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: LAT
Dec 9, 2008
A two-page memo that has been sent to Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials offers a guide for discussing Bush's eight-year tenure during their public speeches.
Titled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record," the talking points state that Bush "kept the American people safe" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and maintained "the honor and the dignity of his office."
Source: http://io9.com
Dec 9, 2008
If ancient homo sapiens got it on with their Neanderthal cousins, there were no children to show for it. Researchers studying Neanderthal DNA have sequenced half of the Neanderthal genome, and shoot down the theory that European humans interbred with the now-extinct species. And the team says the genome has other things to teach us about Neanderthal life, including their sexual proclivities.
The research team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthology presented their fin
Source: BBC
Dec 9, 2008
The UN Human Rights Declaration has stood up remarkably well to the test
of the 60 years since it was agreed in Paris on 10 December 1948.
Its main strength lies in its simplicity.
In a preamble and 30 articles, none of them very long, it lists the rights
to which each individual is entitled. It is also wide-ranging, emphasising
rights to education and health as well as to freedom and protection.
It has echoes of and in some cases directly lifts from earlier human
rights
Source: NYT
Dec 9, 2008
When the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black force of elite pilots, emerged from combat in World War II, they faced as much discrimination as they had before the war. It was not until six decades later that their valor was recognized and they received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can give.
Now, the roughly 330 pilots and members of the ground crew who are left from about 16,000 who served are receiving another honor that has surpassed their dreams: Th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 9, 2008
Egyptologists have long believed that the huge statue on the bank of the Nile depicted an ancient pharoah's head on the body of a lion.
The 65ft high, 260ft long limestone sculpture was thought to have been built in the image of a great ruler, probably King Khafra, around 4,500 years ago.
But the geologist Colin Reader, who has studied the erosion patterns around the Sphinx in Giza, is now claiming that it was actually constructed several hundred earlier, well before th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 9, 2008
Ever since Albert Einstein came up with his general theory of relativity, black holes has been central to our knowledge of the Universe.
Now experts say they have shown that the theoretical phenomenon, whose gravitational pull is thought to hold galaxies together, exist "beyond any reasonable doubt".
The team of scientists spent 16 years studying the existence of a super massive black hole thought to be at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Source: NYT
Dec 9, 2008
Since 2000, the number of young children living in parts of Lower Manhattan has nearly doubled. The poverty rate declined in all but one New York City neighborhood. A majority of Bronx residents are Hispanic.
And the number of white people living in Harlem more than tripled, helping to drive up median household income there by nearly 20 percent — the fourth-highest jump in the city.
Those are some of the more striking trends revealed in new census figures that produce t
Source: FoxNews.com
Dec 9, 2008
Inside a once-secret detention center where political dissidents were
tortured and killed during Argentina's dictatorship 25 years ago, forensic
anthropologists have discovered a pit containing 10,000 bone fragments.
The first discovery of human remains inside a detention center confirms
the testimonies of hundreds of survivors who have said for years that
authorities tortured, killed and burned the bodies of political opponents,
they said Tuesday.
"This scientifically confirms t
Source: Slate (first published in 2006)
Dec 9, 2008
City government experts point to a political culture that's been in place for more than 100 years. This culture dates back to the late 19th century, when a gambling-house owner named Michael Cassius McDonald created the city's first political machine. Under machine-style rule, those in power would hand out contracts, jobs, and social services in exchange for political support.
Chicago's large immigrant population made it easier for political machines to grow in power. Poor ethnic co
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 9, 2008
Astronomers have calculated that Christmas should be in June, by charting
the appearance of the 'Christmas star' which the Bible says led the three
Wise Men to Jesus.
They found that a bright star which appeared over Bethlehem 2,000 years
ago pinpointed the date of Christ's birth as June 17 rather than December
25.
The researchers claim the 'Christmas star' was most likely a magnificent
conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter, which were so close together
they would have
Source: http://www.newswise.com
Dec 9, 2008
Interpretations of a now defunct form of Spanish writing, in combination
with a joint U.S.-Cuban archaeological effort, are granting researchers
insight into the Cuban people who Christopher Columbus encountered on his
first voyage to the “New World.”
During the two previous summers, an archaeological effort in eastern Cuba
has recovered several thousand pottery and stone artifacts from the site
of a former large native village, El Chorro de Maita. The effort is co-led
by The Univer
Source: National Geographic News
Dec 9, 2008
Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a
previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the
region, archaeologists say.
Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of
Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.
Most of the 41 artifacts"do not fit into any of the known cultures of the
Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said Carlos
Hernández, an archaeolo
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
Dec 9, 2008
On December 7, historian Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, submitted his resignation to the President, effective December 19, 2008. Professor Weinstein, who has Parkinson’s disease, cited health reasons for his decision. Deputy Archivist of the United States, Adrienne Thomas, will serve as Acting Archivist until a new Archivist is appointed. It is anticipated that Bush administration will not try
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 9, 2008
US President George W Bush has said that the Bible is"probably not"
literally true and that a belief that God created the world is compatible
with the theory of evolution."I think you can have both," Mr Bush, who leaves office January 20, told
ABC television, adding"You're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm
just a simple president."
But"evolution is an interesting subject. I happen to believe that
evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life," said the president,
an o
Source: BBC
Dec 8, 2008
The government of Turkmenistan is to amend the country's national anthem
to remove repeated references to the late president, Saparmurat Niyazov.
The anthem refers four times to Turkmenbashi - a name meaning Father of
all Turkmen - that was used by Mr Niyazov before his death in 2006.
It also refers to the state as a" creation of the great Turkmenbashi."
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Dec 8, 2008
Little did the world realize 40 years ago that a San Francisco stage was featuring the first public glimpse of an invention that would revolutionize not only our daily lives but also our ability to solve the world's problems.
An audience of about 1,000 people had witnessed the premiere of the personal computer.
The Dec. 9, 1968, unveiling of the primitive device with a mouse and interactive screen -- in a now-legendary demonstration by its inventor, Douglas Engelbart of
Source: AFP
Dec 8, 2008
Fragments of bricks, engraved with cuneiform characters thousands of years old, lie mixed with the rubble and sandbags left by the US military on the ancient site of Babylon in Iraq.
In this place, one of the cradles of civilisation, US troops in 2003-2004 built embankments, dug ditches and spread gravel to hold the fuel reservoirs needed to supply the heliport of Camp Alpha.
Today, archaeologists say a year of terracing work and 18 months of military presence,
Source: BBC
Dec 8, 2008
World leaders are failing to tackle human rights abuses around the globe,
Amnesty International says.
In an annual report, the group says people are still being tortured or
ill-treated in at least 81 countries.
In at least 54 states they face unfair trial and cannot speak freely in at
least 77 nations, the group adds.
It says world leaders should apologise for 60 years of human rights
failures since the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
1948.
Source: NYT
Dec 8, 2008
In 1945, after the atomic destruction of two Japanese cities, J. Robert Oppenheimer expressed foreboding about the spread of nuclear arms.
“They are not too hard to make,” he told his colleagues on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, N.M. “They will be universal if people wish to make them universal.”
That sensibility, born where the atomic bomb itself was born, grew into a theory of technological inevitability. Because the laws of physics are universal, the theory wen
Source: http://www.cais-soas.com
Dec 8, 2008
Iranian archaeological teams working at the reservoir area of the
Khoda-Afarin Dam have recently discovered a burial site of a Kurgan
warrior during their rescue excavations.
A bull statuette, a number of ancient weapons, dishes, and bronze
artefacts have also been found in the warrior’s grave, Archaeological
Research Centre of Iran (ARCI) Director Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli Nashli told
the Persian service of CHN on Sunday.
“According to the archaeologists, the warrior enjoyed a s
