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: Public Opinion Online
Jan 10, 2011
An omnibus lands bill that would have expanded the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park died last week after it met Republican opposition in the U.S. Senate.
The bill would have added to the park the 151-year-old Gettysburg train station where President Abraham Lincoln arrived to dedicate the national cemetery.
It also would have expanded the park's boundaries to include 45 acres of donated land in Cumberland Township.
The 1,003-page bill include
Source: Daily Camera (Colorado)
Jan 10, 2011
Col. William Marsh "Bill" Bower, the last surviving pilot of "Doolittle's Raiders" who bombed Japan in 1942, died Monday at his home in south Boulder.
He was 93 and "lived a completely full life," said his son Jim Bower.
"My dad was a hell of a guy," he said. "He was a brave soul, a warrior. He was everybody's friend. He did all kinds of volunteer work. He was an exceptional human being."
Bill Bower was hail
Source: AFP
Jan 10, 2011
Dying young was not likely the reason Neanderthals went extinct, said a study out Monday that suggests early modern humans had about the same life expectancy as their hairier, ancient cousins.
Scientists have puzzled over why the Neanderthals disappeared just as modern humans were making huge gains and moving into new parts of Africa and Europe, and some have speculated that a difference in longevity may have been to blame.
If anything, higher fertility rates and lower
Source: Michigan Tech News
Jan 10, 2011
If you are an archaeologist, determining when a pot was made is not just a matter of checking the bottom for a time stamp. Dating clay-based materials like ceramics recovered from archeological sites can be time consuming, not to mention complex and expensive.
Patrick Bowen, a senior majoring in materials science and engineering, is refining a new way of dating ceramic artifacts that could one day shave thousands of dollars off the cost of doing archaeological research.
Source: LA Times
Jan 10, 2011
Construction of La Plaza de Cultura y Artes near Olvera Street has unearthed skeletons of early L.A. settlers in a cemetery thought to have been emptied in 1844. The excavation is stirring up controversy.
Since late October, the fragile bones of dozens of Los Angeles settlers have been discovered under what will be the outdoor space of La Plaza de Cultura y Artes downtown near Olvera Street. According to archaeologists and the chief executive of La Plaza, they appear to be remains f
Source: LA Times
Jan 10, 2011
It's not unusual in Los Angeles for construction crews to find buried remains, but it is surprising to find a cemetery.
Under a half-acre lot of dirt and mud being transformed into a garden and public space for a cultural center celebrating the Mexican American heritage of Los Angeles, construction workers and scientists have found bodies buried in the first cemetery of Los Angeles — bodies believed to have been removed and reinterred elsewhere in the 1800s.
Since late
Source: PTI (India)
Jan 10, 2011
Eight idols, including three of ''ashtadhatu'' (mixed metal), have been stolen from an ancient Ram Janki temple in Bithoor area here, police said today.
Temple priest Vishnu Prasad found the idols, including three ashtadhatu idols of Ram, Sita and Lakshman, missing when the main gate of the temple was opened yesterday morning, SP (Rural) Lal Bhadur said.
Later the priest raised an alarm and informed the police.
Police thoroughly checked the temple with the help o
Source: AP
Jan 10, 2011
A judge ordered former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in prison Monday for his role in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.
The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The Republican who represented the Houston area was once one of the most powerful people in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 job in the House of Re
Source: AOL News
Jan 10, 2011
The 2009 film "2012" depicted an ultimate end-of-the-world scenario based on an ancient Mayan calendar that ends on Dec. 21, 2012. But does NASA believe the film accurately portrays something that will really happen? Absolutely not.
In fact, NASA scientists say the doomsday "2012" is the most ridiculous sci-fi film ever.
"The filmmakers took advantage of public worries about the so-called end of the world as apparently predicted by the Mayans of
Source: ALPLM Blog
Jan 10, 2011
SPRINGFIELD - The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Blog “>From out of the Top Hat” has an entry today about Abraham Lincoln’s dreams, and what if anything they predicted about his and the nation’s future. The blog is at www.alplm.org/blog, is updated every Monday, and additional topic suggestions are always welcome....
Source: Discovery News
Jan 10, 2011
Sophisticated farming methods traveled quickly from the Middle East into Europe around 8,000 years ago.
Croatia does not have a reputation as a hotbed of ancient agriculture. But new excavations, described January 7 in San Antonio at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, unveil a Mediterranean Sea -- hugging strip of southern Croatia as a hub for early farmers who spread their sedentary lifestyle from the Middle East into Europe.
Farming village
Source: Discovery News
Jan 10, 2011
Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed six missing pieces from a 3,400-year-old colossal double statue of King Tut's grandparents, the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday.
Belonging to the statues of King Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye, the fragments were found at the pharaoh’s mortuary temple in Luxor during work to lower the ground water on the west bank of the Nile.
Currently a centerpiece of the main hall at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the doubl
Source: Florida Today
Jan 10, 2011
When Florida seceded from the Union 150 years ago on Jan. 10, 1861, three months before the first shot in the War Between the States was fired, what was Brevard County stretched from Melbourne almost to Miami.
Sparsely populated, residents of what's now the Space Coast had little connection to the Civil War that raged three days shy of four years and claimed more than 600,000 lives.
But after the battles ended, freed slaves and soldiers who made their way to Brevard pla
Source: BBC
Jan 10, 2011
It may be 700 years since the last major recruitment drive but custodians of a castle near Wrexham are looking for medieval soldiers.
Chirk Castle keepers have appealed for more volunteers to swell the ranks of guards who dress up to greet visitors.
Chirk Castle, which is now managed by the National Trust, was built between 1295 and 1310 and the volunteers would represent the early part of its history and be dressed in 14th Century costume....
Source: BBC
Jan 10, 2011
A memorial service honouring more than 1,000 people killed in Portsmouth during the Blitz has been held on the 70th anniversary of the attacks.
Records show 1,013 people died during the World War II German raids which destroyed large sections of the naval city, including the Guildhall.
The names of those who were killed were read out during the service in the rebuilt Guildhall Square.
A plaque was also unveiled as part of the service....
Source: BBC
Jan 10, 2011
Veteran Cuban anti-communist militant and former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles has gone on trial in the US on immigration charges.
Mr Posada Carriles, 82, is wanted in Venezuela and Cuba over two deadly bomb attacks and plots to kill the former Cuban president, Fidel Castro
The Cuban-born Venezuelan citizen spent decades trying to overthrow the communist government in Cuba, and is seen as a hero by some anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the US.
He is accused o
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 10, 2011
A £20 million mini series about slain John F Kennedy is unlikely to ever be shown in the US after pressure from his surviving family members.
Maria Shriver and Caroline Kennedy are reported to have lobbied hard for the History Channel to pull the plug on the series.
The eight part film, which stars Katie Holmes as First Lady Jackie Kennedy and Greg Kinnear as JFK, was due to air in the US later this year.
But TV insiders said it was unlikely the series wil
Source: Irish Times
Jan 10, 2011
EARLY IRISH emigrants to the US put extraordinary portions of their incomes into savings banks, according to a leading Irish historian.
The phenomenon was born out of insecurity, Prof Joe Lee told a conference on the history of Irish foreign affairs at University College Cork.
Records from the Emigrant Savings Bank in New York, an Irish institution founded in the 1850s, provide an insight into the saving habits of the Irish diaspora, with valuable details such as dates
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Jan 9, 2011
DOCUMENTS released this week from a Munich archive show that the intelligence services in both America and Germany knew where Adolf Eichmann was hiding almost a decade before he was kidnapped and brought to trial.
Critics believe the decision not to arrest the man acknowledged as the supreme logistical mastermind of the Nazi Holocaust of six million Jews was taken to protect both German officials and pro-Nazi clergy in the Vatican who had helped him to escape.
The Germa
Source: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Jan 9, 2011
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum expresses outrage at the heinous act of violence that took place yesterday in Tucson, Arizona. The Museum extends its deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those whose lives were lost or forever changed in this terrible attack upon innocent men, women and children. We hope and pray for a full recovery for all of the victims, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who, since 2010, has served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Cou
