Recently in History Category

A digital archive containing more than 41,000 recordings of Spanish-language songs produced between the early 1900s and 1950s became available online this week though the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.

The Arhoolie Foundation's Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican-American Recordings is the largest digital archive of its kind, according to the university.

"The Frontera Collection will be an invaluable resource for students, scholars and the public seeking to learn more about the Spanish-language musical heritage of North America," said Chon Noriega, director of the Chicano Studies Research Center.

Full-length versions of the songs may be accessed from computers on the UCLA campus or by students and faculty accessing the university's network through a proxy server.

Because of copyright restrictions, only the first 50 seconds of each song will be accessible from off-campus computers.

The online archive -- made possible by a $500,000 donation from the Los Tigres del Notre Foundation -- contains 30,000 recordings made between 1905 and 1955, and additional songs from 1955 to the 1990s continue to be digitized and added to the collection.

Joining UCLA in making the announcement was Los Tigres del Norte, a Grammy Award-winning norteño group and major funders of the digitization of the Frontera Collection's 78 rpm recordings.

"This collection will provide the next generation of Mexican and Mexican-American music artists with previously unimaginable access to our rich cultural history and, in doing so, will help them expand the appreciation of Spanish-language music even further in the future," said Los Tigres del Norte bandleader Jorge Hernandez.

Does the number 13 inspire a sense of dread? Do you find yourself missing work when the 13 th day of the month falls on a Friday? Seek professional help immediately.

Or, better yet, set your mind at ease by understanding the origins of Friday the 13 th, a date that was tied to ominous historical and mythological events and spawned a franchise of slasher movies. How Stuff Works explains the enduring legend of Friday the 13th. According to the article, the superstition has roots in fears of Fridays and the number 13 -- particularly in early Christian theology. One explanation: At the Last Supper, Judas, one of Jesus' 12 apostles, was the last to arrive, making him the 13th man at the party. Judas would go on to betray Jesus, who was crucified on a Friday. Earlier religious speculation posited that Friday was the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and when the Great Flood began.

According to Wikipedia's Friday the 13th article, the date has been considered unlucky to undertake voyages or start business ventures since the 14 th century.

The fear is widespread enough to have its own name, paraskevidekatriaphobia -- fear of Friday the 13th. It's not an official psychologically recognized disorder, but it is sure to make anyone a true stud or studette at a spelling bee.

So, what's the verdict on Friday the 13th as an unlucky day? It's all in the eye of the beholder. In the meantime, watch the "Friday the 13th" movie series on DVD.

Two hundred years ago this Thursday, President Abraham Lincoln was born, and coast-to-coast celebrations will mark the occasion.

Kentucky will host the U.S. Mint presentation of the redesigned penny -- one of four -- that reflects Lincoln's birth and early childhood in Kentucky.

Hawaii is putting on display a letter Lincoln wrote to King Kamehameha V expressing condolences for the death of the Hawaiian monarch's brother.

In Washington, Ford's Theatre will reopen after an 18-month renovation.

And diners at the Lincoln-Douglas Cafe in Springfield, Ill., can order a $2.12 plate of ham and bones -- just the kind of meal Lincoln ate, the cafe says.

Can't make it to Springfield by Thursday? You can turn your commemoration into a virtual party.

Smithsonian Connections has a list of links to Lincoln, including videos and virtual tours of Smithsonian artifacts (such as his famous stovepipe hat), and maps and stories of his connections to things and places at and around the National Mall in Washington.

Other links modernize Lincoln's memory. With Lincoln's iPod, you can read about and offer suggestions on what music the 16th president would listen to today and songs he has inspired. So far, his playlist includes "Ain't Got No Home" by Woody Guthrie and "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by Mahalia Jackson.

A Flickr link brings Lincoln celebrations across the country to you, showcasing photos from recent parades (complete with Lincoln impersonators) in honor of and historical landmarks linked to Lincoln.

Today is the first day of the Chinese new year, the Year of the Ox, an event marked by parades and fireworks the world over.

But centuries ago, that fanfare wasn't just celebration -- it was a safety precaution.

According to a History Channel account, "legend spoke of the wild beast Nien (which also is the word for 'year') that appeared at the end of each year, attacking and killing villagers. Loud noises and bright lights were used to scare the beast away."

But we're up against a different beast this year, and those noises and lights might not be enough.

Even though the year has a bullish sign, it lacks the element of fire, which Chinese mythology says is essential to financial well-being.

The concerns aren't only about the economy. Some fortunetellers predict earthquakes, rising U.S.-Russian tensions and a rough start for President Barack Obama, even though he was born under in a Year of the Ox, in 1961.

The problem is that the ox zodiac sign conflicts with a traditional Chinese divinity called the "God of Year." He is also the 44th president, a number the Chinese deem extremely unlucky, because "four" is pronounced the same as "death" in Chinese.

"The new U.S. president is not having good luck this year. His honeymoon will only be short-lived," said fortuneteller Alion Yeo, predicting Obama may even face impeachment in his first year in office. "The Year of the Ox looks slightly better and less dire than last year, but it will still be bumpy."

But don't count Obama out yet.

Malaysian numerologist Weng Shi Ming suggested Obama's birth year would offset his bad luck. Weng said the symmetry of 1961 is "the perfect mix of ying and yang," rendering Obama "immune to the effects of 44."

After all, the ox, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, symbolizes calm, hard work, resolve and tenacity.

So it might be a bad year for Obama, but what about you? Get your Chinese horoscope based on your zodiac sign (determined by your birth year). And get even more insight into your fortune by finding out what your element is. All you need to enter is your birth date and time.

If your element is soil, prepare for some good news in April, because while the Chinese year of 4706 lacks fire, it contains strong earth.

And if that's not enough luck for you, wait a day to clean your house and wash your hair. Chinese superstition holds that performing either task at the start of the year will sweep away your good fortune.

Confused by the fire, the yin and the yang of the Chinese calendar? Learn a bit about how the elements and numbers work.

The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said.

The 261 nominees from 222 countries include some of the most famous mountain peaks, lakes, and other attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Niagara Falls.

More than a billion voters are expected to join in Internet voting that will nominate 77
semifinalists for the top natural wonders, which will share in the glory already enjoyed by the seven man-made wonders chosen 18 months ago.

Votes can be cast through July 7. Registration on the Web site aims to prevent people from voting twice.

"We are calling on people all over the world to actively show their appreciation for our ... natural world by joining together to celebrate the most extraordinary sites on our planet," said Tia Viering, spokeswoman of the New 7 Wonders campaign.

The Swiss-based nonprofit foundation collected 441 nominations over the Internet since it opened the selection process in 2007.

The foundation then chose the top vote-getter from each country, making a list of 222 sites. The overall list rose to 261 with the inclusion of sites shared by two or more countries -- such as Niagara Falls and Lake Superior between Canada and the United States and the Matterhorn, between Switzerland and Italy.

A panel of experts, chaired by Federico Mayor, former chief of UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will reduce the list to 21 finalists in July.

The seven winners will then be chosen in another round of public voting lasting until 2011, this time by Internet, telephone and text messages.

Choosing world wonders has been a continuing fascination over the centuries. UNESCO keeps updating its list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 878 places.

-

A revamped government Web site offers a service that could help save your life.

The Associated Press reports:

It happens all the time: Filling out that clipboard at the doctor's office, you can't remember what cancer killed Aunt Sally or when Dad had his heart attack.

A good family health history is far more important than a gene test in predicting your future medical needs, but it's hugely underused. Today, the government begins offering a free new service to try to change that.
It will help people compile a family history at home, then e-mail it to relatives who can fill in the gaps and even pop it straight into doctors' computers.

It's private; users download the information to their own computers. Then they can e-mail a tree-in-progress to family members to fill in missing information.

And with a simple keystroke, relatives can "reindex" the tree so it shows the biggest risks for Cousin Bill's side of the family instead of the risks for Cousin Sue who started the project.

Finally, the tool is readable, even customizable, by many of the computer systems that doctors are using to create "electronic medical records," something Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt calls key to ushering in better quality health care.

Even if your doctor hasn't gone digital, keeping a printout of the tree's detailed information in a patient's chart still provides crucial information, such as steering someone away from gene tests they don't really need.

Daily Breeze columnist John Bogert, the sage of the South Bay, revealed a bombshell in his Jan. 8 column, "Too many are in the 'know-nothing' party." Among the startling revelations:

• The average score on a quiz administered by the American Civil Literacy Program, www.americancivicliteracy.org, was 49 percent out of a sample of a little more than 2,500 test-takers?
• This score was merely six (!) points lower than the average when said test was given to college educators -- people who had graduate- or doctorate-level scholarship in these subjects and later go on to teach this to the rest of us.
• The American Civil Literacy Program has mathematical proof verifying the Peter principle. A sample of 164 elected officials, on average, scored five points less than the general population.

Bogert, who admits to a "Jeffersonian" score when he took the test, provides a few questions to prep before taking the exam.

Now, tax your American knowledge. It's 33 multiple-choice questions and open-book, but there is the option of entering your ZIP code, income and education level.

Feel free to boast about your score in the comments.

Want to hear Cameron Crowe's thoughts on winning an Oscar or see how king-sized movie posters are assembled? How about a sneak peek at some of the exclusive exhibitions held at the film academy's Beverly Hills headquarters?

The newly revamped Web site of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which launched Tuesday. Film fans of all kinds are welcome, said AMPAS Executive Administrator Ric Robertson.

"It's for almost anyone with an interest in movies," he said. "Depending on the level of interest, there's something there for just about everybody."

The site is more than an extensive homage to the Academy Awards. Visitors can learn about the academy's vast film and script archives (both open to the public), discover educational programs for young filmmakers, glimpse artwork from upcoming academy exhibitions (Fellini's sketches are on view now) and meet the people who vote on the Oscars via video.

There's also a link to Oscars' YouTube page and a chance to receive automated Oscar trivia questions each day from now until the Academy Awards are presented Feb. 22.

"The Academy Awards is this wonderful, huge phenomenon, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't know what that is," Robertson said. "In a way, that makes it difficult for us to let the world know all the other stuff the academy does."

That's one of the reasons the organization embarked on an eight-month effort to overhaul its site. The group aims to spread the word about its year-round events that encourage appreciation of movies and the folks who make them in a way that appeals to film fans and filmmakers alike.

"We really serve very distinct constituencies: the research community, journalists and the industry," Robertson said. "But the academy is also an incredibly dynamic organization dedicated to movies, and it has an incredible amount to offer to those who just love movies."

Newsstands from Seattle to New York quickly sold out of Wednesday's papers declaring Barack Obama the nation's first black president as jubilant customers picked up two, three or even 30 copies as keepsakes.

The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune were among papers that restarted their printing presses to produce hundreds of thousands of additional copies across the country.

Entrepreneurs were seeking as much as $200 for The New York Times on eBay.com on Wednesday.

John Penley, a white man who recalled drinking out of the "wrong" water fountain as a child in North Carolina, searched New York's Lower East Side on Wednesday for papers to mark an event he never dreamed possible in his lifetime.

"There was one copy left at the bodega around the corner, and people were actually fighting for it," said Penley, a retired photojournalist. "I can't find a copy of any paper anywhere."

In Miami's diverse South Beach neighborhood, Books & Books manager Vivienne Evans said customers lined up even before the store opened.

"People were breaking down the door," she said.

In the South Bay, the Daily Breeze sold out, and -- together with its sister paper the Long Beach Press-Telegram -- sold an extra 25,000 copies Wednesday.

Say what you want about the Internet replacing printed newspapers, but saving a copy of a Web page on a disk isn't the same.

"What it really shows is there's a unique value to print," said Steve Hills, The Washington Post's president and general manager. "It's the ability to look at the whole thing and have a piece of history in your hands."

If you didn't make it to a newsstand in time to get your piece of history, it's not too late. The Breeze is one of many papers across the country selling reprints of its Wednesday front page.

When you order your copy, you can also buy T-shirts and coffee mugs decorated with the historic coverage.

Last week, the Daily Breeze's Sam Gnerre went through the archives and found photographs of old supermarkets, which inspired him to compile one of his many great Top 10 lists. He found the names of grocery stores that fed many households in the South Bay.

There was a time when supermarkets had names other than Ralphs, Vons or Albertsons, and a time when shopping at Whole Foods meant a whole year's salary and not just a whole paycheck.

Want to know whatever happened to such chains as Alpha Beta, The Boys and Smith's Food King? Their histories, along with other markets throughout North America, live on in Groceteria.

The site compiles a collection of photos and "commercial archaeology" from fans of grocery stores — a most ornery bunch. It also has a message board for fans to ask questions and share their own stories.

Grocery store fandom goes beyond Groceteria to the more photographically inclined. Flickr, the photo-sharing social network, has the group "Vintage Supermarkets, Grocery & Convenience Stores." It has a melange of old photos and present-day photos of older supermarkets extant and repurposed.