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: NYT
Jan 3, 2006
In a soaring tribute to a modest man, Gerald R. Ford was remembered on Tuesday as bringing the ordinary virtues of decency, integrity and humility to mend a broken government after the pain of war and scandal.
“Amid all the turmoil, Gerald Ford was a rock of stability,” President Bush told the gathering of generations of Washington’s powerful at Washington National Cathedral. “And when he put his hand on his family Bible to take the presidential oath of office, he brought grace to a
Source: NYT
Jan 3, 2006
In the Andean foothills of Peru, not far from the Pacific coast, archaeologists have found what they say is evidence for the earliest known irrigated agriculture in the Americas.
An analysis of four derelict canals, filled with silt and buried deep under sediments, showed that they were used to water cultivated fields 5,400 years ago, in one case possibly as early as 6,700 years ago, archaeologists reported in a recent issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: Haaretz
Jan 3, 2006
When the Philippines government honored Holocaust researcher Racelle Weiman in a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. last May, it was a culmination of sorts for Weiman, who has been working for the past 18 months to uncover the little-known rescue of Jews by the Philippines government during World War II. The Order of Lakandula, one of the Philippines' highest honors, was presented to her by visiting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto Romulo at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 3, 2006
It may be nearly 1,000 years late but campaigners are pinning their hopes on a preface to the Bayeux Tapestry to win the second Battle of Fulford - the "forgotten" clash of 1066.
The battle is considerably less well known than the clash between King Harold and William the Conqueror, and it even lags behind the Saxon encounter with Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge just before Hastings.However, historians believe that Fulford played a key role in the s
Source: History Today
Jan 3, 2006
Public voting in a new poll will decide a 21st century set of Seven Wonders of the World. A shortlist of 21 global historical landmarks has been created by a Swiss organisation, the New 7 Wonders Foundation. Public phone voting will culminate in the announcement of the New Seven Wonders on January 1st, 2007.The foundation’s aim is to highlight the plight of the world’s cultural heritage; the shortlisted monuments had to be man-made, predate the year 2000 and in a decent stat
Source: Press Release New-York Historical Society
Jan 3, 2006
The New-York Historical Society has extended the landmark Slavery in New York exhibition for an additional three weeks, through Sunday, March 26, 2006 at the New-York Historical Society, at Central Park West and 77th Street in New York City.
The exhibition has broken attendance records for all shows in the Society’s 201-year history, already attracting hundreds of thousands of diverse visitors (including thousands of public school students) since its opening on October 7, 2005.
Source: BBC News
Jan 3, 2006
Relatives of victims of Britain's worst sea disaster are to campaign for a permanent memorial in Scotland. The Clyde-built Lancastria was carrying about 9,000 troops when it was sunk by German bombers off the coast of France in 1940 during a mass evacuation.
Source: Radio Praha
Jan 3, 2006
Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was incensed by the Lidice massacre and he wanted the Royal Air Force to wipe out German villages in retaliation. This sense of fury and shock is palpable in cabinet meeting notes that have now been released by the National Archives {and were taken by the then deputy cabinet secretary Sir Norman Brook.}
Churchill called for German villages to be destroyed on a three-to-one basis, but other cabinet members were more cautious. They pointed
Source: Defense News
Jan 3, 2006
Poland is to declassify nearly all its secret files from the Warsaw Pact, the military alliance of the Soviet bloc which disbanded in 1991, Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Jan. 3. ”More than 90 percent of the documents will be declassified,” Sikorski told reporters.
Of 1,445 Warsaw Pact files found in Poland’s archives, 441 were not classified military information, and the official secrets status of another 881 will be waived “as of today”, Sikorski said.
Source: Newsfactor Magazine
Jan 3, 2006
Researchers said Tuesday they'll reveal the results of DNA tests in a documentary film airing this weekend on Austrian television as part of a year of celebratory events marking the composer's 250th birthday.
The tests were conducted last year by experts at the Institute for Forensic Medicine in the alpine city of Innsbruck, and the long-awaited results will be publicized in "Mozart: The Search for Evidence," to be screened Sunday by state broadcaster ORF.
Source: Wa Po
Jan 3, 2006
As a young Justice Department lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. tried to help tip the balance of power between Congress and the White House a little more in favor of the executive branch.In the 1980s, the Reagan administration, like other White Houses before and after, chafed at the reality that Congress's reach on the meaning of laws extends beyond the words of statutes passed on Capitol Hill. Judges may turn to the trail of statements lawmakers
Source: NYT
Jan 3, 2006
In 1957, archaeologists determined that the remains of the historic fort at Jamestown no longer existed and had probably washed into the James River. But a young graduate student named William Kelso wasn't convinced.
Three decades after visiting the site of North America's first permanent English settlement, Kelso returned as an archaeologist and discovered evidence of the fort's remains. He and his team have gone on to discover hundreds of thousands of 17th century artifacts.
Source: Ansa
Jan 2, 2006
Tutankhamun was killed by a sword blow to the knee, Italian experts claim. Two doctors from Bolzano University, longtime researchers into Italy's famed Iceman, were part of an international team that recently took another look at Egypt's most famous mummy.The group found traces of gold leaf bearing animal symbols in the late pharaoah's right kneecap, leading them to surmise that it had fallen off Tutankhamun's raiments and lodged in a hole during mummification .
Source: Boston Globe
Jan 2, 2006
Truman Capote laments that the editors found it necessary to cut his story. The anthropologist Margaret Mead wonders what happened to the manuscript she sent from Bali. Robert Frost asks for someone to please insert a space between the words I and would in one of his poems.
The Atlantic Monthly -- venerable chronicle of the nation's politics, arts, and letters for 148 years -- is packing up and moving out of Boston to its parent company's offices in Washington, D.C., and, as in any
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Jan 2, 2006
Westminster Abbey has criticized churches that opened their doors to the filming of The Da Vinci Code last year by denouncing the thriller as "nonsense" that should be exposed by Christians.The abbey barred the filmmakers from its premises in June, saying in a brief statement that the bestselling Dan Brown novel on which the film was based was "theologically unsound." The book's central themes --that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered a child, and
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jan 2, 2006
Catroppa, 63, will officially retire Tuesday after serving as superintendent for eight years. The historic site in downtown Atlanta showcases the life of the slain civil rights leader and the civil rights movement.During his tenure, Catroppa has nearly doubled annual attendance, in part by bringing in provocative exhibits such as the current one: "Of Ballots Uncast: The African-American Struggle for the Right to Vote." Catroppa also guided the ongoing $4.2 million
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 2, 2006
Stonehenge has been short-listed in a seven-year poll to identify the seven wonders of the modern world.The ancient stone circle in Wiltshire is the only British landmark in the top 21 short-list after tens of millions of public votes worldwide.
The Tower of London, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral, the London Eye and Greenwich Observatory were the other British contenders among the 77 nominated sites.
But all these
Source: BBC News
Jan 1, 2006
Winston Churchill favoured letting Gandhi die if he went on hunger strike, newly published Cabinet papers show. The UK's WWII prime minister thought India's spiritual leader should be treated like anyone else if he stopped eating while being held by the British. But his ministers persuaded him against the tactic, fearing Gandhi would become a martyr if he died in British hands. Gandhi was detained in 1942 after he condemned India's involvement in the war but neve
Source: NYT
Jan 1, 2006
At noon on Jan. 1, 1898, Robert A. Van Wyck was unceremoniously inaugurated as the first mayor of the consolidated city of Greater New York. He did not deliver an inaugural address.
Instead, after inspecting several floral displays in the mayor's private office, Mr. Van Wyck accepted the congratulations of the departing mayor, William L. Strong - who observed that the voters had decided that Mr. Van Wyck should "descend from your position as judge and assume the position of ma
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jan 1, 2006
Ben Franklin: inventor, philosopher, author, scientist, diplomat, Founding Father.
Although he was born in Boston on Jan. 17, 1706, Franklin's adopted hometown of Philadelphia will throw him the biggest birthday bash any 300-year-old guy's ever had. Actually, Philly has been celebrating the American Big Ben's tercentenary since last year with tours, events, hotel packages, restaurant specials and more.The Tercentenary Consortium made up of the American Phi
