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: Philadelphia Inquirer
Jul 20, 2010
As a young conservator, fresh from graduate school, Mark S. Tucker found himself facing a humbling task.
In 1980, he joined the conservation department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was thrown into preparations for the large retrospective of Thomas Eakins' work the museum would be mounting in 1982.
That's when he first encountered Eakins' 1875 masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, owned at the time by Jefferson Medical College.
"I did a very, very min
Source: Congress.org
Jul 20, 2010
Abraham Lincoln dwarfed other presidents in tourism to federally run sites in 2009, thanks in part to celebrations tied to the bicentennial of his birth.
According to figures collected by the National Park Service , nearly 6.8 million people visited sites associated with Lincoln last year, including his memorial on the National Mall, Ford's Theatre and childhood homes in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
By contrast, 2.7 million people visited two sites associated with Fr
Source: Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Jul 20, 2010
Ceremonies marking the anniversary of the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler will be held at sites around Berlin on Tuesday, as Germany remembers the attempt that came closest to killing the Nazi leader.
Commemorations in the German capital on Tuesday will mark the anniversary of the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The attempt on the life of the Nazi leader was the culmination of efforts by the German resistance.
The ceremonies begin with an ecumenical
Source: Tehran Times
Jul 20, 2010
Smugglers of cultural heritage have looted a Sassanid structure located in the Baghmalek region in northeast Khuzestan Province.
Members of the Baghmalek Cultural Heritage Enthusiasts Society, who recently visited the ruins of site, found shards scattered around the illegal excavations dug by the Smugglers, society director Yunes Shafiei told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.
The structure, known by the locals as the Dalkhuni Fort, was used by loc
Source: BBC News
Jul 19, 2010
Archaeologists start excavations on a suspected ancient burial site to try to understand the significance of a Llangollen landmark on which it stands.
But the team will have to work carefully because the 9th Century Pillar of Eliseg, a Cadw-protected ancient monument, stands directly on top of the barrow - burial mound - and the archaeologists can't disturb it.
Medieval archaeology Professor Nancy Edwards, from Bangor University, says it is the first time the site has b
Source: Fox News
Jul 19, 2010
A management consultant on Monday stood by remarks over the weekend in which he compared black Tea Party activists to Jewish guards in Nazi concentration camps, telling FoxNews.com there are "turncoats" in every group.
Luke Visconti, owner of DiversityInc, first said on CNN that Tea Party leaders are "leveraging racism" and that they have risen to power with an "anti-black Obama" message.
When the anchor noted that black members are activ
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2010
Archaeologists are carrying out a virtual excavation of Stonehenge to discover what the area looked like when the monument was built.
The multi-million pound Euro study will map the terrain and its buried archaeological remains with pinpoint accuracy, organisers claim.
The millions of measurements will then be analysed and incorporated into gaming technology to produce 2D and 3D images.
The research will take three years.
Equipment will be spr
Source: Guardian (UK)
Jul 19, 2010
Franz Kafka wanted all his manuscripts to be burned after his death, but his friend Max Brod disregarded the request, seeding a complex legal battle over thousands of manuscripts that has the literary world agog. That legal tussle takes a new twist today as four safety deposit boxes in a Zurich bank containing the manuscripts are opened.
The boxes are believed to contain thousands of manuscripts by Kafka and Brod, including letters, journals, sketches and drawings, some of which hav
Source: Live Science
Jul 19, 2010
A well-preserved tomb believed to be the final resting place of an ancient Mayan king has been discovered in Guatemala, scientists announced last week.
The 1,600-year-old tomb was discovered on May 29 beneath the El Diablo pyramid in the city of El Zotz. It is packed with of carvings, ceramics, textiles, and the bones of six children, who might have been sacrificed at the time of the king's death.
However, much more work is needed before the scientists can piece togethe
Source: The Independent
Jul 19, 2010
More than 300 looted antiquities, estimated to be worth more than EUR15 million, were displayed to the press this morning in Rome, having been repatriated to Italy after they were discovered in a warehouse in Switzerland.
It was a scene slightly reminiscent of a Victorian detective novel, in which the robber and his looted candlesticks is unveiled before an impressed gathering of country house guests.
Only today's unveiling took place inside the Colosseum rather than
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2010
Salt was a booming trade along the Solent coast up to the middle of the 19th century.
Now the secrets of Lymington's salt industry are set to be revealed by Mr Green and a team of archaeologists and volunteers.
The area around the country's last two remaining sea salt boiling houses in the town is being excavated.
The New Forest National Park Authority and Wessex Archaeology is organising the archaeological excavation beside the Lymington-Pennington mars
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2010
A tiny neolithic figurine from Orkney has missed out on a prize at this year's British Archaeological Awards.
The 5,000-year-old Orkney Venus, which was discovered during excavations in the island of Westray in August last year, is the earliest representation of the human form found in Scotland.
It was up for Best Discovery at British Museum awards in London.
But the title went to the Staffordshire Hoard - the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold - discov
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2010
The UK's oldest person has died just a month before her 112th birthday.
Eunice Bowman, who was born in 1898 and has seen six monarchs on the throne, died peacefully in her sleep at Hillside Grange Care Home in Gateshead.
Eunice was born in Lancashire on 23 August 1898, the second of 12 children.
When World War I broke out she went to work for the Armstrong munitions factory in Newcastle and the money she earned was used to help her family....
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2010
Croatia could withdraw a genocide lawsuit filed against Serbia if relations between the two countries are improved, the Croatian president says.
President Ivo Josipovic raised the possibility during his first trip to Belgrade since his election this year.
The government of Croatia still wants Serbia to punish individuals accused of war crimes during the 1990s war.
But both nations now say reconciliation is possible, years after the the break-up of the for
Source: BBC
Jul 19, 2010
Fossil hunters in Australia have discovered a cave filled with the 15-million-year-old remains of prehistoric marsupials.
The rare haul of fossils includes 26 skulls from an extinct, sheep-sized marsupial with giant claws.
The finds come from the Riversleigh World Heritage fossil field in north-west Queensland.
The beautifully-preserved remains have been described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The giant-clawed, wombat-sized marsupi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 19, 2010
Manuscripts and drawings by Franz Kafka that have been hidden in the vaults of Swiss bank UBS for more than 50 years are to be extracted amid a lawsuit over ownership rights of the estate.
Four safes holding manuscripts and drawings by the author are to be opened on Monday, according to the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
UBS declined comment when contacted by AFP.
The move in Zurich follows similar action at two Tel Aviv banks last week, after they
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 19, 2010
David Cameron is refusing to see senior American senators who have requested a formal meeting to discuss the release of the Lockerbie bomber while the Prime Minister is in Washington this week.
Four senators have written to Downing Street requesting that Mr Cameron makes time in his schedule to discuss the growing row over the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
BP is facing accusations that it lobbied the previous Government to introduce a pris
Source: CNN
Jul 19, 2010
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has called plans to build a community center and mosque near the site of the 9/11 terror attack in New York City an "unnecessary provocation."
The former Republican vice presidential nominee also posted a plea asking "peaceful New Yorkers" to "pls refute the Ground Zero mosque plan if you believe catastrophic pain caused @ Twin Towers site is too raw, too real."
Plans to build a $100 million, 13-story center h
Source: CNN
Jul 19, 2010
Anti-establishment candidates are capitalizing on widespread anti-incumbent fervor and proposing term limits as a way to bring the power back to the people.
Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul said that if elected, he can't see himself serving more than two terms. In Rhode Island, Democratic congressional hopeful Bill Lynch has proposed a 12-year cap in the House and Senate. And in Maryland, Republican Andy Harris has assured voters that, should he go to the U.S. House,
Source: Foreign Policy
Jul 19, 2010
[Simon] Bolivar is the second former leader who's been rudely awakened this year. The body of Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos was stolen by grave robbers for a number of weeks, prompting a nation-wide cadaver-hunt . Because of Papadopolous' hardline Cypriot nationalist politics, a political motive was suspected, but it turned out the crooks were just after ransom....
Then there is the perennial debate over Lenin's Tomb in Red Square, which Russian leaders acknowledge "does
