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: NPR
October 6, 2010
This weekend marks the 70th anniversary of a World War II milestone few people have heard before. It's the story of a Polish army captain named Witold Pilecki.
In September 1940, Pilecki didn't know exactly what was going on in Auschwitz, but he knew someone had to find out. He would spend two and a half years in the prison camp, smuggling out word of the methods of execution and interrogation. He would eventually escape and author the first intelligence report on the camp.
Source: Fox News
October 6, 2010
The Oklahoma City public school district is taking a second look at a plan to teach at-risk students using rap and hip-hop after receiving complaints over one lesson referring to the Founding Fathers as "old dead white men."
The program, known as Flocabulary, is an educational tool that uses rap and hip-hop music to help students learn and memorize basic principles of vocabulary, reading, writing, social studies, math and science. The district was authorized to spend $97,0
Source: Shetland Times (UK)
October 6, 2010
A previously unknown archaeological site has come to light during work on Total’s Laggan-Tormore gas plant. As a result, a team of archaeologists has been excavating a prehistoric house and other associated structures over the past six weeks.
The site was found by local archaeologist Rick Barton, one of a team of archaeologists working on the development for ORCA, the Orkney based archaeological contractor that has been employed by Total since the development started. The archaeolog
Source: AP
December 31, 2069
A "hidden" language spoken by only about 1,000 people has been discovered in the remote northeast corner of India by researchers who at first thought they were documenting a dialect of the Aka culture, a tribal community in the foothills of the Himalayas.
They found an entirely different vocabulary and linguistic structure.
Even the speakers of the tongue, called Koro, did not realize they had a distinct language, linguist K. David Harrison said Tuesday.
Source: Media Centre at Queen Mary, University of London
October 5, 2010
Fresh research revealing the critical role Britain played in the American Civil War has spawned a series of walking tours, taking in historic sites around the UK capital connected to the famous nineteenth-century conflict.
The tours, which start on Friday 8 October 2010, are based on the PhD findings of Tom Sebrell, a part-time history lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London.
He spent four years researching American Civil War propaganda movements that thrived in B
Source: BBC News
October 7, 2010
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is stepping down from public life, as he celebrates his 79th birthday.
The man described as the "conscience" of South Africa was a prominent voice during the country's struggle against white minority rule.
He has since been the voice of reconciliation in a number of regional conflicts.
But the Nobel Peace prize winner says he wants to spend more time with his family and watching cricket.
He also says he wants t
Source: Deutsche Press
October 6, 2010
An 81-year-old German woman is to serve a six-month suspended sentence after being convicted of denying the Holocaust, a district court in Munich said Wednesday.
The woman, a former chairwoman of the outlawed far-right group Collegium Humanum, admitted to distributing pamphlets containing Holocaust-denying material in schools.
A 91-year-old man was also convicted by the court of aiding and abetting Holocaust denial, as he had allowed the material to be distributed with his na
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 7, 2010
After six years of searching and digital restoration, scientists have finally completed remastering footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The restored video was shown for the first time on Wednesday at an Australian Geographic magazine awards ceremony, with Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin as guest of honour.
In 2009, NASA released some extracts of the work to mark the 40th anniversary of the landing, but it has taken the Apollo 11 tape search team six years to complete full digita
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 7, 2010
An ancient Roman helmet found in a British field by a treasure hunter with a metal detector sold Thursday for 2.3 million pounds (2.6 million euros, 3.6 million dollars), auctioneers Christie's said.
The "exceptional" bronze cavalry parade helmet dates from the late first century or early second century, and features a well-preserved face mask, locks of curly hair and a griffin atop the cap.
It sold to an anonymous telephone buyer for more than eight times the
Source: BBC News
October 7, 2010
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is stepping down from public life, as he celebrates his 79th birthday.
The man described as the "conscience" of South Africa was a prominent voice during the country's struggle against white minority rule.
He has since been the voice of reconciliation in a number of regional conflicts.
But the Nobel Peace prize winner says he wants to spend more time with his family and watching cricket.
He also says he wants t
Source: BBC News
October 7, 2010
Saturn's rings may have formed when a large moon with an icy mantle and rocky core spiralled into the nascent planet.
A US scientist has suggested that the tidal forces ripped off some of the moon's mantle before the actual impact.
The theory could shed light on the rings' mainly water-ice composition that has puzzled researchers for decades.
The scientist announced her idea at a conference in Pasadena, US.
Though the rings are now thought to c
Source: NYT
October 7, 2010
John Lennon has been dead for 30 years, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still on the case.
On Wednesday morning a small pop-culture memorabilia shop in Midtown opened an 836-lot auction timed to what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday, which is Saturday. The prized item was a set of Lennon’s fingerprints made in 1976 as part of his application for citizenship. Minimum bid: $100,000.
But after an hourlong standoff involving cellphone calls, faxes and meeti
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 6, 2010
The Bonifatiuswerk of German Catholics – a church aid organisation – has begun calling for "Santa Claus-free zones."
The organisation sees Santa as "an invention of the advertising industry designed to boost sales" and as "a representative of consumer society who has little to do with the historical figure of St Nicolas."...
Santa Claus comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means St Nicolas, and was introduced to the American colonies in
Source: LA Times
October 6, 2010
A few months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved new regulations allowing state archives to extend classification of material from a period of 50 years to 70.
The decision was made following pressure from Israel's security services and likely connected to an ongoing petition by journalists over access to archives kept by individual government bodies (in violation of the law, evidently) such as the Mossad and the Atomic Energy Commission. Documents whose due date was coming up
Source: HNN Staff
October 6, 2010
A group of distinguished historians, educators, and filmmakers has published an open letter to the Department of the Interior to protest the National Park Service’s decision to remove the Blair Mountain battlefield in Logan County, West Virginia, from the National Register of Historic Places.The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War. Fighting broke out between 10,000 unionized coal miners, enraged by years of brutal treatme
Source: Reuters
October 6, 2010
A copy of President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery that was owned by Robert F. Kennedy will be auctioned in December, Sotheby's said on Wednesday.
The document, signed by Lincoln and is one of only 19 copies known to still exist, is expected to sell for between $1 million and $1.5 million dollars, the auction house said in a statement.
Kennedy was U.S. attorney when he bought the copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1964. It has been
Source: Live Science
October 6, 2010
The examination of a Mediterranean shipwreck from the 4th century B.C. could shed light on ancient sea routes and trade, researchers say.
The remains of a merchant vessel, full of amphoras that probably had been filled with wine, were discovered in 2006 on the seafloor south of the island of Cyprus. A team has been excavating the site, diving and dredging up important pieces, since then.
The wreck was first discovered in 2006 by fishermen. One of the ship's anchors was
Source: Jerusalem Post (Israel)
October 6, 2010
Researchers say the well-preserved mosaics date back to the Byzantine period and were part of an ecclesiastic structure.
Intricate 6th-century floor mosaics have been uncovered at Tel Shikmona park in the North, the University of Haifa announced on Tuesday.
The mosaics were unearthed by researchers from the university’s Institute of Archeology, who were taking part in renewed digs at the site. Archeological digs were held at Tel Shikmona throughout the 1960s and 1970s,
Source: Reuters
October 6, 2010
Experts in Cyprus are trying to unravel the identity of one of the island's older inhabitants, after a skeleton was discovered protruding from a cliff in one of the island's richest archaeological sites.
The intact skeleton was found at Curium in the southwest of the Mediterranean island renowned for its links to the ancient world. The earliest settlements here can be dated as far back as the Neolithic age, about 4,500 BC.
Experts believe the skeleton came to the surfac
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 4, 2010
For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside.
Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.
The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.
But when she died recently aged 91, expe
