I am originally from Tucson, Arizona, and there are a few important observatories in the area, so when I was growing up the city was very careful about light pollution, but it was never like this. This is amazing!

Stunning images of starry nights on the Gwynedd island of Bardsey have prompted a bid to secure international "dark-sky" status for the community.

Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12570354

Watching the scenes from Christchurch makes it hard to image what people are going through there. I know we have New Zealanders on AC, so I hope they are ok--would be nice to hear from them when they get a chance.

Nine firefighters from Wales are preparing to fly out to New Zealand to join the relief effort after the Christchurch earthquake. There's a video and article about them here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12542998

As a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, I am heartened to see the same spirit alive and well in Wales!

This was just on our evening news. Old news, but still of interest and encouraging to those of us trying to learn Cymraeg!Want to protect against the effects of Alzheimer's? Learn another language.That's the takeaway from recent brain research, which shows that bilingual people's brains function better and for longer after developing the disease.Here's the link to the full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/18/scitech/main20033422.shtml

One of north Wales' oldest women has celebrated her 109th birthday.
Enid Vaughan Williams had a party with her friends and family at Hafod Y Gest Nursing Home in Porthmadog, Gwynedd where she lives.

Read more and see the photos: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-12525468

Read more and see the video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northwestwales/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9402000/9402010.stm Besides being one of the busiest, local knowledge of the Holyhead area is vital to quick response to emergencies! Here's an excerpt:More than 200 people have turned out for a rally in Holyhead, Anglesey, to protest against plans to close the town's coastguard station.The proposals would see the UK's 18 coastguard stations reduced to eight to "modernise" the service.Speakers at the protest included the town's mayor, Anglesey MP Albert Owen, and union representatives who maintain the station is one of the UK's busiest.

One of the things that left a huge impression on me on my first trip to Wales was the evidence of the Blitz--how everything in Swansea Bay dates from the 1950s--what a reminder to those who were living at the time of the Blitz--it is there every day. We don't have anything like that in the US. It is difficult to imagine what it would be like to live with the daily reminder. I suppose it is somewhat like New Yorkers must feel now, after 9/11.This is some of the article--you can read the whole thing here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2011/02/swansea_blitz_1941_70th_anniversary.html This past weekend marked the 70th anniversary of the Swansea Blitz. On 19 February 1941 the gentle calm of a quiet evening was smashed by the heavy and sustained bombing by the German Luftwaffe. The blitz lasted for three days.Up to 70 enemy aircraft dropped some 35,000 incendiaries and 800 high explosive bombs over the three-day period. The raging fires could be seen from the other side of the Bristol Channel in Devon.A total of 230 people were killed and more than 400 were injured, and the bombing changed the face of the city forever.The centre of Swansea was flattened in the blitz

This is from a cool site I recently came across somehow. (Link below.)

Author: Ruth Downie lives in the south of England, a region still shaped by the legacy of the Roman Empire. Her latest book is Caveat Emptor, the fourth in her series about a Roman Army doctor (Bloomsbury USA, 2010; to be published by Penguin UK, 2011 as Ruso and the River of Darkness).

Here's a bit off their website. They spotlight some really interesting books--not just Roman period, though:

Why a Politician Needs a Wife

Evidently Roman electioneers were not above a little sharp practice. Not only was voting carefully scrutinised, but when a shortage of suitable candidates was solved by publicly listing the names of all the eligible men, it was deemed necessary to stipulate that this must be done in such a manner that they can be read properly from ground level.

Less predictable, though, was the election tie-breaker. In the event of two candidates receiving the same number of votes, a married or engaged man took precedence over a bachelor. If that was no help, the issue was decided by counting each mans sons. The more sons, the better and, in a sad reflection of the times, there was also a system for calculating the worth of boys and girls who had died in childhood. Only after all this was taken into account did they resort to drawing lots.

They have three (3) copies of Caveat Emptor to giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment on the post on their site (below). Sorry, they can only ship winning copies in the US at this time. They have frequent giveaways, but the best thing (since I haven't won one yet) is the books they highlight. I am adding to my must-read pile!

Would you like an email notification of other drawings? Sign up for their giveaway email list by clicking here http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/02/why-a-politician-needs-a-wife.html .