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: Daily Mail (UK)
Oct 8, 2008
Sarah Palin is related to Princess Diana, experts revealed today.
John McCain’s White House race running mate is a 10th cousin of Princes Harry and William’s late mother, according to genealogists.
And in another bizarre twist it emerged that the Republican governor of Alaska is also related to Democrat hero President Franklin D Roosevelt.
Hardline conservative Mrs Palin, 44, who was today branded a 'disgace to women' by French actress Brigitte Bardot, is t
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Oct 8, 2008
She survived Hitler's Luftwaffe, rescued hundreds of Allied servicemen stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk and played a vital role during the D-Day landings.
But despite her heroic service throughout the Second World War, the boat known only as High Speed Launch 102 may be scrapped.
The warning comes only 12 years after she was restored to her former glory and then relaunched by the late Queen Mother.
Her owner, Phil Clabburn, says he can no longer afford he
Source: Newsweek
Oct 8, 2008
The children of Paul Emery Washington think of their father as an unpretentious, generous guy who climbed the corporate ladder to become regional manager at CertainTeed manufacturing, a building-supply company. Now 82, he takes care of his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, while spending time on the San Antonio, Texas, property that he shares with his children. "I think he would've been a great king," says son Bill Washington—a statement, we admit, that might seem a little od
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 8, 2008
It is the first time the priceless fungus has been spotted in the UK since 1911.
The Tuber Macrosporum was discovered in a garden just outside Norwich during a routine tidy-up.
But it is so rare the details of who found it will never be revealed to stop truffle hunters digging up their neighbourhood.
Dr Anne Edwards, a microbiologist at the Norwich-based St John Innes Centre and a member of Wymondham Nature Group (WyNG) said: "Scientifically it's quit
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 8, 2008
UFOs exist and have been here since 1947, according to a British expert.
Editor of UFO Data Magazine Philip Mantle is set to unveil his findings at an international conference this month.
He investigated the site in Roswell, New Mexico where many people believe there was an alien crash landing. He analysed rock, earth and vegetation.
The area is surrounded by charred trees and bushes and a mysterious blue substance that dribbles down rocks.
US
Source: Science News Daily
Oct 7, 2008
The connection between geology and the history of the Civil War has fascinated Robert Whisonant since his undergraduate days, and now Whisonant has teamed up with geomorphologist Judy Ehlen, both of Radford University, to take history, military history in particular, a step deeper -- into the geology beneath the soldiers' feet.
Whisonant and Ehlen examined the geomorphology of several battlefields and compared the terrain to known casualties for each day of fighting. The question, s
Source: Dominion Post
Oct 7, 2008
A university student who wrote about a Kiwi extremist's views on neo-Nazism and satanism wants his thesis back on the library shelf after complaints from the subject resulted in it being taken off.
Roel van Leeuwen's masters thesis on the link between neo-Nazi and satanist beliefs in New Zealand had won him class honours but a few weeks ago it was quietly pulled from Waikato University's library and online publication when the subject, Kerry Bolton, complained to the vice-chancellor
Source: http://newsroom.ucla.edu
Oct 7, 2008
Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.
"Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always b
Source: Science News Daily
Oct 7, 2008
Analyses give clues to composition of ash, seek to identify its source.
Scientists now have geochemical clues about the composition of volcanic ash used in Maya pottery between the 7th and 10th centuries, although the ash's source is still a mystery. Results of a new study definitively discount one Mexican volcano, long thought to be the likely supplier of the ash.
Researchers have long known that Maya of the Late Classic period, an archaeological interval that stretche
Source: AP
Oct 7, 2008
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican stepped up its defense of Pope Pius XII on Tuesday, countering allegations the wartime pontiff was silent about the Holocaust by saying he saved Jews through his prudent diplomacy.
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano dedicated an entire page to praising Pius, including an impassioned tribute from the Holy See's secretary of state, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
"It was precisely by means of a prudent approach that Pius XII pro
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Oct 7, 2008
The announcement starts off by calling the new policy of the American Anthropological Association “a groundbreaking move” that would provide “greater access for the global social science and anthropological communities to 86 years of classic, historic research articles.” The problem, critics say, is that the emphasis should have been on the word “historic,” because those 86 years worth of articles aren’t the most recent 86 years. Rather the association will apply its new policy for its flagship
Source: AP
Oct 7, 2008
DULUTH, Minn. - Tucked into a collection of Duluth memorabilia for sale at a Canal Park antique store is a souvenir of one of the most shameful incidents in the city's history: a postcard featuring images of the 1920 lynching of black circus workers Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie.
The "lynching postcard" was part of a private collection of postcards, glass negatives and other Duluth memorabilia entrusted to local dealer Craig Lipinski for sale after the owne
Source: Reuters
Oct 7, 2008
A 1,000-year-old carved rock crystal ewer, one of only seven known surviving examples, fetched 3.2 million pounds ($5.6 million) at auction on Tuesday, Christie's said.
The ewer is the same one that came up for auction in Britain in January this year, when it was catalogued as a 19th century French claret jug and valued at 100-200 pounds.
In fact experts now believe it is an extremely rare ewer from the Fatimid dynasty which ruled parts of northern Africa and the Middle
Source: The Star
Oct 7, 2008
HILL OF TARA, Ireland–It is a battle worthy of the old Irish legends, pitting history against modernity. But as a controversial highway creeps ever closer to the spiritual home of the early Celtic kings, it now appears both sides may lose.
For advocates of the twin ribbons of asphalt called the M3 now under construction north of the Irish capital, there is no choice but to live pragmatically with the roar of a commuter corridor in the shadow of the sacred Hill of Tara, because getti
Source: http://www.albanyherald.com
Oct 7, 2008
Only in Andersonville can one munch on a funnel cake while in the company of authentic Johnny Reb and Billy Yank lookalikes.
In a town known worldwide as the home of a Confederate prison whose very name wrought fear and trepidation to Union ranks, history buffs gathered Saturday to celebrate both the blue and the gray.
Harry Ross and Dennis Crenshaw are definitely two admirers of history.
Ross, who Saturday was wearing the gray uniform and gold stars of famed Con
Source: CNN
Oct 7, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign Monday tried to draw a parallel between Sen. John McCain's involvement in the nearly 2-decade-old "Keating Five" scandal and the current economic crisis.
The Obama campaign released a 13-minute documentary called "Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis."
In the documentary, the narrator says that "the Keating Five involved all the things that have brought the modern crisis" and that
Source: CNN
Oct 7, 2008
On Oct. 6, Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists." She was referring to Obama's occasional association with Bill Ayers, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor who co-founded the militant group, the Weathermen. Palin was not the first to mention the Obama-Ayers connection. The Obama campaign regularly points out that Ayers committed his crimes when Obama was only eight.
The Weathermen formed as a radical offshoo
Source: AP
Oct 7, 2008
Sarah Palin's promise for a new era of government openness as the reform governor of Alaska started to crack even before Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign built a wall of protectiveness around her.
Palin was elected nearly two years ago with splashy moves like publishing the state spending checkbook online. She kept a campaign pledge to allow the public to view online communications between state officials and potential bidders on a major gas pipeline, a contrast to her pred
Source: AP
Oct 7, 2008
BOSTON -- Five Massachusetts men became the first divers to reach the wreck of a 19th-century steamship that sank in one of the most destructive storms in New England history, and say they saw an array of artifacts like dishes and mugs but no human remains.
The Portland, known as the "Titanic of New England," sank off the Massachusetts coast Nov. 26, 1898, after it sailed from Boston, taking more than 190 people with it.
The recreational divers spoke this week
Source: Independent (UK)
Oct 7, 2008
A controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammad's child bride was rushed to US stores yesterday, nine days ahead of schedule, after the office of the book's British publisher was attacked.
Beaufort Books picked up "The Jewel of Medina" by journalist Sherry Jones after it was dropped by Random House in May because of concerns it could incite violence.
Beaufort said it sent out an initial print run of 40,000 copies.
The novel traces the life of
