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
January 20, 2011
The Lewis Mountain area at Skyline drive milepost 57.5 in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park was once a racially segregated facility. The mystery photo shows part of a replica sign on exhibit in the park's Harry F. Byrd, Sr. Visitor Center at Big Meadows. The original sign, one side of which is shown in an accompanying photo, was removed six decades ago when Lewis Mountain ceased to be racially restricted.
Racial segregation was built into the park's original plan. In 1932, three y
Source: Haaretz
January 19, 2011
Berlin rejected Wednesday a demand to unlock an intelligence agency file on Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was caught by Israeli agents in Argentina, tried and hanged in 1962.
The mass-circulation newspaper Bild this month published a 1952 record from the West German intelligence agency saying Eichmann was in Argentina and his residence was known to an ex-Nazi group there.
At the time, Germany was saying his whereabouts were unknown.
Manfred Grund,
Source: WaPo
January 20, 2011
LONDON -- A full year before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair told his chief of staff the West should be "gung-ho" on toppling Saddam Hussein, a panel looking into the conflict disclosed Friday.
Blair returned to testify for a second time before a five-member panel scrutinizing Britain's role in the unpopular war - having been recalled after witnesses raised doubts about sections of his testimony at an initial appearance a year ago.
Source: NYT
January 20, 2011
NASHVILLE — Shannon McCullough has a favorite lullaby, and it begins with the revving of a carbureted V8 engine. From her house on Merritt Avenue she could hear it most of her life, the hypnotic, oscillating drone as the stock cars approached and receded, approached and receded.
She has been listening to this sound for nearly all of her 48 years, and, she said, “it can put me to sleep.”
Then there’s Jean Boles, 65, a hairdresser who lives about five blocks away.
Source: NYT
January 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — Old habits die hard, even five decades later.
Sitting at the head of a long table at Charlie Palmer’s steakhouse, in the shadow of the Capitol, Letitia Baldrige, the White House social secretary for Jacqueline Kennedy, tapped her wine glass with a pen, to try to quiet the crowd and signal that someone should propose a toast. When that didn’t work, she tried clinking the glass with her knife. And when that still didn’t do the trick, she gave up.
“Protocol,”
Source: NYT
January 20, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. — The first President Bush, now 86, walked unsteadily to his seat on the stage. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who was Mr. Bush’s defense secretary, spoke as a mechanical device pumped his failing heart. The others were grayer, balder or bearers of the scars of fresher wars.
For what could well be the last time, the major American decision-makers in the 1991 invasion that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait gathered here on Thursday night, celebrati
Source: Science Daily
January 19, 2011
Researchers at the Centre for the Studies of Archaeological and Prehistoric Heritage (CEPAP) of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have implemented an innovative system to register archaeological artifacts which eliminates problems in manual markings, such as errors in writing or erosion of data. The system, based on direct labelling using bi-dimensional data matrix (DM) codes, has been used by the CEPAP team during two years, in which numerous artifacts and bone remains from sites in Spain
Source: USA Today
January 19, 2011
In wine there is truth, in vino veritas, as the ancient Romans put it. And the truth is that people first cultivated grapes for vino about 8,000 years ago, finds a genetics study.
In the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Sean Myles of Cornell, looked at "1,000 samples of the domesticated grape, Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera, and its wild relative, V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris." Comparing the gene maps across the grapes, the team concl
Source: BBC
January 19, 2011
Tom, Dick and Harry famously had their stories told in the film The Great Escape, but more is soon to be learned about a little-known fourth tunnel.
This spring, a British team is due to excavate "George", at the site of the Stalag Luft III camp in Zagan, Poland.
The tunnel was built after the March 1944 escape by 76 Allied prisoners that is portrayed in the film starring Steve McQueen, but never used for an escape.
It was a "contingency tunn
Source: CNN
January 18, 2011
Dave Taylor, a Civil War antiques dealer in Sylvania, Ohio, was excited about the possibility of buying a "top-notch," genuine .36-caliber Spiller & Burr revolver that had belonged to a Confederate officer from North Carolina.
A Tennessee woman who inherited the revolver from her late father sent him photos and, eventually, they agreed to a price, he said.
A day before driving down to Knoxville to finish the deal in late November, Taylor said he thumbed th
Source: BBC
January 20, 2011
The complete works of Robert Burns have been made available free of charge on the iPhone for the first time.
The new iPhone application will allow enthusiasts around the world to download and instantly access Burns' poetry.
The app includes a searchable database of every poem written by Burns, a summary of facts about the poet's life and a guide to hosting a Burns supper.
The text-based app has been developed by the Scottish government....
Source: BBC
January 20, 2011
Three stolen works of art have been recovered more than 15 years after they were taken from museums in Glasgow.
The three paintings were retrieved as part of an continuing investigation with Strathclyde Police and Lothian and Borders Police.
One is by the Scots colourist, Samuel Peploe, another by French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and a third by Italian painter, Federico Barocci.
The paintings, worth £200,000, are now back in Glasgow museums.
Source: BBC
January 20, 2011
The John F Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston in the state of Massachusetts has begun chronicling the former US president's 1,000 days in office on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
The account @Kennedy1961 began posting tweets on Thursday about the former president's actions and words as they unfolded 50 years ago.
The library is linking to video and pictures from its digitised archive.
Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's inauguration...
Source: Fox News
January 20, 2011
Rep. Steve Cohen on Thursday stood by his remarks in which he compared Republican attacks on the health care overhaul to Nazi propaganda advanced by Joseph Goebbels.
The Tennessee Democrat, who is Jewish, said he regrets that anyone was offended and that his comments were used to "distract from the debate about health care." But in a detailed written statement, the congressman elaborated on and defended his analogy.
Cohen had accused Republicans of spreading
Source: AP
January 20, 2011
A new monument was unveiled Thursday in eastern Canada marking the country's decision to turn away a steamship carrying Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.
The luxury liner MS St. Louis was first turned away by Cuba, then the United States and finally Canada before returning to Europe just before the outbreak of war.
Of the 900 German Jews aboard, almost a third died in the Holocaust....
Source: CNN
January 20, 2011
On the heels of an exiled despot's arrival in Port-au-Prince, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide says he is ready to return to help his troubled homeland, an idea welcomed by some and reviled by others who fear a deepening crisis.
Aristide's lawyer in the United States said that the former president does not have a passport, and the Haitian government will not issue him one.
Kurzban told CNN that no talks have taken place that would allow Aristide to return
Source: AP
January 19, 2011
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haitian authorities moved toward trying Jean-Claude Duvalier for alleged corruption and embezzlement during his brutal 15-year rule, opening an investigation against the former dictator whose unexpected return from exile took an already tense nation by surprise.
The former strongman known as "Baby Doc" was questioned by judges for hours behind closed doors in a court in Haiti's capital Tuesday, defense attorney Gervais Charles said. The case is now
Source: Fox News
January 19, 2011
The NAACP's South Carolina office chose to cover a statue of George Washington during its annual rally honoring Martin Luther King Jr., drawing complaints from conservatives that the group was offending the legacy of the nation's Founding Father.
The state chapter of the civil rights group claims it meant no disrespect and only covered up the statue to provide a more suitable backdrop for speakers at Monday's event. Pictures taken at the event show the statue was completely covered
Source: CNN
January 20, 2011
Federal agents have backed up al Qaeda captive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confession in the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl by using photographs of the veins in his hands, according to a new report released Thursday.
Mohammed confessed to beheading Pearl after his 2003 arrest in Pakistan. But the U.S. admission that he had been subjected to "waterboarding" -- a practice historically treated as torture -- while in CIA custody cast doubt on the reliability of his confession
Source: CNN
January 20, 2011
Melissa Coleman has amazing stories to tell and some family members still can't get enough of the harrowing tales of her 33 days as a prisoner of war during the first Gulf war.
Even 20 years after the start of that war, Coleman can captivate an audience. She tells family friends or her daughters' classmates about American bombs that struck close to where she was held by her Iraqi captors.
But 20 years after her 33 days as a POW, Coleman is fighting another battle: breas
