Hans Christian Andersen (Image from Wikipedia.org)A local historian has discovered the first fairy-tale by famed writer Hans Christian Andersen. It has been lost for decades in the dusty boxes of the Danish National Archives.The handwritten copy of the book titled “The Tallow Candle” was found at the bottom of a 15 kilo archive box in Odense in October. Expert who studied the discovery claim it is the writer’s “first fairy-tale,” Politiken newspaper reports. Ejnar Stig Askgaard of the Odense City Museum who has been studying the old book is one of Denmark’s leading Hans Christian Andersen experts. He dubbed the find “sensational,” because it shows the writer’s interest in fairy tales as a young man, before writing became his career. “I am in no doubt that it has been written by Andersen,” he said. The authorship was also confirmed by two other Andersen experts, Research Librarian Bruno Svindborg of the Royal Library and Professor Johan de Mylius of the Andersen Centre and the University of Southern Denmark. The language and the style of writing show that it was written during Andersen’s youth, possibly between 1822 and 1826. Experts say that similar discoveries are very rare. The last time a big and important Andersen work was discovered in the archives was almost a century ago. The fairy tale was the future celebrity writer’s gift to Madam Bunkeflod, a woman he knew in his childhood and to whom he read and borrowed books. “It’s a wonderful little document as art of the history of Hans Christian Andersen. The fairy tale was a gift. A gift of thanks to a woman whose home had been very important to him,” Askgaard says. Andersen turned to writing fairy tales in the 1830s. His books have been translated into 125 languages. … Read More
Sen. Corker: Debt ceiling is Republican ‘leverage’ to cut ‘entitlements’
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) says that his party should agree to raise taxes on the wealthy before January because Republicans can force cuts to earned benefits like Medicare and Social Security next year by holding the debt ceiling hostage. “I do think it’s time for the president — he…
Pope to start tweeting just in time for Christmas
Pope Benedict XVI will join Twitter from December 12, with regular tweets in eight languages from the account @pontifex just in time for Christmas, the Vatican said on Monday. “The first tweets will be answers to questions sent to the pope on matters of faith. The public can start sending…
Republicans’ tax insanity
On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Claire McCaskill pointed out that she’d met Grover Norquist for the first time backstage, then asked a pretty good question: “Who is he?”Her point is that Norquist’s visibility and reputation dramatically exceeds his actual political clout. It’s understandable how this has happened. Republicans have evolved over the past three decades into a staunchly anti-tax party, and Norquist is a colorful and endlessly quotable symbol of this absolutism – one who happens to live and work in close proximity to much of the national political press corps. So he gets an awful lot of face time on television and it can sometimes seem as if he and his anti-tax pledge are the reason no Republican member of Congress has voted for a tax hike in over two decades.But, as Tim Noah wrote last week, Norquist’s actual power in Washington and within the GOP is illusory. In terms of stature and public prominence, he’s been a major beneficiary of the party’s opposition to tax increases – but he hasn’t been the driving force behind it. The real story of the GOP’s modern evolution on taxes played out in several stages, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.Continue Reading… … Read More
Holiday Bowl 2012: UCLA, Baylor To Face Off On Dec. 27 At Qualcomm Stadium
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The 17th-ranked UCLA Bruins and Baylor Bears will play each other for the first time when they meet in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 at Qualcomm Stadium.
The Bruins (9-4) won the Pac-12 South Division and are coming off a 27-24 loss to No. 8 Stanford in the conference championship game. Baylor (7-5) closed the regular season with three straight victories, including a 52-24 upset of then-No. 2 Kansas State on Nov. 17. At the time, K-State was ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings.
On Saturday, the Bears beat Oklahoma State 41-34, knocking the Cowboys out of the Top 25.Read More…
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Leila Ahmed, Harvard Divinity School Muslim Scholar, Wins Prestigious Grawemeyer Award
(RNS) For the first time, the University of Louisville’s prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion, a $100,000 cash prize, will go to a female Muslim scholar.Leila Ahmed, a Harvard Divinity School professor specializing in women and Islam, will receive the 2013 Grawemeyer religion award for her 2011 book, “A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.” The book explores why a growing number of Muslim women are wearing religious headscarves.Ahmed, 72, was born and raised in Cairo at a time when few women wore religious headscarves, yet considered themselves observant Muslims. Why, she wanted to know, has the hijab enjoyed such a comeback?Read More…
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Knicks Beat Wizards For 10th Straight Time
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith each scored 20 points, and the New York Knicks beat the Washington Wizards for the 10th straight time, 108-87 on Friday night.Tyson Chandler and Ronnie Brewer each added 12 points for the Knicks, who improved to 6-0 at home and also beat the Wizards for the ninth straight time at Madison Square Garden. Both winning streaks are their longest active against one team.Read More…
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