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: Reuters
December 13, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Archeologists who have uncovered the ruins of an important colonial site in New Jersey's capital Trenton will have to rebury them soon because the state doesn't have the money to finish the project.
Petty's Run, an iron and steel forge dating from about 1730, has yielded fragments of guns and pottery, cups, coins and other items from before and after the American Revolution, during a year-long dig next to the State House.
With the artifacts remo
Source: Faded Tribune
December 14, 2010
A line of clothing aimed at teenagers has been banned from schools in America over allegations its logo resembles Nazi insignia.
The ‘Metal Mulisha’ range includes T-shirts, shirts, caps and hats and has become massively popular with teen ‘Goths’ and young bikers.
But critics say the clothes’ logo has Nazi-style helmets and a lightning bolt ‘S’ - similar to those worn by Third Reich military forces.
The label has now been banned in a series of schools where
Source: Third Age
December 13, 2010
A Xian pot of soup from 2,400 years ago was found in a tomb. The 2,400 year old bronze vessel was found near the capital of Xian. Archaeologists also believe they found a container of wine.
"It's the first discovery of bone soup in Chinese archaeological history," the Global Times quoted Liu Daiyun of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology as saying.
"The discovery will play an important role in studying the eating habits and culture of the W
Source: Yahoo News
December 13, 2010
WASHINGTON – America's neighborhoods became more integrated last year than during any time in at least a century, says a broad array of census data released Tuesday on the impact of race and economics.
Segregation among blacks and whites fell in roughly three-fourths of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas as the two racial groups spread more evenly between inner cities and suburbs. Still, ethnic segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, particularly for Hispanics.
Source: Army.mil
December 13, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (Army News Service, Dec. 13, 2010) -- Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Army Historical Foundation Executive Director Retired Brig. Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr. unveiled designs for three 2011 Army Commemorative Coins during the 111th Army-Navy football classic Dec. 11, at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.
"The designs for the 2011 U.S. Army Commemorative Coins unveiled today celebrate our magnificent Army's storied history and heritage and sig
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
December 13, 2010
To the untrained eye, the rough-looking tract on the south side of the Statehouse in Trenton looks like an ordinary construction site.
To archaeologists and historians, it's a rare treasure. Deep in the earth are the remains of what may be the only colonial-era steel mill excavated in North America.
Two Philadelphians - Timothy Matlack and Owen Biddle - once made steel at the so-called Petty's Run site, demonstrating an independent streak that dismayed England. The Brit
Source: BBC News
December 13, 2010
Seventy years after the Battle of Britain, the BBC has retraced the story of a little known amateur RAF squadron formed in a London gentlemen's club and composed of aristocrats and adventurers. But their privileged upbringing did not shield them from the brutal realities of war.
Born into high society in 1914, William Henry Rhodes-Moorhouse was determined to follow a family passion for flying.
His father had built and designed planes and flown in World War I, becoming t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 8, 2010
Virgin birth, the star over Bethlehem - you know the story. But does it have a basis in scientific fact? We take a look.
The Star of Bethlehem
Upon Christ’s birth, legend has it, a star appeared in the sky over Bethlehem, leading the three magi to the manger where Jesus lay. The question of whether it had a non-miraculous astronomical explanation - was there really an extra bright star that night? - has been debated for some time.
Two possible explanations
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 12, 2010
Art historians are probing a real life Da Vinci Code style mystery after discovering tiny numbers and letters painted into the eyes of the artist's enigmatic Mona Lisa painting.
Leonardo Da Vinci's 500-year-old Renaissance masterpiece has long been steeped in mystery, and even today the true identity of the woman with the alluring smile still far from certain.
Now members of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage have revealed that by magnifying high resolutio
Source: BBC News
December 13, 2010
The remains of the Roman town of Pompeii destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD79 continue to provide intriguing and unexpected insights into Roman life - from diet and health care to the gap between rich and poor.
The basement storeroom under a large agricultural depot in the little suburb of Oplontis was full of pomegranates. To many of the Pompeiians trying to find shelter from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, it must have seemed strong and safe.
About 50 people took
Source: BBC News
December 31, 2069
Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has reached a new milestone in its quest to leave the Solar System.
Now 17.4bn km (10.8bn miles) from home, the veteran probe has detected a distinct change in the flow of particles that surround it.
These particles, which emanate from the Sun, are no longer travelling outwards but are moving sideways.
It means Voyager must be very close to making the jump to interstellar space - the space between the stars
Source: WaPo
December 13, 2010
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- An image of President Ronald Reagan graces the U.S. Postal Service's newest 44-cent stamp.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan helped unveil the design of the Ronald Reagan Centennial postage stamp during a ceremony Monday at the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif....
Source: NYT
December 13, 2010
Men who grew up in the St. Louis area in the early 1960s and died of cancer by middle age had more than twice as much radioactive strontium in their baby teeth as men born in the same area at the same time who are still living, according to a study based on teeth collected years ago by Washington University in St. Louis.
The study, published on Dec. 1 in The International Journal of Health Services, analyzed baby teeth collected during the era when the United States and the Soviet U
Source: NYT
December 13, 2010
POMPEII, Italy — Is Pompeii crumbling?
So it would seem, judging from the media maelstrom about several recent collapses at the ancient ruins here, including that of the Schola Armaturarum, a spacious hall used by a military association before it was engulfed with the rest of the city by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79....
The collapses at Pompeii have become a metaphor for Italy’s political instability and its inability to care for its cultural heritage. The
Source: CNN
December 11, 2010
Bacteria scooped from the wreckage of the Titanic almost 20 years ago have been confirmed as a new species in the December issue of a microbiology journal.
While new scientific discoveries are usually heralded as joyous news, this discovery is bittersweet.
The bacteria, found on the ship's "rusticles" (rust formations that look like icicles), are eating the Titanic.
The strain, dubbed Halomonas titanicae, was initially designated BH1T in honor of
Source: BBC
December 13, 2010
Historic Scotland has issued a list of the most important battle sites located around the country.
The first phase of the Inventory of Historic Battlefields contains a total of 17 different locations.
It includes sites in the Borders, Aberdeenshire, the Highlands, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and East Lothian.
The inventory aims to highlight the historic significance of the areas to planning authorities making decisions which could affect their landscape.
Source: Irish Times
December 14, 2010
EVIDENCE THAT the burning of Cork city during the War of Independence was carried out by members of an Auxiliary Division of the RIC has been uncovered by a historian of the force.
Jim Herlihy has found letters from a member of K Company of the Auxiliaries that confirm the 55-strong contingent led the burning on December 11th, 1920.
According to Mr Herlihy, Temporary Cadet Charlie Schulze wrote two letters on December 16th, 1920, in which he confirmed that he and his co
Source: Fox News
December 13, 2010
A town in southern Colorado, which was founded by Hispanics 150 years ago and today no longer exists, offers some timeless lessons about cultural and technological conflicts, according to historian Virginia Sanchez.
In October 1862, eight families from northern New Mexico crossed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and founded the city of Cuchara in the southern part of Colorado, where they lived by farming and raising sheep.
But the arrival of the railroad a decade later an
Source: BBC
December 13, 2010
The remains of the Roman town of Pompeii destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD79 continue to provide intriguing and unexpected insights into Roman life - from diet and health care to the gap between rich and poor.
The skeletons of a pair of twins show what were almost certainly the signs of congenital syphilis. If that is correct, then it puts paid to the usual idea that the disease was brought back to Europe from the New World by Christopher Columbus and his sailors in the 15th Ce
Source: BBC
December 13, 2010
Chinese archaeologists have unearthed what they believe is a 2,400-year-old pot of soup, state media report.
The liquid and bones were in a sealed bronze cooking vessel dug up near the ancient capital of Xian - home to the country's famed terracotta warriors.
Tests are being carried out to identify the ingredients. An odourless liquid, believed to be wine, was also found.
The pots were discovered in a tomb being excavated to make way for an extension to th
