By Henry Chu
February 12, 2009
Reporting from Downe, England -- The house that helped rock the world is spacious but not grand. It sits on a country lane in the south of England, at the edge of a tranquil meadow recently whitewashed by an unusual snowfall.

Here, the great scientist worked with inexhaustible patience in his Victorian study, staring for hours at specimens through a microscope or pondering the riddle of life. In a black armchair specially fitted with wheels, Charles Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species," the book that forever changed the way we look at the world around us -- and at ourselves.

For 40 years, Down House was the perfect place for Darwin to think, write and enjoy family life out of the spotlight.

"The country is extraordinarily rural and quiet, with narrow lanes and high hedges and hardly any ruts," Darwin wrote. "It is really surprising to think London is only 16 miles off."

But so much for retiring from public view. Today, 200 years after his birth on Feb. 12, 1809, Darwin seems to be everywhere in his native land.

His bushy-bearded face graces numerous television programs exploring the impact of his ideas. Prominent Britons dissect his life and times on the radio. The city of Shrewsbury, Darwin's birthplace, is lighting up buildings at night with huge projected images and films relating to its most famous son.

Libraries, zoos, art galleries, choral groups, universities, museums and, a little ironically, churches all own a piece of the extravaganza celebrating Darwin's bicentennial, a yearlong series of 300 events that make up one of the most extensive national commemorations of a single person ever to be held in this country.

That may only be fitting for someone whose revolutionary theory of how life evolved leaped over the boundaries of pure science and into so many other spheres -- politics, religion, economics, the arts.

"It's difficult to overstate how pervasive Darwin's work is," said Robert M. Bloomfield, coordinator of the umbrella organization Darwin200 and head of special projects at London's Natural History Museum. "He undoubtedly produced the biggest idea in science in the 19th century and, some people say, of all time. Because when you question your relationship to nature, you question everything."

A recent editorial by the Times of London went so far as to argue: "Darwin is not merely a man of his time. The extent of his achievement gives him a plausible claim to be counted the greatest figure in this nation's history."

That a scientist whose ideas still rile conservative religious groups can be so effusively feted is a testament to how secular Britain is, at least in the public square. There have been few hiccups of protest over the attention being lavished on Darwin or the money spent on ballyhooing his legacy.

"It isn't polarized like it is in the U.S.," Bloomfield said. "There are people who rant on the interplay between science and faith, but it's not the same sort of political debate in the U.K."

Still, even the critically acclaimed "Darwin: Big Idea, Big Exhibition" at Bloomfield's museum gives a nod to the controversies spawned by the concept of evolution through natural selection. Under the heading "Sticker Shock," a biology textbook from Georgia bears a warning label mandated by the local education board: "Evolution is a theory, not a fact." A short video also addresses the friction between Darwinism and religion.

But the thrust of the exhibition is the evolution, as it were, of Darwin's own thinking, how the seed of a blockbuster idea was planted and nourished over a long period.

Crucial to that was his five-year voyage around the world on the Beagle, which launched in 1831 and took the budding naturalist to exotic destinations full of creatures he had never heard of, whose variety and subtle gradations set his mind racing.

The captain, Robert FitzRoy, considered Darwin "a very superior young man," and on display are some of the notebooks kept by the wide-eyed Cambridge undergraduate, with pages crossed out after he meticulously transcribed them upon his return to England. (Not available, unfortunately, and perhaps no longer extant is Darwin's copy of "Paradise Lost," which, poignantly enough, was one of only four books he brought on board with him.)

In another case lies the Holy Grail of Darwiniana: the red notebook Darwin kept back in London containing his famous drawing of the "Tree of Life," on which he mapped out the development of different forms of life from a common primordial root. Modestly written at the top of the page are the words: "I think."

As someone who once entertained the ambition of becoming a country parson, Darwin knew the outrage his theory would trigger in a society that largely clung to the biblical view of creation. Voicing his opinions was, he confided to a friend, like "confessing a murder."

Perhaps that made him value his quiet country life all the more and the temple of domesticity he built with his wife, Emma, in the village of Downe. (The village added an "E" to its name before the Darwins arrived, but the couple never bothered to change the spelling of Down House.)

The home has undergone a three-month, $1.3-million makeover for the bicentennial and is to reopen to local residents on Darwin's birthday, today, and the general public Friday.

The organization that runs the house, English Heritage, hopes visitors get a sense of Darwin the man as much as Darwin the scientist.

The study where he painstakingly cataloged and pored over innumerable plant and animal specimens from his garden still boasts his wheeled black chair, which he used to glide from one part of the room to another, his books on the shelves and the stool he inherited from his father. A few steps away is the billiard room where Darwin shot pool with his butler, Parslow, during breaks from work.

Outside, visitors can retrace Darwin's steps around the Sandwalk, the route he strolled three times a day without fail. In the garden, 60% of the plantings are of varieties of flowers and plants that were there during Darwin's time, said Cathy Power, a senior curator with English Heritage.

"This is his home. This is where he worked. This is where he wrote 'Origin of Species,' " Power said. "It places him in context. . . . He had his massive voyage, but after that he didn't go anywhere else."

By all accounts, Darwin was an indulgent, loving father to 10 children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. At the Museum of Natural History, one of the few precious surviving manuscript pages of "On the Origin of Species" has a colorful drawing on the back by one of Darwin's boys, Francis.

The death of his eldest daughter, Annie, at age 10 devastated Darwin and apparently confirmed his rupture with religion. He never attended services again, but would leave his family at the door of the church on Sundays.

Then he would walk back home, his haven for four decades.

"My life goes on like clockwork," Darwin wrote, "and I am fixed on the spot where I shall end it."

True to his word, Darwin died at Down House on April 19, 1882.

henry.chu@latimes.com

'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.'

From the movie, Coach Carter

Hitler has only got one bull (and it's alive and well in the West Country)

Ancient breed resurrected by Nazis to 'purify' the countryside set up home here
By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter

Hitler wanted them to be Aryan cows – ancient beasts resurrected from a time before Europe was populated by "racially degenerate" wildlife.


Hermann Goering was so keen to recreate the one-time prey of Roman hunters that he employed two Nazi scientists to breed the once mighty aurochs back into existence.

The project seemed to have ended with the Second World War when nearly all the cattle kept in Berlin and Munich's zoos were destroyed.

But some 70 years later, the fruit of this deluded labour to bring back to life the gargantuan bovines which roamed Eurasia can now be found peacefully chewing the cud in a few fields on the Devon-Cornwall border.

A herd of 13 Heck cattle, named after the two German zoologist brothers who bred the long-horned, stocky cattle in the Nazi-funded project, has been acquired by a West Country conservationist as part of a rare breeds farm.

Derek Gow, who already has a collection of beavers, polecats and water voles, bought the nine cows and four bulls from a Belgian conservation park which had bred a herd of the shaggy Heck cattle from the few surviving animals left in Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo after 1945.

Mr Gow, 44, who runs a farm at Lifton, near Dartmoor, said: "The Nazis wanted to recreate the aurochs to evoke the power of the folklores and legends of the Germanic peoples. Between the two wars there was thinking that you could selectively breed animals – and indeed people – for Aryan characteristics that were rooted in runes and folklore. Young men hunted these bulls as preparation for battle and leadership in war. Hunting was a very big part of what people like Goering did. This was something that was considered very manly to do."

The aurochs, which weighed up to a tonne and were up to two metres high, was lauded by Julius Caesar as being "a little below the elephant in size" with "extraordinary strength and speed". The animals were hunted into extinction across most of Europe by the 16th century with just a few remaining in early Polish zoos by the 1700s.

Such was the obsession of Goering – the head of the Luftwaffe and Hitler's designated successor – with reproducing a menagerie of ancient "noble" animals to be pursued by the Nazi high command on his personal hunting reserves in Prussia and modern-day Poland that he personally authorised Heinz and Lutz Heck to pursue their programme, begun in the 1930s, to "breed back" through existing cattle varieties to create an aurochs.

Heinz Heck, the director of the Munich zoo who with his brother was an admirer of Eugen Fischer, one of the fathers of the Nazi pseudo-science of race, set about cross-breeding strains including Highland cattle, Freisians and even Corsican cows. Lutz Heck, who ran Berlin's main zoo, crossed Spanish fighting bulls with other breeds and, along with Heinz's cows, the resulting cattle were declared to be the resurrection of the aurochs.

The Munich-based brother wrote after the war that he prized the brute power of his creation, which he said "must be eager to fight to the death". It is now accepted that the Heck cows, some of which were sent to Goering's private shooting estate south of Berlin, were in reality genetically far removed from the aurochs and the brothers had succeeded in creating only a facsimile of the primitive cow. Modern genetics has long established the impossibility of recreating an extinct species.

But Mr Gow strongly denies that his animals are besmirched by their Nazi associations, saying their hardiness means they could eventually be allowed to roam freely like the aurochs.

"I don't think there is anything more sinister in owning Heck cattle than there is driving a Volkswagen," he said. "They were a fantasy breed. But they are also quality cattle and a pedigree breed that is remarkably robust. They could one day be returned to a wild environment and become one of the big super-animals that roamed the forests."

Anger Over Taxes 'Puts Bermuda At Risk'

3/20/2009 11:17:00 AM BDA SUN
Anger over taxes 'puts BDA at risk'
Job cuts overseas put pressure on politicians to act against offshore centres, says U.K. finance expert
Public and political anger towards offshore centres like Bermuda is reaching fever pitch in Britain and the U.S.

That is the opinion of Michael Foot, a British banking expert who arrived on the island yesterday to carry out a high-level financial review. Mr. Foot - who is conducting the first such inspection of Britain's overseas territories in a decade - said the U.K. particularly could pose a major threat to the way Bermuda does business. Mounting job losses in Britain, combined with a general election 15 months away, could add up to a perfect storm that causes politicians to try to close down Bermuda's tax advantages.

In recent months leaders in Europe have joined President Obama in promising to shut down so-called tax havens. Most experts here have tended to agree that Bermuda is relatively safe because it has a reputation as being transparent and cooperative.

However, Mr. Foot said: "You probably don't get the sense of it here in Bermuda, but the political atmosphere is very, very sore in these bigger countries... I have no doubt the people in the street are very, very angry. You can understand why they are angry. For every 500,000 jobs that go in America - and I think 130,000 went in Britain this month - that atmosphere gets more febrile. And that increases the pressure on politicians. And politicians may be pressed to make decisions that on broader reflection turn out to be horribly wrong."

He continued: "At least in the U.S. there is a brand new government, which is likely to have a whole set of different priorities. But in the U.K. we are 15 months or so away from an election, which the opinion polls suggest is going to be pretty close, so politicians are under pressure to act." He said some decisions made in the pressured environment of the Great Depression were catastrophic for the world economy and took decades to reverse.

Now Chairman of the U.K. office of Promontory Financial Group, Mr. Foot held several top posts during a 29-year career with the Bank of England. He also worked for several years in the Bahamas. He said: "I have a lot of sympathy with smaller jurisdictions. Their arguments are often not well heard. It can be frustrating."

He said offshore centres like Bermuda offer huge benefits to bigger countries and to individuals in those countries. Bermuda's success rests more on the talented experts who live here than on tax advantages, he said. While there is a legitimate need to target tax abuse in countries like Switzerland, the danger for Bermuda is that it will get "put in the same box" despite having its house in order.

U.K. Chancellor Alaistair Darling announced the financial review of nine of its overseas territories that have "significant financial centres." Mr. Foot is being asked to look at a wide range of issues, including international transparency and the ability of jurisdictions to manage financial crises. He will be meeting with Minister of Finance Paula Cox, heads of banks and insurance companies and officials from the Bermuda Monetary Association.

Who would be liable for losses?

Mr. Darling ordered the review following the financial crisis that hit Iceland banks - the fallout from which cost British investors millions of dollars in Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The U.K. may be liable to repay such losses in its overseas territories. One of Mr. Foot's main objectives is to establish who would be liable if Bermuda savings were to suffer a major crash. "What would that mean for U.K. Inc.?" he said. "Who would pay? It is 10 years since a review like this was carried out. That's a heck of a long time. Sometimes it's helpful to have someone independent coming in and looking with fresh eyes." Mr. Foot's remit does not include any question of Bermuda's autonomy of Government, nor with Bermuda's tax treaties.

Beyond Words...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/40211#?l=8324691001&t=8390300001

President Obama's Inauguaral Address

'My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors...'

Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Independent.co.uk Web

I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on, not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nationis at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable,and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. Theyare serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat,of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programmes will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a peopleand their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down Fascism and Communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater co-operation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willingto unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job, which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment whenthe outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words beread to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive,... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
The buzzwords
12 Nation
11 New
10 America
7 World
5 Spirit
3 Hope
3 Force
1 Responsibility
1 Change

Inaugural Festivities Draw Near-Record Numbers

By SAM SCHECHNER and T.W. FARNAM
Associated Press
Aloysia Rochon of Oakland, Pa., on the National Mall after the ceremony.
President Barack Obama's inauguration approached records for attendance and TV viewership, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday.
A crowd estimated at between 800,000 and 1.8 million people assembled in Washington, D.C., to watch Mr. Obama's swearing-in Tuesday, possibly outpacing the estimated 1.2 million people who gathered for Lyndon Johnson's 1965 inauguration. Smaller crowds congregated in other cities as well, including in Times Square in New York and Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.
Landov
David Bobo was one of the workers cleaning up at the National Mall Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 37.8 million people watched the daytime festivities on 18 broadcast and cable networks, more than the tally for any swearing-in since Ronald Reagan's in 1981 that attracted 41.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Co.
Mr. Obama also topped Jimmy Carter's and Richard Nixon's first inaugurals, although they garnered a larger percentage of TV households because the number of households was smaller at the time. By comparison, election night, during prime time, attracted more than 71 million viewers.

News, photos and background on key players and issues in the Obama administration's first 100 days from the WSJ and across the Web.
The Inauguration
The Economy
Advisers
Foreign Affairs
Personal Life
Obama Photos Inauguration Photos
Nielsen's TV estimates don't include out-of-home or Internet viewing.
But several news and Internet outlets reported that they had served record numbers of live-video streams via the Web, potentially adding millions to the total. Akamai Technologies Inc., which helps Web sites deliver high-bandwidth content more efficiently, said that at about 12:15 p.m. EST Tuesday it delivered a peak of 6.2 million concurrent live video or audio streams, most of which were of the inauguration.
Around the time of Mr. Obama's swearing-in and speech, Time Warner Inc.'s CNN reported a peak of 1.3 million concurrent video streams, General Electric Co.'s MSNBC reported a peak of more than 1.02 million concurrent streams and News Corp.'s Fox News said it had a peak of 365,000 concurrent streams. Web outlets ustream.tv and Joost.com reported about 400,000 and close to 100,000 concurrent streams, respectively. Hulu.com, a joint venture of G.E.'s NBC Universal and News Corp., was among outlets that streamed the event live but declined to share figures.

Millions also tuned in to evening TV coverage of the inaugural galas. Walt Disney Co.'s ABC coverage of "The Neighborhood Ball," at which Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, danced to Beyonce Knowles's rendition of "At Last," attracted 12.6 million viewers, according to early Nielsen figures provided by the network.
Some coverage isn't included in Nielsen's tallies, including Liberty Media Corp. 's QVC shopping network, which offered live updates from the Creative Coalition ball during the 9 p.m. hour, while hosts sold commemorative coins, an Obama-emblazoned cotton blanket and a bow-topped handbag designed specifically for the occasion.
"Let's be honest, for us, as girls, beside all the history we've made today, it's all about the bag -- and the shoes," the bag's designer told viewers during a live update from the ball.
Estimates of the crowd in Washington varied.
The National Parks Service issued a statement Wednesday saying it "will use the figure of 1.8 million attendees when we refer to the inaugural in the future," in which it cited printed accounts.
British publishing company IHS Jane's estimated 1.3 million to 1.6 million people were present based on an analysis of crowd densities, which it said ranged from 0.1 to 5 people per square meter.