Popular Science Magazine Archives Go Online For Free

Popular Science magazine has put its entire 137-year history of issues online for free.  In partnership with Google, the magazine is offering a search tool that will allow you to read anything it ever published.  Here’s an example of a publisher who actually knows what it is doing in the 21st century.  There are very few magazines staffed by people who understand which century they are playing in.  Popular Science is apparently staffed by people who can read, write and tell time.

London Police Lose Free Speech Encounter

The Love Police in the U.K. went to the Tower of London with their cameras and a megaphone to utilize their right to free speech. The guards at the Tower objected and called the London police. What you see in the video is the leader of the Love Police group speaking very intelligently and effectively to the lead police inspector about what the law actually says and what his rights are under that law. He successfully argues for his right to refuse to identify himself or to be searched under the Anti-Terrorism Law in the United Kingdom. What is so interesting about this video is the clear and overwhelming evidence that the police in London do not at all understand the laws they are enforcing or even which laws they are enforcing. They have clearly met more than their match in this instance and are in fact at serious risk of getting their department into liability troubles. The same problems with police are encountered here in the United States. There is the same lack of education and training in police ranks and the same willingness to try to remove basic rights from citizens.

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Audio Podcast Novel: Pinocchio (Chapter 1)

DOWNLOAD PINOCCHIO – CHAPTER 1

Per l’Italia!  For playing in the living room!

This is one of the great gifts from Italy to the children of the world.  Carlo Collodi’s 1883 masterpiece, The Adventures of Pinocchio, is the story of the wooden marionette who desperately wants to be a real boy.  His adventures are full of mischief, wonder, sadness, joy, treachery, danger and all the exuberant life of a real Italian boy.  This is the English translation by Carol Della Chiesa.  The first seventeen chapters of this wonderful novel were recorded intermittently between 1999 and 2006, specifically for children to enjoy on the web.  But I was unable to finish it.  It is a very long story indeed and the demands of this particular recording were very great.  I have decided that it would be a good thing for Italy and its most beautiful living rooms if I were to finally finish the book.  I am cleaning up the sound a little bit and will start recording the eighteenth chapter soon.  So here we begin the long story and in a few months we will reach the finish!

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Reading and illustration by Alessandro Cima

All audio stories are Copyright © Candlelight Stories, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Do not distribute copies of our MP3 audio or video stories. They are for your personal use. If you choose to burn our MP3 stories onto a personal CD, do not make copies of the CD or distribute them to other people. Also, do not sell CDs containing our audio stories. All audio stories are copyrighted by Candlelight Stories, Inc.

Audio Podcast Novel: Robinson Crusoe (Part 5)

DOWNLOAD ROBINSON CRUSOE – PART 5

Crusoe explains how he made his own tools and built his home on the island. He begins to show us his journal entries which track each day’s activities. He goes hunting and, much to his surprise, begins to use agriculture. All his mental efforts are bent toward making his survival upon the island long-term. He even considers what he will have to do to ensure his survival when his health and strength begin to fail. The inclusion of the journal entries, which actually repeat some of the very things Crusoe has already told us, are a striking literary device on the part of Daniel Defoe. Pay attention to how the voice (I mean the literary voice, not the audio voice!) of Crusoe changes ever so slightly with these journal entries as compared to the rest of his narration. Crusoe also begins to struggle with religious thoughts and wonders whether some sort of divine providence is behind his being the sole survivor of the shipwreck.

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Read by Alessandro Cima
Illustration by NC Wyeth (1920) Crusoe carves his cross on the beach to keep track of passing days, weeks and months
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All audio stories are Copyright © Candlelight Stories, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Do not distribute copies of our MP3 audio or video stories. They are for your personal use. If you choose to burn our MP3 stories onto a personal CD, do not make copies of the CD or distribute them to other people. Also, do not sell CDs containing our audio stories. All audio stories are copyrighted by Candlelight Stories, Inc.

Film: Sign Language

Oscar Sharp made this beautiful short film in London. It stars Jethro Skinner as Ben, the ‘board guy.’ The performance is endearing and full of intelligent energy. The film was shot in HD by Anthony Gurner. I love the way the people have all these colors in their clothes and then the colors are repeated in the backgrounds. The colors of this film stand out brilliantly. I also enjoy the film’s subject matter. Many people do jobs that they are simply very happy to have and they find themselves truly and fully present in their moment.  It’s one of life’s little important lessons.