Category: SCIENCE

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Rereading Capote … The best way to enjoy an open relationship … The greatest dinosaurs ever … The fascinating octopus … The reality of al Qaeda.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Where’s the Octopus?
Science Friday :: NPR | August 2011
“When marine biologist Roger Hanlon captured the first scene in this video he started screaming.”

2. University to uncover cistern below campus
By Tuba Parlak | Hurriyet Daily News | Aug. 3
“Kadir Has University is waiting for municipal consent to start restoration and conservation of the Cibali Cistern under its campus by the Golden Horn. University Rector Mustafa Aydın says the historical structure will serve as another story for the Rezan Has Museum that sits on its upper floor.”

3. Afghanistan: Does the uniform make the soldier?
By Ben Brody | Dispatches :: GlobalPost | Aug. 4
“U.S. soldiers regularly get into trouble for the state of their uniforms.”

4. Where Are Chile Miners Now?
Associated Press | Aug. 4
“Nearly half the men have been unemployed since their mine collapsed one year ago tomorrow, and just one, the flamboyant Mario Sepulveda, has managed to live well off the fame.”

5. Move It! How to Exercise When You’re Depressed
By Suzanne Phillips | Live Science | Aug. 4
“Forget comparing yourself with the neighbor who jogs – start with a simple plan of moving, do it on your time and tie it to something you love.”

6. 10 Greatest Dinosaurs of All Time
By Jennifer Horton | Curiosity.com | August 2011
“From the doorknob-turning, toe-tapping velociraptors in ‘Jurassic Park’ to the menacing Sharptooth and stubborn Cera in the ‘The Land Before Time,’ never before has a species inspired such imagination as the dinosaur. But there’s much more to these creatures than what you’ll find in the movies.”

7. The Truth About al Qaeda
By John Muellar | Foreign Affairs | Aug. 2
“Whatever al Qaeda’s threatening rhetoric and occasional nuclear fantasies, its potential as a menace, particularly as an atomic one, has been much inflated.”

8. Rereading: Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood
By Rupert Thomson | The Guardian | Aug. 5
“Truman Capote’s forensic account of real-life murder in Kansas remains as unsettling as ever. It almost killed the author and he never wrote anything to compete thereafter.”

9. The Consultant in an Open Relationship Who Has Sex Nearly Twice a Day
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | July 18
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Consultant in an Open Relationship Who Has Sex Nearly Twice a Day: male, consultant, Williamsburg, 40-something, heteroflexible, in a nonmonogamous relationship.”

10. Montserrat volcano
Witness :: BBC News | June 24
“Fourteen years ago the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Much of the south of the island was covered with ash and 19 people died.”

TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. Wes Jeans — Don’t Be Hip
2. Tommy Castro — This Soul Is Mine
3. Rollin Phattys — Black Bear River
4. The Bois D’ Arcs — The Day
5. Van Wilks — Steletto Blues
6. Clay McClinton — One Of Those Guys
7. Los Lonely Boys — Sisco Kid
8. Buck 69 — Sweet Spot
9. Tishamingo — Whisky State Of Mind
10. Rob Darien — Rebel Ass
11. Paul Thorn — Ain’t Gonna Beg
12. Sean Castello — Same Old Game
13. The Midnight Flyers — Down Low
14. Creed Williams — Finally Down

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Obama turns 50 … Sex diaries … Underwater Roman ruins … The beauty of math … The science of doomed diets.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Seeing Catch-22 Twice
By Ron Rosenbaum | Slate.com | Aug. 2
“The awful truth people miss about Heller’s great novel.”

2. Starved Brain Cells May Cause Diets to Fail
By Jennifer Welsh | LiveScience | Aug. 2
“When a dieter starves themselves of calories, they starve their brain cells as well. New research finds that these hungry brain cells then release ‘feed me’ signals, which drive hunger, slow metabolism and may cause diets to fail.”

3. Why Math Works
By Mario Livio | Scientific American | Aug. 2
“Is math invented or discovered? A leading astrophysicist suggests that the answer to the millennia-old question is both”

4. Snorkeling for Roman Ruins
By Barbara A. Noe | IntelligentTravel :: National Geographic | Aug. 2
“In Italy, Roman ruins sprinkle the landscape like Parmesan cheese on pasta. In a twist of the typical, terrestrial way to see them, I recently donned a snorkel mask and fins on the Bay of Naples.”

5. Metropolitan Museum Returns Antiquities Found in King Tut’s Tomb to Egypt
By Marlon Bishop | WNYC | Aug. 2
“Last November, the Met agreed to give back the artifacts after an internal museum investigation determined it had no right to the antiquities — mostly non-museum quality pieces, ranging from small fragments to a tiny bronze dog — in the first place.”

6. Q&A: Adding International Keyboards to the iPad
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Aug. 2
“Is it possible to switch the iPad’s keyboard layout to French like you can do on a Mac?”

7. The top 1%
Fault Lines :: Al Jazeera | Aug. 2
“With 1% of Americans controlling 40% of the country’s wealth, we examine the gap between the rich and the rest.”

8. The Valentine’s Day Sex Diaries
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | Feb. 15
“The 24-Year-Old Female Editorial Assistant on the Upper East Side. The 32-Year-Old Male Designer Up in the Boston Area. The 27-Year-Old Mom in the Bronx. The 27-Year Old Female Grad Student in Park Slope. The 21-Year-Old Female Fashion Student in Wicker Park, Chicago.”

9. Turning 50, President Obama becomes a Washington tweener
By Manuel Roig-Franzia | The Washington Post | Aug. 2
“Reaching the pinnacle of American power so early means Obama will have to figure out what to do with himself for a big chunk of his 50s, whether in 2013, when he could become a 51-year-old one-termer, or in 2017, when he could leave office as a 55-year-old two-termer.”

10. Australian evacuee
Witness :: BBC News | June 20
“During World War II, many British children were sent away from the cities to escape German bombs. Most went to the countryside but some went as far away as Australia.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

What crying accomplishes … The debt ceiling negotiations … The new Turkey … The ‘stayover’ relationship … The Santorini explosion.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. There never was a surplus
Democracy in America :: The Economist | July 27
“[T]he White House published a chart that explains how we got from the Clinton administration projection that the government would pay off its entire debt and then build up $2.3 trillion in savings by 2011, to the $10.4 trillion in debt we actually wound up with.”

2. The Volcanic Explosion at Santorini and the Destruction of Minoan Crete
By Mike Anderson | Ancient History Blog | May 13
“The fall of Minoan Crete, and for that matter Mycenae, are a mystery. There is evidence of fire at both locations as if they were attacked and burned. Was this the so called Dorian invasion or something else?”

3. The Reading List: August ’11
By Jason Kehe | Los Angeles Magazine | July 19
“Every month LAmag.com compiles titles of local interest that are hitting the bookshelves. Here, arranged by genre, are some highlights.”

4. The ‘stayover’ relationship is a new dating trend
By Jeff Mills | Nerve.com | Aug. 1
“This entails couples spending three or more nights together each week, while opting to spend the remaining nights in their own homes.”

5. Ultimate logic: To infinity and beyond
Richard Elwes | New Scientist | Aug. 1
“The mysteries of infinity could lead us to a fantastic structure above and beyond mathematics as we know it.”

6. The end of an era in Turkish politics
By Behlul Ozkan | Al Jazeera | Aug. 1
“Recent resignations by Turkish military generals may mark a change in the military’s historic role in politics.”

7. Triumphant Turkey?
By Stephen Kinzer | The New York Review of Books | August 2011
“Politically Turkey has changed more in the last ten years than it did in the previous eighty.”

8. Study: Crying Won’t Make You Feel Better
By Meredith Melnick | Healthland :: Time | Aug. 1
“[The study’s lead author] suspects that crying isn’t the physically cleansing act that many have assumed it is, and instead suggests that those who felt better after a waterworks session may not have benefited from the actual tears so much as the social support and showings of affection they elicited.”

9. Nuts and bolts
Free Exchange :: The Economist | Aug. 1
“If it really took this long for the leaders to get serious, then it’s hard not to conclude that the preceding months of partisan rhetoric, competing proposals and brinkmanship were an elaborate kabuki to appease the parties’ respective bases …”

10. Operation Barbarossa
Witness :: BBC News | June 22
“A frontline Soviet officer tells of what he saw the night that Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa – Germany’s invasion of the USSR.”

Happy Birthday to me, sort of

There’s still so much left to do, so much still to explore. Thanks for joining the party. I’m just getting warmed up.

“I resisted creating a personal, standalone blog like this for a long time.”

That’s how I began this blog, one year ago today. I’m so happy the resistance crumbled, the hesitation eased, and the words flowed.

I’ve used dozens of posts to write about the Civil War and mojitos, Yuri Gagarin and Eva Longoria, Michelangelo and Theodore Roosevelt.

I’ve written about Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream. “Mad Men” and earthquakes. Papa Hemingway and Papa Ortiz. Writing and writers. I’ve recommended great reads and remembered great places.

There’s still so much left to do, so much still to explore.

Thanks for joining the party. I’m just getting warmed up.

F.

TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. MISS YOU The Rolling Stones
2. COLOMBIA Jan Hammer
3. CRY Godley & Creme
4. TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT Genesis
5. RICO’S BLUES Jan Hammer
6. CARRY ME Chris DeBurgh
7. FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME Foreigner
8. CROCKETT’S THEME Jan Hammer
9. NOTORIOUS Duran Duran
10. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE Don Henley

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

The fate of the space station … Mission to Jupiter … A beach in Paris … Guide to a great clambake … A world with 7 billion people.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Space station will eventually end up in Pacific to avoid becoming space junk
Associated Press | July 27
“A Russian space official said … that once the mammoth International Space Station is no longer needed it will be sent into the Pacific Ocean.”

2. Juno’s Jupiter mission may yield clues to Earth’s origins
By Scott Gold | The Los Angeles Times | July 28
“Starting Aug. 5, NASA will enter the launch period for the spacecraft Juno, which will begin an unprecedented exploration of Jupiter’s secrets. ‘We are after the recipe for planet-making,’ says a scientist.”

3. Research Exercise: Did Grant Say This?
By Brooks D. Simpson | Crossroads | July 19
“Over the last week or so a quote often attributed to Ulysses S. Grant has made the rounds again. … My own take on this is that the quote rings false. However, I am curious as to its origins, and I think the matter deserves further research. And what does that research show us?”

4. A Beach Sweeps Into Paris
PlanetPic :: GlobalPost | July 28
“The Seine River — dotted by the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, the Tuileries Gardens and the Eiffel Tower — is transformed into a beachside resort enjoyed by Parisians and tourists alike.”

5. Let’s Have a Real Nice Clambake
By Mark Bittman | The New York Times Magazine | July 28
“Few meals are more beautiful than a well-executed clambake. And because demanding culinary tasks are in vogue, at least for a certain hard-working segment of the sustainable-food set, it seems like the right moment for a clambake revival.”

6. Qassem Suleimani: the Iranian general ‘secretly running’ Iraq
By Martin Chulov | The Guardian | July 28
“[T]the elusive Iranian with so much Iraqi influence that Baghdadis believe he is controlling the country”

7. Presidential historian indicted on federal charges
Associated Press | July 28
“Federal prosecutors said Thursday the two are also accused of stealing and selling documents from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in New York. They also stole Franklin’s letter to John Paul Jones from the New York Historical Society, prosecutors said.”

8. Army Hits Pause on ‘Wearable Computer’ Program
By Spencer Ackerman | Danger room :: Wired.com | July 28
“Debi Dawson, a spokeswoman for the Army office overseeing the Nett Warrior program, confirms that the Army has put the multi-million effort on pause.”

9. World population soon to hit 7 billion after boom in developing world
Associated Press | July 28
“By 2050, the population will reach 9.3 billion, and 97 percent of the growth will be in less-developed regions. …”

10. Fermat’s Last Theorem
Witness :: BBC News | June 23
“Solving the problem had intrigued mathematicians for centuries. In June 1993 a British academic, Andrew Wiles, thought he’d cracked it. But then someone pointed out a flaw in his calculations.”

TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. The Homemade Jamz Blues Band — Loco Blues
2. Mark Searcy — Truth
3. Joe Bonamassa — Man Of Many Words
4. Gurf Morlix — Drums From New Orleans
5. Nate Rodriguez & The Unlikely Criminals — Better Left Unsaid
6. Luther Allison — Low Down & Dirty
7. Scott Miller & The Commonwealth — 8 Miles A Gallon
8. Gene Reynolds — Bobby’d Be A Star
9. Rocky Benton — Have Mercy
10. Zack Walther & The Cronkites — Money Tree
11. Henry’s Swank Club — Changin All The Time
12. Giles — Nutbush City Limits
13. Chris Juergensen — Sweet Melissa
14. The Lost Immigrants — Dixie Queen

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

What was Machu Picchu for? … Intricate revenge … Haiti’s new president … Al-Qaeda on the brink of collapse? … Alexander McQueen’s gift to his dogs.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns
By Dan Bilefsky | The New York Times | July 25
“Soon after Seemona Sumasar started dating Jerry Ramrattan, she had an inkling that something might be wrong.”

2. Haiti’s new president lacks power base, disappoints voters
Associated Press | July 26
“Haitian President Michel Martelly has styled himself as a man of the people, a showy former pop star who waded easily into adoring crowds. So the reception he received on his latest trip to his country’s north was a surprise: Protesters pelted his entourage with soft drink bottles and rocks.”

3. The ’27 Club’ — curse or myth?
By Drew Grant | Salon.com | July 26
“Is Amy Winehouse the latest victim of the same force that killed Hendrix and Cobain? Experts weigh in.”

4. U.S. officials believe al-Qaeda on brink of collapse
By Greg Miller | The Washington Post | July 26
“U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al-­Qaeda to the brink of collapse.”

5. What Was Machu Picchu For? Top Five Theories Explained
By Ker Than | National Geographic | July 21
“Popular ideas include a royal retreat and sacred memorial.”

6. The Abortion Trap
By Mara Hvistendahl | Argument :: Foreign Policy | July 26
“How America’s obsession with abortion hurts families everywhere.”

7. Castro Offers a Wave at Cuban Fete, but, Again, No Speech
By Damien Cave | The New York Times | July 26
“For the second year in a row, Raúl Castro left the rhetoric to his vice president.”

8. Alexander McQueen leaves $82,000 apiece to dogs
Weird Wide Web :: GlobalPost | July 27
“Alexander McQueen, the fashion designer who committed suicide last year at the age of 40, willed $82,000 to each of his three English bull terriers, Juice, Minter, and Callum.”

9. 14 Not-So-Fun Facts About Mosquitoes
Surprising Science :: Smithsonian.com | July 27
“1 ) There are around 3,500 species of mosquitoes, but only a couple hundred feast on human blood.”

10. Elian Gonzalez
Witness :: BBC News | June 28
“The little boy caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between Miami and Havana. When armed US agents stormed his relatives’ home in Miami a photographer, Alan Diaz, captured the fear on his face.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

A very wet universe … Celebrating Gordon Wood … A century of studying Machu Picchu … The sound of a paranoid Nixon … The unknown Rick Perry.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. The High Road to Ruins
By Andrew Berg | Intelligent Travel :: National Geographic | July 7
“[O]ne eco-minded outfitter is turning the Camino Salkantay, a backcountry route through unspoiled ecosystems and undisturbed hamlets, into the Next Inca Trail—and setting a new standard for sustainable tourism in the Andes.”

2. Machu Picchu, Before and After Excavation
National Geographic Daily News | July 22
“The ruins of Machu Picchu are covered in jungle growth in this 1911 photograph taken when Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham first came to the site a century ago this week.”

3. Gordon S. Wood, Historian of the American Revolution
By David Hackett Fischer | The New York Times Book Review | July 22
“More important than his productivity is the quality of his work, and its broad appeal to readers of the right, left and center — a rare and happy combination.”

4. New recordings a window into Nixon’s paranoia
By Bill Plante | CBS News | July 21
“It’s no secret that Richard Nixon was obsessed with his enemies — but it turns out it started long before Watergate.”

5. Ten things you probably don’t know about Rick Perry
Texas on the Potomac :: Houston Chronicle | July 23
“Across the United States, Rick Perry is largely an unknown quantity.”

6. More Fancy Words
By Philip B. Corbett | Times Topics :: The New York Times | July 26
“The good news is that Times writers don’t feel the need to use the words panegyric, immiscible or Manichaean very often. That’s fortunate because the bad news is, when we do use them, a lot of readers don’t know what we’re talking about.”

7. Peru’s Garcia leaves conflicts unresolved
By Carla Salazar | Associated Press | July 27
“Economic growth averaged 7 percent a year during his 2006-2011 administration, inflation held at less than 3 percent annually and the government amassed $47 billion in foreign reserves. The economic numbers only tell part the story, however.”

8. Black Hole Drinks 140 Trillion Earths’ Worth of Water
By Michael D. Lemonick | Time | July 26
“We don’t think of the universe as a terribly wet place, but in fact, there’s water out in space pretty much everywhere you look.”

9. G.D. Spradlin, Prolific Character Actor, Dies at 90
By Douglas Martin | The New York Times | July 26
“In ‘The Godfather: Part II’ (1974) he played Pat Geary, the corrupt United States senator who defies the Mafia boss Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, telling Corleone he intends to ‘squeeze’ him.”

10. President Kennedy’s Visit to Ireland
Witness :: BBC News | June 27
“The Irish author Colm Toibin remembers President Kennedy returning to the land of his forefathers and being taken to the nation’s heart as if he were one of its own.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

A name seen from space … Prince Andrew … Jesus sightings … A fight over Guadalcanal … Arthur Ashe at Wimbledon.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. The tragedy of imperial retreat
By Tarak Barkawi | Al Jazaeera | July 21
“When the US withdraws from Afghanistan, don’t expect much help for the people it leaves behind.”

2. Sheikh’s Name Written In Sand Visible from Space
By Natalie Wolchover | Life’s Little Mysteries | July 21
“Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan, a billionaire Sheikh and member of Abu Dabhi’s ruling family, has had his name carved into the sandy surface of an island he owns in the Persian Gulf.”

3. Stephen Marche and Arthur Phillips on Shakespeare
The Paris Review Daily | July 21
“The cult of Shakespeare is one of the weirdest and most persistent in literature. This spring, Arthur Phillips and Stephen Marche each published books on the obsession. … They discussed their various journeys into the heart of this cult by e-mail.”

4. Prince Andrew’s Tabloid History
By Matt Pressman | Vanity Fair | August 2011
“Prince Andrew’s friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein … is only the most recent of his many public blunders. Whether it’s the company he keeps or his driving technique, Andrew usually makes the news for all the wrong reasons.”

5. Jesus sightings in food (and walls) – in pictures
The Guardian | July 21
“A couple from South Carolina have claimed to have found the image of the face of Jesus Christ on a Walmart receipt. Here are other examples of Jesus turning up in everyday life.”

6. Unmanned Navy boat has brains – and an attitude
By Hugh Lessig | Daily Press | July 21
“The Navy is advancing its development of Autonomous Maritime Navigation, using unmanned craft that can patrol waterways and ports without humans at the helm – and without humans at the joystick, for that matter.”

7. Long-Term Unemployment, by State
By Sara Murray | The Wall Street Journal | July 21
“More than one in three jobless Americans were out of work for at least a year in a handful of U.S. states that appear to be disproportionately caught up in the nation’s long-term unemployment problem.”

8. Mitt Romney’s Sad Tour of America’s Modern Ruins
By Elspeth Reeve | The Atlantine Wire | July 22
“To hammer President Obama on the sluggish economy, Romney has been touring businesses around the country that closed during the recession.”

9. Arthur Ashe wins Wimbledon
Witness :: BBC News | July 1
“In 1975 he became the first African-American man to win the tennis tournament. His friend and agent, Donald Dell, talks about that memorable match – and about what else Ashe might have achieved if he had not died young.”

10. Dogfight Over Guadalcanal
Secrets of the Dead :: PBS
“Deep in the jungle of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific … are the rusting remains of a World War II-era fighter plane. … Research confirms that the plane is the doomed Wildcat flown by James ‘Pug’ Southerland in one of the most heroic and legendary dogfights in aviation history.”

TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. Jason Ricci & New Blood — I’m A New Man
2. Stingray — Met Me In The Middle
3. John Mayall — Snake Eye
4. Storyville — Lucky One More Time
5. Dan Granero — My Baby
6. Pat Green — Me And Billy The Kid
7. Barely Legal — White Line Fever
8. Joe Galea — Wash My Hands
9. Max Meaza — The Long Goodbye
10. Texas Boogie — Adelie
11. Tim Gaze & Rob Grosser — Six Strings Down
12. The Bois D’arcs — Feel All Right
13. Zed Head — Shotgun
14. The Ramblin Dawgs — Steppin Up

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

A tropical Antarctica … Cuban gossip … A sunken island in the Atlantic … The generalship of U.S. Grant … Sex in a mosque.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Sex in mosque riles angry mob
By Patrick Winn | The Rice Bowl :: GlobalPost | July 18
“Villagers swarm mosque after teen couple discovered undressed in bathroom”

2. A City Steeped in Picasso’s Lore
By Raphael Minder | The New York Times | July 19
“Málaga hardly featured in Picasso’s adult life, but the city has still done its utmost to call attention to its claim to its most famous artist.”

3. An Asteroid So Big It Has Its Own Moon
By Alexis Landis | SkyTalk :: WHYY Radio | July 18
“Four years into its mission The Dawn Space Craft is orbiting an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The craft is orbiting the 330 mile long asteroid to collect data.”

4. Rick Perry Says He Has No Interest In VP Slot
By Jay Root | The Texas Tribune | July 19
“John Nance Garner, the colorful West Texas politician known as ‘Cactus Jack,’ used to say the office of vice-president ‘wasn’t worth a warm bucket of piss.’ ”

5. The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant and the American Civil War
By Richard J. Sommers | U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center
The lecture “analyzes the generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, identifies his many strengths as a military commander, and yet also acknowledges limitations in his leadership.”

6. Inside Rebekah Brooks’ News of the World
By Georgina Prodhan and Kate Holton | Reuters | July 16
“‘It was the kind of place you get out of and you never want to go back again.’ That’s how one former reporter describes the News of the World newsroom under editor Rebekah Brooks, the ferociously ambitious titian-haired executive who ran Britain’s top-selling Sunday tabloid from 2000 to 2003.”

7. Giant lost island found on Atlantic seafloor
By Tim Wall | Discovery News | July 18
“The island was created when the Icelandic Plume, a bubble of magma beneath the Earth’s surface, forced the crust up and out of the water. The land was forced up in a series of three steps, each one pushing the land 200-400 meters higher. ”

8. The Cuban Grapevine
By James Scudamore | More Intelligent Life | Summer 2011
“Today, in a nation where the only official media are state-controlled, Radio Bemba has become shorthand for the word-of-mouth information network, which is by far the quickest (and often the most reliable) way to find out about anything from baseball chat to celebrity gossip to news of the latest defection to the United States.”

9. When Antarctica was a tropical paradise
By Robin McKie | The Observer | July 17
“Geological drilling under Antarctica suggests the polar region has seen global warming before”

10. Secret war in Yemen
Witness :: BBC News | June 29
“In the 1960s British mercenaries joined the fighting in Yemen’s civil war. They trained local tribesmen to fight against Egyptian troops. Their activities were never officially sanctioned by the British government.”

‘A strange vanity’

Part 5 of this series focuses on John Newton, a British slave trafficker and later a minister who wrote ‘Amazing Grace.’

This special Stillness of Heart series explores the Morgan Library & Museum’s fascinating exhibit, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives.”

Part 5 focuses on John Newton, a British slave trafficker and later a minister who wrote “Amazing Grace.” Throughout his adult life, he struggled with his religious faith and with his views on slavery, and the diary captured in daily detail the long, tumultuous spiritual journey he made. In the end, as the exhibit essay explains, Newton simply hoped that someday he “would serve as inspiration to others.”

“I have been reading what I have recorded of my experience in the last year – a strange vanity. I find myself condemn’d in every page[.] But the Lord is good, O how gracious! How wonderfully has he born with my repeated backslidings! And yet the thought but faintly affects. What I can I will – Lord I am not able to praise thee, accept the desire, which I trust is thine own gift – deliver me from that pride, impurity & self seeking, which so fatally interrupt my progress.”

Examine images of the extraordinary diary and listen to the museum’s audio guide here.

Entries in this series:
Part 1: Introduction to the exhibit and Charlotte Brontë
Part 2: Frances Eliza Grenfell
Part 3: Sophia and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Part 4: Paul Horgan
Part 5: John Newton
Part 6: Mary Ann and Septimus Palairet
Part 7: Walter Scott
Part 8: Bartholomew Sharpe
Part 9: Tennessee Williams
Part 10: John Ruskin

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Rebecca Aguilar

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Gayle Brennan Spencer - sending random thoughts to and from South Austin

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Irreverent travelogues, good drinks, and the cultural stories they tell.

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Talking about some of the best publications from the Federal Government, past and present.

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Cadillac News, Forums, Rumors, Reviews

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bringing joy to family meals

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low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages

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North River Notes

Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.