The American rock group, The Beach Boys, are known for their rich vocal harmonies and for songs about cars, love, and surfing in the California sun. The band was formed in 1961 by three brothers from Hawthorne, California – Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and a friend Al Jardine. The Beach […] Read more

Once upon a time in a far away land a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind. But then one winter’s night an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from […] Read more

Once upon a time in a far away land a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind. But then one winter’s night an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from […] Read more

The beaver builds its lodge out of intertangled twigs and sticks; as freezing weather nears, they plaster their lodge with mud, making a concrete layer that no predator can break through. During the early nineteenth century, the beaver pelt was the single most valuable commodity; the pelt being used for robes, coats, clothing trims, and […] Read more

Of all the hundreds of symphonies that have been composed, none can rival in popularity or emotional interest the nine great symphonic works that Beethoven wrote. Beethoven took music off the pedestal of formal beauty, where Haydn and Mozart had left it, and immersed it in the whirlpool of life. He roughened it up until […] Read more

Prose Beethoven’s Letters 1790-1826, Volume 1 Compiled by Ludwig von Ritter (1800-1877) TO COUNTESS GIULIETTA GUICCIARDI Morning, July 6, 1800. MY ANGEL! MY ALL! MY SECOND SELF! Only a few words to-day, written with a pencil (your own). My residence cannot be settled till to-morrow. What a tiresome loss of time! Why this deep grief […] Read more

Lock the eyelid-doors and shut out the wild dance of tempting scenes. Drop your mind into the bottomless well of your heart. Hold the mind on your heart that is bubbling with life-giving blood. Keep your attention tied to the heart, until you feel its rhythmic beat. With every heartbeat, feel the pulse of almighty […] Read more

During open water certification, a scuba diver is taught that the most important rule in scuba diving is to breathe continuously and to avoid holding his breath underwater. But why is this rule so important? Scuba diving is different from snorkeling or free diving. When a snorkeler or freediver takes a breath from the surface […] Read more

When Bataan and Corregidor fell to the Japanese in the spring of 1942, all the U.S. and Philippine troops in the Philippine Islands were supposed to surrender to their conquerors. Many of them refused. Sometimes contrary to the orders of their commanding officers, sometimes with the connivance of those officers, sometimes entirely on their own, […] Read more