THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL

by **Paul** Sun 26 Feb 2023, 4:33 am

FEATURED EVENT
Uncover the geologic history of the Grand Canyon stretching back to the Archean Eon

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NARRATOR: Arizona's Grand Canyon stretches for 277 winding miles, plunging to depths of more than a mile from the canyon's rim. The peaks, gorges, and ravines found within its walls provide visitors with spectacular examples of the beauty of nature, making the canyon one of the most visited national parks in the United States.

In addition to its scenic wonders, the Grand Canyon provides a wealth of information for the fields of paleontology and paleogeology. The exposed rocks of the canyon walls span numerous ages, providing researchers with the opportunity to study the geologic history of the region. The Grand Canyon offers glimpses into 32 percent of Earth's geologic history as well as one billion years of plant and animal fossils. These fossils are so ancient that they predate the oldest known dinosaurs.

The oldest rocks, found in the inner gorge at the bottom of the canyon, date to the end of the Archean Eon, more than 2.5 billion years ago. These rocks are overlaid with those of successive periods, spanning to the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era.

Rocks from 1,200 to 505 million years ago contain fossils of primitive algae and marine species such as brachiopods, corals, and trilobites. These fossils provide evidence that the area was underwater hundreds of millions of years ago.

Later layers, dating from 280 to 275 million years ago, hold signs of terrestrial life, meaning that the oceans receded and the area became drier, at least periodically. Fossils include plant life such as seed ferns, horsetails, and small pines as well as tracks left by animals like scorpions, millipedes, and spiders.

The most recent fossils in the canyon date from the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs. They show the existence of such organisms as the sloth, California condor, and pack rat.

by **Paul** Sun 26 Feb 2023, 4:40 am

Johnny Cash

American musician

Johnny Cash, byname of J.R. Cash, (born February 26, 1932, Kingsland, Arkansas, U.S.—died September 12, 2003, Nashville, Tennessee), American singer and songwriter whose work broadened the scope of country and western music.

ON THIS DAY 2 26 2023 Million-Dollar-Quartet

Cash was exposed from childhood to the music of the rural South—hymns, folk ballads, and songs of work and lament—but he learned to play guitar and began writing songs during military service in Germany in the early 1950s. After military service he settled in Memphis, Tennessee, to pursue a musical career. Cash began performing with the Tennessee Two (later Tennessee Three), and appearances at county fairs and other local events led to an audition with Sam Phillips of Sun Records, who signed Cash in 1955. Such songs as “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Hey, Porter,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “I Walk the Line” brought him considerable attention, and by 1957 Cash was the top recording artist in the country and western field. His music was noted for its stripped-down sound and focus on the working poor and social and political issues. Cash, who typically wore black clothes and had a rebellious persona, became known as the “Man in Black.”

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Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
In the 1960s Cash’s popularity began to wane as he battled drug addiction, which would recur throughout his life. At the urging of June Carter of the Carter Family, with whom he had worked since 1961, he eventually sought treatment; the couple married in 1968. By the late 1960s Cash’s career was back on track, and he was soon discovered by a wider audience. The signal event in Cash’s turnaround was the album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968), which was recorded live in front of an audience of some 2,000 inmates at California’s Folsom Prison. The performance was regarded as a risky move by record company executives, but it proved to be the perfect opportunity for Cash to reestablish himself as one of country music’s most relevant artists. He used the success of that album and its follow-up, Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969), to focus attention on the living conditions of inmates in American prisons, and he became a vocal champion for penal reform and social justice. Live appearances in New York and London and his television show,“The Johnny Cash Show” (1969–71), which deviated from the standard variety program by featuring such guests as Ray Charles, Rod McKuen, and Bob Dylan (who had enlisted Cash to appear on his 1969 album, Nashville Skyline), brought to the general public his powerfully simple songs of elemental experiences.

Although Cash had established himself as a legend in the music world, by the late 1980s he faced dwindling record sales and interest. In 1994, however, he experienced an unexpected resurgence after signing with Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, which was best known for its metal and rap acts. Cash’s first release on the label, the acoustic American Recordings, was a critical and popular success, and it won him a new generation of fans. Later records included Unchained (1996), American III: Solitary Man (2000), American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002), and the posthumous American V: A Hundred Highways (2006). The recipient of numerous awards, he won 13 Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement award in 1999, and 9 Country Music Association Awards. Cash was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1996 he received a Kennedy Center Honor. His autobiographies Man in Black and Cash (cowritten with Patrick Carr) appeared in 1975 and 1997, respectively. Walk the Line, a film based on Cash’s life, was released in 2005.