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: Boston Globe
Apr 10, 2010
The wreck of the British warship that Paul Revere slipped by on his legendary journey to Lexington in 1775 has resurfaced in the shifting sands of Cape Cod, and federal park officials are seizing the moment by having the wreck "digitally preserved," using three-dimensional imaging technology.
"We know the wreck is going to disappear again under the sand, and it may not resurface again in our lifetimes," said William P. Burke, the historian at the Cape Cod Nationa
Source: Science Daily
Apr 10, 2010
A cache of cuneiform tablets unearthed by a team led by a University of Toronto archaeologist has been found to contain a largely intact Assyrian treaty from the early 7th century BCE.
The 43 by 28 centimetre tablet -- known as the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon -- contains about 650 lines and is in a very fragile state. "It will take months of further work before the document will be fully legible," added Harrison. "These tablets are like a very complex puzzle, involv
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 10, 2010
The most dramatic and significant images of the universe taken by the Hubble Space Telescope have been named to mark the iconic telescope's 20th anniversary in space.
Now, to mark the observatory's 20th anniversary, scientists at Nasa have selected the most dramatic and scientifically-important images it has taken.
Massive clouds of dust where new stars are born, the bursts of light released when stars die, beautiful structures of galaxies and even new planets in dist
Source: WaPo
Apr 10, 2010
MOSCOW -- Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 96, officials said.
Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the Soviet-era Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret
Source: The Daily Star
Apr 10, 2010
Archaeologists of Jahangirnagar University have postulated that the recently excavated remains and relics of three Buddhist monasteries at Nawabganj in Dinajpur district are of 10 th-11th centuries AD.
Director of the excavation team Ecological Archaeology Group Asst Prof Swadhin Sen of JU believes that the monasteries belong to the Pala dynasty when the region -- Rajshahi, Bogra, Pabna and Dinajpur (both in India and Bangladesh) -- was known as Varendra.
He said assem
Source: CNN.com
Apr 9, 2010
Virginia's proclamation of Confederate History Month without any reference to slavery was unacceptable, President Obama said in an interview broadcast Friday.
"Well, you know, I'm a big history buff. And I think that understanding the history of the Confederacy and understanding the history of the Civil War is something that every American and every young American should be a part of," he told ABC in an interview taped Thursday.
"Now, I don't think you ca
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 9, 2010
For building a family tree combines the need to retain the sharp mind of a personal investigator with a love of the past.
But now academics are warning that many people who take up genealogy might uncover more than they bargained for.
Delving into one's ancestry can open up "a Pandora's box" of secrets that can lead to serious family rows, according to sociologists who have studied the popular passtime.
It can reopen old wounds and shatter illusio
Source: NYT
Apr 9, 2010
He is elected for life, by a group of elderly men infused with the will of God. People address him as Holy Father, not Mr. President. After bishop of Rome, his second title is vicar of Jesus Christ.
A smattering of voices suggest that Pope Benedict XVI can, and should, as outrage has built in recent weeks over clerical abuses in the Catholic Church. The calls — from some lay Catholics, bloggers, secular publications like the German magazine Der Spiegel and street protesters — have b
Source: Science Daily
Apr 9, 2010
Researchers from Cambridge, Glasgow and Greece have discovered a remarkable amount of plasticity in how transcription factors, the proteins that bind to DNA to control the activation of genes, maintain their function over large evolutionary distances.
The text books tell us that transcription factors recognise the genes that they regulate by binding to short, sequence-specific lengths of DNA upstream or downstream of their target genes. It was widely assumed that, like the sequences
Source: Science Daily
Apr 9, 2010
Argentinean and Spanish researchers have shown that indigenous societies in Patagonia, the southernmost region of the Earth inhabited by humans over the past 13,000 years, were not static and marginal as had always been thought, but in fact had high levels of social organisation. The latest study by this team, published in the journal Arctic Anthropology, breaks down false myths and gives these societies the historic recognition they deserve.
"Was Patagonia a desert?" Usin
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2010
Russian leaders have paid tribute to Anatoly Dobrynin, a long-serving ambassador to the US renowned for his role in the Cuban missile crisis.
He died in Moscow on Tuesday at the age of 90.
Dobrynin was Russia's ambassador in Washington from 1962-1984, becoming a trusted intermediary between the two Cold War superpowers.
In a Kremlin statement, President Dmitry Medvedev called Dobrynin a "legend" of Russian diplomacy.
Russian Prime
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2010
A Swedish man suspected of having masterminded the theft of a sign from the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz has been extradited to Poland.
Anders Hogstrom arrived in Warsaw before being taken to Krakow, not far from Auschwitz, for questioning, the BBC's Adam Easton reports.
Mr Hogstrom, a 34-year-old former neo-Nazi leader, denies any wrongdoing.
He told a Swedish newspaper that he was asked to take possession of the sign on behalf of an unnamed collector.
Source: BBC
Apr 9, 2010
A plan to scatter some of the ashes of explorer Sir Edmund Hillary at the peak of Mount Everest has been called off.
Buddhist lamas had warned it would bring bad luck, so the Sherpas behind the plan said the ashes instead would be kept at a monastery near Everest.
The world's highest mountain is considered sacred to the Buddhist Sherpas who live in the region.
Source: Discovery News
Apr 9, 2010
Nine megaliths in a remote part of Dartmoor, England, share features in common with Stonehenge, and may shed light on the meaning behind these prehistoric stone monuments, according to a report in the latest issue of British Archaeology.
The Dartmoor megaliths, which were recently carbon-dated to around 3500 B.C., could predate Stonehenge, but both sites feature large standing stones that are aligned to mark the rising of the midsummer sun and the setting of the midwinter sun. Yet a
Source: North Hampton
Apr 9, 2010
Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the remains of a medieval Jewish synagogue underneath a town centre take-away.
A survey of land underneath Kebabish and The Bear public House, both in Sheep Street, Northampton, has found what experts estimate could be the remains of an ancient synagogue, dating back hundreds of years.
The finds, which include brick walls and what appears to be a staircase, were confirmed using a state-of-the-art ground-penetrating
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 9, 2010
Thousands of white South Africans waved the flag of the apartheid state and gave the Nazi salute at the funeral of the diehard Afrikaner supremacist Eugene Terreblanche.
Mourners came from across the country, some carrying apartheid-era South African flags and the AWB banner, which is a three-pointed swastika.
Once an unflinching opponent of black rule, Mr Terreblanche had languished in obscurity after serving a term in jail for attempted murder.
M
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 9, 2010
A selection of Chinese imperial works of art has smashed world auction records after fierce bidding at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.
An imperial white jade seal commissioned by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century was sold to an Asian buyer for US$12.29 million ($8m) breaking the world auction record for both white jade and imperial seals.
The price was almost double its estimate of about US$6.4 million and reflects international interest in objects of Ch
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 9, 2010
Babushka Yuliana Mitry can still chant the words to dozens of the ancient songs the Lipovan people brought to Romania's Danube delta as they fled persecution in Russia nearly 300 years ago.
But as her ethnic Russian minority struggles to keep its customs and traditions alive in a globalised world, the 69-year-old grandmother fears that the songs of the Lipovan could one day be lost for good.
Mitry's people left their historic homeland in around 1740, seeking refuge in
Source: Fox News
Apr 9, 2010
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theological genius of the 20th century, is now emerging as a, martyr and spy -- a war hero who conspired to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
On April 9, 1945, 65 years ago today, just a few weeks before an allied offensive brought Germany to its knees and ended World War II in Europe, a young, mild-mannered Lutheran theologian was hanged by the Nazis in Flossenburg Concentration Camp.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theological genius of the 20th century, is now
Source: CNN
Apr 9, 2010
Virginia's proclamation of Confederate History Month without any reference to slavery was unacceptable, President Obama said in an interview broadcast Friday.
The new language added to the proclamation says that "it is important for all Virginians to understand that the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights."
McDonnell's statement noted that while Virginia was hom
