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
February 7, 2011
LOS ANGELES — The Watts Towers rose up against a clear blue sky as James Janisse unlocked the 10-foot-high gate that surrounds the soaring outdoor sculpture. “Behold the work of the man,” said Mr. Janisse, a tour guide, and his audience took it in: the Gaudiesque mashup of towers, cathedrals, fountains and ships, constructed from pipes, broken bottles, seashells and cracked ceramic, climbing 100 feet into the air.
The towers are an iconic work of folk art with a back story — built
Source: NYT
February 7, 2011
New genetic research reveals that the migratory story of the Polynesians may be more ancient and complicated than previously thought.
For years, it was generally accepted that Polynesians originated in modern-day Taiwan and began moving south and east about 4,000 years ago. This migration account is based on the research of linguists, the findings of archeologists and some genetic analysis.
But a new study in The American Journal of Human Genetics reports that Polynesi
Source: NYT
February 7, 2011
Q. You didn’t start out as a geneticist, but as a medical doctor. I take it your research career was accidental?A. Absolutely. For much of the late 1950s, I worked a few days a week as a medical doctor at a Cook County Hospital clinic for retarded children. With young children at home, I would only work part time. Then in 1961, my husband had a sabbatical from the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 4, 2011
When Katherine of Aragon made her entry into London, two days before her marriage to Prince Arthur, heir to the throne, she visited St Paul's and made an offering there at the shrine of St Erkenwald. It is a detail I was struck by in Giles Tremlett's splendid new biography of Henry VIII's eventual queen.
The wedding of Henry's doomed brother Arthur to Katherine took place on November 14, 1501, the saint's feast day, or rather the feast of the translation of his relics to their magni
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 7, 2011
One of only two statues of Charles Dickens in the world has been returned to public display in Australia after being lost for almost 40 years only to be discovered in a garden outside Sydney.
The marble statue, which depicts a pensive Dickens holding a quill and a scroll of paper, went missing in 1972 after it was removed from Centennial Park in Sydney because of vandalism.
The only other known statue of Dickens is in Philadelphia, USA as the author stated in his will t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 7, 2011
The crumbling stone temple at the centre of Thai-Cambodian fighting, has fueled nationalist sentiment on both sides of the disputed frontier for decades.
Both countries accused each other of instigating the clashes over the weekend, which continued across the darkened mountainous border for more than three hours Sunday. The extent of the damage to the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was not immediately clear.
The temple, which sits several hundred fe
Source: AFP
February 4, 2011
BRUSSELS — Top Nazi Martin Bormann, who German authorities say died in 1945, escaped Berlin and lived in Latin America disguised as a priest, a former Belgian collaborator said in an interview published Saturday.
Paul van Aerschodt, 88, who was sentenced to death in Belgium in 1946 but broke out of prison before his execution and now lives in Spain, told the Derniere Heure newspaper he had met Bormann four times in La Paz, Bolivia, around 1960.
"Bormann had come fr
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 7, 2011
The crumbling stone temple at the centre of Thai-Cambodian fighting, has fueled nationalist sentiment on both sides of the disputed frontier for decades.
Both countries accused each other of instigating the clashes over the weekend, which continued across the darkened mountainous border for more than three hours Sunday. The extent of the damage to the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was not immediately clear.
The temple, which sits several hundred fe
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
February 2, 2011
For those who remain, the beaches of Normandy will forever be sacred, echoing with the cries of those young men cut down as they waded ashore to defend our freedom.
Now, 66 years on, the dwindling band of D-Day veterans faces a new battle against an unexpected invader.
A giant offshore windfarm within sight of the beaches where 2,500 allied soldiers died is being planned by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
The proposal for 80 525ft high windmills off Juno
Source: WXVT (MS)
February 4, 2011
VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker have again proposed expanding the Vicksburg National Military Park to add the battlefields of Champion Hill, Port Gibson and Raymond.
The bill was filed in Congress this week by the Republican senators. A similar bill was filed last year....
Source: The Art Newspaper
February 3, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC. 150 years ago this month, seven Southern states seceded from the Union, igniting the American Civil War. A defining event in US history, it lasted four years, claimed nearly a million lives, and led to the abolition of slavery. Yet despite its impact even today, there is no major art exhibition planned in the US in 2011.
It was a different story for the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth in 2009. Congress created a special commission to plan the nation’s co
Source: Daily Times (Delaware County, PA)
February 4, 2011
Acclaimed historian Shelby Foote insisted that any true understanding of American history, and thus of America, must be rooted in an understanding of the Civil War.
For Foote and scores of history buffs, often it was the power of pictures that helped trigger their curiosity. Soldiers marching up against a shower of shot and shell, seeing men mowed down by the dozens. After staring at those Civil War pictures for hours, the historians had to uncover the stories behind them.
Source: Guardian (UK)
February 4, 2011
Human remains from Stonehenge and other ancient settlements will be reburied and lost to science under legislation that threatens to cripple research into the history of humans in Britain, a group of leading archaeologists says today.
In a letter addressed to the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, and printed in the Guardian today, 40 archaeology professors write of their "deep and widespread concern" about the issue.
The dispute centres on legislation introduced
Source: HistoryExtra (BBC)
January 1, 2011
South Sudan, currently in the news because of its secession referendum, is not the only area of Sudan with a troubled history, as David Keys investigates.
Between 2003 and 2008, in a terrible conflict and humanitarian catastrophe, the Darfur region (in the western part of the country), up to 400,000 civilians were killed, another two to three million driven from their homes and 1,000–2,000 villages razed to the ground. Last year the international criminal court in the Hague made it
Source: Montgomery Advertiser
February 6, 2011
The Civil War may have started 150 years ago, but the battles over it continue.
In Montgomery, the "birthplace of the Confederacy," residents still cannot even agree on what caused the fight, let alone whether it is an event worthy of honor or shame.
It was Feb. 9, 1861, when the Confederate States of America was formed in Montgomery with Jefferson Davis as president.
William T. Myrick of Wetumpka, said the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is
Source: Secrecy News
February 7, 2011
Americans who have accessed the WikiLeaks web site may have violated the Espionage Act, under an extreme interpretation of the law advanced by Air Force officials last week.
Many government agencies have instructed their employees not to download classified materials from the WikiLeaks web site onto unclassified computer systems. The government’s position is that although the material is in the public domain, its classification status is unaffected. Therefore, to preserve the inte
Source: WaPo
February 6, 2011
The Reagan Centennial celebration started just before 2 p.m. ET Sunday, with musical performances by popular Christian singer Michael W. Smith and pop singer Amy Grant.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan laid a wreath in honor of her husband, former president Ronald Reagan. A wreath must be laid at the tomb of every former president on the anniversary of their birth. The wreath-laying was followed by a 21-gun salute and the playing of "America the beautiful" by the Marine Corp
Source: AFP
February 4, 2011
Archaeologists voiced deepening concern on Thursday after fresh street battles erupted around Cairo's Egyptian Museum housing the gold sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun and other priceless relics.
Websites and chat-rooms buzzed with anxiety after a break-in last Friday that left a number of glass cabinets smashed and precious objects damaged, including two mummies.
There were also accounts of pilfering at an antiquities storage depot at Qantara and anecdotal reports of to
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 7, 2011
The bee crisis has been treated as a niche concern until now, but as the UN's index of food prices hits an all time-high, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our food security.
Almost a third of global farm output depends on animal pollination, largely by honey bees.
These foods provide 35pc of our calories, most of our minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants, and the foundations of gastronomy. Yet the bees are dying
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 7, 2011
The former Labour Government did "all it could" to help Libya secure the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Britain's most senior civil servant said today.
David Cameron will this afternoon publish a dossier of 150 pages of letters, memos and minutes related to the case after he promised Barack Obama, the US President, to review all the paperwork and see what could be made public.
In an accompanying report, Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, concludes: &q
