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: http://www.westbranchtimes.com
August 28, 2008
There’s a story that persists from the North Liberty Cemetery, just north
and east of Springdale, that 17 escaped slaves died and were buried along
this stop in the Underground Railroad.
Lending credence to the 150-year-old tale is that the west half of the
three-acre, fenced-in parcel of land has not a single headstone or marker
anywhere on it. Cemetery caretakers seemed to have deliberately kept this
section undisturbed.
“It’s the most unusual cemetery I’ve ever seen,” arc
Source: International Herald Tribune
August 27, 2008
With a band of traditional Korean drummers, a Latin dance
group and a martial arts exhibition, city officials broke ground Wednesday
on a small urban pocket park at the site where Robert F. Kennedy was
assassinated 40 years ago.
Few in the crowd of more than 200 knew much about Kennedy except that he
had been shot to death at the site of the old Ambassador Hotel after
winning California's Democratic presidential primary in 1968.
But many said they thought a park would be a fit
Source: Telegraph
August 28, 2008
Svergies Television, which set up cameras on Sweden's Storsjon or Great Lake, has released images of a blurry, long and narrow silhouette moving in the depths said to be the famous Swedish sea monster.
"It clearly shows that it's warm and is made up of cells, otherwise our cameras wouldn't indicate red, so it can be a sea snake or some other kind of sea animal," said a member of the film crew.
Efforts to find the monster are being stepped up amid internation
Source: Independent
August 28, 2008
The rugged drovers who herded their cattle and sheep around Australia, braving dust, drought and hardship, are a central part of the Outback myth. But their iconic stock routes – known as the “Long Paddock” – are now under threat, with state governments poised to consign them to history.
The routes, a network of tracks in eastern Australia linking rural properties with shearing sheds and saleyards, helped the young country to forge a national character. Developed from the 1830s onw
Source: Telegraph
August 28, 2008
But the wartime prime minister inadvertently signed the death warrant of the Special Operations Executive by delaying a decision on it until after the 1945 general election, which he lost to Clement Attlee.
Lord Selborne, who as Minister of Economic Warfare headed up the service, argued against putting the clandestine force under the control of the Foreign Office, which wanted to merge it with the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).
He argued that to do so would be "
Source: Telegraph
August 28, 2008
The remarkable discovery, which has yet to be confirmed by military authorities, was made by astonished trekkers walking the Kokoda Trail, a tortuous mountain path which witnessed intense fighting between Japanese and Australian forces in 1942.
"I couldn't make it out at first. It wasn't until the wind blew that you could really see (that) it is in a harness. There are goggles and it appears to be caught up in cables, so presumably it is an airman," said trekking guide Da
Source: McClatchy
August 28, 2008
Preston Marshall stared down fire hoses, billy clubs and hatred to march with Martin Luther King Jr.
Eufaula Frazier watched her Liberty City neighborhood burn after police were cleared of beating an unarmed black motorcyclist to death.
Neither thought they would ever see this day.
On Thursday, when Barack Obama officially becomes the first black presidential nominee, he will stand on the shoulders of these longtime Miamians and other African Americans who
Source: Independent
August 28, 2008
Anna Goeldi was executed for being a witch more than 220 years ago, the last one beheaded in Europe. On Wednesday, the Swiss cleared her name. The parliament of the Swiss canton (state) of Glarus decided unanimously to exonerate Goeldi as a victim of "judicial murder", said Josef Schwitter, a government spokesman.
Several thousand people, mainly women, were executed for witchcraft between the 14th and 18th centuries in Switzerland, and elsewhere in Europe. Yet Goeldi's tri
Source: http://www.fairfaxtimes.com
August 27, 2008
Much to the satisfaction of local history buffs, the site of the only major Civil War battle fought in Fairfax County is finally being preserved as a historic park.
Members of the Chantilly Battlefield Association, led by Chantilly resident Ed Wenzel, and other Civil War historians lobbied hard as development encroached on the battlefield little by little.
But their dream of an Ox Hill Battlefield Park will be realized with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 1 that is expected t
Source: Telegraph
August 28, 2008
The 27-year-old slice was bought by an anonymous buyer on a telephone bid even though only the marzipan and icing remain.
It was originally given to Moyra Smith, a member of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's household at Clarence House, who preserved the topping in cling film and kept it in a metal tin.
The nine-inch square piece of icing and marzipan weighs 28 ounces, bears the royal coat-of-arms and is coloured in gold, silver, red and blue.
I
Source: Times
August 28, 2008
Two of the most important paintings in Britain could be lost to the nation unless 100 million pounds is found to keep them. The paintings, by the Renaissance master Titian, are believed to be worth 300 million pounds on the open market, but are offered at a discount to the nation by the Duke of Sutherland.
He has set a deadline of New Year’s Eve to agree the 50 million pound purchase of Diana & Actaeon, with a second 50 million pounds asked for Diana & Callisto in four year
Source: NYT
August 28, 2008
It was the speech of a lifetime for the young presidential candidate: Accepting the Democratic nomination before a sea of supporters outside of the party’s convention hall, and — more critically — addressing concerns of Americans nationwide about his experience level, policy ideas and personal background.
The "New Frontier" speech by John F. Kennedy, as it came to be known, electrified the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on July 15, 1960, and it was widely regarded as succes
Source: http://www.statesman.com
August 27, 2008
STONEWALL — Under blue skies, members of the Lyndon B. Johnson family and roughly 1,000 well-wishers gathered around the former president's grave and laid a wreath to mark the 100th anniversary of Johnson's birth.
"From the beginning, Lyndon Baines Johnson was big," said his daughter Lucy Baines Johnson, who said his weight at birth was estimated to be about 10 pounds.
She continued: "The fact is whether you knew him or not, we are all Lyndon Baines Johns
Source: NYT
August 27, 2008
History is being made in Denver, but so far it has been slipped under the carpet during prime time. One night was tailored to pay homage to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's barrier-breaking near-miss, yet there was no overt celebration of the bull's-eye: Barack Obama is poised to be the first black American presidential nominee.
Clinton told the supporters she called "the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits" that "together, we made history," and moved many of t
Source: CNN
August 27, 2008
he Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is at the center of combat between preservationists and cemetery officials.
The giant marble sarcophagus marking the location of four unknown U.S. service members from World War I to Vietnam has been battling the elements since it opened to the public in 1932. More than 70 years later, it is showing the scars, with cracks encircling it.
On its most famous inscription -- "Here rests in honored glory an American
Source: Tehran Times
August 27, 2008
A team of archaeologists has recently begun salvage excavation at a 3000-year-old cemetery in the ancient site of Tahluj near the village of Mirar-Kola in northern Iran.
The cemetery will be submerged under mud and water when the Alborz Dam,located in the Savadkuh region in Mazandaran Province, becomes operational.
Three graves have been discovered during the excavations at the site, which covers an area of a hectare, team director Mehdi Abedini told the Persian servi
Source: History Today
August 27, 2008
Events are taking place around Australia today to mark 100 years since the birth of one of the greatest sportsmen of all time. The cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, who was born on August 27th, 1908, amassed the greatest Test batting average in history (99.94) and is still revered in his home country. Australia’s major cities and the NSW town of Cootamundra, where Bradman was born, are holding functions to commemorate the day. Bradman died on February 25th, 2001, aged 92.
Source: Science Daily
August 27, 2008
Misinterpreted fragments of leg bones, teeth and brow ridges found in
Palau appear to be an archaeologist's undoing, according to researchers at
three institutions. They say that the so-called dwarfs of these
Micronesian islands actually were modern, normal-sized hunters and
gatherers.
Scientists from the University of Oregon, North Carolina State University
and the Australian National University have refuted the conclusion of Lee
R. Berger and colleagues that Hobbit-like little peo
Source: AP
August 24, 2008
Soldiers have defused an unexploded World War II bomb after authorities cleared 15,000 people from their homes in northern Italy.
Authorities in the city of Ravenna say everyone was moved who lived within 800 meters (2,600 feet) of the bomb that resurfaced during construction work more than sixty years after it was dropped by a British plane.
Army engineers defused the bomb Sunday and took it to a nearby military shooting range for detonation.
Source: Time
August 26, 2008
The former presidential candidate tells CBS News he is sorry for not beating Bush 41 and by extension avoiding a Bush 43 presidency.
“If I had beaten the old man you’d of never heard of the kid and you wouldn’t be in this mess. So it’s all my fault and I feel that very, very strongly.”
