For the last few years, when the holiday season comes around, we've looked back to previous centuries for the newsworthy events of the year. Today, please join me on a whistle stop tour 100 years back in time to 1910 ....

As Haley's Comet makes its stately way across the night skies, the monarchies of Europe are in flux: While Britain celebrates the coronation of George V, the last king of Portugal flees his country; further east, the Balkan country of Montenegro begins a shortlived period as an independent kingdom under the rule of Nicholas I, while in neighboring Albania, the weakened Ottoman empire attempts to quell an uprising.

Africa is a patchwork of European colonies with just Liberia and Ethiopia remaining independent. Before the year is ended, Egypt will have seen Boutros Ghali, its first native-born prime minister, assassinated; France will be at war with the Ouaddai Kingdom over parts of what are now Chad and Sudan; and the newly created Union of South Africa will be established as a dominion of the British Empire.

In North America, the Mexican Revolution to oust dictator Porfirio Díaz begins, leading to a decade of civil war. In the USA, race riots erupt across much of the country on July 4, following African-American heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson's win against his white contender James J Jeffries.

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Another chance to have your name immortalized in a book by a favorite author, or to give the ultimate unique gift to a loved one, while also donating to the First Amendment Project - a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free legal services on public interest free speech and free press matters.

Authors taking part include Suzanne Brockmann, Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Dan Chaon, Andrew Sean Greer, Ben Katchor, Elinor Lipman, Margot Livesey, Rick Moody, Thomas Perry, Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Laura Benedict, T Campbell, Patrick deWitt, Joshua Ferris, Dan Gutman, Phillip Margolin, Nami Mun, Francine Prose, Mona Simpson, Ayelet Waldman, Robert Mailer Anderson, Janet Burroway, Stacey D'Erasmo, Dave Eggers, Dan Gutman, Derek Haas, Walter Kim, Lorrie Moore, Francine Prose, Mona Simpson,Jane Smiley and Vendela Vida

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Booklovers! Would you like to have your name immortalized in print, or give a once in a lifetime Christmas gift to a loved one? If so, now's your chance - just pop over to Ebay, and place one or more bids in the Authors for Autism Character Auction which has just opened.

Budding authors! Here's your chance to have your work critiqued by an established author. If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, pop over to Ebay and place your bid in the Authors for Autism auction.

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Sometimes interviews are a great thing. They actually make you think. One interviewer asked me if being a psychologist for 25 years had anything to do with the fact that I wrote a few memoirs. I said that it made me less afraid to write the truth about myself and my feelings no matter how bizarre or unflattering they might be. After delving into the unconscious of others for so long I realized that we are all pretty much the same. The difference between a murderer and a nun is really very little. Usually it is only one moment in time that differentiates the two. Both people have the same unconscious instincts or desires that they have had to repress--primarily sex and aggression. Freud isn't famous for nothing. Just look at TV that only has various forms of sex or aggression blasting on 400 channels to know that Freud was no amateur. Sometimes people say to me "Oh I was so shocked you were involved in a murder trial and were investigated by the FBI." Really they had thought or probably did the same things I did but didn't get caught. I know that and they know that.  Realizing we are all on a level playing field is freeing and I felt I could write what I wanted so my pen just danced across the page.

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A couple of weeks back, Kim Kovacs posted about her reading challenge to read 80 books set in different countries within one year. Here, by popular demand, is her reading list as a spreadsheet, so you can sort the books by country, rating, fiction vs nonfiction and so forth.

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In a move that seems destined to put consumer and corporate noses out of joint WOWIO Inc, a provider of digital media content and eBooks (wowio.com) announced on Friday that they have received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office for a broad patent application, filed in 2006, covering a variety of methods for delivering ads in eBooks, including contextual ads based on the personal information or demographic criteria of the reader. A Notice of Allowance effectively means that the patent has been approved, and will be issued once the required fee has been paid.

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