Jamesetta Hawkins, born January 25, 1938 in Los Angeles to a teenage prostitute, never knew her father and grew up in various foster homes. She became a major recording and performance artist under the name “Etta James”. She passed away on January 20, 2012 in Riverside, California.
In June 1881, a brilliant comet streaked across the skies of the northern hemisphere. This image is part of a recently digitized series of illustrations by the French-born artist Etienne Leopold Trouvelot (1827-1895).
Other images show Jupiter, Saturn and details of the Moon and Sun. Another records a meteor shower that lit up the skies one night in November 1868. [See Trouvelot's Astronomy Illustrations]. All images were made available by the New York Public Library.
Trouvelot was less known for his astronnomical drawings, but more for his work as an amateur entomologist. This, however, had unintended results. As part of an attempt to produce silk in America, Trouvelot brought in gypsy moths from Europe — to be bred in the United States. Things went awfully wrong. Some larvae escaped and became an invasive species. To this day, gypsy moths are a devastating pest in America, destroying forest foliage in parts of the Southeast and Midwest, and in the northeastern United States.
I wish Trouvelot had stuck to drawing astronomical objects.
Unfortunately I only met Hal in his old age, but I am grateful for the time we were able to spend together. Hal was one of a few remaining witnesses of a very special time in popular culture, and American history: the Swing Era. Always gracious, supportive, friendly and willing to share from the wealth of his experience, he and his wife Marge were regular attendees and contributors to a series of public events I co-produced and directed. I will miss him dearly and remember him fondly. Hal left behind his wife of many years, Marge Takier.
Below is the first part of a three part mini-documentary made in 2001 of legendary Southern California swing dancers Hal Takier, Jean Veloz, and Freda Angela. Interviews were filmed by Erik Robison, Tip West and Mike Mizgalski and edited by Hilary Alexander. (Provided via YouTube):
Given the public uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the military campaigns in Afghanista and Pakistan, and the drug conflict in Mexico, last year was particularly bloody. Reporters sans frontières has released its annual tally.
66 journalists and 2 assistants were killed in 2011, which is slightly more than in 2010.
1,044 journalists were known to be arrested, which is almost double the number of 2010. The hotbeds were certainly the events of the “Arab Spring” during 2011. But reporters were also arrested, summoned to court and interrogated in connection with the demonstrations in Greece, Belarus, Uganda, Chile and the Occupy Wall Street protests in the USA.
“In some countries, bloggers have taken on a central role,” says Michael Rediske, the head of the German section of Reporters Without Borders. ”Especially when conventional media are strongly censored or international journalists are not allowed into the country.”
But the organization warns that Internet activists reporting in blogs, on Twitter or via Facebook have increasingly attracted the scrutiny of authorities and of violent groups. Five Internet activists are reported to have died in 2011, three of them in Mexico. 199 bloggers were arrested, and 62 were physically assaulted.
Rediske also points out that the number of countries with Internet censorship has risen from 62 to 68.
The most dangerous countries for journalists in 2011: Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Mexico.
Link: Reporters Without Borders (English Site)