Tolkien is publishing another book. It's about Hurin's children (Turin Turambar and Nienor, I assume). Kind of surprising. The Silmarillion already contains a lot of detail about Turin. No matter. I'm looking forward to it. From the April issue of The Atlantic Monthly:
Like the Lord of the Rings films, J. R. R. Tolkien's canon is taking its time in drawing to a close. [On April 17th], the late author's Children of Húrin goes on sale. Set long before Lord and imbued with a more tragic tone, the tale was pieced together by Tolkien's son, Christopher, from notes and fragments.
Detailed information about the book can be found here.
From the same Atlantic article:
Despite Russia's shrinking population, the Duma's clampdown on immigrants continues [on April 1] with a nationalist ban on foreign vendors in retail markets. To counteract effects of the ban, the government has ordered the markets to stay open and hold prices firm. Up to half of Russia's 12 million illegal immigrants may be deported.
People sneaking into Russia is like people sneaking into Dachau.
This is one of the most interesting lists I've ran across: 30 Strangest Deaths in History. I suspect there are a few inaccuracies, but much of it is true. Sample:
Death from Stubbing One's Toe
Famous Tennessee whiskey distiller Jack Daniel [wiki] decided to come in to work early one morning in 1911. He wanted to open his safe but couldn't remember the combination. In anger, Daniel kicked the safe and injured his toe, which later developed an infection that killed him.
Keep the honeymoon jokes to yourself:
An Indian woman who failed to wed her lover during his lifetime has reportedly tied the knot with his corpse.
I'm a Kolchak fan, so I found this interesting:
"The best newspaper show of all time [was] ABC's 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker.' Darren McGavin played reporter Carl Kolchak, who week after week busted his butt on investigative pieces uncovering rings of vampires, werewolves and zombies, only to have every single one spiked by his craven, lickspittle editors. Fierce pressure from [the American Society of Newspaper Editors] and other special-interest lobbies got the show shut down after a single season, and ever since, vampires and their slavering editorial quislings have gotten a free pass from Hollywood."
-- Glenn Garvin, in a letter to Jim Romenesko, posted Thursday in Poynter Online at www.poynter.org
