The Writer's Almanac for December 10, 2009


	Thursday Dec. 10, 2009



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	Twenty Questions by Maura Stanton Who wrote Heart of Darkness? And what's the name Of Dale Evan's horse? Why did thieves steal Charlie Chaplin's corpse? Can you explain Hieroglyphs in shells? How do you feel? How many grains of (popcorn, rice, sand) fill This container? Why did they auction off Maria Callas's underwear? Would you like a pill? Do you feel tired, perhaps? Is that bed soft? Can you remember your parents' wedding date? Your own? Like a glass of milk? Some champagne? How many rhymes in a sonnet? Something you ate? Who invented Bacos? Think it will rain? Lie back now. Shall I bring you some chips? What's the answer? It's rising to your lips. "Twenty Questions" by Maura Stanton, from Immortal Sofa. © University of Illinois Press, 2008. Reprinted with permission. (buy now) It was on this day in 1901 that the first Nobel Prizes were awarded. The first prize in literature went to Sully Prudhomme, who wrote melancholy, formal poems in French, and whom nobody reads anymore. He said, "In my soul rages a battle without victor. Between faith without proof and reason without charm." Since 1901, depending on how you count citizenship, 11 Americans have won the Nobel Prize in literature — Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O'Neill, Pearl S. Buck, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Czeslaw Milosz (who had dual citizenship in Poland), Joseph Brodsky, and Toni Morrison. No American has won since Morrison in 1993, and in fact last year the secretary of the Swedish academy publicly complained about American literature. He said, "Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world. … The U.S. is too isolated, too insular." It's the birthday of Emily Dickinson, (books by this author) born in Amherst in 1830. The famous recluse loved to read, and her favorite writer was Shakespeare, but she kept up with and admired her contemporaries in England and America. She liked George Eliot, Emily Brontë, and also Charles Dickens — she sent him a letter calling him "dear Dickens," to thank him for teaching her about using language. Her favorite contemporary poets were Robert Browning, John Keats, and especially Elizabeth Barrett Browning, another famous recluse. On the other hand, Dickinson had this to say about Walt Whitman: "I never read his book, but was told that it was disgraceful." And she said, "Of Poe, I know too little to think — Hawthorne appalls — entices […] of Howells and James, one hesitates." She said: "If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry." It's the birthday of poet Carolyn Kizer, (books by this author) born in Spokane, Washington, in 1925. She helped found a poetry journal, Poetry Northwest, and has published eight books of poetry, most recently Cool Calm & Collected (2001). And she chaired important institutions and won big awards like the Pulitzer Prize. But with all these distinctions, she is most proud of something else entirely: her performance of her work. She said, "Dylan Thomas was a success not because he was a great poet, but because he read magnificently. There are only a couple of women who read well, and I'm one of them. I'm modest about my poetry, but I'm not modest about my reading. I've worked hard to be good at it, and I'm proud of it." It's the birthday of Melvil Dewey, born in Adams Center, New York (1851). He went to Amherst, and to support himself there he worked in the college library, and he decided that it needed to be reorganized. At the time, there was no consistent method that libraries used to organize books. Some numbered shelves, some arranged books by size just to look nice, and some libraries tried to alphabetize the whole library, which meant that every time they got a new book they had to redo the entire system. Dewey saw a better way to do this, but for awhile, he couldn't decide whether to be a missionary or to put his time into reorganizing the library system. But he chose the latter, and he started to figure out a system of categories and subcategories, based on older ideas. As he researched, he wrote in his diary, "My heart is open to anything that's either decimal or about libraries." And he came up with the Dewey Decimal System, which is still used today in many libraries, a series of classifications divided and subdivided into subjects and assigned a decimal number to each book. It's the birthday of poet Thomas Lux, (books by this author) born in Northampton, Massachusetts (1946). His books of poetry include Memory's Handgrenade (1972), The Blind Swimmer: Selected Early Poems 1970–1975 (1996), and most recently, God Particles (2008). He said: "With modernism came this new notion that poetry is something that is not as direct or accessible, and poetry became something that needed to be deciphered, a kind of riddle. […] And, of course, a lot of people are put off by this. A lot of people read poetry, and they don't understand it and it makes them feel resentful. They also tend to think if they don't understand it that means it's good poetry because you're not supposed to understand poetry. […] You can have poems that are clear enough, accessible enough, that people can understand. The best of these are not going to be any less original than those poems that are obscure." Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.^® sponsor The Poetry Foundation National broadcasts of The Writer's Almanac are supported by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine for over 90 years. The Writer's Almanac is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media.

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Breaking News: Congress to subpoena White House gate crashers

News Alert
04:35 PM EST Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Congress to subpoena White House gate crashers

Lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee vote to authorize issuance of subpoenas to compel Tareq and Michaele Salahi to answer questions about the Nov. 24 incident at the White House state dinner.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/PSLW3N/5BEKN/V8CAZC/9Y335G/W6MR0/ZH/t

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Political News Alert: Congress to subpoena White House gate-crashers

News Alert
04:35 PM EST Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Congress to subpoena White House gate-crashers

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Political News Alert: South Carolina lawmakers decide not to impeach Sanford

News Alert
04:23 PM EST Wednesday, December 9, 2009

South Carolina lawmakers decide not to impeach Sanford

A panel of South Carolina lawmakers decided that Gov. Mark Sanford's conduct was not serious enough to merit impeachment. Instead, the panel has proposed a formal reprimand.

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Energy News Release (Region 4): EPA's Energy Star Buildings Mark a Decade of Savings

EPA’s Energy Star Buildings Mark a Decade of Savings

Plantation Baptist Church in Plantation, FL -- 1^st House of Worship with the Energy Star Label

Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – December 9, 2009) — Ten years ago, EPA unveiled a ground-breaking development in energy efficiency for the commercial marketplace – the first Energy Star building. To celebrate this important milestone, EPA is releasing the publication, Celebrating a Decade of Energy Star Buildings, which tells the history behind the Energy Star program and its development into a leading energy efficiency brand in the commercial marketplace. One of the buildings highlighted to demonstrate the diversity of types of Energy Star buildings is Plantation Baptist Church in Plantation, FL. In 1999, Plantation Baptist was the first house of worship to receive an ENERGY STAR plaque.

The Energy Star is available for 13 types of commercial buildings, including retail stores, hotels, schools, supermarkets and more. Nearly 9,000 buildings across the nation have earned the Energy Star for superior energy efficiency over the past decade and the numbers continue to climb daily. Energy Star buildings typically use 35 percent less energy and emit 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than average buildings.

Since 1999, Energy Star partners in the commercial marketplace have helped prevent nearly 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, equal to the emissions from the annual electricity use of more than 60 million American homes.

To obtain the publication: http://www.energystar.gov/decade

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Technology: Afternoon Edition

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Most Viewed Articles in Technology

1) AOL tries to navigate the Web it helped you find

Before it was AOL, it was America Online, and before it was America Online it was Quantum Computer Services, and before that it was Control Video Corp., selling online services for the Atari. Remember the Atari? Pac-Man? In Internet time, that was basically 10,000 years ago.

2) Apple Continues To Open Communication Channels About The App Store

We all know the App Store is broken. But we also all know that Apple is trying to fix it . Last night, Apple sent out notifications to iPhone developers letting them know that they had a new tool to share that will hopefully further open communications with developers.

3) Le Web 2009: Appsfire Announces iPhone App Star Award Winners

Here at Le Web in Paris, Appsfire just announced the winners of the App Star Awards , which were handed out by the startup to developers of iPhone applications who came up with some innovative tools for the platform.

4) Twitter Spawned 50,000 Apps To Date, Will Open Up Firehose For More

Twitter 's Director of Platform Ryan Sarver just took the stage at Le Web a couple of minutes ago, and shared some announcements with the audience about the future of the platform and the effect this will have on the ecosystem.

5) 60 Million People A Month Use Facebook Connect

Facebook's Director Development Network Ethan Beard took the stage at the Le Web conference in Paris to talk about the status of Facebook Connect.

6) Build the Space Elevator Above Volcano Thermals

David Bigelow is the name of a very smart and courageous aviator you've probably never heard of. In 2008, Bigelow used the hot air rising from Hawaii's volcanoes to fly a glider higher than 33,000 feet. Riding the thermal above these volcanoes, where air rises as fast as 600 feet per minute, Bigelow...

7) Google search results to include 'real-time' data

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Fresh information from blogs, news sites, Twitter and other popular hangouts will appear in Google's search results more quickly as the company aims to give people a more comprehensive look at what's happening on the Web.

8) About @EricSchmidt: Google CEO Gets A Better Twitter Name

Last night, we wrote about Google CEO Eric Schmidt joining Twitter . Unfortunately, he chose a truly awful name for his account, @eschmidt0. We wondered why he didn't pull some strings to get @ ericschmidt , an account which was under suspension and likely available. Well voila! Today he has done...

9) Vevo Gets More YouTube Love Prior To Tonight's Launch

Later tonight, Vevo , the "Hulu for music videos," being launched by YouTube and several of the record labels, is set to go live. But there's already some Vevo content appearing on YouTube itself right now.

10) Where Sticky Notes are Stored

Isabel Berney needs to know where Windows stores the Sticky Notes she creates, so she can make sure they're backed up.

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Opinions: Afternoon Edition

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Most Viewed Opinions Columns

1) Copenhagen's political science

By Sarah Palin
The agenda-driven policies being pushed won't change the weather.

2) Santorum's resurrection

By Kathleen Parker
He is sure to shake up the GOP's next presidential bid.

3) Clemency for Huckabee

By Michael Gerson
A reasonable act of mercy that has been horribly betrayed.

4) Obama's FDR moment

By Harold Meyerson
Obama's proposal only goes part of the way toward salvaging the economy.

5) Tiger's validation complex

By Eugene Robinson
The interesting and disappointing aspects of the golfer's taste in alleged mistresses.

6) Mr. Obama's jobs plan

ONLY ABOUT a month ago, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel took a shot at policy wonks who were picking apart the Obama administration's health-care plans. "The goal isn't to see whether I can pass this through the executive board of the Brookings Institution," Mr. Emanuel said. The remark i...

7) Health reform's heavy lifting

AS THE SENATE weighed whether to proceed to debate on health-care reform, we hoped lawmakers would take up an imperfect measure and improve it. So far they've done one but not the other. The first week and a half of debate has largely consisted of window-dressing Democratic amendments that win ap...

8) The medical bill you need to see

By Ezra Klein
Employer-provided health-care coverage is a wage deduction, not a benefit.

9) In Switzerland, towers of fear

By Anne Applebaum
There is nothing especially isolationist about the recent referendum on minarets.

10) The climate-change travesty

By George F. Will
With 20,000 delegates, advocates and journalists jetting to Copenhagen for planet Earth's last chance, the carbon footprint of the global warming summit will be the only impressive consequence of the climate-change meeting. Its organizers had hoped that it would produce binding caps on emissions,...

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Travel: Yoga and surfing in Brazil, debunking Romania's stereotypes, celebrating the holidays in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Michigan, enjoying New Orleans and more

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Travel Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009

SOUTH AMERICA
From lotus pose to hanging 10

Yoga isn't the only way to seek enlightenment on a Brazilian retreat.
• Details: Reaching and vacationing in Garopaba, Brazil
• All features from this week's Travel

• Travel's on Twitter: Sign up and be the first to read new profiles and updates as they publish.
• Budget Travel's Real Deals: Hawaii, Paris and Nice, Cambridge, Md., Santa Fe, Vancouver, B.C., and more.
• SideStep: Get time away with the best airfares, hotel rates and packages.
• JiWire: Log on with WiFi hot spots wherever you may roam.
• Print, email or text coupons for travel deals and discounts from washingtonpost.com.

LIVE DISCUSSIONS
Travel Talk
The Post's Travel Section "Flight Crew" discussed customs experiences, airlines altering flights, NOLA, Heathrow Express, fun in the sun and more.
• Submit a Question for Next Week | Past Travel discussions

EASTERN EUROPE
The new Romania: Think Italy, not Dracula

We put a stake through the heart of the outdated association between Romania and vampires.

ESCAPES
No place like a du Pont home for the holidays

A wealth of Christmas decorations and festivities are happening at historic estates in Delaware's Brandywine Valley and Chadds Ford, Pa.
• Details: Holiday events and accommodations in the Brandywine Valley
• Find all mid-Atlantic Escapes

SECURITY
Customs, simplified

Government programs are making the airport customs process easier for trusted travelers.
• The Navigator: Air security

OTHER HEADLINES
• Good times roll all day and night in post-Katrina New Orleans
• Budget Travel: Gift ideas under $35

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Ski Guide 2010

What's new this ski season? Explore our guide before you hit the slopes.
• Colorado's Arapahoe Basin is the destination for serious skiers
• Gallery: Snow for skiing? Who needs it?

A SNEAK PEEK AT THIS SUNDAY'S EDITION
Have yourself a merry Bavarian Christmas in Frankenmuth, Mich.

Willkommen to Frankenmuth, a.k.a. "Michigan's Little Bavaria," which might be the most spectacularly splashy Christmas destination this side of the North Pole.
• Where to stay, what to do in Frankenmuth, Mich.
• In Michigan, one cool bird

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Marketplace Midday Update, Wednesday, December 9, 2009

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MARKET UPDATE at 12:35 p.m. EST

DOW +10.58 Dow up ; NASDAQ -2.80 Nasdaq down ; S&P 500 -0.55 S&P 500 down

Marketplace Minute With Bill Radke
Watch Marketplace Morning Report host Bill Radke cram all the week's business news into a 60-second poem.

LATEST NEWS FROM MARKETPLACE

Listen to today's Morning Report | Marketplace

Morning Reading
To start the day, are big banks too big to punish as well? Plus, more on the financial regulation bill and seven companies that won’t make it to 2020.

LATER TODAY ON MARKETPLACE

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore talks with Kai Ryssdal about the economics of climate policy. He says if we want to save the planet, it's time to start saving serious money.
During the heyday of the housing bubble, examples of growing suburban sprawl were a dime dozen. But in the midst of a recession, are developers still clamoring to use farmland for shopping malls or housing complexes? Dusting Dwyer reports.
The Obama administration will extend TARP until October 2010. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the program is working, but the economic system needs further stabilization. Amy Scott reports.

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STORIES FROM MARKETPLACE MORNING REPORT

OMG, you're still using AOL for e-mail?
Like the brand of shirt you wear, your preferred e-mail address can send a message about who you are. Stacey Vanek-Smith explores why many of her friends and colleagues recently started switching e-mail accounts.

Volvo: A safe, quality brand for Geely
Ford is getting numerous bids for Volvo, including a consortium of American investors and Chinese car maker Geely. Alisa Roth explains the Swedish brand's appeal to suitors -- particularly Geely.

A new agency in financial overhaul bill
The House is considering a bill that would overhaul the financial industry with the use of a special bailout fund and the creation of a new agency. But some business lobbyists are worried about the number of regulators involved. Brett Neely reports.

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