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Mark Twain once said, "I never let school interfere with my education." That's just one example of an aphorism from a new collection of the handy sayings gathered and annotated by author James Geary in The World in a Phrase.

Engineers testify before the Senate that downtown New Orleans should not have flooded during Hurricane Katrina. The flooding occurred because walls along canals had faulty foundations and collapsed. The investigators said it's unclear whether the walls were poorly designed or shoddily constructed.

Teddy Roosevelt's greatest adventure came in 1914 when the former president visited South America. He barely escaped after agreeing to survey an uncharted river in the heart of the Amazon jungle.

Last March, Indonesia saw its first polio case in 10 years. Now, 300 children have been crippled and 60,000 infected. Before health officials can stamp polio out, they'll have to win over parents distrustful of the vaccine.

Donald Sundman, president of the Mystic Stamp Company, has traded a rare and valuable stamp -- an obscure "Z-grill" -- for a block of airmail error stamps from 1918 worth nearly $3 million. The stamp's new owner, private collector Bill Gross, now has a complete collection of 19th-century U.S. stamps.

In high school, Eboo Patel failed to support a friend facing anti-Semitism. Now, the Chicago interfaith youth organizer believes honoring diversity means having the courage to actively speak up for it.

New reports from the Pew Hispanic Center conclude that low-income Latino students are the most segregated, ill-served group in the country's public high schools. The reports detail high school conditions for Hispanic students in the United States.

I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide, pleads not guilty to charges against him in a case probing who revealed the identity of a covert CIA agent. He was arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C., on charges of obstructing justice, perjury and making false statements.

Steve Inskeep talks to BBC News Correspondent Andrew North in the northern Pakistan town of Balakot, one of the places hit hard in Saturday's massive earthquake. More than 20,000 people have died in the Pakistan-India border region.

Folk-music legend Odetta was a force in the 1960s push for social justice. Her passion inspired fellow musicians and activists such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Harry Belafonte. Odetta died Dec. 2, 2008, at the age of 77. Hear a 2005 interview.