Thursday, February 3, 2005

Spotlight
Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop, which was located in the Santissima Annunziata convent, in Florence, was discovered last month. It still had several of Da Vinci's frescoes on the walls. Some believe that Lisa Gherardini, the woman who was most likely the model for his painting, the Mona Lisa, worshipped at the convent. (story)

Quote
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -- Leonardo Da Vinci

Word of the day
fresco -- painting on wet plaster. Both Michelangelo and Da Vinci are famous for their frescoes. (© )

Today's News

• Zurab Zhvania -- Georgian premier dies from natural gas leak (story)
• President Bush -- to reform Social Security (story)
• condors -- endangered birds return to the sky (story)

Today's History

• Day the Music Died -- Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash (1959)
• Endangered Species Act -- signed into law by President Nixon (1973)
• Discovery -- blasted off with the first woman pilot of a space shuttle (1995)

Today's Birthdays

• Norman Rockwell -- illustrator of nostalgic scenes of Americana (1894-1978)
• authors -- Horace Greeley (1811-1872), Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), and James Michener (1907-1997)
• comedians -- Joey Bishop (87), Shelley Berman (79), Nathan Lane (49)