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: http://www.bizjournals.com
November 9, 2007
The Sen. John Heinz History Center has acquired the archival materials and artifacts of the George Westinghouse Museum in a merger of the nonprofits, the groups said Friday.
The Westinghouse Museum, in Wilmerding, Pa., is now closed and its one employee, an independent consultant, will join the History Center, said Betty Arenth, senior vice president.
Volunteers at the Westinghouse Museum will also be invited to work at the History Center, Arenth said.
No f
Source: Globe & Mail
November 9, 2007
Fewer than half of young Canadians can name the country's first prime minister and only one in four know the date of Confederation, according to a study to be released today.
Despite efforts to educate young people about Canadian history, the Dominion Institute report found that little has changed since 1997, the last time the survey was conducted - prompting the organization to call on provinces to organize a national citizenship exam that would be a requirement for high-school gra
Source: AP
November 8, 2007
Barbara West Dainton, believed to be one of the last two survivors from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died in England at age 96.
Dainton died Oct. 16 at a nursing home in Camborne, England, according to Peter Visick, a distant relative. Her funeral was held Monday at Truro Cathedral, Visick said Thursday.
Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean of Southampton, England, who was 2 months old at the time of the Titanic sinking, is now the disaster's only remai
Source: BBC
November 9, 2007
The World War I archives look at first glance like little more than a series of glass cases, containing some very dusty and dilapidated file cards.
But look closer, and the true terrible scale of World War I is revealed.
There are rows of boxes, from floor to ceiling, whole shelves with the same surname: Smith, Smith, Smith, Smith. Muller, Muller, Muller, Gautier, Gautier, Gautier, Gautier... and on it goes.
Each box contains thousands of file cards, and ea
Source: LA Daily News
November 9, 2007
Federal auditors on Thursday downplayed a recently concluded investigation that found that thousands of mementos belonging to former President Ronald Reagan may be missing.The investigation found that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley suffers from a shoddy accounting system and said officials were able to locate only 20,000 of about 100,000 Reagan items.
"This does not automatically mean the approximately 80,000 remaining items are missi
Source: Seattle PI
November 8, 2007
Jack Carver was a third-year history major at Washington State University in 1945 when he got an assignment that would put him in the front row at one of the century's most historic events -- the Nuremberg trials.
World War II was in its final months when Carver headed to France to serve as an infantry platoon leader with the 3rd Division. When the war ended, many of his fellow soldiers headed home, but Carver, then 24, was tapped to stay and assigned guard duty at the prison attach
Source: http://www.economist.com
November 8, 2007
"RUSSIA'S past was admirable, its present is more than magnificent and as for its future—it is beyond anything that the boldest mind can imagine.” Thus Count Alexander Benckendorff in the 1830s, on how Russia's history should be viewed and written. This advice from the head of the country's first secret police is now being heeded in the Kremlin, where a new Russian history is being forged.
The decade after the collapse of communism was notable for the absence of any official id
Source: AP
November 8, 2007
India's Defense Research Laboratory has published a list of its completed humanitarian projects, such as "Removal of Arsenic From water." It concludes with the proud item: "Identified World's Hottest Chili."
"What they plan to do with it is, I'm sure, top secret," comments food historian Michael Krondl at the end of "The Taste of Conquest," his book on the history of the spice trade. "Suffice it to say, it should probably be banned from hand lu
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
November 7, 2007
For the few surviving inmates of Mauthausen concentration camp, one visitor in the autumn of 1941 left an indelible memory.
Tall and athletic, Aribert Heim was the camp doctor for only two months and the 27-year-old enjoyed his time in the Austrian town.
On one occasion, he picked out a prisoner passing his office. After checking his teeth, Heim persuaded him to take part in a medical experiment with the vague promise of release.
Heim killed the man with an
Source: BBC
November 6, 2007
The part played by people in Northern Ireland in the abolition and promotion of the slave trade is being marked.
In Belfast's Linenhall Library rare documents and artefacts have gone on display as part of the Hidden Connections exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the African slave trade.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness opened the display on Tuesday, describing the trade as a "manifestation of racism and greed".
Source: WSJ
November 8, 2007
The Kremlin has dusted off the events of four centuries ago to help cast Vladimir Putin as a "father of the nation" who will remain influential after his presidential term ends next year.
A Kremlin-inspired blockbuster film, titled "1612," now hitting theaters around the country, sets the tone for the campaign. Produced by a personal friend of Mr. Putin, it focuses on a popular uprising in 1612 that drove a Polish-Lithuanian army from Moscow.
The dar
Source: Editor & Publisher
November 6, 2007
For almost two years, President Bush has been threatening to unseat Richard M. Nixon as the most unpopular president in the history of the Gallup poll, and it finally happened this week.
The latest USA TODAY/Gallup survey finds Bush with a 31% approval rating -- and for the first time ever in the polling history, 50% say they "strongly disapprove" of a president.
The previous high (or low?) was a 48% strong disapproval rating for Nixon at the worst moments of
Source: AP
November 1, 2007
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is beginning a major dig for World War I chemical munitions near American University and the South Korean Ambassador's residence.
It is the fourth excavation on or near the Washington, D.C., campus in nearly 15 years, since the discovery of disposal pits from the Army's former chemical warfare station. Officials say the artillerary could contain toxic agents such as mustard gas.
The station was used for developing and testing weapons.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
November 7, 2007
The Berlin Philharmonic, widely considered the world's greatest orchestra, has finally opened up about its Nazi past after decades of silence.
The British-born conductor Simon Rattle has been at the forefront of the move, leading a concert featuring works banned as "degenerate" by Hitler. The concert, marking the orchestra's 125th anniversary, was applauded this week by a packed house in Berlin, where Sir Simon's predecessor, Wilhelm Furtwängler, led birthday concerts for
Source: Fox
November 6, 2007
A $104 million dollar hockey arena may be forced to remove hundreds of images of "The Fighting Sioux," the logo and nickname of the University of North Dakota for more than 70 years, if officials can't reach an agreement with tribal councils.
The university, according to a settlement last month of a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association, has three years to negotiate an agreement with two North Dakota Sioux tribes — Spirit Lake and Standing Rock — to
Source: Anthony Lewis in the NYT Book Review
November 4, 2007
Three years after the American invasion of Iraq, after endless searches had found no sign of weapons of mass destruction, President Bush still believed that Saddam Hussein had had them. He expressed that conviction repeatedly to his chief of staff, Andrew Card, until Card left the White House in April 2006.
So writes Robert Draper in his unusual biography of George W. Bush. It is unusual because Draper, a national correspondent for GQ magazine, was given extraordinary access to this
Source: NYT
November 5, 2007
With assertions of the rights of Palestinians to reclaim land in Israel expected to arise at an planned Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., a Jewish advocacy group has scheduled a meeting in New York on Monday to call attention to people it terms “forgotten refugees.”
The organizing group, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, says it is referring to the more than 850,000 Jews who left their homes in Arab lands after the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948.
Source: Guardian
November 6, 2007
For a decade the curious case of the Rapparee Cove bones has caused diplomatic tension and fierce academic argument.
Found during an archaeological dig on the rocky coast of north Devon, the discovery of the remains seemed to confirm that a boatload of slaves was shipwrecked off the British coast and the survivors possibly sold on.
Ten years on, a row over the bones has reignited with one historian criticising a former colleague for not publishing the results of tests o
Source: BBC
November 5, 2007
A public appeal has begun to raise £100,000 to save a monument to honour servicemen who died in World War I.
The Memorial Arch, a well-known landmark near Bangor university, features the names of 8,500 men from Gwynedd who died in the Great War.
Built in 1923 the arch needs £155,000 of refurbishments to bring it up to scratch and £47,000 has been donated by the Welsh Assembly Government already.
One of those named on the monument is Trawsfynydd poet Hedd Wyn.
Source: Daily Mail
November 3, 2007
It is unmistakably a blood-red corn poppy in full bloom.
But closer inspection reveals silhouettes of struggling soldiers emerging from its centre.
This striking design has been chosen for a special first-class stamp commemorating the 90th anniversary of the First World War battle of Passchendaele, the Belgian village whose name is synonymous with the carnage and futility of war.
