The James Logan Courier

By Carmen Shiu, Courier Special Correspondent

As the year is coming to an end, it is time to reflect. From Rihanna to Hannah Montana, there have been a handful of stand-outs this year.

The No. 1 single of the year belongs to "Umbrella" by Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z). That song blew up the charts all around the world. On the radio stations, it was hard to get away from the catchy beat of "stand under my umbrella-ella-ella, eh-eh-eh." Besides, who could do it better than Rihanna? Becasuse of her smash hit single, she is beginning to become a household name.

By Julia Prodis Sulek, Barbara Feder Ostrov, Kim Vo and Leslie Griffy
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)

Family and friends of Carlos Sousa Jr. gathered at his mother's San Jose, Calif., apartment Wednesday, devastated and angry that he was mauled to death by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day.

His parents said they didn't know the 17-year-old junior at Independence High School was the victim of the mauling until the San Francisco coroner's office called Wednesday morning.

"I can't believe it," said father, Carlos Sousa Sr. "I just want to wake up tomorrow and start all over again. This never should have happened."

From wikipedia:
Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet (December 27, 1773 – December 15, 1857)"Father of Aerodynamics" was a prolific English engineer from Brompton-by-Sawdon, near Scarborough in Yorkshire. He was a pioneer of aeronautical engineering, though he worked over a century before the development of powered flight. He served for the Whig party as Member of Parliament for Scarborough from 1832 to 1835, and helped found the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now University of Westminster), serving as its chairman for many years. He was a founding member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and was a distant cousin of the mathematician Arthur Cayley.

Learn more about Sir George Cayley's early glider designs, free from flyingmachines.org.