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: NYT
May 19, 2011
In the early 1960s the Beatles posed for hours for the German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, even before the roster of four band members was finalized. She met them when they first played in her native Hamburg and encouraged them to imitate her bowl-cut hair and collarless jackets.She was briefly engaged to the bass player Stuart Sutcliffe, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962, at 21. She later tried to branch out as a photojournalist, but potential clients always asked, “Where are the Beatles pictures?”
Source: University of Chicago Press
May 19, 2011
Archaeologists have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in Chile that marks the oldest evidence of organized mining ever found in the Americas, according to a report in the June issue of Current Anthropology.A team of researchers led by Diego Salazar of the Universidad de Chile found the 40-meter trench near the coastal town of Taltal in northern Chile. It was dug by the Huentelauquen people—the first settlers in the region—who used iron oxide as pigment for painted stone and bone instruments, and probably also for clothing and body paint, the researchers say.
Source: ABC (Australia)
May 18, 2011
Heavy rainfall earlier this year has helped to uncover an Aboriginal burial site believed to be more than 25 thousand years old.An Aboriginal burial site near Condobolin could be more than 25 thousand years old.The remains of an aboriginal man were found on a private property, around 50 kilometres from the town earlier this year.An archaeologist with the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage Phil Purcell says the fossilisation of the bones dates them as being around 10 thousand years old.
Source: Deutsche Welle (Germany)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15083839,00.h
The impact of Nazi "cleansing" policies on Germany's opera houses and theaters has largely been left unstudied - until now. An in-depth look at persecution of artists, musicians and actors is on display in Dresden. "Decent behavior is even more important than making good music," Fritz Busch, a prominent conductor and musical director of the Saxon State Opera during his life, once said.
Source: WallStreet Journal
May 19, 2011
An outbreak of smallpox was the furthest thing from historian Dr. Paul Levengood's mind when his staff at the Virginia Historical Society put together an exhibit of "bizarre bits" that were added to the society's collection since its founding in 1831, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.There was Confederate president Jefferson Davis's cigar, confiscated by Union troops. There was a fungus carving of Robert E. Lee on his horse, Traveller, and a wreath made of human hair.
Source: BBC News
May 19, 2011
The US killer known as the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, has been asked to supply a DNA sample to police investigating the Tylenol poisoning which killed seven people in 1982.The 68-year-old was jailed for life in 1998 after killing three people and wounding 23 others in a string of bombings over 18 years.Chicago FBI said that a "re-examination of the evidence" had prompted the move.Pain relief pills Tylenol were laced with cyanide, prompting a huge scare.There was a huge recall of capsules from the shelves of pharmacies across the US.
Source: BBC News
May 19, 2011
A cigar box once owned by the captain of the Titanic has been sold for £25,000 at an auction in Liverpool.The walnut humidor was discovered gathering dust on a bedroom cabinet in the Merseyside home of Hilary Mee.It was spotted by auctioneer John Crane when he was invited to value a number of antiques.Ms Mee said she had no idea the item was connected to the ill-fated vessel, even though it had been lying around her home for 20 years.Finest smokes
Source: BBC News
May 18, 2011
An Olympic torch relay will run for 70 days ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games. So what is this relay, and why all the fuss?"It is an utterly thrilling thing to do," says Philip Barker.The Olympic historian and author has a lump in the throat just at the memory of running, torch clasped in his hand, high in the Taygetos mountains above Sparta, Greece.He was a part of the torch relay, the human-powered running feat that bore the flame on its journey from its source, Olympia, to the Atlanta Games in 1996....
Source: Jerusalem Post
May 16, 2011
NEW YORK – The consul-general of Poland in New York sent a letter to media organizations on Friday, in the wake of John
Source: CNN.com
May 13, 2011
A frail man sits in chains inside a dank, cold prison cell. He has escaped death before but now realizes that his execution is drawing near.“I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come,” the man –the Apostle Paul - says in the Bible's 2 Timothy. “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 17, 2011
The national anthem was also played as the the Queen and President Mary McAleese stood side by side at the site where Ireland commemorates the men and women who died resisting British rule.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 17, 2011
Stefan De Clerck, a Flemish Christian Democrat, has polarised Belgium, fuelling the country's one year political crisis, by supporting a blanket amnesty for the 56,000 Belgians who were convicted of collaborating with the Nazis after the war."Perhaps we should be willing to forget, because it is the past. At some point one has to be adult and be willing to talk about. perhaps to forget, because this is the past," he said at the weekend.
Source: Slate
May 17, 2011
There are so many obscure specializations, subspecializations and subcortical subspecializations within the brain sciences that even the sharpest brain has scarcely enough brainpower to learn everything there is to know about itself. But if there's one fact that the teacup-Yorkie-sized prune in your head might want to ponder, it's that it shares a peculiar past with something considerably lower in your anatomy—your genitalia.
Source: Montreal Gazette
May 11, 2011
When retired American president John Adams wrote to a friend in December 1812 about the war then being waged along the Canada-U.S. border, he let loose with some boastful thoughts about how efficiently Canada could have been conquered if he was still at the helm of the young republic.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
May 19, 2011
A 'highly significant' collection of unseen documents exposing the Nazi-sympathiser cousin of Sir Winston Churchill's wife have been unearthed in a loft.The never-before-seen letters and photographs revealing the extent of George Pitt-Rivers' views and his descent into Nazism were discovered in Dorset.Pitt-Rivers, the cousin of Clementine Churchill, earned fame as a respected anthropologist after fighting as a captain in World War I.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
May 17, 2011
The Allies would have crushed Nazi Germany 'within three years' if the RAF had not rejected plans by a British inventor to build the world's first jet-powered fighter planes, according to new research.Inventor Sir Frank Whittle was told his designs for a 500mph jet were 'totally unrealistic' and RAF chiefs refused to invest a penny in their development.It meant the RAF engineer was forced to circulate his patent internationally in the hope of finding a private investor.
Source: History.com
May 18, 2011
The daughter of Pharaoh Seqenenre Tao II and the brother of Pharaoh Kamose, the Egyptian princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon lived in Thebes—now Luxor—between 1540 and 1550 B.C. When she died in her 40s, the royal mummy-to-be may have been suffering from heart disease so severe that today’s doctors would have performed bypass surgery.
Source: NYT
May 18, 2011
For those on a genealogy quest, large or small, these are exciting times.Amateur family sleuths are taking advantage of the vast and growing trove of digitized records on sites like Ancestry.com, FamilyLink.com and Geni.com. More often these days, researchers are turning to social networks for help in discovering connections to the dead, and to the living.
Source: NYT
May 18, 2011
LONDON — On the second day of a visit to the Irish Republic, Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday visited the site of a massacre more than 90 years ago that still evokes memories of fierce hostilities between
Source: History.com
May 17, 2011
We’ve all heard of the prediction—loosely based on the Mayan calendar—that the world is slated to end on December 21, 2012. Now, members of a fringe religious group are preparing for an even earlier Armageddon, alerting their friends and neighbors that, according to the Bible, Judgment Day is just four days away. On May 21, 2011, they say, true believers will ascend to heaven while others will face destruction. While it is unclear how many people subscribe to this theory, it likely originated with Family Radio, a Christian network founded by Harold Camping.
