The Morning File’s research team was watching last week’s Democratic primary debate between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, prepared to analyze the approaches to immigration, global warming and plagiarism (the same friendly, almost ethical version of it that The Morning File specializes in) when actual news broke out. Obama, scrawling smudged notes with his wrong hand, showing all of America (or at least the 3 percent glued to CNN at that moment) his gauche, sinister love of the left. He shows up on some lists of left-handed presidents but not others, meaning we’ve had between five and seven of them, with much more likelihood of a left-handed White House in recent decades than before. The club’s Web site says the Bible contains more than 100 favorable references to the right hand and 25 unfavorable references to the left hand. One study of college undergraduates years ago found 20 percent of students enrolled in art programs were left-handed, compared with 7 percent of those in other fields. Researchers have been working to identify specific genes involved in handedness, as it’s generally viewed as something determined in the womb — not from stepping up to home plate for the first time, and realizing you’re a step closer to first base if you bat lefty. read more
Riga - The pet rabbit of Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, Leonardo da Vinci, has died, the Telegraf newspaper reported Thursday. Nicknamed Lisis, the five-year-old bunny possibly died of stress caused by a recent relocation to the presidential residence, Zatlers told the TV 5 channel. The presidential pet, dubbed by the media as the First Bunny, was thrown into the political arena along with his owner when the parliament appointed the politically unknown surgeon Zatlers as the president of the small Baltic country in May 2007. Since Zatlers became president, Lisis had been feeling lonely, the president said in the past. read more
Introducing 28 new artists to a renowned collection of modern art, including works by Ansel Adams, Elizabeth Murray and Ellsworth Kelly. A fresh look at the gallery’s extensive American holdings, this show features more than 200 artworks in a wide range of media dating from the colonial era to the present day. Drawn from the private Thoma Collection, this show of 55 paintings, spanning the years of Spanish colonial rule of what is now Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and parts of Chile, Argentina and Panama, shows how local artists transcended the religious preoccupations of Spanish missionaries to create their own art traditions. One of the most important living artists in Mexico is the subject of this show, featuring more than 160 black-and-white photos made over three decades in Mexico, on the border and in the southern USA. The Morgan’s first show devoted to photography focuses on a newly acquired collection, featuring 67 portraits of influential artists, authors and performers of the 20th century as seen through the lens of the legendary Penn. read more
Riga - The pet rabbit of Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, Leonardo da Vinci, has died, the Telegraf newspaper reported on Thursday. Nicknamed Lisis, the five-year-old bunny possibly died of stress caused by a recent relocation to the presidential residence, Zatlers told the TV 5 channel. The presidential pet, dubbed by the media as the First Bunny, was thrown into the political arena along with his owner when the parliament appointed the politically unknown surgeon Zatlers as the president of the small Baltic country in May 2007. Now you can get all your news - from politics in South Africa, the quirkiest stories in Step Beyond, the latest from the worlds of Motoring, Entertainment and Business - in one place. Independent Online is a wholly owned subsidiary of Independent News & Media. read more
