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Chicago Tribune
10-07-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Jury selection begins in Scopes trial
Today is Thursday, July 10, the 191st day of 2024. There are 174 days left in the year. Today in History: On July 10, 1925, jury selection began in Dayton, Tennessee, in the trial of John T. Scopes, charged with violating the law by teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (Scopes was convicted and fined, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality.) Also on this date: In 1509, theologian John Calvin, a key figure of the Protestant Reformation, was born in Noyon, Picardy, France. In 1890, Wyoming was admitted as the 44th US state. In 1929, American paper currency was reduced in size as the government began issuing bills that were approximately 25 percent smaller. In 1940, during World War II, the Battle of Britain began as the German Luftwaffe launched attacks on southern England. (The Royal Air Force was ultimately victorious.) In 1951, armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean War began at Kaesong. In 1962, the first active communications satellite, Telstar 1, was launched by NASA. In 1985, the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk with explosives in Auckland, New Zealand, by French intelligence agents; one activist was killed. In 1991, Boris N. Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush lifted U.S. economic sanctions against South Africa. In 2002, the U.S. House approved a measure to allow airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit to defend their planes against terrorists (President George W. Bush later signed the measure into law). In 2015, South Carolina pulled the Confederate battle flag from its place of honor at the Statehouse after more than 50 years. Today's Birthdays: Singer Mavis Staples is 86. Actor Robert Pine is 84. International Tennis Hall of Famer Virginia Wade is 80. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson is 71. Rock singer Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) is 71. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 67. Actor Fiona Shaw is 67. Singer/actor Jacky Cheung is 64. Actor Alec Mapa is 60. Country singer Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts) is 55. Actor Sofia Vergara is 53. Actor Adrian Grenier is 49. Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is 48. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas is 45. Singer/actor Jessica Simpson is 45. Actor Emily Skeggs is 35. Pop singer Perrie Edwards (Little Mix) is 32. Actor Isabela Merced is 24.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Let's celebrate: Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year
Editor's note: This story was first published on June 21, 2013 Welcome to the best day of the year. Today is the summer solstice, the longest day. In North Jersey, we'll get more than 15 hours of daylight. Go ahead and gloat — that's nearly an hour and a half more daylight than Key West, Florida, will get today. For those who like daylight — pretty much everyone save Dracula — today is a day to celebrate. In past eras, they actually did. "The summer solstice was a carnivalesque feast day," said Pamela H. Smith, a European history expert at Columbia University. "In England, there were bonfires, lots of beer drinking, cannons being fired off, masqueraders — people dressed up as devils and demons. "Days like the solstice were important for ancient peoples in terms of trying to find patterns in nature that were important for their livelihood, like knowing when to plant crops. All cultures had megaliths like Stonehenge," Smith said. The Earth's orbit around the sun is slightly elliptical, but not enough to cause the seasons, said Carlton Pryor, an astronomer at Rutgers University. In fact, at the summer solstice, the North Jersey region is 94.4 million miles from the sun. At the winter solstice, it's only 91.4 million miles away. The seasons are caused by the Earth's axis being tilted at a 23.5 degree angle. When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, the hemisphere receives sunlight more directly, for longer periods, increasing temperatures. More: Make one of these 10 books that are set in New Jersey your next beach read for summer 2025 In winter, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away — even though it is closer to the sun in miles — so the light is less direct, more angled. The sun is lower in the sky and appears for fewer hours, causing cooler temperatures. On the summer solstice, the Earth's northern axis is tilted at its most extreme angle toward the sun. Today in North Jersey, the sun at its zenith will be at an angle of nearly 73 degrees above the horizon. On Dec. 21, it will be only 26 degrees above the horizon. The Earth's axis tilt also affects where the sun rises on the horizon. Conventional wisdom that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west is true only twice a year — at the spring and fall equinoxes. During the summer solstice, the sun rises at its northernmost point on the horizon. This morning in Hackensack, if you had faced due east, the sun would have risen about 32 degrees to the north (or to your left). At the winter solstice, it will rise 32 degrees to the south of due east (or to your right). Though the summer solstice once triggered celebrations, that's rarely the case anymore. After the Protestant Reformation in Europe, religious leaders started to call for an end to the celebrations. "A lot of Protestant pastors criticized midsummer night's eve, saying people were drinking too much, fighting," Smith said. Another reason we don't celebrate the solstice is the shift from an agrarian lifestyle. "We live in a more urban society, and we have colonized the night," said Sara Schechner, an expert on science history at Harvard University. "So we are not as bound to the cycles of nature in how we go about our lives." This article originally appeared on Summer solstice 2025 is here
New Statesman
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
The rise of the West
Illustration by Charlotte Trounce Wednesday evening, I am sitting on the Golborne Road with a Marlboro Light and a glass of wine. I wait for some tardy friends. Neither the cigarette nor the Riesling are a new affectation; the late arrivals hardly unusual either. The location, however… Until now, heading west was not to be undertaken lightly. West London was the land of peppercorn sauce and claret, last exotic in the 1980s, maybe? It was where George Osborne and Nick Clegg dinner-partied; it was plummy, ruddy, taxidermy incarnate. As London recovered from the downbeat Seventies, its winners drifted to W postcodes, transforming the urban nastiness observed by Martin Amis into something banal, staid, French. By 2016 London Fields (the neighbourhood, not the novel) had condemned west London to social irrelevance. Dalston's identikit wine bars were the chosen destination for the 2018 bourgeois bohemian. Broadway Market was a Potemkin answer to New York's East Village – with 70 per cent more foliage. E8 asked the urgent question: what if we sat on the pavement instead? Well, it's time to smack the big red VIBE SHIFT button. Hackney, I love you. But it's over. Just look to the restaurant scene, the best weathervane for London's ecosystem. Restaurants – the mayfly businesses they are – open and close faster than long-term trends can often identify, outpacing slower tells of change like architectural evolution and even the think-piece economy. And here on the Golborne Road is proof of concept. It has wrested itself out of the culinary doldrums, where it had been languishing since the 1990s. The social gravity soon will follow. Our reservation is at a new opening, the Fat Badger. I'll forgive a great restaurant its terrible name. Also in my eyeline from outside the Golborne Deli is 2024's Canteen (a kind of River Café-lite, but don't tell them I said that) and Straker's (deservedly celebrated since 2022). What precipitated west resurrection? Well, it all starts with the Protestant Reformation and then the emergence of a globalised capitalist… no, hold on. I suspect the explanation is uncomplicated: Hackney was desirable for the aspiring restaurateur in the 2000s because rent was cheap. It was disconnected, the graphic designers had not yet moved in. But as the middle classes looked east, the prices rose with them. Hackney became desirable because Hackney was desirable and so Hackney became too desirable. In this cosmic battle between competing poles, east was felled by its success. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The vibes-based explanation is slippier: contrary people set the weather, and what's more contrary than the belief that London's most hated postcodes might actually be its best? So, sitting in Ladbroke Grove over the weekend I wonder… is this cool? Geoff Dyer only lives down the road! Not quite. Go a little south and you'll find Fulham, the Privet Drive of the banker class. There is nothing recherché happening around Golborne Road either: our main course at the Fat Badger was still just roast beef. It is all a bit Blairite: two gastropubs – a ghoulish new Labour invention – have cropped up in the area, the Pelican and the Hero (both owned by the same imperial group as Canteen and the Badger). I pretend to know more about Amis than I do (a survival mechanism among colleagues as well read as mine). But I can tell you this: Amis's west London – the darts, the Black Cross Pub – has not returned with tremendous force. But nor has Keith Talent been entirely lost to the Bobo ascendancy. Both can be found in the Cow: at once a working-class pub and an expensive restaurant. And so, here I am on the Golborne Road, where the optimistic hedonism of New Labour meets the mannered sensibilities of Cameron's Conservatives. My friends still have not arrived. [See also: Los Angeles, Donald Trump and the moronic inferno] Related
Winnipeg Free Press
06-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Berliners are rediscovering their faith outdoors through local pilgrimages
BERLIN (RNS) — A dozen walkers, many of them retirees in wool hats and fleece jackets, gathered in a silent circle in the Grunewald forest, just outside Berlin. 'Walk silently through nature and notice what you observe,' read Stephen Lemke, an adviser for senior citizens for the evangelical church in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough of Berlin, on a Wednesday in March. He leads these 'silent pilgrimages' once a month for anyone interested in exploring the connection between religion, nature and self. The group bowed their heads. 'I hear the sound of the wind. I feel the sun on my skin. I enjoy the moment,' Lemke read. 'But at the same time, I realize that this moment cannot be captured.' After the meditation, they began an hourlong silent walk through the park. Around Berlin, Christian pilgrimage walks led by various organizations are open to locals and visitors nearly every week. They aim to offer a way for people of all ages to engage with their faith — and community — without stepping foot in a church. Some are guided by pastors with an interest in the outdoors, while others are self-guided with stops at churches or other sacred sites, like the Spandau pilgrimage. Some last an hour, while others are multiweek expeditions. ___ This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story. ___ Pilgrimages, which have gained popularity in the last couple decades across Europe, especially in southern Germany, provide a way for people in an aging and increasingly secular society to reconnect with their Christian faith. 'A lot of people won't go to church anymore, but they still are religious,' said Nicolas Budde, pilgrim pastor of the Kladow borough parish in Berlin. 'I think the church has to think about ways to talk with people about religion, and I think that pilgrimage is one way to do it.' In the 1500s, devout Catholics took long, arduous walks to visit sacred relics. Making the journey to a sacred destination such as Santiago de Compostela in Spain was an expression of Christian devotion, intended to prove one's worthiness before God and cleanse the soul of sin. But in 1520, Martin Luther, the German theologian and leader of the Protestant Reformation, criticized the practice. He argued pilgrimages had no basis in Scripture and were part of the greed and commercialism in the church that he detested. Luther believed God could be found anywhere and there was no need to visit a sacred site. Pilgrimages fell out of favor. 'In the Middle Ages, (pilgrimages were) more of an outside thing — you really wanted to know something from God, you wanted to praise him or you wanted to get forgiveness,' said Bettina Kammer, the public relations officer for the Protestant church in Berlin's Spandau borough. 'Nowadays, it's more personal — people have this feeling that they're looking for something, but they can't quite put a finger on it.' Pilgrimages have also gained popularity through movies such as ' I'm Off Then,' a 2015 German film, and the 2010 film ' The Way,' starring Martin Sheen. Both are about the world's most famous pilgrimage, the Way of St. James, or Camino de Santiago. In 2020, the Berlin suburb of Spandau launched its own 75-kilometer loop inspired by the Camino de Santiago, connecting two dozen Protestant churches and two Catholic ones. Berliners and tourists can walk, bike or canoe along color-coded routes linking the churches. Pilgrims can collect stamps at each church they visit. A pilgrimage can spark a spiritual experience, Kammer said. 'People begin just by walking, and then they sit down in a church and say, 'Well, it's starting to move me. I feel something. It's really a religious experience,′' she said, adding that these experiences are often reflected in churches' guest books. Budde, who pastors along the Spandau pilgrimage route, said that while a hike is the external act of walking a trail, a pilgrimage is an internal journey: 'One walks with feet, but one makes a pilgrimage with one's heart.' Thomas N.H. Knoll, another pilgrimage leader in Berlin, founded and runs the information office at the St. Jacobi Pilgrimage Center. Visitors can stop by for pilgrimage passports, stamps and a travel blessing before setting out on a pilgrimage in Germany or abroad. These types of journeys can help people find the courage to move forward physically and emotionally, especially when one is facing a tough life situation like a loved one's death, an illness, a conflict or a job loss, he said. Knoll also touts being 'transformed by experiencing nonavailability'— or spending time without one's phone. This can lead to deeper connections with nature and, therefore, God, he said. 'Humans are part of nature,' Knoll said. 'When we had a closer connection with nature, the spiritual was also present in everyday life.' Pilgrimages can also offer a chance for new friendships, especially among seniors, who often experience isolation. 'It's helpful for the elderly to not only keep moving physically, but also to connect with others in a meaningful, spiritual way,' Lemke said. From a religious perspective, these walks can serve as 'new temporary forms of congregations.' Young people who want to stay connected to their religion but don't feel at home in a traditional church can also benefit. Two years ago, Alexander Steinfeldt founded Berlin Pilgrims, a group for young people interested in hiking and reflecting on philosophical and spiritual topics. A lifelong member of Germany's Protestant church, Steinfeldt started the group when he was feeling disconnected from both community and faith. 'A foundation was missing in my life,' he said. When starting the group, he 'rediscovered both hiking and religion.' Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. The hikes start with a prayer and encourage spiritual reflections throughout. But, he said, 'You don't need to be very spiritual or religious to feel the changes in you when you enter the outdoors.' After the silent pilgrimage in Berlin's Grunewald, Lemke's group paused for reflection. One participant noted the subtle changes in the scenery that came with each passing day. Others agreed, speaking of the signs of spring — new buds on the leafless trees, bird song, a slightly warmer breeze. Someone else looked forward to a cup of coffee. By the end, the participants, some approaching 90 years old, had all met someone new or found a quiet moment of connection with God. Lemke closed with a prayer. 'Stand in the sun and feel its warmth. May the Lord be with you, like the ground that carries you,' he said. 'May the Lord be with you, like the air you breathe … like the bread that strengthens you … like the sun that makes your day warm and bright.' For some, these short prayers are a return to religion. 'Sometimes people come to me and say, 'Wow, that was my first prayer in 10 years,'' Lemke told RNS. 'So maybe it's a small way back.'
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Cambridge University appoints first Jewish professor of Hebrew
When Henry VIII established a royal professorship in Hebrew nearly 500 years ago, the idea that a Jew would fill the role at Cambridge studying the ancient language of the Israelites was impossible. 'It's not surprising, if you know that at the time of Henry VIII Jews were banned from England. So that was quite a technical obstacle,' said Prof Aaron Koller, who later this year will become the first Jewish occupant of the post since 1540. Henry's motives for founding the Regius professorship of Hebrew studies read like a chapter out of Wolf Hall, bound up with the aftermath of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and England's break with the church of Rome. Koller suspects Henry wanted to boost England's intellectual firepower after the rupture with the papacy, with Hebrew a critical tool for retranslating sections of the Old Testament and offering competing interpretations to those used by the church in Rome. 'I need to learn about the Tudor background to this, but about 10 years earlier he and Catherine had been tangling over the interpretation of Leviticus [a book of the Bible and the Torah] and whether their marriage was legal or not,' said Koller. 'For the papacy, Jerome's Latin translation had taken pride of place as the Bible. But as part of the Protestant reformation – [Martin] Luther was very big on this, and in England it happened as well – the thinking was: we have to go back to the original, so we want to read about it in the Hebrew and the Greek.' Royal attention could also be dangerous. After Mary I acceded to the throne, the body of one of Koller's predecessors as professor of Hebrew was dug up, charged with heresy and burned, in a sign of her regime's displeasure. But Koller said Henry's decision also reflected the status of Hebrew alongside ancient Greek and Latin as a classical language of scholars. Studying Hebrew allowed intellectuals to tap into thousands of years of literature spread across the world. Koller, who teaches at Yeshiva University in New York, said part of his new role will be 'convincing the British public that Hebrew studies is of broad interest,' regardless of background or religion. Koller said: 'One of the challenges we've had, politically and educationally, is that the idea of Hebrew has been tied in with a particular nation state in the past 75 years. 'While that has some advantages – suddenly you have 10 million native speakers of the language – it also has educational disadvantages because people are thinking, Hebrew is quite a political thing. Whereas no one thinks that about Latin, it's easier to sell it as politics-free than Hebrew, which immediately makes people think: what am I doing with this country of Israel? Do I like it? Do I want to go there? 'But part of my role is to say: Hebrew has a massively and really fascinatingly long history, and has nothing to do with the nation state that happens to exist today in the 21st century. 'You can study medieval Hebrew and be enthralled by the poetry and the philosophy without coming across as taking a stand on a contested issue.' Cambridge's archives include the priceless Genizah Collection of nearly 200,000 books, letters and documents, written mainly in Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, retrieved from a Cairo synagogue's storeroom at the end of the 19th century. Koller's own research has included an ancient Hebrew text discovered in a cave in Dunhuang, western China, alongside 40,000 Buddhist manuscripts. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Even during the centuries when Jews were banned from Britain, Koller said there were scholars of Hebrew working on medieval manuscripts in college libraries, although Jews were barred from academic posts until 1871. Geoffrey Khan, Cambridge's current Regius professor, said that until the 1930s the holder had to be an ordained Anglican, and until Khan's own appointment in 2012 the holders had been primarily biblical scholars. Khan said it was 'important to see Hebrew in a wider perspective, including ancient, medieval and modern manifestations,' alongside related Semitic languages and cultures. 'Aaron Koller has a similar interest in taking a wider perspective in his work. I am very happy with his appointment,' said Khan. 'This wider contextualisation of Hebrew in the broader cultures of the Middle East is, I believe, a key change to the profile of the Cambridge professorship of Hebrew that is significant for the history of the post.' Koller said: 'One of the things that attracted me to the job is that Hebrew, as conceived in the position, is not religiously aligned. It's a world cultural language, it's alongside Farsi, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic. 'The same way that we have classics – where we teach Greek and Latin because there are sources and texts that need to be accessible and of interest to all people who are interested in humanistic inquiry – the same is true of Hebrew, and Farsi, and Chinese. And that's how I see my role.'
