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: National Parks Traveler
May 10, 2010
The written word is a marvelous thing, so much more so when it's used to describe a place. In the early part of the 20th century, those employed by the Government Printing Office had a stylish way to describe national parks. Perhaps not as eloquent as some of today's finer writers, but stylish just the same.
Take, for instance, these opening passages from Acadia National Park, Maine, written for the summer season of June 15-October 15 1931, back when Horace M. Albright was the Natio
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
May 5, 2010
Melanie Trubey got the e-mail early one morning.
A stranger from the Netherlands was asking about her family. And he offered some startling news of his own.
"Being a collector of WW II items and stories and, in the first place, a great admirer of the American soldiers that liberated our country at the end of WW II, I found while using my metal detector a Dog-Tag with the name: Milton S. Reese written on it,'' wrote a man called Felix de Klein.
Is she
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 10, 2010
A piece of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree is being carried into zero-gravity space on the next Nasa shuttle mission.
The section of wood, from the original tree from which the apple fell that inspired Newton's theory of gravity, is normally held in the Royal Society's archives.
It was lent to British-born astronaut Dr Piers Sellers, who will be taking it into orbit, as part of the academic institution's 350th anniversary celebrations.
The tree sample will be
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 10, 2010
Barack Obama has bemoaned the impact of technology such as the iPod and the Xbox, claiming information is now a diversion imposing new strains on democracy.
Mr Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing on superficial coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.
"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and
Source: BBC News
May 10, 2010
A Czech travel agency is offering package holidays for people nostalgic for the trade union perks of communist Czechoslovakia, when factory workers were bussed off to recuperate from the daily grind.
For a modest sum, guests can stay at a grim-looking hotel in Slovakia's Tatra Mountains, to relive the sights, sounds, and smells of pre-1989 holidays, the BBC's Rob Cameron reports.
It's 8.30am and holidaymaker Viera Kubisova is eating breakfast. I think I've upset her.
Source: BBC News
May 10, 2010
Lena Horne's singing career spanned more than 60 years. With her passionate voice and good looks, she became the first black sex symbol in the 1930s.
She was born in Brooklyn. Her mother was an actress and her father ran a small hotel.
Horne's parents separated when she was three, and she was boarded out. She did not live with her mother again until she was 15.
A year later she became a chorus singer in Harlem's fashionable Cotton Club. Her mother used to c
Source: Cleveland.com
May 9, 2010
Owen and Allen 1.jpgSarah Rice, Special to The Plain DealerForensic audio experts Stuart Allen, seated, and Tom Owen, discuss the contents of a tape that captured the events leading to the May 4, 1970 Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State University. The Ohio National Guardsmen who fired on students and antiwar protesters at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 were given an order to prepare to shoot, according to a new analysis of a 40-year-old audio tape of the event.
"
Source: CBN.com
May 8, 2010
Many of Israel's enemies are working hard to rewrite Jewish history, denying the Holocaust and pretending thousands of years of Jewish connection to this land didn't exist.
Israel's very existence as a country is anchored "first and foremost" in the country's "national and emotional legacy," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February.
Sadly, many Israeli youngsters don't even know their own history....
Source: ABC News (AU)
May 7, 2010
Another 19 Australian soldiers buried at Fromelles in northern France have been identified.
The remains of the soldiers, who were killed in the 1916 Battle of Fromelles, were discovered in 2008....
Source: English.news.cn
May 8, 2010
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday called for a correct view of history, saying the Soviet Union and China's contributions to victory in the world's anti-fascist war are "ironclad."
Hu spoke while meeting with representatives of the Russian veterans of World War II, who participated in the battles for the liberation of China's Northeast.
"It is an ironclad fact that China and the Soviet Union have made exceptional contributions to the success of the
Source: AP
May 8, 2010
It saw its prime more than a century ago, winning recognition at the 1893 World's Fair as a 3-D display of the rolling lands that supplied Boston's water. Then, it saw years in a sooty attic.
Now, a rare map of Boston watersheds is being restored at Tufts University and will offer a look at the history of an expansive water system that 2 million people learned not to take for granted during a massive water main break last week.
The 6-by-9 foot plaster and papier-mache m
Source: Gulf News (Qatar)
May 9, 2010
Damascus: Syria has increasingly been reconnecting with its past and historical figures who have largely been persona non grata in the past few decades.
Radwan Atassi, the grandson of former president Hashem Al Atassi and a historian of modern Syria, says this change could be attributed to a number of recent developments.
“The government is no longer passive about that period of history as five decades have already passed,” Atassi told Gulf News.
“Reconnect
Source: Io9
May 8, 2010
The fallout from the Louisiana oil rig explosion is continuing to be horrendous, and efforts to stop the damage aren't looking promising. But this isn't the worst fossil fuel disaster we've ever had. Here are 10 of the worst.
Disclaimer: It's almost impossible to quantify or define "worst" in this context. Number of lives lost? Amount of environmental damage? Sheer volume of oil spilled, or coal ignited? There's no way to be completely scientific about it. We attempted to
Source: NYT
May 7, 2010
At a mall food court here, where she was sitting with reporters covering her campaign for the House of Representatives, Imelda Marcos inserted iPod earbuds on either side of her bouffant coiffure.
Her life may already have been distilled into pop culture, her name reduced to a punch line about shoes. But a couple of months shy of 81 years, Mrs. Marcos is battling to restore the Marcos dynasty in nationwide elections on Monday, watching over a daughter running for provincial governor
Source: AP
May 8, 2010
It took more than four decades for a former Alabama state trooper to be indicted on charges that he gunned down a black demonstrator — a killing that helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Now a three-year delay for the trial has both sides fearing that elderly witnesses could die before they get a chance to testify.
The lag since the indictment, due in part to a feud between the prosecutor and judge, is on track to be the longest for a major civil rights case since authorities
Source: NYT
May 7, 2010
Given the speed with which Hong Kong’s colonial buildings have been torn down, it’s fortunate that the old British marine police headquarters survived at all. The 19th-century white-stucco structure had been neglected for more than a decade. Most visitors to the bustling Tsim Sha Tsui area probably did not notice its elegant curving staircase entrance, set back from the neon and noise of Salisbury Road. Late last year the complex, known as 1881 Heritage (1881heritage.com), began reopening in sta
Source: Discovery News
May 6, 2010
Our understanding of the origin of dinosaurs has changed dramatically over the past 25 years, and in a new paper in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, paleontologists offer a glimpse into the dinosaurs’ rise to dominance.
For a long time, scientists believed that evolution was progressive, and that organisms evolved toward perfection through competition and superiority, much like the progression of human invention and technology. The prevailing wisdom has been that dinosaurs out-co
Source: The Independent
May 7, 2010
A team of archaeologists have discovered a fortification system at the Minoan town of Gournia, a discovery which rebukes the popular myth that the Minoans were a peaceful society with no need for defensive structures.
The team's efforts were led by Professor Vance Watrous and Matt Buell of the University at Buffalo. Located on the north coast, Gournia was in use during the neo-palatial period (ca. 1700-1450 BC), when Minoan civilization was at its height. The town sits atop a low r
Source: Fox News
May 7, 2010
Archaeologists in Morocco uncovered an ancient burial ground in a cave east of the capital Rabat, digging up human skeletons dating back 5,000 years, they told AFP Friday.
It is the first time that human skeletons dating from the end of the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age have been discovered in Morocco, said Youssef Bokbot, leader of the team carrying out the digs.
The digs, which began in 2006, were in a cave 11 miles from Khemisset.
Source: BBC
May 7, 2010
Silverware stolen from the British stately home of the former Viceroy of India Lord Curzon is of "priceless historical importance", officials say.
The National Trust charity says the stolen objects provide a unique insight into the Raj and are irreplaceable.
The artefacts, including a Burmese bowl, caskets and a wine cooler were stolen from Kedleston Hall.
They were acquired by the viceroy for the 1903 Delhi Durbar - the celebration to mark a ro
