Every year, the Library of Congress selects 25 recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” to preserve for all time. This year’s list includes environmentalist field recordings (“Songs of the Humpback Whale” from 1970), prismatic hip-hop anthems (De La Soul’s 1989 album “3 Feet High and Rising”) and a series of how-to-run-a-campaign primers recorded by Republican Party leaders (GOPAC Strategy and Instructional Tapes from 1986-1994). That feels particularly important in the case of the Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville pho­nautograms from the mid-1800s, which are the oldest recordings named to the registry. Scott was the man who captured the first- ever recorded sounds by using a boar-bristle stylus to etch them onto glass and paper. His goal was to create a strictly visual record of sound, but 21st-century scientists have found a way to translate the etchings into audio. Unlike the phonautograms, many of this year’s registry recordings can be found on iTunes, including Al Green’s pining 1971 single “Let’s Stay Together,” Steely Dan’s 1977 breeze-rock opus “Aja,” Tammy Wynette’s 1968 ode to fidelity “Stand by Your Man,” and Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band’s 1971 trippy genre-mash “Trout Mask Replica.” The library has been adding recordings to the registry since 2002, and this year’s batch brings the total up to 325. (Fifty recordings were added each year for four years, with 25 added each year since. The recordings now being added are from nominations made in 2010.) Edward Meeker’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” has been added — the library calls the tune from 1908 the “unofficial national anthem of America’s national pastime.” The late Rev. C.L. Franklin joins his daughter Aretha Franklin on the registry with “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest,” a sermon released on three 78-rpm platters in 1953. Another important spoken-word recording, 1953’s “At Sunset” by Mort Sahl, is regarded as the first recording of modern stand-up comedy. There are plenty of powerful singing voices as well, including bluesman Blind Willie Johnson’s 1927 lament “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground,” and Tejano icon Lydia Mendoza’s haunting “Mal Hombre” from 1934. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/library-of-congress-selects-25-recordings-for-its-collection/2011/04/05/AFnso3lC_story.html

Lost Language, Political Voices and Earliest Known Recording Among 25 Named to the National Recording Registry April 6, 2011 news release listing the latest selections to the National Recording Registry at: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2011/11-073.html

Toledo Mud Hens celebrate 10 seasons downtown at Fifth Third Field The Hens' downtown house celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. And the key word, at least for the Mud Hens, is celebrate, since the move to Fifth Third Field signaled a seismic shift in the fortunes of the franchise, both on and off the field. Attendance shifted dramatically once the new ballpark was opened: In its first nine seasons, Fifth Third Field has helped produce the nine largest season attendance figures in Toledo's pro baseball history. And even the smallest season total, the 517,331 fans who came to the ballpark in 2003, is roughly 170,000 fans more than the largest attendance figure in any previous Toledo ballpark (343,672 at Swayne Field in 1953). Another change Fifth Third Field has brought about is the perception of the franchise, especially among area corporations. Neil Neukam spent nine years at Skeldon Stadium on the Mud Hens staff, and he said some corporations viewed their involvement with the team along the same lines as giving to charity. http://www.toledoblade.com/Mud-Hens/2011/04/06/It-became-a-whole-new-ballgame-when-Mud-Hens-moved.html

MUD HENS AFFILIATIONS
Detroit Tigers: 1936-39, 1949-51, 1967-73, 1987-2010
St. Louis Browns: 1940-48
Milwaukee Braves: 1953-55
New York Yankees: 1965-66
Philadelphia Phillies: 1974-75
Cleveland Indians: 1976-77
Minnesota Twins: 1978-86
MUD HENS POCKET GUIDE: General information, places to park, Muddy Shuttle, near-by restaurants.
Available at toledoblade.com http://zoominlocal.com/toledo-blade/2010/04/09/#?page=25&article=827556

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, and in furtherance of the ideals represented by Atticus Finch, the ABA Journal and The University of Alabama School of Law are proud to announce a new annual award: The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The Prize will be given annually to the published book-length work of fiction that best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. The Prize will also honor former Alabama law student Harper Lee for the role model she created for the legal profession, and for the extraordinary cultural phenomenon that her novel has become. A distinguished panel has agreed to judge this year’s Harper Lee Prize: David Baldacci, Linda Fairstein, Jeffrey Toobin, Morris Dees, and Robert J. Grey, Jr. The public will also have a role in selecting the winner: three finalists will be announced in June, after which the public will be invited to vote on the ABA Journal’s website. The winner of the public vote will be accorded the same weight as the vote of each of the judges. The Prize will be awarded on September 22, 2011, in conjunction with the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. The winner will receive a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird signed by Harper Lee.

Italy at 150 In Turin’s spacious Piazza Castello on March 17, 1861, the birth of Italy as a united nation was first announced. Amazingly, Italy, a country with a 3,000-year history, is also one of the youngest nations in the world. Till 1859 Italy was made up of eight separate states such as the Kingdom of Two Sicilies comprising Sicily and southern Italy, Papal states, run by the pope and supported by the French in central Italy, Lombardy and Veneto regions were ruled by the Austrians as was the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The only Italian-run ‘state’ was the so-called Kingdom of Piemonte and Sardinia. In 1859 Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, as senior statesman in Piemonte, master-minded a plan to unite Italy under one flag and create a new super power in Europe. He negotiated an agreement with Napoleon III of France in 1858 to oust the Austrians from Italy. In exchange for his support, France would receive the Savoy province and the city of Nice, the birth place of Garibaldi. By July 1859 Austrians were defeated everywhere except Veneto which they held till
1866. Garibaldi, the heroic military leader, was now called in to conquer southern Italy and to complete the job.
http://www.worldandi.com/subscribers/feature_detail.asp?num=27921

Places & Spaces: Mapping Science is meant to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. It has two components: the physical part supports the close inspection of high quality reproductions of maps for display at conferences and education centers; the online counterpart provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work. The exhibit is a 10-year effort. Each year, 10 new maps are added resulting in 100 maps total in 2014. http://scimaps.org/ The 7th annual Mapping Science exhibit (2011) is devoted to science maps that serve as visual interfaces to digital libraries. See winning entries at: http://scimaps.org/submissions/7-digital_libraries/10maps+quotes.html

Current exhibit and dates on display: March 7-May 24 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
September 28-January 28, 2012 University of North Texas, Denton http://scimaps.org/flat/exhibitions/

This year's Leafy Sea Dragon Festival will be held from April 15 to 24 in Yankalilla, South Australia. Leafy sea dragons are strange marine fish that look like seaweed. They have long projections from their bodies which act as camouflage as they swim gently through the warm water. They change colour to blend in with their surroundings. They are so named because they look like miniature versions of mythical dragons. Leafy sea dragons are slightly larger than their better known cousins, sea horses. When fully grown, they reach a length of 20 to 24cm. (8 to 10 inches). Male leafy sea dragons and male sea horses both nurture their partners' eggs until they hatch out. These delicate and lovely fish are protected as an endangered species in Australia. The Chattanooga Aquarium in Tennessee is the only body that has successfully bred them in captivity. http://www.the-latest.com/leafy-sea-dragons-festival http://www.yankalilla.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=199 See images at Bing or Google; also watch them on YouTube.