November 2012
The famous, infamous, and (not-so-) ordinary people in the news
Michel Petrucciani: The "Mischievous Elf" of the PianoMichel Petrucciani was a French-Italian virtuoso jazz pianist. Musical from a very early age, he started humming before he spoke; he built a dramatic career that spanned several continents, played with many jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, and eventually received the prestigious Legion d'honneur in Paris.
What made it remarkable was that he accomplished all this while battling the disease osteogenesis imperfecta, which causes very fragile bones, and in his case, a stature of only 3 feet tall. Though he died young at the age of 36, he lived a very vibrant, somewhat hedonistic, and joyful life. Listen to his music in the trailer; for more info about him, see this YouTube documentary. |
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A Dangerous Day in the Life of an Aghan District Governor
Saleem Khan Rody is governor of one of the most strategic spots in Afghanistan. He has attracted major projects, including a $75 million investment in a power plant. The Taliban are out to stop him.
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Australian 99-Year-Old Priest is World's Oldest Active TeacherFrom Good: "Teachers as a whole are a pretty dedicated lot but 99-year-old Father Geoffrey Schneider, a teacher at Sydney's St Aloysius' College—a junior school for boys—sets a new bar. The hardworking Jesuit priest was recently recognized as the world's oldest active teacher by the Guinness Book of World Records."
He has no plans to retire. |
"Read, read, read, read!"
From Letters of Note: In 1971, a children's librarian named Marguerite Hart hoped to attract as many children as possible to the then newly-opened public library in Troy, Michigan. She wrote to a number of artists, authors, politicians, and other notable people with a request: to reply with a congratulatory letter, addressed to the children of Troy, in which the benefits of visiting the library were explained in some form.
An impressive 97 people did exactly that : Vincent Price, Pearl Bailey, Nelson Rockefeller, Kingsley Amis, Helen Gurley Brown, Pat Nixon, and Dr. Seuss are just a few of those who responded. The letters are surprisingly warm, interesting, sometimes funny, and inspired - and their authors unknowingly helped create an anthology that provides a snapshot of the cultural ideas of that time.
For a quick look at the original letters from Isaac Asimov, EB White, and Dr. Seuss, see this page. The entire collection has been scanned into individual PDFs by the Troy Public Library, and is available here.
An impressive 97 people did exactly that : Vincent Price, Pearl Bailey, Nelson Rockefeller, Kingsley Amis, Helen Gurley Brown, Pat Nixon, and Dr. Seuss are just a few of those who responded. The letters are surprisingly warm, interesting, sometimes funny, and inspired - and their authors unknowingly helped create an anthology that provides a snapshot of the cultural ideas of that time.
For a quick look at the original letters from Isaac Asimov, EB White, and Dr. Seuss, see this page. The entire collection has been scanned into individual PDFs by the Troy Public Library, and is available here.