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: Slate
Jun 13, 2011
President Lyndon Johnson, domineering and manipulative, lives on in American memory as the classic power broker. He bullied opponents, sweet-talked skeptics, and chewed out subordinates. He oozed confidence as he passed one piece of landmark social legislation after another, even as his cockiness helped to mire the country in Vietnam.
Source: Salon
Jun 13, 2011
Forty years after the explosive leak of the Pentagon Papers, a secret government study chronicling deception and misadventure in U.S. conduct of the Vietnam War, the report is coming out in its entirety on Monday.
Source: The Yorker
Jun 12, 2011
University of York Archaeology students have unearthed a rare Bronze Age cremation urn during excavations on the University’s Heslington East campus.
The collared urn containing a cremation burial, together with a further cremation without a pot, was found by students from the Department of Archaeology on the Heslington East expansion in May.
This rare find, which dates back around 4,000 years, was found when the roundabout at Heslington East was being built.
It was lifted complete by specialist conservators from York Archaeological Trust....
Source: BBC
Jun 12, 2011
Ten years ago, the Taliban blew up Afghanistan's ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan, provoking international outrage. Now, the country's rich heritage is facing a new threat.
Source: National Parks Traveler
Jun 12, 2011
Just what sort of president was Abraham Lincoln, and how did he rely on the U.S. Constitution in developing his strategies for handling the Civil War? Those are tough questions, and there are no easy answers, but a new exhibit at Gettysburg National Military Park is expected to spur more than a little debate over those questions.
Source: NYT
Jun 12, 2011
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday honored those killed in the bombings in 1998 of the American Embassies here and in Kenya, a day after the authorities confirmed the death of the feared operative from
Source: AFP
Jun 11, 2011
HAGATNA, Guam (AFP) – Almost 70 years after US Marines freed Guam from Japanese forces during World War II, political leaders on the Pacific island are again seeking liberty -- this time from Washington.The Marines who took Guam in a bloody 1944 battle reinstated the island as a "non-governing US territory", meaning its 180,000 population enjoys US citizenship but cannot vote in US presidential elections.
Source: Live Science
Jun 10, 2011
Let′s face it, Indiana Jones was a pretty lousy archaeologist. He destroyed his sites, used a bullwhip instead of a trowel and was more likely to kill his peers than co-author a paper with them. Regardless, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which celebrates its 30th anniversary on June 12, did make studying the past cool for an entire generation of scientists. Those modern archaeologists whom "Raiders" inspired luckily learned from the mistakes of Dr.
Source: CBC News
Jun 10, 2011
Canada is returning to the government of Bulgaria 21,000 pieces of stolen cultural artifacts, including Byzantine crosses, bone sewing needles, pagan amulets, jewelled belt buckles and bronze eagles.
There are also 18,000 coins, including some from Hellenistic and Roman times. Most of the cultural objects were illegally excavated in Bulgaria and shipped by mail to an importer in Montreal.
Bulgaria's Deputy Minister of Culture, Todor Chobanov, who is also an archeologist, personally examined the artifacts and said he is excited to bring them home.
Source: AP
Jun 10, 2011
The plane that made a miraculous landing on the Hudson River two years ago is finally due to arrive Friday at its intended destination of Charlotte, where it will be displayed in a museum.
Source: BBC News
Jun 10, 2011
Archaeologists are beginning the most detailed ever study of a Western Front battlefield, an untouched site where 28 British tunnellers lie entombed after dying during brutal underground warfare. For WWI historians, it's the "holy grail".When military historian Jeremy Banning stepped on to a patch of rough scrubland in northern France four months ago, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
Source: Live Science
Jun 9, 2011
Mysterious brown spots covering the surfaces of King Tut's tomb have long puzzled scientists trying to identify them. Now a new study reveals ancient Egyptian microbes left these blemishes.The spots offer insight not only into the boy king's death, but also into the haste of his burial, according to researcher Ralph Mitchell, an expert in cultural heritage microbiology at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Source: Yahoo News
Jun 9, 2011
A 65-year-old murder mystery has been solved, with the confession of a 96-year-old woman in Holland.
Source: BBC News
Jun 9, 2011
Humankind's most distant emissaries are flying through a turbulent sea of magnetism as they seek to break free of our Solar System.Nasa's Voyager probes, which were launched in 1977, are now approaching the very edge of our Sun's influence, more than 14 billion km from Earth; and they are still returning data.That information has allowed scientists to build a better picture of what conditions are like in the zone where matter blown out from our star pushes up against interstellar space.
Source: WaPo
Jun 9, 2011
“We tried buying off the Kremlin with technologies in the 1970s. That policy was a component of ‘detente,’ and the hope was that if we would share our technologies with them, they would become more peaceful. Things, of course, didn’t work out that way. The Kremlin took Western technologies and embarked on a massive military building program.”--Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a Facebook posting titled “Another ‘WTF’ Obama Foreign Policy Moment,” June 9, 2011
Source: NYT
Jun 9, 2011
LONDON — In a rare move by a man who appears to despise few activities more than speaking to the news media, Prince Philip recently agreed to cooperate in the making of a television documentary about his life. Although “cooperate” might be too strong a word.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 9, 2011
Les Paul, the electric guitar pioneer, has been celebrated on his 96th birthday by one of Google's most complex doodles – a playable and recordable 'guitar'.Paul, who died in 2009, was an American guitarist and inventor who is best remembered for his work in the development of the electric guitar, which made new styles of music such as rock and roll pos
Source: CNN
Jun 9, 2011
"Listen, my children, and you shall hear / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, / On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five, / Hardly a man is now alive / Who remembers that famous day and year."If nothing else is right about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, first published more than 85 years after that legendary ride, the part about not remembering the day and year rings true.
Source: Irish Central
Jun 9, 2011
One of the two original tricolor flags which was flown from the GPO during the 1916 rising, has been unveiled at the American Irish Historical Society. The highly symbolic relic of Irish independence has been given on long-term loan to the organization. The hand stitched green, white and gold flag is made of Irish linen and measures 74 x 159cm.
Source: BBC News
Jun 9, 2011
The world is full of hackers, or so it seems. In the past few months barely a day has gone by without news of a fresh security breach.Multi-national companies have been left counting the cost of assaults on their e-mail systems and websites.Members of the public have had their personal information stolen and pasted all over the internet.In the early decades of the 21st century the word "hacker" has become synonymous with people who lurk in darkened rooms, anonymously terrorising the internet.
