The James Logan Courier

By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

CHICAGO — First-time home buyers have a better shot at the American dream and strapped homeowners may be able to stave off financial ruin under a lengthy set of measures signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday.

But there are plenty of catches in the 694-page housing legislation.

PopMatters.com (MCT)

British singer/songwriter Vashti Bunyan was offered her first record deal when she was only 19-years-old. Indeed, her musicianship is highly regarded by colleagues and fans that have virtually saved her music from obscurity; talented, she is — prolific, not so much. Bunyan prefers a quiet life; at times rural/at times urban, living what she calls "an upside down life." She chats with "PopMatters 20 Questions" about music-making at her pace, life without safety nets and her nonconformist nature.

1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?
"Trench Rats," a short animated film about a rat in the first World War trenches who is writing a letter home to his mother and telling her that everything is fine. He is dressed in tin hat and uniform. A new rat called Frank comes along, but he gets shell-shock. The frames where the first rat puts his arm around a shaking Frank made me cry, alright.

From wikipedia:
John Ericsson (July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother, Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in the United States.

John's and Nils's father Olof Ericsson who worked as the supervisor for a mine in Värmland had lost money in speculations and had to move his family from Värmland to Forsvik in 1810. There he worked as a 'director of blastings' during the excavation of the Swedish Göta Canal. The extraordinary skills of the two brothers were discovered by Baltzar von Platen, the architect of the Göta Canal. The two brothers were dubbed cadets of mechanics of the Swedish Royal Navy and engaged as trainees at the canal enterprise. At the age of fourteen, John was already working independently as a surveyor. His assistant had to carry a footstool for him to reach the instruments during surveying work.

Visit the website of the John Ericsson National Memorial in Washington, D.C.