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: National Parks Traveler
May 10, 2010
The written word is a marvelous thing, so much more so when it's used to describe a place. In the early part of the 20th century, those employed by the Government Printing Office had a stylish way to describe national parks. Perhaps not as eloquent as some of today's finer writers, but stylish just the same.
Take, for instance, these opening passages from Acadia National Park, Maine, written for the summer season of June 15-October 15 1931, back when Horace M. Albright was the Natio
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 10, 2010
A piece of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree is being carried into zero-gravity space on the next Nasa shuttle mission.
The section of wood, from the original tree from which the apple fell that inspired Newton's theory of gravity, is normally held in the Royal Society's archives.
It was lent to British-born astronaut Dr Piers Sellers, who will be taking it into orbit, as part of the academic institution's 350th anniversary celebrations.
The tree sample will be
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 10, 2010
Barack Obama has bemoaned the impact of technology such as the iPod and the Xbox, claiming information is now a diversion imposing new strains on democracy.
Mr Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing on superficial coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.
"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and
Source: BBC News
May 10, 2010
A Czech travel agency is offering package holidays for people nostalgic for the trade union perks of communist Czechoslovakia, when factory workers were bussed off to recuperate from the daily grind.
For a modest sum, guests can stay at a grim-looking hotel in Slovakia's Tatra Mountains, to relive the sights, sounds, and smells of pre-1989 holidays, the BBC's Rob Cameron reports.
It's 8.30am and holidaymaker Viera Kubisova is eating breakfast. I think I've upset her.
Source: BBC News
May 10, 2010
A new mass grave thought to hold the bodies of about 250 Kosovo Albanians has been found in Serbia, the country's war crimes prosecutor has told the BBC.
It said the information had come from Eulex, the EU police mission in Kosovo, and Serbia was sending investigators.
The victims are believed to have been killed during the 1998-99 conflict, when Serbian forces fought ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.
The grave is near the town of Raska, close to the bord
Source: BBC News
May 10, 2010
Lena Horne's singing career spanned more than 60 years. With her passionate voice and good looks, she became the first black sex symbol in the 1930s.
She was born in Brooklyn. Her mother was an actress and her father ran a small hotel.
Horne's parents separated when she was three, and she was boarded out. She did not live with her mother again until she was 15.
A year later she became a chorus singer in Harlem's fashionable Cotton Club. Her mother used to c
Source: AP
May 10, 2010
Solicitor General Elena Kagan will be nominated Monday to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama, a person familiar with the president's thinking says, positioning the high court to have three women justices for the first time.
Obama plans to announce his choice at 10 a.m. in the East Room of the White House. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision, which came after a monthlong search, had not been made public. Shortly before 8 a.m., Kagan emerged from h
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 9, 2010
An ultrasound picture of Jesus in the womb - complete with halo - is to be used for a Christmas advertising campaign.
The ChurchAds.net image, with the words ''He's on his way'' is the latest in a series of Christian Christmas advertising campaigns and follows an image last year of the nativity as a bus stop....
Source: Independent (UK)
May 9, 2010
One of the paradoxes of Thursday's election is that despite the Liberal Democrats doing less well than many expected, their influence on the politics of the ensuing few years seems likely to be greater than it has been for decades. Does this mean that we may be on the verge of altering our electoral arrangements just when the Lib Dems are licking their wounds in disappointment at their poor poll showing?
Disappointment or not, the system still needs changing. Many of the untenable p
Source: Cleveland.com
May 9, 2010
Owen and Allen 1.jpgSarah Rice, Special to The Plain DealerForensic audio experts Stuart Allen, seated, and Tom Owen, discuss the contents of a tape that captured the events leading to the May 4, 1970 Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State University. The Ohio National Guardsmen who fired on students and antiwar protesters at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 were given an order to prepare to shoot, according to a new analysis of a 40-year-old audio tape of the event.
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Source: Gulf News (Qatar)
May 9, 2010
Damascus: Syria has increasingly been reconnecting with its past and historical figures who have largely been persona non grata in the past few decades.
Radwan Atassi, the grandson of former president Hashem Al Atassi and a historian of modern Syria, says this change could be attributed to a number of recent developments.
“The government is no longer passive about that period of history as five decades have already passed,” Atassi told Gulf News.
“Reconnect
Source: Haaretz
May 8, 2010
On the evening of Wednesday, May 11, 1960, Ricardo Klement was late arriving home to the San Fernando suburb of Buenos Aires. Advance observations had shown that the lanky, bespectacled man descended from the number 203 bus at 7:40 P.M. and then, aided by a flashlight, walked about 100 meters along the dark road before turning left onto a dirt path ‏(designated as Garibaldi Street in the municipal master plan‏). He entered a solitary house, where his wife and family awaited h
Source: CBN.com
May 8, 2010
Many of Israel's enemies are working hard to rewrite Jewish history, denying the Holocaust and pretending thousands of years of Jewish connection to this land didn't exist.
Israel's very existence as a country is anchored "first and foremost" in the country's "national and emotional legacy," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February.
Sadly, many Israeli youngsters don't even know their own history....
Source: English.news.cn
May 8, 2010
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday called for a correct view of history, saying the Soviet Union and China's contributions to victory in the world's anti-fascist war are "ironclad."
Hu spoke while meeting with representatives of the Russian veterans of World War II, who participated in the battles for the liberation of China's Northeast.
"It is an ironclad fact that China and the Soviet Union have made exceptional contributions to the success of the
Source: AP
May 8, 2010
It saw its prime more than a century ago, winning recognition at the 1893 World's Fair as a 3-D display of the rolling lands that supplied Boston's water. Then, it saw years in a sooty attic.
Now, a rare map of Boston watersheds is being restored at Tufts University and will offer a look at the history of an expansive water system that 2 million people learned not to take for granted during a massive water main break last week.
The 6-by-9 foot plaster and papier-mache m
Source: Io9
May 8, 2010
The fallout from the Louisiana oil rig explosion is continuing to be horrendous, and efforts to stop the damage aren't looking promising. But this isn't the worst fossil fuel disaster we've ever had. Here are 10 of the worst.
Disclaimer: It's almost impossible to quantify or define "worst" in this context. Number of lives lost? Amount of environmental damage? Sheer volume of oil spilled, or coal ignited? There's no way to be completely scientific about it. We attempted to
Source: AP
May 8, 2010
It took more than four decades for a former Alabama state trooper to be indicted on charges that he gunned down a black demonstrator — a killing that helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Now a three-year delay for the trial has both sides fearing that elderly witnesses could die before they get a chance to testify.
The lag since the indictment, due in part to a feud between the prosecutor and judge, is on track to be the longest for a major civil rights case since authorities
Source: Spiegel Online
May 7, 2010
Forgotten for decades, a trove of post-war photographs from 1945 has recently been unearthed. The snapshots illustrate the devastation of the German capital and capture the desperation of the city in the weeks after the end of World War II. They also show glimpses of Berlin's resilience.
The soldier with the Iron Cross on his chest lies in the middle of the street. His steel helmet has rolled away. The Red Army soldiers are turning him onto his back and cleaning their weapons. They
Source: AP
May 7, 2010
A U.S.-funded program to restore the ruins of Iraq's ancient city of Babylon is threatened by a dispute among Iraqi officials over whether the priority should be preserving the site or making money off it.
Local officials want swift work done to restore the crumbling ruins and start building restaurants and gift shops to draw in tourists, while antiquities officials in Baghdad favor a more painstaking approach to avoid the gaudy restoration mistakes of the past.
The rui
Source: BBC
May 7, 2010
Two complete skeletons thought to date back to medieval times have been dug up by workmen in Gloucester.
The team was working on a £7m project to improve access between the city centre and the new Quays complex when the remains were unearthed on Tuesday.
The adult skeletons were uncovered, along with the remnants of a coffin, in the city's Kimbrose Triangle.
They will not be displayed and will instead be given a respectful reburial after they are examined
