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: AP
May 12, 2010
Nine people have been indicted in federal court on charges they accessed President Obama's student loan records while they were employed for a Department of Education contractor in Iowa.
The U.S. attorney's office says a grand jury returned the indictments Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Davenport.
The nine individuals are charged with exceeding authorized computer access.
They are accused of gaining access to a computer at a Coralville, Iowa, office wh
Source: Press Release from Cambridge
May 12, 2010
The forgotten story of the British organisation that enabled the development of a system for measuring Longitude, only to disappear from memory after its demise, is to be told in full for the first time.
In a new project announced today (Wednesday, May 12th), researchers will embark on the first full investigation of the barely-studied archives of the British Board of Longitude, the eighteenth century organisation which oversaw the search for an accurate method of determining how fa
Source: Reuters
May 12, 2010
Falling chunks of mortar from Rome's Colosseum has rekindled the debate about the state of the Italian capital's archaeological treasures -- some of which are literally falling apart.
Three pieces of mortar -- measuring half a square meter (yard) -- collapsed at the weekend in the ancient amphitheatre, one of the most popular sites in Rome, plunging through a protective netting.
A restoration and cleaning project is set to start within the next month at the Colosseum, w
Source: Seattle PI
May 12, 2010
Remember the old hotel and restaurant in downtown Seattle near the corner of Commercial and Plummer?
Or maybe the barbwire company warehouse along Railroad Avenue?
Not many people do, since these buildings (and several blocks of these long-forgotten streets) once occupied a mixed-used neighborhood along downtown Seattle's waterfront that existed for only a decade or so at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Nobody knows if this phantom community
Source: BBC
May 12, 2010
An Indonesian director is to begin work on a film about US President Barack Obama's early years in the country.
The film will be called Obama the Child of Menteng, after the suburb of Jakarta where Mr Obama lived from 1967 to 1971.
Its release will coincide with the president's visit to the country next month.
But correspondents say the film has already stirred controversy, after local media suggested it would contain scenes of Mr Obama reciting the Koran
Source: BBC
May 12, 2010
A former Serbian paramilitary leader suspected of war crimes has been arrested in Australia.
Dragan Vasiljkovic was detained on the basis of information provided by the Netherlands, Australian officials said.
He is wanted in Croatia for allegedly committing atrocities during its 1991-1995 war of independence.
Mr Vasiljkovic, who is also an Australian citizen, denies committing war crimes but has admitted to killing people in combat.
Australi
Source: BBC
May 12, 2010
Archaeologists in China have unearthed 114 new terracotta warriors at the vast Qin dynasty tomb complex in Xian province, state media reports.
The statues, many of which were found in pieces, were brightly coloured and lying alongside pots, weapons and other items, said China Daily.
Research teams also found evidence of burn marks on the clay, proof that the pit had at some point been set on fire.
More than 8,000 of the statues, made in 221BC, have alread
Source: BBC
May 12, 2010
Doris Eaton Travis, the last surviving dancer from the Ziegfeld Follies troupe, has died in the US aged 106.
Travis first performed in the legendary Broadway show famed for its elaborate costumes and dance routines in 1918 aged 14.
At the age of 101 the dancer performed in a charity gala at the New York theatre where she made her debut.
Broadway is due to dim its lights on Wednesday evening as a mark of respect for the veteran performer.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 12, 2010
Brazilian paleontologists have discovered the well-preserved and near-complete fossils of a pre-dinosaur predator that lived some 238 million years ago.
The creature, a Prestosuchus chiniquensis, was about seven 22 feet long, weighed one ton and lived in the Triassic Period (250 to 200 million years ago), paleontologists from the Lutheran University of Brazil said.
A team led by paleontologist Sergio Furtado Cabreira and biologist Lucio Roberto da Silva found the fossi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 12, 2010
Richard Nixon's grandson is entering politics as he runs for the Republican nomination in a New York congress seat.
Christopher Nixon Cox is seeking the Republican nomination to run against four-term Democratic US Rep. Tim Bishop in eastern Long Island - a seat Republicans hope to win as part of the party's effort to recapture the House of Representatives.
In his first extensive interview since announcing his candidacy, Mr Cox said that while he is aware of his grandfa
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 12, 2010
The body of a Spanish nobleman, the Marquis de Larios, is to be exhumed after an orphaned trumpeter claimed he was the heir to his wealthy dynasty and entitled to a share in the famous family gin company.
A judge has ordered tests to be carried out on the corpse of Jose Antonio Larios Franco, whose father founded the Larios gin brand in the 1920s, after Jose Collado, a trumpeter in an orchestra in Marbella, claimed to be his illegitimate son.
Mr Collado claimed he was
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 12, 2010
The Queen was reduced to a fit of giggles when a ''17th century'' military officer clad in armour had a little trouble sitting down next to her.
When Major Paul Champness, Captain of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers of the Honourable Artillery Company, tried to take his seat next to the Queen, his metal thigh protectors - known as tassetts - brushed against her.
Wearing a breast plate and helmet he squeezed himself between the head of state and the Duke of Edinbu
Source: CNN
May 12, 2010
A new book reveals an unusually personal–and apparently awkward–moment during the first encounter between First Lady Michelle Obama and France's First Lady, Carla Bruni.
The book's author, Newsweek editor Jonathan Alter, writes that Bruni, "delighted in telling friends that she shocked Michelle Obama at their first meeting."
Alter describes the meeting between the first ladies in which Bruni boasted that she and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, "once kep
Source: Salon.com
May 12, 2010
It's proven with science: Measured by its average age, this is the oldest Congress ever.Tucker Carlson's Internet Tendency has a story on how the advanced age of our lawmakers is hurting our nation. (They also
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 12, 2010
To coincide with the release of Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, we offer a guide to visiting the attractions associated with Britain's most legendary historical and mythical figures.
The legendary outlaw and his Merry Men are most commonly portrayed as residents of Sherwood Forest, near the Nottinghamshire village of Edwinstowe. The massive Major Oak tree – with a circumference of 33 feet – is said to be the shelter where Robin Hood slept, while the Church of St. Mary, in Edwinstowe, may
Source: Paul Frasier Collectibles
May 12, 2010
A painting inspired by the psychic spirits of dead soldiers and bought by a grieving Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who lost a son in WW1 will auction as part of the Owston Collection in Sydney.
Bonhams' sale will take place on June 25-26.
The painting by William Francis (Will) Longstaff (Australian, 1879-1953) titled 'The Rearguard (The spirit of ANZAC)' is a huge oil on canvas measuring 53 9/16 x 106 5/16 inches.
The piece is estimated to sell for A$20,000-40,000
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 12, 2010
Elvis Presley wrote a message to his mother inside a Bible shortly after she died, a new exhibition shows.
He signed his name on the last page of the holy book, next to the message “I love ya mama” and the date Gladys was “layed to rest” in a cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.
The king of rock’n’roll also wrote a list of his family members’ birthdays, together with the fact that he owed an uncle some money, inside the front of his copy.
However the collector w
Source: BBC News
May 12, 2010
A recording of a 1966 Beatles press conference at which John Lennon was quizzed over his controversial comments about Jesus is to be auctioned.
The reel-to-reel recording is estimated to fetch up to $25,000 (£16,800) at a Los Angeles sale on 13 June.
The tapes of the 17 August press conference in Toronto were stored in a drawer for more than 40 years, Bonhams and Butterfields said.
Lennon sparked outrage when he said the band were "more popular" t
Source: NYT
May 12, 2010
The Supreme Court has some justices who are liberals and some who are conservatives. It has some who see themselves as strict constructionists and some who probably do not.
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Top Court’s New York Pipeline
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Times Topics: Elena Kagan | U.S. Supreme Court
And then it has the justices who grew up riding the subway and the ones who grew up turning right on red.
It has the justice who was the
Source: The Australian
May 12, 2010
LAST year, archeologist Mike Morwood and rock art specialist June Ross took the ride of their lifetime across the northwest Kimberley. They hired a helicopter and flew across largely trackless territory, their pilot landing periodically in spots where he felt he could get his helicopter down safely and where they believed a good rock art site might lie.
Their journey took them from Bigge Island, one of the Kimberley's largest offshore landmasses, east to inland pastoral stations, a
