THE PEGASUS DAILY NEWS

[pegasus]

Ooops, my bad - Etruscan warrior prince actually a princess.



Archaeologists recently announced a stunning find: a completely sealed 2,500 year-old tomb cut into the rock in Tuscany, Italy. The untouched tomb held what looked like the body of an Etruscan prince holding a spear, along with the ashes of his wife. But the grave held a surprise, when bone analysis revealed the warrior prince was actually a princess!
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Since the Etruscans left no historical records, historians know relatively little about their culture that flourished in Italy until absorbed into the Roman civilization about 400 B.C. When the team removed the sealed slab blocking the tomb, they saw two large platforms. On one platform lay a skeleton bearing a lance. On another lay a partially incinerated skeleton. The team also found several pieces of jewelry and a bronze-plated box that researchers said might have belonged to a woman. The lance suggested that the skeleton on the biggest platform belonged to a male.

Then came the analysis of the bones. Shockingly, the warrior turned out to be a woman and the partially burnt skeleton on the smaller platform was a man!! It just goes to show how our culture's conceptions can obscure the actual facts. Lances go with men, jewelry with women. Never mind that in many African cultures, the men are more jewelry conscious than women. And this grave mix-up just highlights how easily both modern and old biases can color the interpretation of ancient graves.

Instead of using objects found in a grave to interpret the sites, archaeologists should first rely on bone analysis or other sophisticated techniques, according to Judith Weingarten, an alumna of the British School at Athens. "Until very recently, and sadly still in some countries, sex determination is based on grave goods. And that, in turn, is based almost entirely on our preconceptions. A clear illustration is jewelry: We associate jewelry with women, but that is nonsense in much of the ancient world," Weingarten said. "Guys liked bling, too."

So were Etruscan women the actual the source of the ancient legends of Amazon women? Hmmmm. Now I wonder what the scientific and archaeological communities think?

[pegasus]

Squirrel Awareness Month
Good evening from Tuxy and me

This is the 292nd day of 2013 with 73 days left in the year.

Today in History:

1765--the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
1781--British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.
1796--an essay appeared in the Gazette of the United States slyly attacks presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson that accused Jefferson of an affair with a slave, typical of the nasty, personal nature of political attacks in late 18th-century America.
1812--French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began a retreat from Moscow.
1864--Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek, Va.; the Union troops were able to rally and defeat the Confederates.
1869--the Prussian-born mining engineer, Adolph Sutro, began work on one of the most ambitious western engineering projects of the day - a four-mile-long tunnel through the solid rock of the Comstock Lode mining district.
1872--the Holtermann Nugget, a slab of slate weighing 235.14 kg, was found in New South Wales, Australia and contained 82.11 kg of gold, the largest mass of gold ever found.
1885--Charles E. Merrill, the American investment banker who helped create the largest brokerage firm in the US (Merrill Lynch), was born; died 1956 at age 70
1914--near the Belgian city of Ypres, Allied and German forces begin the first of what would be three battles to control the city and its advantageous positions on the north coast of Belgium.
1931--John le Carre, British spy novelist (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), turns 82 today.
1933--the Berlin Organization Committee introduce basketball to the 1936 Olympic Games.
1939--one of Frank Capra's finest films, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jimmy Stewart,, opened in the United States.
1944--the play I Remember Mama, by John van Druten, adapted from Kathryn Forbes' novel, Mama's Bank Account, opened at the Music Box Theater on Broadway. Marlon Brando made his New York stage debut at age 20 in the hit Broadway play.
1950--UN forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1951--Pres. Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.
1959--The Miracle Worker, based on the childhood training of deaf and blind Helen Keller, and starring Anne Bancroft and 12-year-old Patty Duke, opened on Broadway
1960--the US imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba.
1967--the US space probe Mariner 5 flew past Venus.
1969--Vice Pres. Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs."
1977--the supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City.
1982--automaker John Z. DeLorean was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, accused of conspiring to sell $24 million of cocaine to salvage his business.
1983--the US Senate passed a bill making Martin Luther King's birthday a public holiday.
1987--the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6% in value, to close at 1,738.74
1994--22 people were killed as a terrorist bomb shattered a bus in the heart of Tel Aviv's shopping district.
2001--two US Army Rangers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan in the first combat-related American deaths of the military campaign in Afghanistan.
2003--Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa during a ceremony in St. Peter's Square.
2005--a defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture at his trial in Baghdad.
2008--Retired Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican who was Pres. Bush's first secretary of state, broke with the party and endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president.
2011--in Greece, hundreds of youths smashed and looted stores in central Athens and clashed with riot police during a massive anti-government rally against painful new austerity measures.
2012--the Dow Jones industrial average had its worst day in four months, falling 205 points, or 1.5%, to 13,344, while Standard & Poor's 500 lost 24, or 1.7% and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 67 points to 3,006.

World News Capsules:

Pickup soccer in Brazil has an allure all its own
....Known as pelada, pickup soccer has long been a part of Brazilian culture, attracting players day and night who play for the love of the game.

Outspoken Chinese professor says he was dismissed
....Xia Yeliang, an economist, believes Peking University made its decision because of his public support for democratization and criticism of the Communist Party.

Lobbying bonanza as firms try to influence European Union
....As the European Union has emerged as a regulatory superpower affecting 28 countries, lobbying in its seat of power has become ever more competitive.

France says deportation of Roma girl was legal
....The French government said the controversial expulsion of a 15-year-old Roma girl with her family was legal but could have been conducted with more sensitivity.

Royal welcome in Great Britain for Malala

....Pakistani girls' education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, in the international spotlight since being shot by Taliban militants last year, met with another icon Friday: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Typhoon hits Tokyo area, killing at least 18

....At least 18 people have died and 44 people are missing after Typhoon Wipha pummeled the Tokyo area with the majority dying after heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides that blocked roads and crushed houses in Oshima, a small island 120 km (75 miles) south of Tokyo.

Prisoner swap frees Lebanese and Turks
....Lebanese citizens held by Syrian rebels were freed under the deal, as were Turkish pilots kidnapped by Lebanese gunmen.

Wave of high-profile crimes has put Malaysians on the defensive

....A sign in Kuala Lumpur warns of a common form of crime..Once one of Asia’s safest cities, Kuala Lumpur now finds that most residents have a story about a purse snatching, a burglary or worse.

Police force blocks a planned presidential election in the Maldives
....Election commission officials said they could not carry out the planned vote because the police had surrounded their offices and would not allow personnel to do their work.

Corruption in Peru aids cutting of rain forest

....Bribery and reversals of prosecutors' efforts by other officials have hampered the efforts of environmental investigators.

The Russia left behind
....Along the highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg — a 12-hour trip by car — one sees great neglected stretches of land that seem drawn backward in time.

Suicide blast in Somalia kills 15, police say

....The Shabab, the militant Somali Islamist group, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Saturday at a café in western Somalia, near the border with Ethiopia.

A Sri Lankan journalist eagerly toes the line
....Rajpal Abeynayake stands atop his nation’s journalistic firmament with an uncritical boosterism of the government. He calls himself the Rush Limbaugh of Sri Lanka.

Venezuela releases oil research ship
....The Houston company that chartered an oil research ship seized by Venezuela’s navy a week ago in disputed waters said the vessel and its crew had been released.

US News Capsules
1. California sees gridlock ease in governing
....New election rules in California, once a symbol of government dysfunction, may be having their desired effect of leaching some of the partisanship out of politics.
2. High school sexual assault case is revisited, haunting Missouri town

....An almost two-year-old sexual assault case involving a high school football player and a 14-year-old girl has come back to haunt a small town in Missouri.
3. US Army hones ant terror strategy for Africa, in Kansas
....The first-of-its-kind program will draw on the Army’s storied First Infantry Division, based in Kansas, to conduct more than 100 missions in Africa over the next year.
4. Low-cost B.A. degree starting slowly in two states
....The $10,000 degrees are available in Florida and Texas - but not for many students, not for many majors and not on the flagship campuses.
a. Deadlines for colleges are delayed
....Officials said they hoped the later early application deadlines would not only give some practical relief to students struggling with the Common Application, but also calm them down.
5. Kentucky's case of the missing bourbon
....Someone stole 65 cases of Pappy Van Winkle, one of the nation's most sought-after bourbons, from a warehouse in Frankfort, Ky.
6. San Francisco area transit strike stymies commuters
....The strike by employees of the Bay Area's main commuter railroad will force hundreds of thousands of people to scramble to find alternate transportation.
7. Early release of convicts stirs worry in Florida
....As the authorities search for two convicted killers freed recently by bogus paperwork, questions linger about who created the legitimate-looking documents, which exposed gaps in Florida’s judicial system.
8. Hit by low prices, lobstermen are at odds in Maine and Canada
....A surplus of lobster has pushed down prices and stoked arguments over the coast of origin, and even which flag’s catch is the tastiest.
o. JP Morgan Chase to pay #13 billion

....The deal includes a $4 billion settlement over allegations that JPMorgan Chase misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it sold them home loans, many of which soured ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.
10. Wrongly freed killers captured
....Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins -- two convicted murderers who walked out of a Florida prison on forged documents -- were taken into custody this evening at a Panama City motel, authorities said.
POLITICS:
1. States are focus of effort to foil health care law
....Conservative groups are increasingly taking the fight against President Obama's health care law to states like Virginia in an effort to block Medicaid expansion.
a. Driving a new bargain on health care
....The new health care law has snags, but there are ways for Republicans and Democrats to work together to improve it.
2. Texans stick with Cruz despite defeat in Washington
....Senator Ted Cruz’s defiance in Washington has only bolstered his standing in his home state, illustrating the growing political divide between Texas and the rest of the nation.
3. Democrats aim to restore immigration to agenda
....The possibilities for progress on the issue will be determined in the House of Representatives, where many conservative Republicans are frustrated over their meager gains from the two-week shutdown.
4. R.I.P. Rep. Bill Young, longest-serving member in House, dies at age 82

....Rep. Bill Young of Florida died Friday evening, his chief of staff said., at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center surrounded by his family. "The cause of death was complications related to a chronic injury," Harry Glenn said.
6. A defeated GOP wants to unite, move on, fight another day

....In a large conference-style room in the basement of the US Capitol, Republican members of the House, exhausted from more than two weeks of battling on the shutdown and debt ceiling crisis, met for one last time.

Sports Headlines:
1. For Jewish school's football team, it's Thursday night lights
....Players at one of the only Jewish religious schools in the nation to play the varsity sport reserve Friday evenings for Shabbat dinner. But the night before is set aside for the gridiron.
2. MLB: Cardinals' latest wave of power replaces big names with ingenuity

....The Cardinals, with an emphatic victory over the Dodgers, won their fourth N.L. pennant in 10 years on Friday night. “They have a system, and it works,” said A. J. Ellis, the Dodgers’ catcher, admiring the Cardinals in defeat.
3. NFL: From a bitter end to a fresh chance for Freeman
....When Tampa Bay released Josh Freeman, he was tossed from a sinking ship into a rescue boat: Minnesota Coach Leslie Frazier and the ownership desperately want him to succeed.
a. R.I.P. Bum Phillips, an astute NFL coach, dies at 90

....Phillips took over a downtrodden Houston team and took it to two consecutive American Football Conference championship games, then struggled with the New Orleans Saints.
b. To Jets' Ryan, the passer rating really does mean something

....Passer rating is one of the N.F.L.’s least-understood statistics. But Rex Ryan, the Jets’ coach, has cared about it ever since discovering its reliability as an indicator of team success.
4. NCAAF: Fordham enjoying renaissance, on a smaller scale

....With the help of full athletic scholarships, Fordham football, once known for the Seven Blocks of Granite, is off to its best start since 1930.
a. Grambling football team refuses to play game due to state of program
....The turmoil surrounding Grambling State University reached new heights on Friday, as the players on the 0-7 football team have reportedly refused to play their game this week vs. Jackson State.

Thought for Today
"To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something."
-- Walker Percy (1916-1990) American author

[pegasus]

National School Bus Safety Week
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me

This is the 289th day of 2013 with 66 days left in the year.

Today in History:

899--King Alfred the Great, Saxon King of Wessex in southwest England, is believed to have died on this date.
1440 --Gilles de Rais, French marshal who fought for Joan of Arc, was hanged for Satanism and the murder of 140 children. His crimes inspired the tale of "Bluebeard."
1774--the First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia, Pa.
1785--the first Spanish jacks, brought to the US as a gift from King Charles III of Spain, arrived in Boston, Mass.. George Washington's breeding of them resulted in the first donkeys born in America.
1825--the Erie Canal opened, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River in upstate New York.
1861--the legendary Pony Express officially ceased operations, giving way to the transcontinental telegraph.
1881--Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and "Doc" Holliday confronted Ike Clanton's gang in a gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. Three members of Clanton's gang were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded.
1905--Sweden and Norway signed a Treaty of Separation, and Oscar II abdicated as king of Norway.
1942--Japanese planes badly damaged the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands
1944--the US Navy beat the Japanese at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines after three days of what is seen as one of history's great sea battles. More than 30 ships were sunk, most of them Japanese including their last four aircraft carriers.
1947--Former secretary of state and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton turns 66 years old today.
1949--Pres. Truman signed a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.
1951--Winston Churchill became British prime minister for a second time, following his Conservative Party's narrow victory
1962--in one of the most dramatic verbal confrontations of the Cold War, American UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson asked his Soviet counterpart during a Security Council debate whether the USSR had placed missiles in Cuba.
1970--Garry Trudeau, only 22 years old, started his comic strip Doonesbury in 28 US newspapers.
1972--national security adviser Henry Kissinger declared "peace is at hand" in Vietnam.
1979--South Korean President Park Chung-Hee was shot and killed by his intelligence chief Kim Jae-kyu.
1980--Israeli Pres. Yitzhak Navon became the first Israeli head of state to visit Egypt.
1984--"Baby Fae".a newborn with a severe heart defect, was given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif., but she lived for 21 more days only.
1986--Donald Duck cartoons were sown in Communist China for the first time.
1990--the Soviet republic of Kirghizia \ changed its official name to the Socialist Republic of Kyrgyzstan, a title recalling the ancient Turkic origins of many of its people.
1994--Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali of Jordan signed a peace treaty before US Pres. Clinton/
2001--Pres. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.
2002--a hostage siege by Chechen rebels at a Moscow theater ended with 129 of the 800-plus captives dead, most from a knockout gas used by Russian special forces who stormed the theater.
2003--13 deaths in Southern California were reported as wildfires fed by hot Santa Ana winds flared into gigantic waves of flame that devoured entire neighborhoods.
2003--a rocket attack on the Al Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad, where US officials were residing, killed an American colonel, wounded 18 other people.
2005--the Chicago White Sox won their first World Series since 1917 by defeating the Houston Astros 1-0 in Game 4.
2008--Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels, died in Albuquerque, NM, at age 83
2008--US military helicopters launched a rare attack on Syrian territory, killing eight people in a strike Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."
2012--after leaving more than 40 people dead in the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy headed toward the eastern United States, with forecasters warning that it would merge with two winter storm systems to create a megastorm.

World News Capsules:

With snap of group photo, 3 members of advocacy group face trial in China
....Charged with illegal assembly, the members of the New Citizens Movement will be tried Monday in the first court test of how far the government will go to extinguish the group.
a. Chinese university defends outspoken teacher's firing
....Peking University’s dismissal of an economist, Xia Yeliang, has prompted questions about whether it was politically motivated.

Egyptian satirist returns to TV with careful barbs
....In his first show since the military ousted Pres. Mohamed Morsi in July, Bassem Youssef skewered the leadership with caution, in a test of what the government was prepared to allow.

In European spy uproar, 'Everyone does it' just won't do
....The uproar in Europe has obscured a new reality: The digital age has merely expanded the ability of nations to do to one another what they have done for centuries.
a. Amid new storm in US-Europe relationship, a call for talks on spying

....The offer was an attempt to defuse a trans-Atlantic dispute over eavesdropping by the US that has hurt its relations with Europe and prompted calls to suspend trade talks
b. Europe turns its eye to migration policies, amid another sea rescue

....The scale and urgency of the challenge was brought into stark focus by the rescue of more than 700 refugees overnight near Sicily.

Hard-line push to rid Indonesia of alcohol worries tourism industry
....Conservative Muslim groups say prohibition is part of their goal to create an Islamic state, and critics fear that lawmakers may support a ban to win over voters in elections next year

Iran executes 16 Sunni insurgents in retaliation for an attack
....Though the insurgents were not believed to be connected to an attack that killed 14 border guards the day before, an official described the Sunnis as “bandits linked to groups against the system.”

Earthquake, and much smaller tsunami, in Japan
....No major injuries or damage were reported after a 7.1 magnitude quake off the coast where the effects of the 2011 disaster are still felt

Roma, feared as kidnappers, see their own children at risk
....A backlash against members of the ethnic group has fed negative stereotypes, but many say it is they who must worry about losing their children. In case you don't already know, Roma are more commonly known as gypsies.

'Open games' in Moscow to test an anti-gay law
....An organization called the Russian L.G.B.T. Sport Federation plans to hold gay-friendly Olympics just three days after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Angry over Syrian war, Saudis fault US policy

....Saudi Arabia is threatening to break with the US and pursue a more robust role in supporting the rebellion against the Syrian government. But officials worry about alienating a friend and helping jihadists.
1. Saudi women rise up, quietly, and slide into the driver's seat

....In open defiance of staunch opposition in a conservative Saudi society, a small group of women on Saturday got into their cars and drove off, with some posting videos.

UN, fearing a polio epidemic in Syria, moves to vaccinate millions of children
....Officials said that the discovery a few weeks ago of a cluster of paralyzed young children in Deir al-Zour, a heavily contested city in eastern Syria, had prompted their alarm.

US News Capsules
1. For victim of ghastly crime, a new face, a new beginning

....Six years after being beaten and burned beyond recognition, Carmen Tarleton is adjusting to a transplanted face.
2. Drug tests falter as way for states to deny public aid
....Proposals to refuse welfare and jobless aid based on failed tests have proved hard to enact and have had a limited effect.
3. FDA bids to regulate animal food, acting after recall and deaths

....The Food and Drug Administration, hoping to prevent food-borne illness, proposed rules for pet food and farm animal feed.
4. Gambling debate entangles Disney in Florida

....The Walt Disney Co. has long argued that gambling tarnishes the state’s family-friendly brand, leading the fight against the expansion of casinos in the state, but it also owns the Marvel superheroes, whose images appear on slot machines.
5. Federal prosecutors, in a policy shift, cite warrantless wiretaps as evidence
....The contentious issue of government wiretaps done without a warrant has now moved a step closer to being legally challenged.
6. FBI begins inquiry to deputy's killing of 13-year-old boy

....The police said the boy was carrying a pellet gun that looked like an AK-47 assault rifle when the deputy fatally shot him in Santa Rosa, Calif.
7. Chinese company falling short of goal for California jobs
....B.Y.D. is employing some Chinese workers at its Lancaster, Calif., plant, and has been fined for paying them less than minimum wage.
8. Neighbors fight 600$ tax hike as building boom hurts coastal community

....Slave descendants on Georgia's Sapelo Island fear losing ancestral lands to high taxes, but a tax official suggests residents brought this on themselves. To fix the problem, he said, "the state has to create a special exemption for cultural communities."
9. Bottled water sales rising as soda fades
....By the end of the decade, sales of water - whether plain, flavored or carbonated - will surpass those of sodas like Coke and Pepsi
POLITICS:
1. Promised fix for health site could squeeze some users
....The White House said that it would fix the insurance marketplace by Nov. 30, raising the question of how people whose current policies do not comply with the law will get new coverage in time.
a. Health site woes undermine Obama's vow on government

....Flaws in the rollout of the online federal exchange could have serious implications for Pres. Obama’s promise of a more efficient government.
2. Immigration poses threat of another Republican rift
....A push to bring legislation to the House floor, led by a coalition of executives, conservatives and evangelical leaders, could affect campaign contributions before the midterm elections.
3. After year of working around federal cuts, agencies face fewer options
....As House and Senate budget negotiators sit down to devise a 2014 spending plan, politicians from both sides are preparing to think small.
4. Cruz takes his stand on the road to Iowa
....Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, argued that the battle over the health care law would invigorate Republicans in next year’s elections.

[ Thought for Today
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity."
—Marie Curie, (1867-1934).Polish-French two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist

[pegasus]

St. Jude's Day
Good evening from Tuxy and me

This is the 301sr day of 2013 with 64 days left in the year.

Today in History:

1628--after being besieged for months, the Huguenots at La Rochelle capitulated to troops of the French crown under Cardinal Richelieu.
1636--the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.
1746--the Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao were demolished by an earthquake, killing at least 18,000.
1775--British Major General Sir William Howe, issued a proclamation forbidding the residents of Boston from leaving the city.
1776--the Battle of White Plains was fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory.
1793--Eli Whitney applied for a patent for the cotton gin.
1858--Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.
1886--the Statue of Liberty, was dedicated in New York harbor by Pres. Grover Cleveland.
1891--an earthquake struck the Niphon Islands in Japan, killing 10,000 people and leaving at least 300,000 homeless.
1914--Dr. Jonas Edward Salk, American physician and researcher who developed the first polio vaccine. was born; died 1995 at age 80.
1918--t he Czechoslovak state came into being when the Prague national committee took over land upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.
1919--the US Congress enacted the Volstead Act, which provided for enforcement of Prohibition, over Pres. Wilson's veto.
1922--Fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.
1940--Italy invaded Greece during World War II.
1958--the Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected pope, taking the name John XXIII.
1962--Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the US that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
1964--St. Louis, Mo.'s Gateway Arch was completed.
1965--Pope Paul VI issued a decree absolving Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
1991--"The Perfect Storm" began forming hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia; lost at sea during the storm were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a sword-fishing boat from Gloucester, Mass.
1999--a powerful cyclone near India in the Indian Ocean suddenly intensified to the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane..
2001--the families of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack gathered in New York for a memorial service filled with prayer and song.
2002--American diplomat Laurence Foley was assassinated in Amman, Jordan, in the first such attack on a US diplomat in decades.
2003--firefighters beat back flames on Los Angeles' doorstep, saving hundreds of homes in the city's San Fernando Valley.
2003--the seven astronauts who died in the Columbia shuttle disaster were honored with the unveiling of their names carved into the national Space Mirror Memorial.
2003--a Soyuz space capsule carrying an American, a Russian and a Spaniard from the International Space Station landed in Kazakhstan.
2005--Vice Pres. Cheney's top adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, resigned after he was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements in the CIA leak investigation.
2006--the Boston Celtics' Hall of Fame basketball coach Red Auerbach died at age 89.
2007--Cristina Fernandez was elected Argentina's first woman president.
2008--former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to four months in jail for his part in a sex-and-text scandal
2009--Angela Merkel was sworn in for a second term as German chancellor.
2012--airlines canceled more than 7,000 flights in advance of Hurricane Sandy, transit systems in New York, Philadelphia and Washington were shut down, and forecasters warned the New York area could see an 11-foot wall of water.
2012--the San Francisco Giants won their second World Series title in three years, beating the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in extra innings to complete a four-game sweep.

Thought for Today
"I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery."
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).Swiss-born French philosopher

[pegasus]

National Model Railroad Month
Good evening from Tuxy and me

This is the 306th day of 2013 with 59 days left in the year.

Today in History:

1483--Britain's Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, was beheaded at Salisbury for his rebellion against King Richard III.
1721--Peter I was proclaimed Emperor of All the Russias.
1755--Marie-Antoinette, French queen consort to Louis VXI, was born; executed 1793 in Paris during the French Revolution.
1777--the USS Ranger, with a crew of 140 men under the command of John Paul Jones, left Portsmouth, NH toward the Irish Sea to begin raids on British warships.
1783--Gen. George Washington issued his farewell address to the Army near Princeton, NJ.
1841--following the British occupation of Kabul, Afghans revolted and murdered Sir Alexander Burnes and 23 others
1861--controversial Union Gen. John C. Fremont was relieved of command in the Western Department and replaced by David Hunter.
1865--Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, was born near Corsica, Ohio; died 1923 at age 5while still president and succeeded by Vice Pres. Calvin Coolidge..
1889--North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.
1917--British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressed support for a national home for the Jews of Palestine in what became known as the Balfour Declaration.
1942--Gen. Montgomery broke through Rommel's defensive line at El Alamein, Egypt, beginning of the end of the Axis occupation of North Africa.
1947--Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.
1948--Pres. Truman surprised the experts by winning a narrow upset over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.
1959--Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he had the questions and answers in advance of his appearances on the TV game show "Twenty-One."
1962--Pres. Kennedy delivered a brief statement to the nation in which he said that aerial photographs had confirmed that Soviet missile bases in Cuba were being dismantled.
1963--South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in a military coup.
1976--former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter defeated Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford, becoming the first US president from the Deep South since the Civil War.
1979--black militant JoAnne Chesimard escaped from a New Jersey prison, where she'd been serving a life sentence for the 1973 slaying of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster.
1982--a truck exploded in the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing an estimated 3,000 people, mostly Soviet soldiers traveling to Kabul.
1983--Pres. Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
1986--Norwegian distance runner Grete Waitz won her eighth New York City marathon.
1989--Gwendolyn Graham was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for killing five elderly female residents of the Alpine Manor Nursing Home near Grand Rapids, Mich.
2003--in Durham, NH, V. Gene Robinson was consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
2006--the Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after a man said they had had sexual trysts together.
2008-- Paula Radcliffe became the second woman to win the New York City Marathon three times; Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil won the men's race for the second time in three years
2009--Afghanistan's election commission proclaimed Pres. Hamid Karzai the victor of the country's tumultuous ballot, canceling a planned runoff.
2010--Californians rejected a ballot measure that would have made their state the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
2012--New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the New York City Marathon would be canceled due to the impact of Superstorm Sandy.

World News Capsules:

Comic finds new life, and punch lines, in Australia
....Sami Shah, who was making a name for himself as a comedian in Pakistan, left with his family for Australia not just because of death threats but because of his daughter’s birth.

Chinese doctors becoming the targets of patients' anger
....Doctors in China face violence at work from patients and their relatives who are dissatisfied over treatment. In growing numbers, physicians have been attacked, and sometimes killed.
a. China aims to fully mute Dalai Lama
....China aims to stamp out the voice of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, by making his words inaccessible to Tibetans by any means, a top official said.
b. China says terror group was behind Tiananmen attack

....A Chinese official said the deadly attack that killed five people was instigated by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
c. Strident video by Chinese military casts US as menace
....he film, “Silent Contest,” shows a senior Chinese military official criticizing military exchanges with the United States and warning that the Americans will use them for “infiltration.”

Kerry plans brief stop in Egypt, his first since military takeover, state media report
....Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Egypt on Sunday, a day before Mohamed Morsi, the deposed president, is to make his first court appearance.

A fiscal scold, Merkel softens tone at home
....Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is being pushed to accept policies that would sharply increase domestic spending, even as she shows few signs of easing austerity for the rest of Europe.

British media abuzz as phone hacking trial reveals Brooks-Coulson affair

....The courtroom claim that Rebekah Brooks, a protege of global media baron Rupert Murdoch's, and Andy Coulson, a former spin doctor for British Prime Minister David Cameron, had a six-year affair has set British media abuzz.
a. Tabloid hacked phone of Prince Harry's secretary, jury is told
....A message seeking help on a term paper led to an article in The News of the World, with some details left out, the prosecution said.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 4 Hamas militants
....Israeli forces responded after five Israeli soldiers were injured in an explosion while they were destroying a tunnel from Gaza into Israel.

Two French journalists are kidnapped and killed by gunmen in Mali

....Two reporters for Radio France Internationale had been interviewing a leader with a separatist group in Mali’s unstable desert north. Their bodies were found with their throats slit.

Drone strikes are said to kill Pakistan's Taliban CHIEF
....The killing deals a major blow to a group that has terrorized Pakistan and tried to set off a car bomb in New York in 2010, according to Pakistani intelligence officials and militant commanders. Four candidates are thought to be in the running to succeed Hakimullah Mehsud, in an opaque process rived with tribal rivalry and personality-driven tensions.

Russia to transfer detained Greenpeace activists
....The reason for moving the detainees, held since their ship was seized after an open-seas protest against oil drilling in the Arctic, to a St. Petersburg jail was not immediately clear.

Turkey and Iran signal a softening of differences over Syria
....While the two countries support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, their foreign ministers suggested that mutual concerns over rising sectarianism could bring them closer together.

US News Capsules:
1. [Climate change seen posing risk to food supplies/u]
....A leaked draft of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that climate change could reduce output and send prices higher in a period when global food demand is expected to soar.
2. No morsel too minuscule for all-consuming NSA

....The National Security Agency finds itself under intense pressure after disclosures of spying on allies and rivals alike, but it defends the wide net it casts.
3. Doctors fear losing leukemia drug deemed risky
....The Food and Drug Administration announced it would ban the sale of Iclusig, which is keeping patients alive but has grave side effects.
4. At Los Angeles International Airport, two paths crossed in a fatal instant

....Federal agents combed the airport for clues about a man wielding an assault rifle who killed a Transportation Security Administration officer on Friday
5. Oarfish offer chance to study an elusive animal long thought a monster

....Within five days, two oarfish were found in California last month, giving marine biologists a rare opportunity to study a lengthy and elusive big fish.
6. 344,000 minivans recalled by Honda for brake problem
....The recall, like an earlier one in March, is to fix a problem in the vehicle’s computer that could result in unexpected braking.
7. In the east at dawn, an eclipse on Sunday
....Early risers in the eastern United States will wake to a rare site on Sunday morning: a partial eclipse. A brief total eclipse will then sweep across the Atlantic and Central Africa.
POLITICS:
1. 2 Democrats split on tactics to fight military sex assaults
....As Senators Kirsten Gillibrand an Claire McCaskill mount fierce separate campaigns, the conflict has created an uncomfortable division between the Senate's women.
2. Ex-governor of Florida seeks old job in new party

....The governor's race will no doubt be one of next year's most expensive and rancorous, offering a contrast between Charlie Crist, a centrist, and Gov. Rick Scott, a Tea Party conservative.
3. Texas clinics stop abortions after court ruling
....After a court let new limits take effect, many clinics prepared to shut down, leaving those seeking their services distraught.
4. Republican rivalry simmers as paths and styles diverge
....The strategies pursued by Ted Cruz and Rand Paul could help determine whether the Tea Party remains at war with the GOP establishment or is eventually integrated

Thought for Today
"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons."
—James Thurber (1894-1961) American humorist and writer

[pegasus]

National COPD Month
Good evening from Tuxy and me

This is the 310th day of 2013 with 55 days left in the year.

Today in History:

1528--the Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked on a low sandy island off the coast of Texas and became the first European to set foot on the soil of the future Lone Star state.
1632--Sweden's King Gustavus II was killed during the Battle of Lutzen in the Thirty Years' War.
1789--Pope Pius VI appointed John Carroll bishop of Baltimore, making him the first Catholic bishop in the United States.
1854--John Philip Sousa, the king of American march music, was born in Washington, D.C.; died 1932 at age 77.
1860--former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the US presidency.
1861--Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederacy.
1861--James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, was born in Ontario, Canada; died 1939 at age 79.
1869--in New Brunswick, NJ, the first intercollegiate football game was played with Rutgers defeating Princeton 6-4.
1887--Baseball Hall of Famer Walter Johnson was born in Humboldt, Kansas; died 1945 at age 59.
1888--Republican Benjamin Harrison was elected president, beating incumbent Grover Cleveland in the Electoral College, even though Cleveland led in the popular vote.
1893--composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg, Russia at age 53.
1899--in New York City, William Gillette starred in Sherlock Holmes on Broadway and later on radio.
1903--in New York, the original stage production of Sir James Barrie’s Peter Pan opened and ran for 2 years with Maude Adams as its star.
1900--Pres. McKinley was returned to office, defeating Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
1906--Pres. Teddy Roosevelt left for a trip to Panama and Puerto Rico, becoming the first president to make an official diplomatic tour outside of the continental United States.
1913--Mohandas K. Gandhi was arrested as he led a march of Indian miners in South Africa.
1917--after three months of horrific fighting, the 3rd Battle of Ypres finally ended when Canadian forces took the village of Passchendaele in Belgium.
1928--Republican Herbert Hoover was elected president over Democrat Alfred E. Smith.
1928--Jacob Schick patented the first electric razor.
1955--police dispersed soccer fans in Naples, Italy, who tried to kill an umpire for awarding a tying penalty kick to the visiting Bologna team.
1956--Pres. Eisenhower won a second term by besting Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson at the polls.
1962--the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calling on all its members to end economic and military relations with the country.
1963--Gen. Duong Van Minh, leader of the Revolutionary Military Committee of dissident generals took over leadership of South Vietnam.
1977--an earthen dam burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls Bible College in Georgia, killing 39 people. .
1988--Soviet physicist and well-known human rights activist Andrei Sakharov begab a two-week visit to the United States.
1995--Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced plans to move the team to Baltimore.
1996--more than 2,000 people were killed or lost at sea when a cyclone struck India's major crop-growing state of Andhra Pradesh.
1998--Pres. Clinton declared that part of Detroit will become an "Automobile National Heritage Area."
2001--Billionaire Republican Michael Bloomberg was elected New York City mayor.
2009--unemployment rose to 10.2% in the U.S. in October, the first time the jobless rate had hit double digits since 1983.

World News Capsules:

Afghan militant group faces unusual discontent[/'u]
....The militant Haqqani network’s war against the Soviets more than two decades ago is still spoken of in reverential tones in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, but support has turned to resentment in some corners.

Behind those fast African growth rates, rising inequality
....There is a disquieting reality behind the “Africa Rising” narrative: The total number of people living in extreme poverty has increased.

Argentina finds a dictatorship's secret records
....The discovery of secret documents from the military dictatorship that led Argentina from 1976 to 1983 provides rare insight into the persecution of intellectual figures.

152 Bangladeshi border guards get death penalty over revolt
....The sentence was imposed on members of the Bangladesh Rifles in connection with a 2009 mutiny in which scores were killed.

Toronto mayor admits smoking crack, but won't step down as wild ride in office continues
....After months of denials, Mayor Rob Ford, who has been accused of many types of boorish behavior, told reporters that he had "probably" tried crack cocaine "in one of my drunken stupors," after a video fell into the hands of the police. He later apologized to city residents, but refused to resign.

After outside pressure, rebels in Congo lay down their arms

....The surrender offered new hope for a region where conflict has gone on for so many years that it has often come to seem almost inevitable.

European Union predicts anemic growth and high unemployment in 2014
....Economic growth in 2014 should hit 1.1 percent in the euro area and 1.4 percent across the European Union and continue to strengthen in 2015.

In a rediscovered trove of art, a triumph over the Nazis' willl
....Among the Nazis’ goals was to purge museums and ransack private collections, but as the years have gone by, art continues to be found, refusing oblivion.
a. German officials provide details on looted art
....The first glimpse of the collection brought astonishment but also anger and the initial stirrings of what will likely be a long battle over who owns the works.

Indian craft is lofted toward Mars, trailed by pride and questions
....The launch was a major step in India’s hopes to become the first country in Asia to reach Mars.

Iranian minister says nuclear deal is possible this week
....Two days before talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program resume in Geneva, the country’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, sounded an optimistic note.

Israeli court clears former foreign minister of fraud charges

....The acquittal opens the way for Avigdor Lieberman, a political powerhouse in Israel, to be reinstated as foreign minister by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
a. Kerry presses Israel on settlement construction
....Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to steady peace talks floundered after a dispute over Jewish settlements.

Qatari court orders temporary release of American couple
....The couple, Matthew and Grace Huang, are accused of starving their 8-year-old daughter to death, but they say the girl had been struggling with an underlying eating disorder.

Diplomats fail to agree on details for Syria peace talks
....Senior American, Russian and UN diplomats could not agree on a date for peace talks, nor were they able to decide on which countries should participate.
a. Deadly blast punctures picture of normalcy in Damascus
....A bomb in the heart of Damascus, the Syrian capital, killed at least eight people and wounded 50, the Syrian state news media reported.

United Nations group warms on emissions
....A report by the United Nations Environment Program says that greenhouse gas emissions must start to fall immediately to avoid more drastic and expensive action later.

US News Capsules:
1. US is losing advantage in spying, report says
....A congressional panel charged that the US intelligence agencies’ research-and-development efforts were disorganized and unfocused.
POLITICS:
1. De Blastso is elected New York City mayor
....The election of Bill de Blasio, the Democratic candidate, amounted to a forceful rejection of the hard-nosed, business-minded style of governance that reigned at City Hall for the past two decades.
2. Chris Christie re-elected governor of New Jersey
....Gov. Chris Christie won decisively, making impressive inroads among younger voters, blacks, Hispanics and women – all groups that Republicans nationally have struggled to attract.
3. Terry McAuliffe, Democrat, is elected governor of Virginia in tight race
....Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser, won by two points after outraising Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the attorney general, nearly two to one.

Thought for Today
"It takes a lot of things to prove you are smart, but only one thing to prove you are ignorant."
--Don Herold (1889-1966) American humorist, writer, illustrator, and cartoonist

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