http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/01/26/edward_lengel_provides_the_many_myths_of_washington/ In the Congressional Prayer Room at the Capitol there is a stained-glass window depicting George Washington on his knees, praying in the snow at Valley Forge. Similar images appeared on a 2-cent stamp in 1928 commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Valley Forge encampment, and on the 13-cent Christmas stamp in 1977. Despite those depictions, it is a story with “dubious origins,’’ writes Edward G. Lengel in “Inventing George Washington,’’ his account of the myths and legends that sprang up to breathe life into a symbolic figure. There is the chopping-down-the-cherry-tree fable, and the use of Grant Wood’s absurdist illustration on the book’s jacket alerts the…

Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/   MARCH 16, 2011, 1:47 PM Grant Hill’s Response to Jalen Rose By GRANT HILL Associated Press Grant Hill currently plays for the Phoenix Suns. “The Fab Five,” an ESPN film about the Michigan basketball careers of Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson from 1991 to 1993, was broadcast for the first time Sunday night. In the show, Rose, the show’s executive producer, stated that Duke recruited only black players he considered to be “Uncle Toms.” Grant Hill, a player on the Duke team that beat Michigan in the 1992 Final Four, reflected on Rose’s comments.…

  Fact Sheet: New UN Security Council Resolution on Libya Susan E. Rice U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations U.S. Mission to the United Nations New York, NY March 18, 2011   Responding to urgent pleas from the Arab League and Libya’s citizens, the UN Security Council has approved a significant resolution — the second in less than three weeks — to address the outrageous violence being perpetrated by Colonel Qadhafi on the Libyan people.   Resolution 1973 provides legal authority for the international community to use force to protect civilians.   To halt the violence, the Security Council:   1)      Authorizes states to take all necessary measures to protect civilians…

Weekend full moon the biggest in about 20 years (CNN) — If the moon looks a little bit bigger and brighter this weekend, there’s a reason for that. It is. Saturday’s full moon will be a super “perigee moon” — the biggest in almost 20 years. This celestial event is far rarer than the famed blue moon, which happens once about every two-and-a-half years. “The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” said Geoff Chester with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. “I’d say it’s worth a look.” Full moons look different because of the elliptical shape of the moon’s orbit. When it’s…

http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/horsenation/ AFTER A LONG ABSENCE— THE HORSE RETURNS NOVEMBER 14, 2009–JULY 7, 2011 GEORGE GUSTAV HEYE CENTER, NEW YORK The story of the relationship of Native peoples and horses is one of the great sagas of human contact with the animal world. Native peoples have traditionally regarded the animals in our lives as fellow creatures with which a common destiny is shared. When American Indians encountered horses—which some tribes call the Horse Nation—they found an ally, inspiring and useful in times of peace, and intrepid in times of war. Horses transformed Native life and became a central part of many tribal cultures. By the 1800s, American Indian horsemanship was legendary,…

  Forty-six years ago, at 4:15 a.m. on November 4, 1956, Soviet forces launched a major attack on Hungary aimed at crushing, once and for all, the spontaneous national uprising that had begun 12 days earlier. At 5:20 a.m., Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy announced the invasion to the nation in a grim, 35-second broadcast, declaring: “Our troops are fighting. The Government is in its place.” However, within hours Nagy himself would seek asylum at the Yugoslav Embassy in Budapest while his former colleague and imminent replacement, János Kádár, who had been flown secretly from Moscow to the city of Szolnok, 60 miles southeast of the capital, prepared to take…