Wikinews:Audio Wikinews/News Briefs/Workspace/archive/May23-29

US and South Korea to conduct naval exercises in response to warship sinking

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British ventriloquist Ray Alan dies at age 79

 * I never heard of Ray Alan, but based on his quote to the BBC, I bet he must have been an interesting person.
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State of emergency declared in Kingston, Jamaica

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Australian rules football: 2010 VCFL Country Championship - Bendigo vs. Gippsland

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"Black boxes" pulled from Air India plane wreckage

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Body cemented in barrel found in Toronto harbour

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Nicolaus Copernicus buried again

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California teen becomes youngest to conquer Everest

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May 25, 2010
This is the heading for the May 25 show. All files and conversations for this show will take place here. Today's cut-off time is 22:30 UTC. If you wish to contribute to today's show, I need to know before 21:00 UTC. I will be logged in around 18:00 UTC. If you want to add links to the stories you wish to read / write, please do so.

Slipknot bassist Paul Gray found dead in hotel room at age 38

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New BP oil spill plan

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6.5 magnitude earthquake hits Acre, Brazil

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Ukrainian basketball player Alexander Belostenny dies at age 51

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Musician David Byrne sues Florida governor over campaign song

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Washington politician Dino Rossi to announce US Senate bid

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On this day in history
Today is Towel Day, a tribute to the late author Douglas Adams. Why a towel? According to Chapter 3 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,


 * Music Credit Divertissement

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

May 26, 2010
This is the heading for the May 26 show. All files and conversations for this show will take place here. Today's cut-off time is 22:30 UTC. If you wish to contribute to today's show, I need to know before 21:00 UTC. I will be logged in around 19:00 UTC. If you want to add links to the stories you wish to read / write, please do so.


 * I'm gonna assume school is out based on the increase in articles here on wikinews :)

Attack occurs in Stavropol, Russia; at least six dead

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Jamaica: Violence kills at least 30

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Plane crashes into Toronto office building

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UK police announce arrest of suspected serial killer

 * this story is grisly and sad
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Oil spill in Alaska closes 800 miles of pipeline

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Oil spilled after ships collide in Singapore

 * No wonder gas is so bloody expensive, gas and oil companies keep spilling the stuff into the ocean.
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Iraqi Airways drops flights to United Kingdom and Sweden

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Irish Senator Kieran Phelan dies at age 60

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Mexican cartoonist Gabriel Vargas dies at 95

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Rollover on Illinois Route 59 in Naperville injures one

 * since when does it make the news that there are lousy drivers in Chicago? j/k :)
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Turkish shopkeeper saves falling toddler

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Volunteers collaborate in reconstruction of Lolol, Chile

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On This Day In History

 * Music Credit Toccata 3 by Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Frescobaldi! What a name! I mean, just say that out loud - (Gear-o-Laam-o Fres-ko-Ball-dee) - I wish that was my name - Today on Wikinews, this is Girolamo Frescobaldi! :) I hereby nominate Girolamo Frescobaldi as the greatest name in all of human history. OK, anyway, for OTDIH, I will continue my series of grisly executions lol, no, seriously though, I'm not morbid, it's just, well, they make for interesting history bits that just also happen to have fair use music on commons that somewhat relates to the subject matter :)''

In 1647, Alse Young became the first person executed for witchcraft in America's original thirteen colonies.

Very little is recorded of Alse Young; her existence is only known through her reputation as a witch. She is believed to have been the wife of John Young, who bought a small parcel of land in Windsor in 1641, sold it in 1649, and then disappeared from the town records. She had a daughter, Alice Young Beamon, who, sadly, would also be accused of witchcraft in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, some 30 years later.

Like many similar cases of witchcraft, Alse Young was a woman without a son when the accusation was lodged, which implied that she would be eligible to receive through inheritance her husband's estate. Historical record hints at the possibility that there may have also been some sort of epidemic in the town of Windsor in early 1647.

Alse Young was hanged at the Meeting House Square in Hartford, Connecticut, on what is now the site of the Old State House and the second town clerk of Windsor, Matthew Grant, recorded the execution with a May 26, 1647 diary entry, stating simply "Alse Young was hanged."

Witchcraft became punishable by death in the Connecticut Colony in 1642, and this capital offense was backed by references to the King James version of the Bible: Exodus (22:18) saying, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" and Leviticus (20:27) stating, "A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood (shall be) upon them."

In Connecticut, the crime of witchcraft was listed as a capital crimes until as late as 1750 when it was finally removed from the law.

May 27, 2010
This is the heading for the May 27 show. All files and conversations for this show will take place here. Today's cut-off time is 22:30 UTC. If you wish to contribute to today's show, I need to know before 21:00 UTC. I will be logged in around 19:00 UTC. If you want to add links to the stories you wish to read / write, please do so.


 * I've been logged in early today but will be heading out for some lunch and will be back on around 21:00 UTC. Turtlestack (talk) 18:06, 27 May 2010 (UTC)


 * This is gonna be a nice, meaty show today - I'm liking the increase in articles being written :) Turtlestack (talk) 20:58, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm recording right now but will keep checking in of any new stories drop Turtlestack (talk) 21:14, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Head of US Minerals Management Service resigns following BP oil spill response

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BP says Gulf oil spill slowed as estimates of oil spilled increase

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Obama to suspend Arctic oil drilling

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Vanuatu hit by 7.2 magnitude earthquake

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Sudanese president sworn in to another term

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Blagojevich defense team wants to restart jury selection in Illinois corruption trial

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Bottled water concerns health experts

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Art Linkletter, creator of "Kids Say the Darndest Things", dies peacefully at 97

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Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center

 * audio credit NASA Multimedia Archive
 * adding "STS-132 was commanded by Kenneth Ham, piolited by Dominic A. "Tony" Antonelli, and the four mission specalisists were Garrett Reisman, Michael T. Good (who replaced Karen Nyberg due to a temporary medical condition), Stephen G. Bowen and Piers Sellers. This was at least the second time all of the crew had ridden aboard a previous shuttle mission and was Sellers's third trip to space." source.
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On This Day In History

 * Music Credit The Modest Blue Shawl

In 1884, Max Brod was born in Prague. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is most famous as a friend, biographer, and literary executor of Franz Kafka.

Brod was a German speaking Jew who had studied law at the German Charles-Ferdinand University, graduating in 1907. By 1924 he was already an established writer and also worked as a critic.

In 1939, as the Nazis took over Prague, Brod and his wife Elsa fled to Palestine, settling in Tel Aviv, where he continued to write and worked as a dramaturg for the Israeli national theatre for 30 years. When Elsa died in 1942, Brod was supported by his close companion Felix Weltsch, a friendship which had lasted 75 years from their days in Elementry school in Prague.

However, Brod's most famous friendship was with Franz Kafka, one of the most influential fiction writers of the early 20th century. Brod first met Kafka on October 23, 1902, when both were students at Charles University. Brod had been giving a lecture at the German students' hall on Arthur Schopenhaue when Kafka addressed him after the lecture and accompanied him home.

From then on, Brod and Kafka met frequently, often even daily, and remained close friends until Kafka's death in 1924. Kafka was a frequent guest in Brod's parents' house and it was here that he met his future girlfriend and fiancée Felice Bauer, a cousin of Brod's brother-in-law. Brod, Kafka and Brod's long time friend Felix Weltsch constituted the so-called "close Prague circle" of friends.

Unlike Kafka, Brod rapidly became a prolific, successful published writer. His first novel and fourth book overall, was published in 1908 when he was only 24, and was celebrated in Berlin literary circles as a masterpiece of expressionism.

During Kafka's lifetime, Brod tried repeatedly to reassure Kafka in rejecting his doubts about his own literary efforts, as he unselfishly promoted other writers and musicians, and Brod pushed Kafka to publish his work. Before even a line of Kafka's work had been published, Brod had already praised him as "the greatest poet of our time", ranking with Goethe or Tolstoy.

The two also tried, but failed, to arrange common literary projects but notwithstanding their inability to write in tandem, which stemmed from clashing literary and personal philosophies, they were able to publish one chapter from an attempted travelogue in May 1912, for which Kafka wrote the introduction.

On Kafka's death in 1924 Brod was the administrator of the estate and preserved his unpublished works from incineration despite what was stipulated in the will. He defended this course by saying that when Kafka asked him to burn his papers, he told him he would not carry out this wish, adding, "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely and finally determined that his instructions should stand". When Brod fled Prague in 1939, he took with him a suitcase of Kafka's papers, some of which he later edited and published in 6 volumes of collected works.

In 1937 Brod wrote the first biography of Kafka, and he always resisted one-sided interpretation of Kafka, hating the term "Kafkaesque," arguing that it presented a picture of the man and his work contradicted by his own intimate knowledge.

On December 20, 1968, Brod died in Tel Aviv at the age of 84.

May 28, 2010
This is the heading for the May 28 show. All files and conversations for this show will take place here. Today's cut-off time is 22:30 UTC. If you wish to contribute to today's show, I need to know before 21:00 UTC. I will be logged in around 19:00 UTC. If you want to add links to the stories you wish to read / write, please do so.
 * I'm gonna be late today since work ran long and I still have errands and such to do today Turtlestack (talk) 20:11, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
 * WOW! I just realized my show notes for this episode suck. Sorry about that, I guess I just did too much of it off line in Notepad ++ :) Turtlestack (talk) 06:43, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Experimental aircraft breaks record for hypersonic flight

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US Representative Joe Sestak allegedly offered job by Obama to stay out of Senate election

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Suspected serial killer appears in British court

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At least 65 dead after train derailment in West Bengal, India

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UK Conservative party wins last seat in 2010 general election

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Foxconn under pressure after tenth employee suicide this year

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California Senate prohibits sports drinks in public schools

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NCAA Basketball: University of Connecticut cited for eight major rules violations

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US actor Gary Coleman dies aged 42

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On This Day In History
The Battle of the Eclipse took place at the Halys River in 585 BC between the Medes and the Lydians.

May 29, 2010
I will not be around this weekend due to the holiday. I will be back at the microphone on Monday. Have a good weekend everyone! Turtlestack (talk) 05:03, 29 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I might try these shows if that's ok --RockerballAustralia c 06:06, 29 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Sweet! I can't wait to hear them. Turtlestack (talk) 06:44, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Promo
done

Today on Wikinews : Guatemala's Pacaya Volcano erupts, the US Supreme Court rejects Rob Blagojeviches motion to delay his corruption trial, Malawis president pardons a jailed gay couple and American Dennis Hpper dies.

Today is Saturday, May 29th, 2010. I'm Patrick Gillett and this is Wikinews.

Pacaya volcano erupts; "state of public calamity" decreed
The Pacaya Volcano has erupted on Friday. The volcano is located 50 kilometers south of the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City. Throughout the evening and night, volcanic ash has fallen in the municipalities of Amatitlán, Villa Nueva, and Guatemala City.

President Álvaro Colom's government has decreed a State of Public Calamity in the Escuintla, Sacatepéquez and Guatemala departments, for 15 days or more, so the authorities can do their job correctly. The emergency response is being coordinated by the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction.

The eruption was followed by several tremors. All flights in and out of Guatemala City's La Aurora International Airport, have been suspended. The eruption has caused many casualties, among them the death of Aníbal Archila, NOTI7's reporter, who was one of the first reporting the event.

US Supreme Court rejects Blagojevich motion to delay Illinois corruption trial
The US Supreme Court has denied Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's request to delay his corruption trial after receiving a statement from the federal government in opposition.

The trial is set to begin on June 3, and many of the charges Blagojevich faces are based on a federal honest-services fraud law. He challenged the constitutionality of this law and argued that the trial should be delayed until the high court decides the issue. The request had already been denied by judges in the lower courts.

The Obama administration argued that there was no need to delay the trial pending the Supreme Court's decision. Shortly afterwards, Justice John Paul Stevens rejected the motion.

Malawi President pardons jailed gay couple
Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the African country of Malawi, granted pardons to a gay couple who had been sentenced to 14 years in jail for sodomy and indecency charges. Mutharika, who has in the past dismissed homosexuality as alien, stated that he was releasing the couple on humanitarian grounds.

On Thursday, the President of South Africa condemned the decision of the Malawi courts in a rare dissenting statement stating, "We have condemned the action taken to arrest people in terms of our constitution," in response to questions about the Malawi arrests.

In December, Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were arrested following a personal engagement ceremony. The men were charged with gross indecency and unnatural acts, based on laws imposed during the British colonial period in Malawi.

US actor Dennis Hopper dies at age 74
American actor, director, and artist Dennis Hopper has died today at the age of 74. He was known to suffer from prostate cancer since October 2009.

He was born Dennis Lee Hopper on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, California. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Over the next ten years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films. He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer of the film's script.

Hopper was unable to build on this success for several years, until a featured role in 1979's Apocalypse Now brought him attention. He subsequently received critical recognition for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Hopper's more recent work includes a leading role in the television series Crash

On this day in history
On this day in history, New Zealand explorer Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Their accomplishment was achieved through their being part of an expedition lead by John Hunt.

Using open circuit oxygen, and as the expeditions final attempt, the pair reached hte summit at 11:30am local time.


 * I wish I had an Australian accent! :) Thanks for doing the AW for the weekend - it's great to see more and more interest in the project. I got the file converted to .mp3 and uploaded to PodBean for iTunes as well as uploaded to the Internet Archive.


 * Rockerball, I really like your voice as your pronunciations are clear and is overall very nice to listen to. One thing I'd like to suggest is that you prepare your script in a way that helps you record each segment in a way that allows you to sound a little bit less as if you are reading from a script but rather just having a conversation. Usually what helps me is to read each segment aloud before I record and edit the script to make it sound more conversational. If for some reason I make a stumble, I just do a quick re-record in Audacity.


 * The only other thing is that if you get any background noise, please edit and re-record as it is a bit jarring to the listener.


 * Other than that, please keep at it and remember to have fun with it. Though it may not be all that interesting to you, everyone else on planet Earth absolutely and completely loves an Australian accent and we could pretty much listen for hours with Australian's reading even just the back of a cereal box :) so really play to that strength and give us some of your own personality and unique approach to each recording. Check out the style section on the workspace http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Audio_Wikinews/News_Briefs/Workspace#Style to assist you with fine tuning your recordings.


 * Look forward to today's recording Turtlestack (talk) 18:49, 30 May 2010 (UTC)