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: AFP
May 11, 2008
Wikipedia, the upstart Internet encyclopedia that most universities forbid students to use, has suddenly become a teaching tool for professors.
Recently, university teachers have swapped student term papers for assignments to write entries for the free online encyclopedia.
Wikipedia is an "open-source" web site, which means that entries can be started or edited by anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
Writing for Wikipedia "seems l
Source: Oregonian
May 12, 2008
Portland Public Schools is poised to adopt a new curriculum today, making the district the first in the state to use a textbook exploring Oregon's racial history.
'This is not your traditional Oregon history kids may have learned in social studies class in fourth grade,' said Marcia Arganbright, district director of curriculum and instruction.
'Beyond the Oregon Trail: Oregon's Untold History' is one of four books recommended for eighth-grade social studies classes.
Source: AP
May 12, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court tossed itself off a big case Monday.
The court could not take up an apartheid dispute involving some of the largest U.S. companies because too many of the justices had investments or other ties with those corporate giants.
It appeared to be the first time in at least a quarter-century that the justices' financial holdings prevented them from taking a case.
The result is that a lawsuit will go forward accusing dozens of corporations of
Source: Canwest News Service
May 9, 2008
Canadian scientists will lower robotic probes to the bottom of Lake Ontario next week to conduct the most detailed examination ever of two American ships that sank in a storm during the War of 1812.
The investigation of the wrecks of the Hamilton and the Scourge - part of the buildup to bicentennial commemorations of the 1812-1814 war between Britain and the United States, fought largely in Canada - could include the first glimpses inside the sunken vessels, which contain the remain
Source: thinkspain
May 11, 2008
The wreck of a 13th or 14th century ship has come to light on a construction site in Barcelona's Barceloneta district - beside the Balaurd del Migdia and behind Francia train station - that used to be under water.
The remains were discovered at around seven metres below sea level on the site of a new residential apartment block being built by the Sacyr Vallehermoso company on a plot previously owned by Renfe.
Since July 2006, when work began, experts from Barcelona's Ar
Source: http://www.salisburypost.com
May 10, 2008
The site of the Yadkin River bridge has been named one of the nation's 25 most endangered Civil War battlefields by a publication that specializes in such designations.
The designation appears in the most recent copy of "History Under Siege," subtitled: "A Guide to America's Most Endangered Civil War Battlefields." The publication is part of an annual report by Civil War Preservation Trust (www.civilwar. org), based in Washingto
Source: Frontpagemag.com
May 9, 2008
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Howard Rotberg, the author of The Second Catastrophe: A Novel about a Book and its Author (Mantua Books). The novel explores the problems faced by a pro-Israel historian after he wrote a book comparing Islamists to Nazis, and the situation for Israeli Jews today with that of Jews in 1939. Rotberg is a Canadian author who has faced the manufactured wrath of Islamists after they made up allegations against him.
FP: Howard Rotberg, welcome to Frontpage In
Source: Deutsche Welle
April 30, 2008
The Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ASF) was founded by the synod of
the Evangelical Church in Germany in 1958 in response to Nazi atrocities during
World War II. Since 1961, Action Reconciliation has sent thousands of young
Germans to Israel to volunteer in nursing homes, youth centers, hospitals and
memorial sites. The grassroots work of this social action group became the basis
of a political rapprochement between Germany and Israel, when diplomatic
relations were established i
Source: Justin Ewers in US News & World Report
May 8, 2008
As the last of those who remember camp life reach their 70s and 80s, their efforts to commemorate their experience have expanded: Former internees are determined not just to preserve the stories of internment; they also are trying to save the camps themselves. In 2006, President Bush signed a bill authorizing up to $38 million for a grant program to preserve the camps. But nearly two years later, swamped in election year politics, the funds have yet to be appropriated. The delay worries internee
Source: National Geographic News
May 9, 2008
Builders clearing land for a housing project in Colombia have uncovered an ancient burial site containing nearly a thousand tombs linked to two little-known civilizations. (See photos.)
The site covers some 12 acres (5 hectares) in the impoverished Usme district in southeast Bogotá (see map) and includes one set of remains that some researchers believe could be a victim of human sacrifice.
The possible victim is a young woman who seems to have been buried alive, said A
Source: Deutsche Welle
May 5, 2008
Normal relations between Germany and Israel are unimaginable in light of the
Holocaust. But the two countries have managed to develop a friendly parthership
based on solidarity, even if its start was difficult.
German President Horst Koehler said during a speech to Israel's parliament, the
Knesset, that normality could not exist between Germany and Israel. That was in
2005, when the two countries had already been fostering diplomatic relations for
40 years. The feeling that nothing co
Source: NYT
May 11, 2008
The secret of his transformation, which has brought him to the brink of claiming the Democratic presidential nomination, can be described as the politics of maximum unity.
He moved from his leftist Hyde Park base to more centrist circles; he forged early alliances with the good-government reform crowd only to be embraced later by the city’s all-powerful Democratic bosses; he railed against pork-barrel politics but engaged in it when needed; and he empathized with the views of his Pa
Source: Earth Times
May 8, 2008
Archaeologists believe they have found the Queen of Sheba's palace at Axum, Ethiopia and an altar which held the most precious treasure of ancient Judaism, the Ark of the Covenant, the University of Hamburg said Wednesday. Scientists from the German city made the startling find during their spring excavation of the site over the past three months.
The Ethiopian queen was the bride of King Solomon of Israel in the 10th century before the Christian era. The royal match is among the m
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 11, 2008
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas are about to go at it again. And again. And again.
Illinoisans will soon start seeing a lot more stovepipe hats and mustache-less beards as the state hosts a series of events celebrating the landmark Lincoln-Douglas debate over the morality of slavery.
Reunion Tour '08 kicks off June 14-16 in Springfield, where Lincoln will redeliver his famous "House Divided" speech in the Old State Capitol. While Lincoln's June 16, 1858
Source: AP
May 10, 2008
The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer was christened Saturday with the name of the fighter pilot who spent 7 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor and served as presidential candidate Ross Perot's running mate.
Four Medal of Honor recipients and seven former prisoners of war attended the ceremony at Bath Iron Works that marked a milestone in construction of the 9,200-ton ship named for Vice Adm. James Stockdale.
Stockdale's widow Sybi
Source: WaPo
May 8, 2008
Several leading Iranian clerics criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday for saying that the last imam of Shiite Islam, a messianic figure who Shiites believe was hidden by God 1,140 years ago, leads modern-day Iran.
"We see his hand directing all the affairs of the country," Ahmadinejad told theological students in the city of Mashad during a speech that appears to have been given last month but was not broadcast until Tuesday. "A movement has started f
Source: AP
May 11, 2008
GRAFTON, W.Va. — On this 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, the woman credited with creating one of the world's most celebrated holidays probably wouldn't be pleased with all the flowers, candy or gifts.
Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation — she felt it signified the purity of a mother's love.
Jarvis, who never married and never had children, got the Mother's Day idea after her mother said it would be nice if someone created a memorial to mother
Source: BBC
May 10, 2008
US police are to carry out excavation work at a Californian ranch to search for more possible victims of notorious mass murderer Charles Manson.
They believe more bodies may be buried at the ranch in the Death Valley national park where Manson and his followers hid after the killings.
Manson was convicted in 1969 of killing seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant.
She was married at the time to the film director, Roman Polanski.
Source: BBC
May 10, 2008
The world of computing could have been very different to that of today had a machine that was designed over 150 years ago been built at the time.
That is the view of Doron Swade, the man who is behind realising the creation of the famed Difference Engine No 2 which has just gone on display in Silicon Valley.
The reason the machine is so highly regarded is because it is seen as the first attempt at automated computing and viewed as something of a missing link in techno
Source: BBC
May 11, 2008
John Prescott urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown but says the former PM was "scared" of his chancellor.
In his memoirs, serialised in the Sunday Times, Mr Prescott says he also urged Mr Brown to stand down and fight Mr Blair from the Labour back benches.
The ex-deputy prime minister also says Mr Blair reneged on several promises to step aside for Mr Brown, who he describes as "annoying and prickly".
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he
