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: VOV News
Apr 5, 2010
A seminar was held in Quang Ngai province on April 5 to discuss the consequences of Agent Orange/Dioxin on the environment and people’s health.
This was part of a project carried out by the Hanoi Public Medicine University in coordination with the Quang Ngai provincial Department for Health to provide assistance to victims of toxic chemicals sprayed by US troops during the war in Vietnam.
In his report, Professor-Doctor Le Ngoc Trong, an adviser in the project, describ
Source: CNN
Apr 5, 2010
Some know Emmitt Smith as the National Football League's all-time leading rusher. Others recognize him as a three-time Super Bowl champion or a Dancing with the Stars winner.
But do you really know who Emmitt is?
Until he traced his genealogy for the NBC reality series "Who Do You Think You Are?", Emmitt says he didn't even know the answer to that question.Emmitt soon learned that his great-great-grandmother, Victoria, had an
Source: The Guardian
Apr 5, 2010
The Romans, as Monty Python famously acknowledged, have done many things for us. Contrary to popular wisdom, however, improving our diet was not one of them.
A study of the remains of almost 20,000 people dating from the 8th century BC to the 18th century AD has found that the Roman empire reduced our level of nutrition, which increased again in the "dark ages".
That is because the key factor in determining average height over the centuries – an indicator of n
Source: The Guardian
Apr 5, 2010
Archaeologists in Stratford-upon-Avon have made a sensational discovery: Shakespeare's broken beer jug. Possibly.
Scraps of pottery, broken clay pipe and a 19th century penny have emerged from a muddy hole in what was a garden until a week ago. But this is the most extensive hunt for Shakespeare in his own backyard in 150 years, and every scrap is precious.
In 1597 the playwright returned from London a rich and famous man and bought New Place, the second best house in h
Source: BBC
Apr 5, 2010
With the planned development of Guernsey's runway surveying around the airport uncovered the remains of a bronze age settlement in 2008.
Archaeological excavation began on the site in March 2009 and soon uncovered the remains of what appeared to be a cremation pit.
By March 2010 this picture of a settlement had developed further.
The dig itself was affected by the water table in the area which Phillip explained gets too wet in winter as from November the
Source: The Washington Post
Apr 5, 2010
A lot of attention has been focused on Texas in recent weeks, because state officials decided to rewrite social studies curriculum and force kids to learn a distorted view of the country's past.
Folks in other states are worried that the changes will wind up appearing in schools outside Texas. The state, with almost 5 million students in kindergarten through high school, dictates what is in the textbooks it purchases from publishers, and other states often buy the same materials.
Source: CNN
Apr 5, 2010
The international police organization Interpol has stepped up the hunt for Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter, who is wanted by Iraqi authorities on terrorism charges.
Interpol posted a picture on of Raghad Hussein, 41, on its Web site Monday, noting that she is being pursued for "crimes against life and health incitement [and] terrorism."
Iraqi authorities say that Hussein has provided financial backing for a terrorist cell network tied to a series of attacks o
Source: BBC News
Apr 5, 2010
New York City officials are to begin a three-month search for the remains of more than 1,000 missing victims of the 9/11 attacks - however, some relatives of the deceased say it is too little, too late, reports the BBC's Matthew Price in New York.
It is hard to believe that the best part of a decade on from the 11 September attacks, the debris from the World Trade Center site is still being examined.
That is partly a reflection of the enormity of the task, the huge amou
Source: BBC News
Apr 5, 2010
24 August, AD79. The day one volcanic mountain came to life and two cities met their deaths.
Pompeii and the nearby settlement of Herculaneum were consumed by a mixture of heat, falling pumice stone and ash.
Mount Vesuvius, about 9km (5.5 miles) away, had exploded, sending a mass of volcanic debris high into the air, which then landed like a military bombardment on the citizens of the two cities below.
Estimates of deaths in both places range from between 1
Source: NYT
Apr 4, 2010
Finding a politician’s mouth has rarely been a problem — unless it has been missing since 1834.
That is the year when an angry Whig sympathizer decapitated a figurehead of Andrew Jackson that had just been affixed to the bow of the U.S.S. Constitution in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.
The mouth and the rest of the head eventually went their separate ways.
But now, 176 years later, they have been reunited in New York, thanks to research by a team fr
Source: WSJ
Apr 4, 2010
General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt hasn't been popular with conservatives of late. GE was a major backer of the cap-and-trade climate bill that passed the House last year, in part because the capping of carbon emissions would boost demand for its wind turbines and solar panels....
All the more noteworthy, then, is Mr. Immelt latest move, which is likely to improve his P.R. image with conservatives. Last month, he announced GE would give $15 million to mark the 100th anniversary of
Source: FoxNews
Apr 4, 2010
Scientists hope discovery of child skeleton will help them to work out what our ancestors looked like and to determine key dates in their evolution from ape-man to man-ape.
A fossil skeleton of a child discovered in a cave system known as the Cradle of Humankind may represent a previously unknown stage in the evolution of man, The (London) Sunday Times reported.
The skeleton, which is almost complete despite being two million years old, is believed to belong to one of t
Source: NYT
Apr 4, 2010
A nondescript post office here provides an appealing footnote to the history of Korean literature. From 1945 until his death in 1967, the poet Yu Chi-hwan strolled in almost daily, mailing thousands of letters to a widowed poet, his muse in one of the country’s most celebrated literary love affairs.
Now, a century after Japan’s 1910 annexation of Korea, this same post office stands at the center of a not-so-lovely affair mirroring a larger debate over history, the responsibilities o
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 4, 2010
Hidden sketches by the likes of Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael have been discovered by experts at the British Museum.
They found the "underdrawings", which had been erased by the artists, with new techniques developed for drug detection and forensics.
One of the images reveals that Michaelangelo based his Bruges Madonna sculpture on a male model. At the time women rarely sat as models for artists.
The sketch was found beneath a la
Source: CNN
Apr 4, 2010
All around the world this weekend, Christians are celebrating Easter. For them, this holiest of days announces that death does not have the final word and that eternal life awaits those who would just believe.
Sunday also marks the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. Forty-two years ago, an assassin's bullet took his life as he struggled to secure the promises of American democracy for the children of slaves. His sacrifice, along with countless others, helped ush
Source: The Guardian (UK)
Apr 4, 2010
A Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV series about the second world war's brutal Pacific campaign begins tomorrow – a story surprisingly little told because, for years, the public has preferred to turn away from its dark undertone of racism and savagery.
When Tom Hanks was making Saving Private Ryan, the writer Nora Ephron sent him a book that weighs in at almost 2,000 pages: the Library of America's Reporting World War II. It was a thoughtful gift, appropriate to his then role as an
Source: Kearney Hub (NE)
Apr 3, 2010
At first glance, the stone house doesn’t look like much.
The two-story structure nestles at the bottom of a muddy pasture on Highway 89 west of Orleans. The roof is crumbling and full of holes. The ceiling between the two stories has collapsed, and the floor is covered in dirt and debris.
It doesn’t look like much more than an old shed, but the stone house may be an important key to the area’s history.
“Initially, we did a self-guided history tour brochure
Source: Old Northwest News
Apr 3, 2010
When U.S. and Mexican soldiers fought May 8, 1846, on the prairie land of Palo Alto at the southern tip of Texas, it was the match that ignited a two-year war between the two countries.
The battlefield itself faded into American history, but not the legends. In June 1992, a law was passed creating Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, preserving the 3,400-acre scene of the fighting, ten miles north of the Rio Grande River in what is now Cameron County.
"T
Source: CNN.com
Apr 3, 2010
Senegal on Saturday unveiled a colossal statue during a lavish ceremony amid reports of criticism over the monument's construction at a time when the western African nation is struggling financially.
The 164-foot structure -- about a foot taller than the Statue of Liberty -- shows the figures of a man, a woman and a child, arms outstretched, facing the Atlantic Ocean.
President Abdoulaye Wade says the statue, which he designed, is a monument to Africa's renaissance. Cri
Source: The Missoulian
Apr 3, 2010
Thousands of years before Euro-Americans “discovered” the bubbling mudpots and eruptive geysers of what is now Yellowstone National Park, early Americans were spending part of their summer camping in the Yellowstone Lake area.
The reasons are several.
Obsidian, a valued rock used to create razor-sharp points for weapons and tools, is located about 20 miles to the northwest at Obsidian Cliff. The lake area contains a variety of flora – everything from camas to wild onion
