Shawkan’s Trial Delayed Until 12/10

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

A journalist’s job is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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In a courtroom near Cairo, Egypt, earlier today (November 19), the case of photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid (“Shawkan”) was adjourned once again, this time until Saturday, December 10.

December 10 is also, coincidentally or perversely, International Human Rights Day, celebrated by the United Nations for decades. Shawkan’s story has so far been one of the denial of basic human rights by a nation allied with Western governments, but it also has been a story of many citizens stepping up and making certain that Shawkan’s story is heard.
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Today in History: Nov. 19

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was dedicated on this date in 1863, a few months after the Civil War battle was waged there. Senator Edward Everett was the keynote speaker, as it were, and he delivered a two-hour-long oration.

President Abraham Lincoln immediately followed Senator Everett’s with his own speech, one that took only two minutes to deliver. His ten sentences, the Gettysburg Address, is the one remembered to this date.

The photo at top was taken on that day by Matthew Brady. President Lincoln is seen at center, surrounded by onlookers. The website this is from highlighted him in light brown.

The address:
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From To-Do to Tah-Dah!

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The perfect to-do list: The one where the act of putting a task on the to-do list completes the task. It doesn’t exist.

There are websites for one to use to make to-do lists, apps for shopping lists (I own a not-very-smart phone, so I am an outsider to the world of apps), websites on which you can compile top 10 lists with friends. After one creates an account and logs in, not a single one of these websites offers “get a notepad or a scrap of paper and a pen and start writing your list” as the first item listed, so I guess they are indeed serious.
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