Solzhenitsyn dies at 89

Solzhenitsyn broke taboos, shook Soviet empire

By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - When Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" appeared in the thick monthly literary magazine Novy Mir back in November of 1962, taboos were shattered. Buried secrets were unearthed. And the Soviet Union was shaken to its foundations.

Solzhenitsyn's short novel described a single day in the life of a carpenter caught up in the Soviet Union's secret network of slave labor camps, where starvation, bitter cold and punishing work regimes were the rule and, it has been said, the average life expectancy was one winter.

Full article at:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_re_eu/solzhenitsyn_life_of_dissent;_ylt=ApRduHYX2ox3HAR9iVIQGDkUewgF

Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse Friday to Fascinate Millions

by Robert Roy BrittSenior Science WriterSPACE.com

Thu Jul 31

A total eclipse of the sun Friday should fascinate millions of lucky skywatchers in Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia and China.

If the weather cooperates, people along a narrow path who venture out and look up will see stars during the day as the sun is gradually devoured and ultimately blotted out by the moon.
Unlike ancient times, when eclipses were viewed as bad omens in many cultures, fewer people should be expecting doom this time around.

Full story at:http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080731/sc_space/solareclipsefridaytofascinatemillions