-
Dissident Poet From Hanoi Dies
Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien died October 2, 2012 in Santa Ana, California. Unlike other poets, he was denied a simple pen and piece of paper, much less a typewriter, by which to record his poetry. The infamous prison, “Hanoi Hilton”, and the other prisons of Vietnam in which he spent 27 years of his life, didn’t allow for the normal tools of the poet’s trade. Instead Mr. Thien had to memorize each poem in his head in hopes of one day being able to share them with the world. Thankfully for us he gained that opportunity eventually escaping the horrors that the Communist Party of Vietnam meted out upon him. His crime for which he suffered miserably year after…
-
Einstein’s God Letter
Below is an excerpt from the letter Einstein wrote in German in the year 1954. This letter, coined the “God Letter” by a Los Angeles-based auction agency, is up for auction on Ebay with a starting bid of $3 million. The World renown physicist wrote the letter to Jewish philosopher Eric Gutkind a year before his death. The letter sheds some light on the religious views he held towards the end of his 76 years of life. “For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a…
-
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) An exceptionally talented Irish playwright, who authored more than 60 plays in his lifetime. Shaw and his wife, Charlotte Payne-Townshend, settled in Ayot St. Lawrence in a house now called Shaw’s Corner. He was preceeded in death by his wife and he lived on there, at Shaw’s corner, until his death at age 94. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar in (1938). One of his plays was about the life of Saint Joan of Arc. The play, which is in the public domain, can be accessed below in pdf format: Play by George Bernard Shaw…
-
Saint Joan of Arc
ca. 1412 Domrémy, Duchy of Bar, Kingdom of France. Died 30 May 1431 (aged 19) Rouen, France (then controlled by England) Honored in Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Beatified 18 April 1909, Notre Dame de Paris by Pope Pius X Canonized 16 May 1920, St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome by Pope Benedict XV Feast 30 May Patronage Read More about Joan of Arc Biography
-
Largest Earthquakes Recorded
Chile, 1960 – Magnitude 9.5 Approximately 1,655 people were killed during the largest earthquake ever recorded. Thousands more were injured, and millions were left homeless. Southern Chile suffered $550 million USD in damage. The quake triggered a tsunami that killed 61 people in Hawaii, 138 in Japan and 32 in the Philippines. The earthquake ruptured where the Nazca Plate dives underneath the South American Plate, on the Peru-Chile Trench. Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1964 – Magnitude 9.2 This great earthquake and ensuing tsunami took 128 lives and caused about $311 million USD in property loss. The earthquake damage was heavy in many towns, including Anchorage, which was about 75 miles…