History lessons on gays weighed Sacramento Bee "We read about Martin Luther King, who led the African American civil rights movement. If we had Harvey Milk and a few others, it would let students feel they aren't alone." Proponents of the bill say Milk is exactly the sort of person whose story ...

Historic Grand Junction church Handy Chapel gets some well-earned care Denver Post The chapel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is rich in African-American history, Eidman said. And history is still alive in the "remarkable person" of Josephine Dickey. "She gets here before the workers," Eidman said Wednesday, ... and more »

Sometimes you have to revisit the past to account for the present. So let's see if we can't figure out how the nation accumulated a debt to outside investors approaching $10.5 trillion - around $35,000 per American, counting every man, woman and baby.

On May 7, 1994, Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from a museum in Oslo. The fragile painting was recovered undamaged at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo, police said.

The iconic 1893 painting of a waiflike figure on a bridge was stolen in only 50 seconds during a break-in on February 12, the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Two thieves broke through a window of the National Gallery, cut a wire holding the painting to the wall and left a note reading "Thousand thanks for the bad security!"

A few days after the theft, a Norwegian anti-abortion group said it could have the painting returned if Norwegian television showed an anti-abortion film. The claim turned out to be false. The government also received a $1 million ransom demand on March 3, but refused to pay it due to a lack of proof that the demand was genuine.

Eventually, police found four pieces of the painting's frame in Nittedal, a suburb north of Oslo, and what may have been a cryptic messages that the thieves wanted to discuss a ransom. Finally, in January 1996, four men were convicted and sentenced in connection with the theft. They included Paal Enger, who had been convicted in 1988 of stealing Munch's "The Vampire" in Oslo. Enger was sentenced this time to six-and-a-half-years in prison. He escaped while on a field trip in 1999, and was captured 12 days later in a blond wig and dark sunglasses trying to buy a train ticket to Copenhagen.

In August 2004, another version of The Scream was stolen along with Munch's The Madonna, this time from the Munch Museum in Oslo. Three men were convicted in connection with that theft in May 2006. Police recovered both works in August with minor marks and tears.

Munch developed an emotionally charged style that served as an important forerunner of the 20th century Expressionist movement. He painted "The Scream" as part of his "Frieze of Life" series, in which sickness, death, fear, love and melancholy are central themes. He died in January 1944 at the age of 81.

Born on 5 September 1887 in Toronto, Ontario - husband of Annie Nash, Toronto, Ontario - at the time of his enlistment in 1916: present address same as wife; trade as salesman; married; no current or previous military service; Roman Catholic; height of 5 feet 9.5 inches; chest of 32 inches fully expanded; fair complexion; gray eyes; dark brown hair.

Joined the 126th Battalion, CEF, in Toronto, Ontario, on 13 March 1916 (number 775987) - taken on the strength of the 38th Battalion, CEF, on 4 or 6 December 1916 - wounded on 30 October 1917 - rejoined the 38th Battalion on 4 December 1917 - wounded on 10 August 1918 - invalided to England on 15 August 1918.

(sources: Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca), online attestation papers; Canadian War Museum, 19740281-001, Manu 58F 2 3, 207th Canadian Infantry Battalion and 38th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Nominal Roll; The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa Regimental Museum, A400-0007, Master Personnel List for the 38th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force)

[Tom Brokaw tells the story of Gerald Ford's friendship for a black football player in the thirties when both played for Michigan and how this friendship led to Ford's getting a statue in the Capitol.]

Big thank you to the folks at MakeUseof.com for sending some new listeners and readers our way!  History Podcast was featured on their website today.  If you are new to the site makeuseof readers just browse around and feel free to ask questions in the comments.  I’ll get back to you.  Thanks!

Single off the Overdose mixtape Pro by Nano

You don't need to see a photo of Osama bin Laden dead. A picture might have been worth a thousand words, but these days technology may trump a photograph.

Telegraph.co.uk

Native American Activist Winona LaDuke on Use of "Geronimo" as Code for Osama ... Democracy Now AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Winona LaDuke, ending on where we began, with Geronimo, you supported President Obama, Barack Obama, for president, the first African American president, who—it was under him that this Geronimo name was given. ... Cowboys and codenamesHindustan Times What's wrong in 'Geronimo EKIA'Express Buzz Encoded in Geronimo's name: enemyThe Guardian New York Daily News -USA Today all 1,286 news articles »

Top official from Obama-backed black chamber faces criminal charges Daily Caller “Why is the White House doing this when it at least can be perceived as a way of kneecapping an African American with a long history in the business community?” the source asked. Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Obama, implicitly denied to TheDC the White ...

Author Marable part of Dayton's literary legacy Dayton Daily News But his legacy will be tied to his roots as a native son who rose in the ranks in the world of academia, became an accomplished author and researcher on African-American history and culture and a syndicated columnist who appeared in more than 100 ...

This European crusader aided the Mongols during their siege of Aleppo in Syria.

Bill Clinton and Osama bin Laden ratlines in Bosnia: Clinton is a hypocrite! By Lee Jay Walker, Modern Tokyo Times Ex-president of America, Bill Clinton, welcomed the news that Osama bin Laden was killed and he gave quotes to the 'blinkered media.' This is the same Bill Clinton who welcomed the forces of radical Islam in the Balkans by giving ...

Up, and to the office, and thence to White Hall, but come too late to see the Duke of York, with whom my business was, and so to Westminster Hall, where met with several people and talked with them, and among other things understand that my Lord St. John is meant by Mr. Woodcocke, in "The Impertinents."¹ Here met with Mrs. Washington, my old acquaintance of the Hall, whose husband has a place in the Excise at Windsor, and it seems lives well. I have not seen her these 8 or 9 years, and she begins to grow old, I perceive, visibly. So time do alter, and do doubtless the like in myself. This morning the House is upon the City Bill, and they say hath passed it, though I am sorry that I did not think to put somebody in mind of moving for the churches to be allotted according to the convenience of the people, and not to gratify this Bishop, or that College. Thence by water to the New Exchange, where bought a pair of shoe-strings, and so to Mr. Pierces, where invited, and there was Knepp and Mrs. Foster and here dined, but a poor, sluttish dinner, as usual, and so I could not be heartily merry at it: here saw her girl's picture, but it is mighty far short of her boy's, and not like her neither; but it makes Hales's picture of her boy appear a good picture. Thence to White Hall, walked with Brisband, who dined there also, and thence I back to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Virgin Martyr," and heard the musick that I like so well, and intended to have seen Knepp, but I let her alone; and having there done, went to Mrs. Pierces back again, where she was, and there I found her on a pallet in the dark ..., that is Knepp. And so to talk; and by and by did eat some curds and cream, and thence away home, and it being night, I did walk in the dusk up and down, round through our garden, over Tower Hill, and so through Crutched Friars, three or four times, and once did meet Mercer and another pretty lady, but being surprized I could say little to them, although I had an opportunity of pleasing myself with them, but left them, and then I did see our Nell, Payne's daughter, and her je did desire venir after me, and so elle did see me to, Tower Hill to our back entry there that comes upon the degres entrant into nostra garden ..., and so parted, and je home to put up things against to-morrow's carrier for my wife; and, among others, a very fine salmon-pie, sent me by Mr. Steventon, W. Hewer's uncle, and so to bed.

1. Whilst Positive walks, like Woodcock in the park, Contriving projects with a brewer's clerk.

   Andrew Marvell's "Instructions to a Painter," part iii., to which is subjoined the following note: "Sir Robert Howard, and Sir William Bucknell, the brewer." -- Works, ed. by Capt. E. Thompson, vol. iii., p. 405.--B. ↩

New York Daily News

With Budget Unveiling, Bloomberg Draws the Battle Lines WNYC "We are forced to do the best we can with what we've got. The state has shifted the burden from them to us." Following the unveiling of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's final budget, the battle lines are now drawn between the mayor and City ... Bloomberg to cut more than 6000 NYC teaching positionsCNN International Bloomberg's $65.7 Billion New York City Budget Proposes 6000 Teacher CutsBloomberg NYC Mayor's Budget Would Cut 1 Out Of 12 TeachersNPR Brooklyn Daily Eagle -Patch.com -The Associated Press all 331 news articles »

Washing your hands regularly can help you stay healthy. But could it also get you sick?

In 1845-6, Ezekiel Porter Belden and his 150 assistants built a carved wooden model of New York and Brooklyn - featuring every building, every street and landmark, even (in the words of one reviewer) "every shanty" - as far north as 32nd Street.

In Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford UP, 2000, p. 672) , Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace note that the model was twenty feet long and twenty four feet wide with 200,000 tiny buildings over 2 million windows and 150,000 chimneys.

The Model was topped with an 15 foot high Oriental canopy decorated with "gold and brilliant colors." It was"supported by twelve elaborately carved columns...and is mounted with pinnacles forming compartments"* at the top. And in those compartments were nearly a hundred oil paintings of "the leading business establishments and places of note in the city" - all commissioned by the industrious Mr. Belden. It cost $20,000 to build - an incredible sum of money in the 1840s.

Belden's 1849 guidebook New-York: Past, Present and Future (1849) is dedicated to his Carved Model. There are many pages of descriptions of the carvings, and more pages after that with reprinted newspaper reviews (all most complimentary, of course). The Model stood on a huge wooden platform, and included a depiction of the harbor complete with steamers, tow-boats and all "customed shipping."

In Belden's book you can read in great detail about what is in the Model - the description itself is a kind of virtual walking tour, and great fun to read. Belden not only includes the big attractions - the Battery, Castle Garden, Broadway, Barnum's American Museum, City Hall, Washington Market, the Tombs - but also the telegraph wires, the Novelty Works ("an extensive manufactory of steam engines and other machinery" near the East River), and the United States Revenue Boarding Office. I was glad to see that he included the Floating Church, too. The New York Sun pointed out that "every inhabitant of New York will be enabled to recognize his own dwelling."

Broadway and Canal St, 1836 (NYPL)

Ezekiel Porter Belden, of an old Connecticut family (the Porter-Belden House is in Wethersfield), also wrote a book about Yale, and - according to one of the newspaper reviews Belden includes - was "the proprietor of the Model of New Haven" - so this wasn't his first miniature city.

The Model City was built at Belden's rooms in the Granite Building, 360 Broadway. In July 1846 Belden rented the "large hall of the Minerva Rooms, Broadway" for his Model, and opened it to the public on the 4th. The Minerva Rooms were at 406 Broadway (at Canal Street), and were usually a venue for entertainers.

Can you imagine what fun it would be to see this? Another place I want to go in that time machine, certainly. And I'd like to know what happened to the Miniature New York, too. Did it survive? And if so - where is it?

*All quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from New-York: Past Present and Future (1849) by Ezekiel Porter Belden.

Annual Framingham House Tour features home of sculptor Meta Fuller Milford Daily News But at the turn of the 20th century, the African-American couple weren't even able to buy land in town because of the color of their skin. Instead, they purchased their home from a white doctor, who had bought the property for them. ... and more »

Afro American

AFRO Sports Faceoff: Can Pacquiao Beat An African American Fighter? Afro American Former undisputed world middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins stirred up racial controversy last November when he told reporters he doesn't believe current top rated boxer Manny Pacquiao can beat African-American fighters. ... and more »

In operational terms, America's three great maneuvers of 1941 used an approach would have been familiar to previous generations of U.S. field commanders, especially Union generals in the Civil War.

Endorsement from my wife:

http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/hangman/pres.sht   Just a suggestion though since it's more for kids than adults. I found this at my word of the day site: super kids. I played it. It's kind of fun. Might play it in front of my son in hopes he'll like it.

 I guess this game may be a way to hang your least favorite Presidents...

The leader of Majorca has become the first government official to apologise for the execution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition – centuries after the events.  

Francesc Antich, the regional president of the Balearic Islands, issued an official condemnation of the killings in what was heralded by Jewish groups as the first of its kind in Spain.

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Before devoting his time to defeating the British in the Revolutionary War and being the first president of the United States, George Washington enjoyed brewing his own beer.

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Spain's government has dropped plans to exhume remains of victims of the Civil War that are buried alongside General Francisco Franco at his mausoleum in the hills near Madrid.

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North Korea has handed over the remains of a British pilot who died in the Korean War nearly 60 years ago.

The remains are believed to be those of RAF Flight Lieutenant Desmond Hinton whose plane was shot down.

British ambassador Peter Hughes received the fighter pilot's remains at a ceremony in the demilitarised zone.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office confirmed that the remains had been handed over but was able to add few further details. ...

Following the e

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Bosnia is facing its worst crisis since the war ended in 1995, a leading international think tank has warned.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said political crises were threatening to tear the state apart.

But it urged the international community not to try to block a forthcoming Bosnian Serb referendum.

The referendum aims to gauge support for the presence of an international high representative, imposed under the Dayton Accords after the war. ...

What was thought to be a cousin turns out to be parent on the human evolutionary family tree. 

The last common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals was a tall, well-traveled species called Heidelberg Man, according to a new PLoS One study.

The determination is based on the remains of a single Heidelberg Man (Homo heidelbergensis) known as "Ceprano," named after the town near Rome, Italy, where his fossil -- a partial cranium -- was found.

Previously, this 400,000-year-old fossil was thought to

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Former president Bill Clinton speaks Friday night at a commencement ceremony at the University of Central Missouri.The 43rd president will also receive an honorary doctoral degree during the school's commencement ceremony for graduate students.The Warrensburg university is honoring Clinton for his commitment to education and philanthropy as well as ...

It's not hard to imagine that five or ten years from, we'll be carrying around super lightweight and flexible phones and/or electronic books.

Conspiracy theorists prefer complex mysteries over simple truths, and find mystery where none exists.

On the lookout for ways to help manage deforestation, NSF-funded Michigan geographers map out an adventure.

Toilet paper rolls, miniature soaps, ash trays and unattended maid carts are potentially still up for grabs.

A program searches more than 50 popular websites to track down accounts and provide information about how to transfer, memorialize or delete them.

Service rather than leadership Monroe Free Press That's right, folks, Barbara Norton, who's run numerous times for every public office imaginable throughout the years, produces the African American history parade every year, and holds an annual shoe drive for underprivileged youth, doesn't want the ... House plan adds fourth minority district in ShreveportShreveport Times all 2 news articles »

During Stroke, Calling Relative More Common Than 911 Among African-Americans Medical News Today They weren't fully aware of their health history. It's important to keep health records and to know your family health history." The American Heart Association (AHA) and the Congressional Black Caucus launched the 31 Days of Power campaign. ... and more »

The name Elvis was not among the top 1,000 US baby names in 2010, the first year it had not made the list since 1954, the US government said.

Jacob and Isabella topped the list for the second year in a row, the Social Security Administration said.

And Aiden was the only new name among the top 10 for either gender.

Tiana - the name of the main character in the 2009 Disney movie The Princess and the Frog - was one of the biggest gainers, the agency said on Thursday.

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On May 5, 1961, 37-year-old Alan Shepard blasted off from Cape Canaveral on a historic flight that marked the moment the U.S. caught up to Russia in the Space Race. Here, rare and never-seen photographs from LIFE of that amazing era.

President John Kennedy pins NASA's Distinguished Service Medal on Shepard's chest, May 8, 1961. Two weeks later, JFK famously declared: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."...

France is only belatedly accepting the extent to which Britain masterminded its wartime resistance operations, according to one of Winston Churchill's last remaining French secret agents.

Catalogue launched to help historians and families trace art looted during Hitler era.

Despite a reputation for reaching for their revolvers at the merest mention of culture, the Nazis were among the most ruthless, avaricious and methodical art collectors ever to cast a greedy eye and thieving hand over other people's property.

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Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of medieval industry on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds town centre.

The clay ovens and leather tanneries appear to date from the 12th-16th Centuries.

Housing developers called county historians after they found mortar and flint footings for wooden buildings.

Andrew Tester, project officer for Suffolk County Council, said: "We know a lot about the centre of the town, but not about this part."

The precise location of the site is not being publicised to protect the dig.

read more

Chelsea Clinton joined advocates this evening in Manhattan to mark the first week of a phonebank campaign to legalize same-sex marriag, and said she hopes that New York will pass a same-sex marriage bill by her anniversary this July.

BBC News

Jobs Report Has More Bad News Than Good News CNBC.com AP There was more bad news than met the eye to Friday's jobs report, even beyond the bump up in the unemployment rate. While the top-line number of 244000 jobs created sounded great when it came off the tape, the internals were somewhat weaker. ... Snap Analysis: Jobs report shows strength with a caveatReuters Strong Job Report Shows US Economy Gaining SteamNew York Times US Economy Adds Jobs, but Unemployment Rate RisesWall Street Journal Bloomberg -Los Angeles Times -TheStreet.com all 699 news articles »

Congressional Black Caucus And American Heart Association Announce New Stroke ... Medical News Today (press release) "My maternal grandmother had a hole in her heart and several other heart problems because of the lack of record keeping in the black community so many years ago. They weren't fully aware of their health history. It's important to keep health records ... and more »

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African-American aviation pioneer is dead TheNewsTribune.com In 1976 it was verified and found to be true that she was the first African-American to certify, at which time she was entered into the US history books. Her legacy did not stop there; this was merely a stepping-stone. She went on to become the first ...

Last year, The Montclair Times presented a series of articles titled "Veterans' Voices." One of the veterans we spoke to was David Sive, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge.

New York Post

President meets a 'harsh' critic New York Post A 10-year-old boy whose firefighter dad died on 9/11 was thrilled to meet President Obama during yesterday's wreath-laying ceremony, but that didn't stop him from offering the commander in chief a critique of the raid that killed ... Thousands converge on Ground Zero, await President Obama's arrivalThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com At Firehouse in Midtown, a VIP Stops By for LunchNew York Times 10-year-old whose father died on 9/11 shares emotional moment with President ...New York Daily News Washington Post -Atlanta Journal Constitution -SILive.com all 275 news articles »

It's a sad day for physics crackpots bent on disproving relativity, because once again, it turns out that Einstein was right.