Life magazine

Life magazine photographer Henry Groskinsky was on assignment in Selma when he heard the bulletin on the radio: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis. Life magazine photographer Henry Groskinsky was on assignment in Selma when he heard the bulletin on the radio: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis.

On that April 4, 1968, evening, Groskinsky ended up in King’s hotel room, where the civil rights leader’s associates including Andrew Young and the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy Sr. were solemnly huddled. Surprisingly, there were few members of the press around the Lorraine Motel. “I felt like I was intruding,” he said. “It was like a wake.”

He captured a series of numbing images that, until Thursday —- when they were posted at Life magazine’s Web site, www.life.com —- had never been seen by the public. They are stark and powerful. One shows a motel worker sweeping King’s blood from the balcony. “Once they got the famous photo” of King’s associates pointing in the direction of the assassin, “that was it,” Groskinsky said, referring to the widely circulated Associated Press photo.

Strasbourg France

Strasbourg France Welcomed with thunderous cheers, President Barack Obama pledged on Friday to repair damaged relations with Europe, saying the world came together following the 2001 terrorist attacks but then "we got sidetracked by Iraq." "We must be honest with ourselves," Obama said. "In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift."

The new U.S. president said that despite the bitter feelings that were generated by Iraq, the United States and its allies must stand together because "al-Qaida is still a threat." Speaking before a French and German audience at a town-hall style gathering, Obama also encouraged a skeptical Europe to support his revamped strategy for rooting out terrorism suspects in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and said Europe should not expect America to shoulder the burden of sending in combat troops by itself.

He opened his appearance with a 25-minute prepared speech in which he set a dramatic, long-term goal of "a world without nuclear weapons." He said he would outline details of his nonproliferation proposal in a speech in Prague on Sunday, near the end of a European trip that is spanning five countries in eight days. "Even with the Cold War now over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," Obama said.

Ritz Camera

Ritz Camera will close almost 50% of its stores in a move to reorganized after a court-supervised bankruptcy. The closing will leave 400 stores in the U.S. Ritz was one of the first and finest camera chains but, as we all know, these chains are about as useful now as a dinosaur with a buggy whip. Online news sources provide most of the camera advice we need and online stores make it easy to get that latest 12-megapixel wonder. Besides, who needs some guy telling you what to buy when every point-and-shoot is basically the same now.

As part of its newfound bankrupcy status, Ritz Camera's gearing up to close more than 300 of its around 700 brick-and-mortar stores across the US, or about 43 percent of its retail presence. Starting April 4th, the affect stores will begin liquidation sales that'll go on until -- in the words of the press release -- "everything is sold to the bare walls." Forget DSLRs, if you were needing any fancy, brick-and-mortal shelving units, now might be your chance! Hit up the read link for a PDF listing all the closing stores

n case some of you missed this yesterday, Ritz Camera--and by association Wolf and Kits Camera among others--is shutting down more than 300 stores around the U.S. as part of a court-supervised bankruptcy reorganization. This of course means stock liquidation sales, which will begin Saturday, April 4. s with the Circuit City liquidation, I wouldn't expect huge discounts despite a senior VP at one of the four LLCs handling the sale saying we'll find "quality, brand-name merchandise at greatly reduced prices.