The Aborigines of Australia

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The Aboriginal tribes have insisted for 223 years that the "English arrival" was a farce and the correct term of reference must be the "English invasion".  This truism has been declared by the Sydney City Council which will be included in the 2030 city plan.

The Aborigines had occupied that land for 40,000 years and watched in astonishment as the first 11 ships of 803 kept arriving over a period of 52 years - an event that ultimately destroyed their freedom and way of life.

Renaissance Art

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Adam and Eve

Lucas Cranach was a Renaissance painter and print maker and creator of this iconic image.

First Da Vinci Find in a Hundred Years!

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"Salvatore Mundi" -

The missing Leonardo Da Vinci painting.  Its illustrious past includes ownership by Charles I and Charles II.  The 200 million dollar painting will be unveiled at the National Gallery in London this year.

Jane & Kate

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The Duchess of Cambridge and Jane Austin are related - 11th cousins, 6th removed - both descend from the illustrious line of  Henry Percy, not shabby, not too shabby at all!

New Heritage Sites

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12 new heritage sites added by UNESCO - from the deserts of the Middle East to the coffee plantations of Colombia!

Best Westerns

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Famous Westerns with Classic Ones too ... I love my old movies - no surprise, of course!

UnderWear

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Lets explore the hidden world of the evolution in underwear.

Cult Classics

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The box office misses that manifested into classics ... Rocky Horror Picture Show, Heathers or Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

Shakespeare a pothead?

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As a result of his reference of the "noted weed" in Sonnet 76 - a giddy anthropologist wishes to exhume the skeletal remains of William Shakespeare for residue of marijuana!

Billy the Kid

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The only authenticated photograph of Billy the Kid is a metallic version taken outside a Fort Sumner saloon in New Mexico in 1879 or 1880.  He was born Henry McCarty but famously called William Bonney in New Mexico, he was killed in 1881 by Pat Garrett - he was 22. 

James "Whitey "Bulger

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Boss of South Boston's Winter Hill Gang is caught up - James "Whitey" Bulger immortalized by Jack Nicholson in The Departed was captured after one of the biggest man hunts in US history!




Whitey's lady was his ultimate undoing ...
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/bulger_the_fbi_beauty_tips_finally_Z3U2zaL8lPTHYUal3EH49K

Napoleon

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Napoleon Bonaparte 'the little emperor' having been soundly defeated by the English became a student of english at the end of his career while in exhile.  His notebooks go on auction.

King Herrod the hated

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Herodian, Herrod's final resting place South of Jerusalem entombs the distinctly disgraceful tyrant of the Kingdom of Judea (todays Jerusalem and Southern Israel) in 37BC - 4BC.  His ruthless supression and paranoia were fed by his fear of dissent.

So familiar and timely especially in that region ... do we think? Yes indeed.

Family members and loved ones were not exempt from his monstrous executions.  He ruled by consent of Roman Emperors and mimicked their practices including public execution.   

The Tunnel of Arras

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A tunnel in 1917 was a secret city for 25,000 allies hidden beneath enemy camps during WW1 - the most extensive underground network in British military history.  The tunnel was covered and forgotten after the war but now it is revealed curtesy of careful excavation. 

Today a glass elevator takes groups of 20 into a space frozen in time.

The town of Arras, France, is an ancient area of Roman origin with an extraordinary number of underground tunnels, sewars and cellars.

Eva Peron

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Eva Peron's stolen jewelry have been recovered.  Her extensive collection is part of her enduring legacy which has been bedeviled by fraudsters.  Her pieces have continued to be auctioned to private collectors since her passing.

The Queen

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Another installment of Margaret Rhodes' book of her life as royal cousin of Queen Elizabeth and niece of another Queen of shared moniker.

The Queen mother
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?searchPhrase=queen+mother

Unsung Heroes

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The crafty, ingenious spies of the American Civil War were ex-slaves or northerners who posed as shiftless, dim witted souls who pretended to be enslaved in the South but were in fact the critical purveyors of information that led to a decisive victory of North over South.

Best of 80s Movies

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The 80s made many best of the best modern classics - the movies were great - not so great was the fashion.

WeddingChannel.com

WeddingChannel.com

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THE WEDDING PARTY

Lincoln

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Previously unknown documents by Abraham Lincoln during his time as a lawyer in Sprinfield were recently discovered by an intern given the unenvied task of sorting stacks of papers for filing.

www.pottermore.com

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My hero J.K. Rowling will launch a new website POTTERMORE.COM!!!!!!

OK thats going to be a fun time.

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html#/photos

Alan Haberman

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Alan Haberman - inventor of the BAR CODE dies.  Pretty cool legacy!

R.I.P

Famous Last Words

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The last known words uttered by famous faces in history.  Fun and surprising ... check it out!

Ghost Ships

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Photograps of abandoned ships with grand hey day memories.

Stolen Relic

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A 780 year old treasure has been stolen from a Catholic Church.

In case you forgot the 'winning ways' of humans here is a timely reminder.

From Jock to Bard

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Jocks who became actors!  Some will surprise you too.

Last Meals -- What's On the Menu?!

Last Meals -- What's On the Menu?!

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Nazi Guard Found

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Uncovered!  90 year old man revealed as a Nazi guard at the Trawniki labour camp in Poland. 

Alexander Huryn seemed to have capitulated to Nazi fear tactics and joined its cruel cause - after the war he made his way to Scotland, then England, ultimately becoming a carpenter.

A tricky case - immigration officials can take little disciplinary action against a frail, faded old army man.

Paddleboarding

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The golden age of paddleboarding.

In its heyday the lifeguards of Santa Monica, California paddleboarded in the 1920s and 30s competing on wooden boards, the sport's popularity  faded in the 1960s but today enjoys a resurgence that celebrates changes to the sport and its boards.

Hitler's Letter

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A four paged letter penned by Adolf Hitler in September 1919 advocating legal Jewish removal was recently bought by the Simon Wiesenthal Center which is the perfect home for such a letter - in an institution that perpetuates Holocaust memories.

Los Angeles history brief

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The flawed titan of Los Angeles philantropy was once a rags-to-riches celeb who made a solid social marriage.  Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffiths and Mary Agnes Christina Mesner lived the high life during which he donated Griffiths Park, 3015 acres of ranch land to the city.

His escalated drinking led to a violent act that disfigured and blinded his wife.  Later efforts to donate to his city fumbled until the end of his life.  He left a trust fund after his death in 1919 that finally constructed two beloved pet projects - the Greek Theatre built in 1930 and Griffith Observatory in 1935 - vital landmarks of the city.

Winnie the Pooh history

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original owner and Pooh


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FARNELLS'S Factory in West London of 1921created 100s of 'Alpha' bears.  Daphne Milner, wife of the author A.A. Milner bought the teddy bear that became the prototype of Walt Disney classic Winnie the Pooh - a literary legend.

The Teddy is 90 years old this year. 

See 50 facts no one knew of Winnie the Pooh

The Queen

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First part of serialized excerpts of a chronicle on the personal times of Queen Elizabeth, written by her neice Margaret Rhodes and approved by her daughter the Queen!

'The Final Curtsey'

65 Year Old Murder Mystery

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On March 1, 1946 Atie Ridder-Visser, a member of Holland's anti-Nazi resistance, rang the doorbell of Felix Gulje and shot him in the chest when he came to the door - on the belief that he had been an enemy collaborator.

She was wrong in keeping with public opinion of the day because Gulje had given shelter and money to imperiled Jews and made factory space available for secret meetings.

65 years later, aged and frail, Ridder-Visser has confessed - she will not be charged.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110608/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_murder_solved;_ylt=AlueuCZM7X.eC70rvQ_1.OpRF78C;_ylu=X3oDMTNvN2Q0azI0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNjA4L2V1X25ldGhlcmxhbmRzX211cmRlcl9zb2x2ZWQEY2NvZGUDb2ZmcHpmMzB0b3A1MDBwb29sBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrAzk2LXllYXItb2xkdw--

The Sights of London

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See a basic map of the new Duke and Duchess's London haunts including historic sites!

more Sinatra

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from fourth wife Barbara Blakeley

TOO BIG TO FAIL

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Its HBO ... ! so you know it'll be great.  A film on the ridiculous, immature assholes who run the financial institutions everywhere and the money-grubbing-baby-assholes who want to be them.

TOO BIG TO FAIL explores, if you will, the awesomely stupid paths to individual gluttony and global penury trudged by the financial wizards of doom in our time.

Even Goldman Sachs is run by mongrels also known as traders.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-goldmansachs-idUSTRE7513HY20110602

Albertina Sisulu

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Sisulus with the Mandellas

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Another great one gone home.  Albertina Sisulu ... who lived a tremendous and courageous life! 

Imagine living and leaving such a legacy of activisim, to have people remember you as a heroic leader in this world. Giant of the ANC. 

That's the politics that really matters. 

The Man Kevorkian

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 "the ultimate act of self determination."


RIP to the man of courage with a giant heart.  Now he will know for certain that his acts were heartfelt and humane.

WATCH THIS!
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/kevorkian/index.html

GOOD JOB ! ...

DAILY THOUGHT

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"LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW.


LEARN AS IF YOU WERE TO LIVE FOREVER."


Mahatma Gandhi

John Edwards

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It is fair to say that Rielle Hunter is equally despised to the degree that Elizabeth Edwards was loved and respected.

Elizabeth Edwards said Rielle Hunter had the air of a woman bent on destruction and she did and still does.

Rielle Hunter expected John Edwards to publicly dismiss his wife, his rock, and declare love and betrothal to her but he did not.

If Rielle Hunter had truly loved "her Johnny" she would have quietly gone away to a sleepy village, lived in a cottage and had her baby with no one becoming the wiser, or at the least, many years would have elapsed before anyone uncovered her 'secret'.

As it turned out, in her air of destruction, she was jetted in private planes from mansion to mansion, obliterating the home life of Andrew Young and his wife, who were willing accomplices in hiding Edwards' evidence of shame.

I put as much blame for this staggering fall from grace at the feet of this ridiculous, destructive woman.

RIP Elizabeth Edwards.

Prehistoric Feminists

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New studies suggest pre-human species reversed modern gender roles. The women roamed and the men stayed put.  Possibly the men stayed in clusters for defense and protection while women were free to travel and choose their mate for procreation.

Pyramids Reveal Mysteries

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The Pyramids grace us with new treasures.  A robot explorer entered a secret chamber.  Inaccessible to humans.  Believed to be one of numerous passageways leading to the King and Queen's chambers. 

The robot has uncovered 1000s of ancient treats besides.  Archaeology continues to gift and enthrall us - new technology promises more grand discoveries.