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Tuesday January 24, 2006

Spotlight: Happy 65th birthday to singer/songwriter Neil Diamond. The winner of a Grammy Award for his soundtrack to the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Diamond recorded more than 40 albums and sold over 100 million records. Before he became known as a singer, he gained some fame for writing "I'm a Believer," a song that became a hit for The Monkees. Diamond's first hit, "Solitary Man," was released in 1966. His newest album, 12 Songs – released in November 2005 – is his first album to debut in Billboard's top five.

Quote: "Songs are life in 80 words or less." – Neil Diamond

Word: alimony: payment one spouse pays to another upon breakup of a marriage; Neil Diamond was ordered to pay the largest recorded alimony settlement to his second wife – $150 million.

Saturday October 15, 2005;

Spotlight: Vergil, the poet who wrote the epic poem Aeneid was born on this date in 70 BC. The poem told the story of Aeneas, who, in Greek mythology, escaped Troy after the Trojan War and eventually made his way to Italy where his descendants founded Rome. Vergil died before he could finish his poem, which was 12 books long; though the poem is considered complete, many of the lines are unfinished. The most famous translation of the Aeneid is by John Dryden, the 17th-century English poet.

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Monday August 8, 2005;

Spotlight: Britain's ''Great Train Robbery'' took place on this date in 1963, as some 15 thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds (about $6m.) in cash, stolen from the Glasgow-to-London mail train. Thirteen of the perpetrators were captured and imprisoned. Some of them escaped prison, including Ronnie Biggs, who settled in Rio de Janeiro until 2001, when he decided he preferred to return to England even if it meant being back in prison. He remains in prison. The money was never found.

Quote: "There's a difference between criminals and crooks. Crooks steal. Criminals blow some guy's brains out. I'm a crook." – Ronald Biggs

Word:
bitter: a kind of ale; in 2001, Ronnie Biggs told the Sun that he was ready to return to England, saying that he would like to "walk into a pub... and have a pint of bitter."

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A Little Bit of Current Events

By Lisa Anderson Tribune national correspondent
Sun May 22, 9:40 AM ET

Eighty years after the Scopes "Monkey Trial," the battle between those who support the validity of biological evolution and those who oppose it rages on in Kansas--and in more than a dozen other states around the country. (story)

SHUNEH, Jordan (AFP) - Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority said Sunday they had agreed terms for a feasibility study on transferring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, to save the world's lowest sea from vanishing. (story)

Yahoo's Messenger 7.0 Joins Internet Phone Derby
By Leslie Walker

Sunday, May 22, 2005; Page F07

Everybody wants to be your phone company, but nobody's sure what a phone is anymore. Consider Yahoo's latest instant messaging software. Released in trial form last week, Yahoo Messenger 7.0 ( http://beta.messenger.yahoo.com/ ) lets users talk over the Internet for free to other Yahoo Messenger users, as well as send them text messages. To stage these Internet phone calls, both parties must use the latest version of Yahoo's messaging software (Windows only) and have a microphone or headset plugged into their computers. (story)

This day, 1883 marked the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge:
Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message; "What hath God wrought?" 1884

Big Firms' Ad Bucks Also Fund Spyware
Mon May 9, 7:55 AM ET
Blue-chip companies are sponsoring more than TV shows and golf tournaments to promote their products: They are inadvertently underwriting computer spyware too. (story)

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