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: CNN
Oct 16, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that President Bush's administration was "unrealistic" in its dealings with the war in Afghanistan.
Clinton told CNN the Bush administration was unrealistic both in terms of the number of U.S. soldiers it committed to the conflict and in its relationship with certain Afghan political leaders.
The war was "under resourced" since its start in 2001, she said, and she indicated the Bush administration's atte
Source: WSJ
Oct 16, 2009
In a dark and drafty warehouse, a new Berlin Wall is taking shape.
Nearly 1,000 pieces, each one over 8 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 16 inches thick, have already been crafted. Soon, they will be assembled and become part of a barrier stretching nearly a mile through the historic center of the city along the path of the old Wall, from the Reichstag to the Brandenburg Gate and beyond.
But this Berlin Wall isn't meant to be permanent. It is made of Styrofoam, and it is risi
Source: BBC
Oct 15, 2009
On 15 December 10 years ago, Venezuela suffered its worst natural disaster of modern times when a wall of water, boulders and debris came down the side of the Avila mountain.
The exact number killed in the tragedy is hard to know, as many bodies were buried under the mud or washed into the sea.
But there are estimates that between 10,000 and 30,000 people lost their lives. Tens of thousands more were made homeless.
The Avila mountain has become even more
Source: CBC (Canada)
Oct 15, 2009
A controversial exhibit has opened in Vancouver, depicting the Canadian team at one of the most controversial Olympics ever — the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin, staged by the German Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler.
The exhibit of photographs, documents and artifacts, which opened Thursday at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, shows how Hitler's Third Reich turned the Games into a showcase for Nazi propaganda, and how Canadians became part of the spectacle.
"These
Source: Discovery News
Oct 15, 2009
Swiss researchers have succeeded in mummifying a body part using the salty recipe of the ancient Egyptians.
One of the goals of the project is to find out how much the mummification process damages the DNA.
The experiment, which has been running for more than four months, takes inspiration from a 1994 study by Ronald Wade, director of Maryland's State Anatomical Board, and Bob Brier, one of the leading experts on mummies and Egyptology.
During that study,
Source: Politico
Oct 15, 2009
There’s nothing more traditional in American politics than the wholesome family portrait: a beaming candidate, beaming spouse, reluctantly beaming teenagers.
But when Bill de Blasio, a candidate for public office in New York City this fall, put his family in his campaign mailings and TV ads, there was nothing routine about it. De Blasio’s wife of 15 years, Chirlane McCray, is black, his children are of mixed race and, even in one of America’s most liberal cities, no one could rememb
Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)
Oct 15, 2009
Archaeological excavations have unearthed remains of ancient human settlements in Vadamarachchi East area, Archaeology Director General, Dr. Senarath Dissanayake said.
"We have found evidence of three old human settlements in these areas. They have spread over an area covering nearly three kilometres and are vitally important to prove the historical background of Jaffna peninsula", he said...
... Archaeologists believe that Kandarodaya belongs to ironic age a
Source: EveningStar24
Oct 15, 2009
A BRONZE Age burial site has been unearthed by archaeologists excavating the former home of a Suffolk rugby club.
The two fields which served as the home of Sudbury Rugby Club in nearby Great Cornard are the source of great excitement for a team of archaeologists working at the site.
Since moving into the site off The Mead in July teams from Suffolk County Council's Archaeological Service have discovered a haul of artefacts dating back to around 3,000 BC.
T
Source: NYT
Oct 15, 2009
Through saplings descended from the majestic horse chestnut tree that gave her so much pleasure in her bleak hideout, Anne Frank will soon have her story joined with that of the Little Rock Nine — the black students who integrated an Arkansas high school under the guard of 1,200 soldiers in 1957.
The school, Little Rock Central High School, is one of 11 sites dedicated to fighting intolerance that have been chosen by the Anne Frank Center USA in Lower Manhattan as the destination fo
Source: Google News
Oct 15, 2009
BERLIN — Berlin's Neues Museum, boasting ancient treasures such as a famous bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti and a magnificent Bronze Age golden hat, is finally reopening to the public after standing for decades as a bomb-damaged shell.
The museum is being inaugurated Friday by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and opens its doors to the public Saturday. That will mark the first time since World War II that the whole of Berlin's neoclassical Museum Island complex, a UNESCO World H
Source: Time
Oct 15, 2009
There is a long tradition of sitting Presidents courting, relying on and even plotting with their predecessors, and the latest chapter is set to unfold Friday afternoon when former President George Herbert Walker Bush, accompanied by former Secretary of State James Baker, greets Barack Obama as he steps off a Marine Corps helicopter in College Station, Texas.
At Bush's invitation, the 44th Commander in Chief is paying a long-planned visit to the home of Bush's presidential library t
Source: LA Times
Oct 15, 2009
While the great women's rights advocates Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (pictured) surely would be proud that the U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to establish a National Women's History Museum in Washington, some, including our art critic, Christopher Knight, worry that the prime federal real estate where it would be built, the National Mall in Washington, is in bad condition and in danger of being overrun by haphazard development.
The bipartisan bill pass
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 15, 2009
Files released this week revealed the jokes were collected from letters steamed open by agents, from spies on the ground and wiretapped phone calls.
The gags were scrupulously collected and filed and dispatched to Bonn, much to the delight of civil servants.
"It was our biggest hit among our superiors," said one unnamed BND spy. "The Chancellery and the ministries couldn't wait for the file to have a laugh at those on the other side."
B
Source: Secrecy News
Oct 15, 2009
A 1957 scientific paper on astrophysics by the late Alistair G.W. Cameron has the unusual quality of being both historically significant and very hard to obtain. A scanned copy of the paper has recently been posted online. Known to specialists as CRL-41 (for Chalk River Laboratory paper number 41), the proper title is "Stellar Evolution, Nuclear Astrophysics and Nucleogenesis" (large pdf).
The paper is a milestone in the field
Source: Yahoo News
Oct 15, 2009
CAIRO (Reuters) – Archaeologists have unearthed the site of a pharaonic-era sacred lake in a temple to the Egyptian goddess Mut in the ruins of ancient Tanis, the Culture Ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said the lake, found 12 meters below ground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in Egypt's eastern Nile Delta, was 15 meters long and 12 meters wide and built out of limestone blocks. It was in a good condition.
Source: Edmonton Journal (Canada)
Oct 15, 2009
An archeologist has discovered an intact 2,000-year-old campsite in Rossdale flats, with enough detail to even guess at the recipe the ancient people used in their soup.
The black circle of ash, scattered bison bone fragments and chipped rock doesn't count as a major scientific discovery, said Gareth Spicer, principal archeologist with Calgary-based Turtle Island Cultural Resource Management. But the site has enough diverse elements to tell a story about the lives of a small group o
Source: BBC
Oct 15, 2009
Infamously ugly and unfinished, the shell of the Ryugyong Hotel dominates North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. But work on the skyscraper began again last summer after a 16-year hiatus and, as the company behind it tells the BBC's Matthew Davis, an end may finally be in sight.
A three-sided pyramid with walls that jag upwards at 75 degrees, capped by a series of concentric rings, the Ryugyong Hotel was described by one magazine simply as "the worst building in the hi
Source: BBC
Oct 15, 2009
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will go on trial at The Hague on Monday 26 October, the court says.
It is the second time in a week that the trial - originally due to start on 19 October - has been put back.
But Mr Karadzic's attempts to have the start delayed by 10 months have been rejected by the court.
Mr Karadzic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war.
Source: LA Times
Oct 15, 2009
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History plans to open a hall next year dedicated to the story of human evolution over 6 million years, officials announced Wednesday.
The nearly $21-million Hall of Human Origins will follow milestones in history -- when humans started walking upright and started speaking, for example -- as well as the effect of climate change and extinction of ancient species. It's scheduled to open on March 17, 2010, marking the museum's 100th anniversa
Source: LA Times
Oct 15, 2009
The paintings are big, bold and unsigned -- each one newly hung on the walls of the recently opened courthouse as a testament to Orange County's history and promise.
The largest is a mural depicting Westminster vs. Mendez, the 1947 ruling originating in Orange County that put an end to segregated schools for Mexican children. It was painted by students from Otto A. Fischer School, which serves residents of juvenile hall.
The collaborative art at the new 4th District Cou
