Facebook IPO - everything you need to know @mashable
Huge solar eruption caught on film (by itnnews)
International Letter & Petition to Asma al-Assad (by lettertoasmaalassad)
Bradley Garrett ( @Goblinmerchant ) standing atop Legacy Tower in Chicago. Wow! More later in the broadcast.
Günter Grass no longer welcome in Israel
Günter Grass is in trouble. The latest poem of the celebrated German author, “What Must Be Said,” published in Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung on Wednesday, is sharply critical of Israel’s policies toward Iran. Especially his notion that the “nuclear power Israel is endangering a world peace that is already fragile,” unleashed a storm of criticism that shows no signs of dying down.
Israel’s ambassador in Berlin, Emmauel Nahshon was immediately reminded of the “European tradition to accuse Jews of ritual murder ahead of Passover. Once upon a time it was Christian children whose blood was supposedly used by Jews to make Matzo bread, now it’s the Iranian people the Jewish state supposedly wants to eradicate”
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had harsh words for the Nobel laureate: “Günter Grass’ shameful moral equivalence between Israel and Iran, a regime that denies the Holocaust and threatens to annihilate Israel, says little about Israel and much about Mr. Grass,” a statement released by Netanyahu’s office read.
Germany’s most famous literary critic, Holocaust survivor Marcel Reich-Ranicki, thought about it for a few days before condemning the poem as “disgusting” and “horrendous nonsense to boot: Of course, Israel is very interested in world peace,” Reich-Ranicki writes in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Foreign Minister Westerwelle told a German Sunday paper that putting Iran and Israel on the same moral level was ‘absurd’ and Swiss historian Raphael Gross called the poem a “ballad of hate (Hassgesang).”
Leftist writer and songwriter Wolf Biermann regards the poem a “deadly sin of literature’ (literarische Todsünde) and warns that German Neo Nazis will take Grass into their hearts now.
Ouch! That’s gotta hurt when you’re a writer who had been known for many decades as an outspoken left-leaning critic of Germany’s treatment of its Nazi past.
That role had already been under fire since 2006 when it emerged that Grass had been a member of the Waffen SS in the final days of World War II - an embarrassment Grass had conveniently kept to himself for 60 years.
The funny thing is, many in Israel, too, oppose an attack on Iran but almost nobody - in the western world anyway - shares the opinion that Israel wants “to annihilate the Iranian people”.
So, what on earth was Grass thinking and is this really something that “must be said”?
Grass himself says he now feels hounded by the “journalist horde” and I don’t suppose it helps that Iran has started to praise the poem.
In a letter addressed to the “distinguished author,” deputy culture minister Javad Shamaqdari was quoted as saying: “Telling the truth in this way may awake the silent and dormant conscience of the West.“
A “truth” not many are willing to share.
Twice a week, the Pine Bush, N.Y., monastery opens its doors for a “day of mindfulness,” which includes lunch.
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe (by AssociatedPress)
- 3x Superbowl Champ
- 5 Superbowl appearances
- 2x Superbowl MVP
- 2x NFL MVP
- 2x NFL Offensive Player of the Year
- Most touchdown passes in a regular season (50)
- Highest touchdown-to-interception ratio in a single season (9:1)
- Highest single-game completion percentage
- Regular season or postseason (26/28, 92.9%)
- Most consecutive pass attempts without an interception (358)
- Most consecutive regular-season home wins (31)
- Highest winning percentage of any quarterback during his first 100 starts (76 wins)
- Most completions in one Super Bowl (32)
- Longest streak of games with 3 or more touchdown passes (10 games)
- Most career completions in Super Bowl history (100)
- Most touchdown passes in a quarter (5)
- Most touchdown passes in a half of a playoff game (5)
- Most touchdown passes in a playoff game (6, tied)
- Fourth-fastest player to reach 200 career passing touchdowns (he did so in 116 games)
- First ever to reach this mark before throwing 100 career interceptions (he had 88)
To just name a few…
