This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: BBC
May 23, 2006
A former chemical weapons factory where British scientists contributed to early atomic bomb technology should be preserved, experts are to say. The Valley Works at Rhydymwyn, near Mold, Flintshire, produced hundreds of tons of mustard gas in World War Two.
But its history goes back to the 18th Century, according to university researchers who studied the site, now a nature reserve, for five months.
They are to present their findings at
Source: cronaca.com
May 23, 2006
Archaeologists exploring one of Rome's oldest catacombs are baffled by neat piles of more than 1,000 skeletons dressed in elegant togas. . .
The archaeologists are unable to explain why so many apparently upper-class Romans - who would normally have been cremated - were buried in the same spot, apparently at the same time. . .
The skeletons were dressed in fine robes, many containing gold thread, and wrapped in sheets covered with lime, as was common in early Christian buria
Source: mosnews.com
May 23, 2006
A whole mammoth skeleton has been found in Russia’s southern Krasnoyarsk Region, Itar-Tass said Tuesday.
Local fishermen found the practically intact skeleton on the shore of a dam lake when the flood waters retreated, archeologist Alexander Kerzhayev said.
“The find has retained a backbone, a skull with teeth and a tusk and other anatomic details,” Kerzhayev said.A whole mammoth skeleton is a rare and valuable find, but the Krasnoyarsk skelet
Source: Email from Jay Janson
May 23, 2006
This Memorial Day, Korean War veterans and Vietnam War veterans will initiate a broader commemoration – for all the victims of war. Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, has endorsed the project.The vets will join the special commemoration during the Annual Veterans Commemorative Assembly on Sunday, May 28, at the Vietnam War Memorial (55 Water Street) and join in the walk to the waterfront and throwing of flowers into the bay.
O
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
May 20, 2006
The graduating class at commencement ceremonies at the University of San Francisco stood and gave an ovation Friday -- long, sustained applause and cheers -- to 11 old men who played football a lifetime ago.
They were members of USF's 1951 team -- distinguished in their time because they never lost a game they played, and honored by the class of 2006 for a game they never played. The team was the school's best ever, but it never went to a bowl game,
Source: AP
May 22, 2006
A 15-year-old girl led a small protest march Monday over her high school's ban on Confederate flag clothing, which she is also challenging in court.
Candice Hardwick walked with about a dozen people, about half of them family members and some wearing Confederate T-shirts, a few blocks to Latta High School. Hardwick wore a Confederate belt buckle and button and had the Confederate flag on her cell phone cover. She removed those items before entering the school, where she is a sophomo
Source: CBS4Denver
May 16, 2006
Embattled University of Colorado ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill has been hit with another allegation of research misconduct.
A University of Minnesota faculty member said Churchill used one of her photos in a publication without permission. She added that the caption he wrote for it exaggerated the facts.
Source: Pantagraph
May 20, 2006
BLOOMINGTON -- Every school kid can recite lines from Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speeches: “Four score and seven years ago …”; “A house divided against itself cannot stand …”; “With malice toward none and charity for all …”
But no one can quote with certainty from a speech Lincoln gave in Bloomington 150 years ago this month. The date was May 29, which this year falls on Memorial Day, when the speech will be commemorated with an afternoon program.
In what is known as
Source: SAFE
May 22, 2006
Research study to understand the public's attitudes toward ancient objects and the shared past of humankind. This survey is conducted by SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE), a non-profit organization that raises public awareness about issues related to cultural heritage.
Source: blog4history
May 21, 2006
Still looking for a way to go down in history? You could buy your way in through the purchase of a Civil War-era fort up for auction on eBay.
The stone Civil War-era Fort Montgomery, built in 1844, is up for auction on eBay. Set on Lake Champlain in Northern New York, adjacent to the border with Canada, it was manned during the Civil War, but didn?t see any action, according to the Associated Press. The fort is in need of restoration and the auction also includes 365 acres of land,
Source: China Daily
May 22, 2006
Chinese and French archaeologists claim to have discovered the ruins of an ancient city which disappeared in the desert in Northwest China more than 2,200 years ago.
The ancient city, shaped like a peach, is located in the center of the Taklimakan Desert, the second largest shifting desert in the world, covering a total area of 337,600 square kilometers, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The perimeter of the city walls is 995 meters, with the height ranging fro
Source: Reuters
May 22, 2006
The Egyptian authorities have given the go ahead for the underwater exploration of what appears to be a Roman city submerged in the Mediterranean, Egypt's top archaeologist said on Monday.
Zahi Hawass said in a statement that an excavation team had found the ruins of the Roman city 35 km (20 miles) east of the Suez Canal on Egypt's north coast.
Archaeologists had found buildings, bathrooms, ruins of a Roman fortress, ancient coins, bronze vases and pieces of pottery th
Source: BBC
May 22, 2006
Richard McIlkenny, one of the Birmingham Six wrongly imprisoned for IRA bombings in the 1970s has died in a Dublin hospital. Born in Belfast, Mr McIlkenny, who was aged 73, was released 15 years ago. Six Irishmen resident in Birmingham were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 for pub bombings in the city which killed 21 people. They served 16 years.
Despite pleas that the confessions had been obtained through beatings, they were not freed until M
Source: Houston Chronicle
May 22, 2006
Saying that more role models could help alleviate the social estrangement and high suicide rates of gay students, the California Senate voted last week to teach the historical contributions of gays in the U.S.If approved by the state Assembly and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the measure, the first of its kind nationwide, could once again stake out California in the vanguard on gay civil rights.California's Legislature last year became the first to authorize gay marriage, but Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure. He hasn't taken a public position on the textbook bill.Books meeting the bill's requirements would be incorporated into California classes in 2012. Social science courses would include "age-appropriate study" of the "role and contributions" that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have made to the "economic political and social development" of California and the U.S.Schools are already required to teach the historical and social roles of blacks, women, American Indians, Hispanics, Asians and other ethnic groups.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
May 22, 2006
Archaeologists exploring one of Rome's oldest catacombs are baffled by neat piles of more than 1,000 skeletons dressed in elegant togas.
The macabre find emerged as teams of historians slowly picked their way through the complex network of underground burial chambers, which stretch for miles under the city.
They say the tomb, which has been dated to the first century AD, is the first known example of a "mass burial''. The archaeologists are unable to explain why so
Source: Christian Science Monitor
May 22, 2006
The Luding Bridge battle is the most famous moment in the Long March, itself the defining legend of modern China. The Red Army is hotly pursued in 1935. Soldiers hoof it 24/7 for 140 miles. They must cross the Dadu River, or be wiped out! But a 300-year-old chain-suspension bridge is closely guarded. So a suicide squad shimmies over the chains, under machine-gun fire, and wipes out the dreaded Nationalist enemy. The Red Army crosses! The China of Mao is saved!
Mao told the story to
Source: NYT
May 21, 2006
As a general rule, it can be an unpleasant career move for a Democrat to run for president, streak to primary victories, win his party's nomination and, ultimately, fall short. For his troubles, he will automatically be consigned by large sectors of his party to a distinctive Democratic pariah status — his campaign ridiculed, second-guessed and I-told-you-so'd endlessly by insiders and operatives who bemoan how "winnable" his election was and "unlikable" his personality is.
Source: NYT
May 21, 2006
Nearly every immigrant group has been caught at that crossroads for a time, wanted for work but unwelcome as citizens, especially when the economy slumps. But Mexicans have been summoned and sent back in cycles for four generations, repeatedly losing the ground they had gained.
Source: CNN
May 20, 2006
Margaret E. Wagner, a senior writer and editor at the Library of Congress, is author of the new volume, "The American Civil War: 365 Days." It has nearly 500 photographs, lithograph, paintings, drawings and cartoons from the hundreds of thousands in the library's keeping.
Many are rarely seen and some may never have been published, Wagner said.5-20-06
Source: Press Release -- Gilder Lehrman
May 19, 2006
MOUNT VERNON, Va. – The second annual George Washington Book Prize will be awarded at Mount Vernon on May 23 at 6:30 p.m. to the author of the most important book on the founding era published in 2005. Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City, and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association collaborated in 2005 to create the prize, awarded in its inaugural year to Ron Chernow for Alexander Hamilton. The black-tie event will celebrate
