News
Iraqi authorities say car bombs in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk killed 62 people Sunday.
Posted by courier at 05:56 AM. Filed under: News
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By Brian Bull
Phillips, Wisconsin
VOA News
In Australia, it's called the Yowie. In the Himalayas, natives speak of the Yeti. The Mapinguari roams the Amazon Basin. And in North America, tales persist of a giant, ape-like being known as Sasquatch, or Bigfoot. The mystique of this legend has endured for centuries, and a California-based group has just completed yet another leg of a cross-country expedition for the mysterious - and controversial - creature.
The legend of Bigfoot, allegedly pictured here in a photo from Northern California in the 1960s, is kept alive by this sign for a store in Wisconsin.
Posted by courier at 05:44 AM. Filed under: News
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Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), better known as Dame Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott.
Listen to Christie's book, Mysterious Affair at Styles, read by Alex Foster and free from Librivox and the Internet Archive.
Read Christie's book, The Secret Adversary, free from Project Gutenberg
Agatha Christie
Posted by courier at 12:03 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By VOA News
A U.S.-based human rights organization alleges that detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were routinely subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, stress positions and other forms of abuse by American interrogators.
Posted by courier at 06:54 AM. Filed under: News
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Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925) is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball who played almost his entire career for the New York Yankees and was elected (with Sandy Koufax) to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He is one of only four players to be named the Most Valuable Player of the American League three times, and one of only six managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. He has lived in Montclair, New Jersey since his playing days.
View a streaming video biography of Yogi Berra, free from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
President George W. Bush chats with Hall of Famers Sparky Anderson, left, and Yogi Berra in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 30, 2001.
Posted by courier at 12:16 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Scott Stearns, VOA News
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meet with senior Saudi diplomats today to discuss continuing violence between Israel and Hezbollah militants across the Lebanese border. Secretary Rice plans to then leave for the region for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Read the text of President Bush's weekly radio address
Hear Bush's address
President George W. Bush meets with U.S.military service personnel who have recently returned from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan to hear about their experiences Friday, July 21, 2006, at Tamale Fiesta Kitchen restaurant in Aurora, Colorado.
White House photo by Eric Draper
Posted by courier at 04:06 PM. Filed under: News
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Ta Mok, also known as the "Butcher", military commander of the Khmer Rouge regime which terrorised Cambodia in the 1970s, has died in a military hospital in Phnom Penh. He was facing trial for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the regime's rule.
Visit "Cambodia Log," a record of a tourist's visit to the vacant former homes of Ta Mok and genocidal Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
Mok
Posted by courier at 07:04 AM. Filed under: News
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First up is "Fiddlesticks", starring Flip the Frog. According to Wikipedia.org,
Flip the Frog was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first sound cartoon. It is about a happy-go-lucky, needy frog.
Ub Iwerks created the character in 1930. He had drawn a frog and his girlfriend in "Night'", one of the last Silly Symphonies short films he drew while working for Walt Disney.
After leaving Disney, Iwerks began the Flip cartoon series with the help of Pat Powers. " Fiddlesticks" (released on August 16, 1930), is the first in the series and it was also the first color sound cartoon ever made. "Fiddlesticks" was made in two-color Technicolor, but the rest of the Flip series were made in black and white, except for "Techno-Cracked" (1933).
Click the picture to view the cartoon streaming in MPEG4. Click here for more formats and information. Free from the
Internet Archive
Next is a Noveltoon called "The Stupidstitious Cat," in which a very superstitious cat tries to catch Buzzy for breakfast but Buzzy outsmarts him. Animation by Graham Place and John Walworth. Story by Carl Meyer and Jack Ward. Scenics by Anton Loeb. Music by Winston Sharples. Produced in 1946.
Click the picture to view the cartoon streaming in MPEG4. For more formats and information,
click here. Free from the Internet Archive.
Posted by courier at 05:24 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Scott Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several business commentaries, social satires, and experimental philosophy books.
Read Scott Adams blog. Visit Dilbert.com
Scott Adams
Posted by courier at 12:43 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Sonja Pace, VOA News
Hezbollah fired rocket salvos into northern Israel Friday, including Haifa, where at least 19 people were injured. Israeli warplanes carried out more strikes across Lebanon while the army called up reserve units amid expectations that Israeli ground operations in southern Lebanon are to be stepped up.
U.S. Marines help U.S. citizens as they wait to board a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, for a flight to Cyprus.DoD photo by Gunnery Sgt. James H. Frank, U.S. Marine Corps
Posted by courier at 09:01 AM. Filed under: News
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By Philip Wuntch
The Dallas Morning News (MCT)
LADY IN THE WATER – M. Night Shyamalan's latest foray stars Paul Giamatti as an apartment superintendent who discovers a friendly fantasy creature in the swimming pool.
MONSTER HOUSE – In this animated tale, a couple of teens rightly suspect that the house across the street eats people.
MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND – Luke Wilson should know better than to dump Uma Thurman. Turns out, she's a superhero.
CLERKS II – Sequel takes place 10 years after the first "Clerks" and finds the slackers once again trying to break out of another dead-end job.
Posted by courier at 08:00 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Old-school guy like Selmon can't understand Owens
By David Whitley
The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)
ORLANDO, Fla. _ A book has just come out, and it isn't on Lee Roy Selmon's summer reading list. It's nothing personal, he just doesn't like the author's style.
Lee Roy Selmon, from the NFL Hall of Fame
Visit T.O.'s website
T.O.'s new book, on sale now, will be available soon at your local library.
Posted by courier at 05:38 AM. Filed under: Sports
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"Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (6 August 1715 to 28 May 1747) was a French moralist, essayist, and miscellaneous writer.
Read the Marquis de Vauvenargues 1746 book Introduction à la connaissance de l’esprit, in French, free from the Université du Québec å Chicoutimi.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues
Posted by courier at 12:39 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By VOA News
U.S. Marines have landed on a beach near Beirut to help evacuate thousands of Americans caught up in the weeklong Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.
U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Carl Jensen, 2nd from right, Commander Task Force 59, helps U.S. citizens exit a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter in Cyprus, following their flight from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
(Department of Defense photo by Gunnery Sgt. James H. Frank, U.S. Marine Corps)
Posted by courier at 08:40 AM. Filed under: News
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By VOA News
President Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation to ease limits on federally funded research using stem cells from human embryos. It is the first time Bush has rejected a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress.
President George W. Bush announces his veto of the stem cell research bill, his first presidential veto, to an East Room audience full of children born from frozen embryos July 19, 2006 at the White House in Washington, DC.
(Chuck Kennedy/MCT)
Posted by courier at 08:12 AM. Filed under: News
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By Keith Ervin
The Seattle Times (MCT)
SEATTLE _ The first time Ron Sims tried to set up a county office to study the effects of global warming, he was mocked.
King County Executive Ron Sims has been concerned about global warming for years in Seattle, Washington.
(Tom Reese/Seattle Times/MCT)
Posted by courier at 05:26 AM. Filed under: News
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John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (born November 13, 1911 in Carrabelle, Florida) was a first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably in the Negro American League with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he also became a coach and scout in Major League Baseball.
On Tuesday, at age 94 years, 8 months, and 5 days, he became by far the oldest person to appear in a professional baseball game.
Buck O'Neil, 94, got ready for his turn at bat during the Northern League All Star Game on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in Kansas City, Missouri.
(Mike Ransdell/Kansas City Star/MCT)
Posted by courier at 12:33 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Unified School District Public Information Officer
The Board of Education on Tuesday night discussed the criteria for
identifying the two schools it has decided to close, as the District
seeks to minimize the financial impact of declining enrollment by
reducing spending on facilities and operations in order to redirect
resources to teaching and learning.
Posted by courier at 03:26 PM. Filed under: News
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By Martin Merzer and Phil Long
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. _ Shuttle Discovery and its six astronauts returned safely to Earth Monday morning, ending a 13-day, high-altitude adventure with a flawless landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
Click the picture of the space shuttle landing on Monday to view NASA video of the landing.
Click here to view NASA TV, which provides live coverage of missions and other agency events as well as resources for news media, educators and students, and the general public.
Posted by courier at 07:52 AM. Filed under: News
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By Amy Sherman
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
MIAMI _ It's one of the most basic human traits: We care about others.
Even newborns may have empathy: They react to the distress of their peers by joining in their cries. As we get older we feel angry with others at times, but our inhibitions stop most of us from lashing out violently. One psychologist says there's no such thing as a person who is completely devoid of empathy.
Posted by courier at 06:03 AM. Filed under: News
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Frank Morrison Spillane (March 9, 1918 – July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels. He was known for his series of novels featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer, among other works. He died Monday.
Listen to National Public Radio's Neda Ulaby's tribute to Mickey Spillane, from the program All Things Considered, free from npr.org
Mickey Spillane
Posted by courier at 12:35 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Chad Bouchard, VOA News
Jakarta
At least 320 people are dead, hundreds are injured and nearly three thousand have been left homeless by the tsunami that battered the Indonesian island of Java Monday. Aid agencies are assessing damage from the powerful wave, which destroyed buildings and lives along a 160-kilometer stretch of the island's southwestern coast.
Posted by courier at 06:47 AM. Filed under: News
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George McGovern, a former U.S. congressman and senator from the American heartland, has made his mark as both a soldier and an activist for peace. In 1972 he ran as the Democratic candidate for president and lost to Richard Nixon.
Read George McGovern's speech accepting the nomination for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Miami in 1972, free from 4president.com.
George McGovern
Posted by courier at 12:12 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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Chicago Tribune (MCT)
Northwestern University began sending letters and e-mails Friday to about 17,000 student applicants whose personal information may have been stolen from the university's computer system.
Posted by courier at 08:47 AM. Filed under: News
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By Liu Enming, VOA News
Hillsdale, a town in southern Michigan with 9,000 residents, has lost many jobs to outsourcing. And that is what prompted teenager Michael Sessions to seek a new job -- as mayor. Going door-to-door and financing his campaign with $700 from his summer job, Sessions won the election last November by a margin of two votes.
Michael Sessions
Posted by courier at 05:07 AM. Filed under: News
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Pearl S. Buck (birth name Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker) (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was a prolific writer and Nobel Prize winner.
Read Pearl S. Buck's 1937 novel The Patriot, free from the Internet Archive (
requires free plug-in)
Pearl S. Buck
Posted by courier at 12:32 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Jim Teeple — VOA News
Israel's prime minister on Sunday threatened "far-reaching consequences" for a Hezbollah rocket attack on the Israeli city of Haifa that left at least eight people dead and more than 20 others wounded. The attack raised the death toll in Israel to more than 20, while more than 100 people have died in Lebanon in Israeli strikes.
Peace activists gathered in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defense to protest against the ongoing hostilities. (Photo — www.gush-shalom.org)
Posted by courier at 08:01 AM. Filed under: News
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By Shashank Bengali
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
KASSAB, Sudan _ Don't ask Ibrahim Rahma about the peace agreement for Darfur. Where he sits, in this camp where thousands displaced by the war in western Sudan now live in tumbledown wooden shacks, there is no peace.
Soldiers of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army in Darfur, Sudan, in the rebel-held village of Hashaba. A split between rebel groups threatens a two-month-old peace agreement that international diplomats hoped would end the three-year war in Darfur, which has killed some 200,000 people. (Shashank Bengali/MCT)
Posted by courier at 05:31 AM. Filed under: News
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Posted by courier at 03:42 AM. Filed under: Comics
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Ethel Barrymore (August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and a member of the famous Barrymore family. She was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew. She spent her childhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Catholic schools while there.
She was the sister of actors John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore, the aunt of actor John Drew Barrymore, and the grand-aunt of actress/producer Drew Barrymore.
Read Memories, Ethel Barrymore's 1955 memoir, free from the Internet Archive.
Ethel Barrymore
Posted by courier at 12:40 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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Today we have a double dose of Popeye the Sailor cartoons.
First up is
Popeye the Sailor:Big Bad Sinbad from 1952 in which Popeye takes his nephews to the Nautical Museum and tells them a story about how he "knocked the tar out" of Sinbad, the greatest sailor in the world. Animation by Tom Johnson and William Henning. Music by Winston Sharples. Directed by Seymour Kneitel. Produced by Associated Artists Productions & Famous Studios Productions. Running time 6:00 minutes. In color.
Click the picture to start the cartoon in streaming 256 Kb MPEG4. For more format choices and information,
click here.
Next is
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937)
Based on the classic Arabian adventure, Popeye and Olive Oyl travel in their fantastic airplane to Arabia to battle the evil Ali Baba, a guise of Bluto. Olive is capture and set to work doing the Forty Theives laundry until the inevitable rescue. This fabulous cartoon, originally produced in 1937 by Fleischer Studios and now in the public domain, utilizes a revolutionary animation technique than results it an amazing sense of depth. Running time:16:58 minutes. In color.
Click the picture to start the cartoon in streaming 256 Kb MPEG4. For more format choices and information,
click here..
Posted by courier at 05:17 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Heraclitus of Ephesus (about 535 - 475 BC), known as "The Obscure", was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Ephesus in Asia Minor.
The details of Heraclitus' life are almost completely unknown. Reliable information is limited to the fact that he was a native of Ephesus, on the coast of Asia Minor north of Miletus, and that his father's name was Bloson. Heraclitus is the first person in the history of the western world to have put forward a robust philosophical system. His writings have later influences upon Socrates and Plato. 19th Century Philosophy has also paid close attention to Heraclitus.
Read Heraclitus: The Complete Fragments, by Professor Emeritus William Harris of Middlebury College
Heraclitus and Democritus, by Bramante, 1477
Posted by courier at 12:02 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Steven Rea and Carrie Rickey
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
THE BREAK-UP 2 stars. Though the Vince Vaughn-Jennifer Aniston vehicle is marketed as a romantic comedy, this war of nerves is a mostly melancholy saga about a prickly pair who would rather play head games than house. Comic support comes from Jon Favreau and Judy Davis. 1 hr. 47 PG-13 (brief nudity, profanity, sexual candor) —Carrie Rickey
Posted by courier at 08:14 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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By Joseph Tartakoff
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
MIAMI _ Since the iPod debuted in 2001, Gregg Radell has used five of the music and video players. He lost one, another broke, a third ran out of storage space, and he decided to replace the fourth. Each time, he bought a newer model.
Gregg Radell, owner of PodSwap works on a pile of broken ipods at his shop in Miami-Dade, Florida. His company, which gets most of its business on the web, buys ipods as well as selling new and used ipods. (Tim Chapman/Miami Herald/MCT)
Posted by courier at 05:14 AM. Filed under: News
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By Cassandra Braun
Contra Costa Times (MCT)
By many measures Carlnell Walker was just beginning to hit his stride. The Richmond native was about to enter his senior year at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was impressing coaches with his tennis skills and charming people by his good nature.
Posted by courier at 10:12 AM. Filed under: News
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By Charles Osgood
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
The study of human anatomy can be gruesome, fascinating, repugnant, exciting and awe-inspiring. It begins for first-year medical students when they walk through the heavy double doors and find, on the stainless-steel autopsy table to which they've been assigned, a closed silver tank containing the body of a stranger.
Rembrandt: The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632)
Posted by courier at 05:14 AM. Filed under: News
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Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850–October 30, 1919) was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was
Poems of Passion, and her autobiography,
The Worlds and I was published in 1918 shortly before her death.
Click here to read Ella Wheeler Wilcox' Poems of Passion, one of 16 of her works available free from Project Gutenberg
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Posted by courier at 12:42 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Mike O'Sullivan, VOA News
Los Angeles
Officials of a leading U.S. Hispanic organization say the mass demonstrations for immigrant rights held earlier this year are giving way to an effort to mobilize the vote among Hispanics. Officials of the National Council of La Raza will open a four-day meeting Saturday to discuss such issues as immigration reform, and look at ways to give Latinos a stronger voice in politics.
Spanish language DJs Edward "Piolin" Sotelo (left) and "El Cucuy" (right) stand beside La Raza president and CEO Janet Murguia (center)
Posted by courier at 05:32 AM. Filed under: News
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Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) is by reputation one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. She is remembered by many as a feminist; it should be noted though that she herself deplored the term, as suggesting an obsession with women and women's concerns. She preferred 'humanist' (see
Three Guineas).
Read Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out, free from Project Gutenberg
Virginia Woolf
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Seven bombs have exploded at various local railway stations in the city of Bombay, also called Mumbai, India between 6:24 pm and 6:35 pm IST (GMT 5:30).
Commuter trains in Bombay have been attacked by terrorists several times. This picture is from a March attack. Public domain photo from www.indymedia.org.
Posted by courier at 02:33 PM. Filed under: News
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By Pamela Yip
The Dallas Morning News
(MCT)
DALLAS _ There's no disputing that a college education is a great investment. College graduates can expect to make $1 million more over their lifetime than someone with just a high school diploma.
Posted by courier at 05:40 AM. Filed under: News
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June Allyson (October 7, 1917 — July 8, 2006) , a movie actress who gained fame in the 1940's playing "girl-next-door" roles, has died at age 88.
Her daughter announced Monday that Allyson died of respiratory failure Saturday at her home in Ojai, California
Watch June Allyson and a host of other stars in Till the Clouds Roll By, a a feature-length musical biography of the Hollywood composer Jerome Kern made in 1946., free from the Internet Archive. 
June Allyson
Posted by courier at 12:42 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Michelle Kaufman
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
BERLIN _ Three hours had passed since Germany beat Portugal for third place Saturday night, and still horns were honking, streets were jammed with revelers, and teenagers were hanging out of car windows waving Deutschland flags. Things were even wilder in Stuttgart, where the match was played.
Posted by courier at 06:44 AM. Filed under: Sports
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By Michelle Kaufman
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
BERLIN _ Zinedine Zidane lost his temper, France lost the World Cup final, and the victorious Italians, who head home Monday to a possible verdict in a massive match-fixing scandal, celebrated their fourth world title with unbridled joy after winning the tense match 5-3 in penalty kicks. The match was deadlocked 1-1 after regulation.
Posted by courier at 06:41 AM. Filed under: Sports
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Hannibal (247 BC – 183 BC; sometimes referred to as Hannibal Barca) was a Carthaginian politician and statesman who is popularly credited as one of the finest military generals in history. He lived in a period of tension in the Mediterranean, with both Carthage and Rome (then the Roman Republic) vying for control of the region. Considered by many as the greatest enemy of the Roman Republic, he is best known for his achievements in the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which famously included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.
Read The Young Carthaginian by George Alfred Henty (1832-1902), free from Project Gutenberg.
Bust of Hannibal
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Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, (January 14, 1875 – September 4, 1965) was a German Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Kaysersberg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany (now in Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France). He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, for founding the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, a nation of west central Africa.
Visit the homepage of the International Albert Schweitzer Foundation
Posted by courier at 12:31 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By George Dwyer, VOA News
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged three people, including a former employee, in connection with an alleged plot to steal trade secrets from the Coca-Cola Company, and sell the information to Coke's chief rival, PepsiCo.
Coke supplies soft drinks to James Logan High School
Posted by courier at 06:37 AM. Filed under: News
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Click the picture to view Woody Woodpecker in the classic cartoon "Pantry Panic, " in which Weatherby Groundhog predicts a cold winter and advises all the birds to fly south. But Woody Woodpecker decides to stay, and nearly starves. Animation by Alex Lovy and Lester Kline, story by Ben Hardaway and L.E. Elliott, music by Darrell Calker. Free from the Internet Archive.
Click the picture to watch the Betty Boop cartoon "Snow White," featuring an appearance by Cab Calloway, performing "St. James Infirmary." Free from the Internet Archive.
Posted by courier at 04:47 AM. Filed under: Entertainment
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Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author and a pioneer of the science-fiction genre. Verne was noted for writing about cosmic, atmospheric, and underwater travel before air travel and submarines were commonplace and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated novelist in the world, according to the Index Translationum statistics. Some of his books have also been made into films.
Read Verne's classic A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, free from Project Gutenberg
View the 1919 film version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, free from the Internet Archive.
Jules Verne Photo by Félix Nadar
Posted by courier at 12:15 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By VOA News
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is warning that U.S. efforts to tighten border security could harm relations between the two neighbors, and hand terrorists a victory.
President George W. Bush meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Oval Office Thursday. White House photo by Paul Morse
Posted by courier at 09:44 AM. Filed under: News
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By Nick Colberg
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
NASA and the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation announced the formation of a program that will bring students from minority institutions throughout the country to study alongside researchers and scientists at the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Mountain View.
YAV-8B Aircraft arrival at NASA Ames Research Center
(NASA Ames Research Center (NASA-ARC) photo)
Posted by courier at 07:12 AM. Filed under: News
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Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946) was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Time Machine. He was a prolific writer in the history of literature, and wrote works in nearly every genre, including short stories and nonfiction. He was an outspoken socialist, and most of his works contain some notable political or social commentary.
Read Wells' classic The Time Machine, free from Project Gutenberg
Hear Wells' classic War of the Worlds, read aloud by Rebecca, from Librivox.
H.G. Wells
Posted by courier at 12:41 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Greg Flakus, VOA NEWS
After all but a few of the votes had been counted and the final nationwide tally showed him around half a percentage point ahead, Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party came before cheering supporters.
Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderon, of the National Action Party (PAN), waves to supporters. (Diego Giudice/MCT)
Posted by courier at 02:43 PM. Filed under: News
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By Kurt Achin, VOA News
North Korean media proudly proclaimed the seven missile launches Wednesday a success.
Posted by courier at 06:47 AM. Filed under: News
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John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC, (April 30, 1834–May 28, 1913), English banker, politician, naturalist and archaeologist was born the son of Sir John William Lubbock, Bart.
Read John Lubbock's book, The Pleasures of Life, free from Project Gutenberg.
John Lubbock
Posted by courier at 12:35 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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An experienced French side beat Portugal 1-0 in an unspectacular semi-final of the FIFA World Cup in Munich, Wednesday.
Posted by courier at 05:15 PM. Filed under: Sports
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VOA News
The environmental group Worldwide Fund for Nature is warning that illegal fishing is driving the bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic to extinction.
A Bluefin tuna caught in a trap in Stintino, Italy - NOAA Photo
Posted by courier at 05:58 AM. Filed under: News
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Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 – June 8, 1809) was an intellectual, scholar, revolutionary, deist and idealist. A radical pamphleteer, Paine anticipated and helped foment the American Revolution through his powerful writings, most notably Common Sense, an incendiary pamphlet advocating independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. An advocate of liberalism, he outlined his political philosophy in Rights of Man, written both as a reply to Edmund Burke's view of the French Revolution and as a general political philosophy treatise as well as Common Sense, a treatise on the benefits of personal liberty and limited government, in which he considers society a representation of human ideals, and government a necessary evil. Paine was also noteworthy for his support of deism, taking its form in his treatise on religion The Age of Reason, as well as for his eye-witness accounts of both the French and American Revolutions.
Read Thomas Paine's Common Sense, free from www.thomaspaine.org.
Thomas Paine
Posted by courier at 12:33 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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Two stylish Italian goals minutes from the end of the second period of Extra Time prevented a penalty shootout and sent Germany out of the FIFA World Cup in Dortmund, Tuesday.
Posted by courier at 06:55 PM. Filed under: Sports
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The Space Shuttle Discovery is in orbit after a picture-perfect launch
Tuesday, the first-ever shuttle mission to lift off on America's Independence Day holiday.
View video of the launch of STS-121, free from NASA
Space Shuttle Discovery kicks off the Fourth of July fireworks with its own fiery display as it rockets into the blue sky, spewing foam and smoke over the ground, on mission STS-121
Posted by courier at 06:39 PM. Filed under: News
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By Adam Phillips, VOA News
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Those words, written by a 33 year-old activist named Thomas Jefferson and published by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, are but a few the significant phrases in America's Declaration of Independence. Barnard College history professor Herbert Sloan reminds us that it was neither a declaration of war nor even the beginning of American independence from the British crown.
Click the picture to see a video report from VOA News.
Posted by courier at 06:59 AM. Filed under: News
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By Trudy Rubin
The Philadelphia Inquirer(MCT)
As Independence Day approaches, I can't think of any better gift to the nation than the Supreme Court ruling last week that checked President Bush's expanding claims of executive power.
Trudy Rubin
Posted by courier at 04:54 AM. Filed under: Opinion
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Clarence Seward Darrow (April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known defending teenaged thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14 year old Bobby Franks (1924) and defending John T. Scopes in the so-called "Monkey" Trial (1925), in which he opposed the famous prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. He remains famous for his wit, compassion and agnosticism that marked him as one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians.
Read Clarence Darrow's "A Plea for Mercy" for Leopold and Loeb, free from www.americanrhetoric.com
Clarence Darrow in 1922
Posted by courier at 12:43 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Jay Root and Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
MEXICO CITY _ The two leading candidates in the most contentious presidential race in modern Mexican history each declared victory late Sunday after exit polls and a government "quick count" showed the contest was too close to call.
Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), announces his victory in the Mexico presidential elections in Mexico City, Mexico, Sunday, July 2, 2006. Obardor claimed he had defeated his opponent, National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon, by almost 500,000 votes. (Heriberto Rodriguez/MCT)
Posted by courier at 07:56 AM. Filed under: News
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Asteroid 2004 XP14, a half-mile wide chunk of hard rock travelling at 40'000 miles an hour, will miss the Earth by a few hundred thousand miles, Monday.
Asteroid 2004 XP14 will come close to hitting Earth today.
Posted by courier at 06:26 AM. Filed under: News
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Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 - March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his criticism of public land policies and advocacy of environmental issues. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire. Writer Larry McMurtry referred to Abbey as the "Thoreau of the American West".
Click to hear an interview with Edward Abbey, from wiredforbooks.com
A Voice in the Wilderness (1993), a video biography of Abbey, is available from the producer, Canyon Productions
Posted by courier at 06:20 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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By Gretel C. Kovach and Michael E. Young
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
DALLAS _ When a high school senior delivered marijuana-laced muffins to a group of hungry teachers last month, sending 19 people to the hospital, teenage logic stumbled into the path of a society short on tolerance.
Posted by courier at 06:23 AM. Filed under: News
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Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called "RFK", was one of two younger brothers of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and was appointed by his brother as Attorney General for his administration. As one of President Kennedy's most trusted advisors, RFK worked closely with the President during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the subsequent Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1964, after his brother's death, Kennedy was elected to the US Senate from the state of New York. He was assassinated shortly after delivering a speech celebrating his victory in the 1968 presidential primary of California at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Hear Robert F. Kennedy annouce the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, on April 4, 1968, from www.americanrhetoric.com
Kennedy speaking to a Civil Rights crowd in front of the Justice Department building, June 1963.
Posted by courier at 03:35 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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In a quarter-final rematch of the 1998 Fifa World Cup final France beat Brazil 1-0 to progress to the semi-finals, Saturday.
Posted by courier at 04:31 PM. Filed under: Sports
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Portugal reached the semi-final of the Fifa World Cup for the first time since 1966 after a penalty shootout win over England, Saturday.
Ricardo was the hero for Portugal making three saves to defeat a resolute England team that had been down to 10 men since 62 minutes.
Posted by courier at 04:20 PM. Filed under: Sports
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Italy took their chances to take a comfortable win in their Fifa World Cup quarter-final match against Ukraine, Friday.
Posted by courier at 04:15 PM. Filed under: Sports
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Germany beat Argentina 4-2 on penalties to book a place in the Fifa World Cup semi-finals in Berlin, Friday.
Posted by courier at 04:10 PM. Filed under: Sports
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Logan summer school students finished their first week back at school Friday, trying to earn credits toward graduation.
Members of the James Logan Forensic team are sharpening their skills for next year during the summer session.
Posted by courier at 04:29 AM. Filed under: News
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Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was one of the most prominent and influential architects of the first half of the 20th century. He not only developed a series of highly individual styles over his extraordinarily long architectural career (spanning the years 1887-1959), he influenced the whole course of American architecture and building. To this day he probably remains America's most famous architect.
See many of Wright's buildings, from www.greatbuildings.com
Frank Lloyd Wright was honored with a postage stamp in 1966
Posted by courier at 12:38 AM. Filed under: In Quotes
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Click the picture to view a streaming version of the 1941 cartoon, Superman, from www.archive.org
Click the picture above to watch Tarts and Flowers, starring Lil Audrey, from 1940, from www.archive.org.
