Israelis have today been celebrating the birth of their nation 60 years ago.

Palestine will not be coming to the party picked by pocksucket 2 months ago

Mildred Loving was an African-American who, along with her husband was arrested in the middle of the night for the crime of marrying outside their race. She was black and he was white. This was ILLEGAL in 1967! Their fighting of the unjust law went all the way to the supreme court which said such laws were unconstitutional. picked by 2manyusernames 2 months ago

Update on this story posted earlier.

(Image not from this actual wreck.) picked by rambler 2 months ago

Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine, which has puzzled experts for years. And he was a bit of an egghead. picked by lpoindexter 2 months ago

Boeslager was involved in two separate attempts to assassinate Hitler. Of the 200 people involved in the second, very nearly successful plot, Boeslager was the last survivor. picked by pocksucket 2 months ago

Over a hundred centuries ago in a dusty corner of Mother Africa, human evolution may have leaped instead of crawled. Do the remains of Boskop Man foreshadow the future of humanity? And if so, why aren't these ultimate humans here now, instead of us? picked by Mitzuzake 2 months ago

Turns up what may be the earliest case of cancer ever found there.

/Side note: I visited the museum where that Viking burial ship is exhibited. Awesome. picked by suebe 2 months ago

On April 26, 1986 at 1:23 AM, reactor crew at Chernobyl-4 moved to shut down the reactor in its low power mode and a domino effect of previous errors caused a sharp power surge, triggering a tremendous steam explosion which blew the 1000 ton cap on the nuclear containment vessel to smithereens.

Elena gives us an unprecedented first person view of the place now. picked by Moe 2 months ago

Canada wins. picked by imnotyoo 2 months ago

The Deseret Alphabet came about on January 19, 1854 when the Board of Regents of the University of Deseret announced that they had adopted a new phonetic alphabet. The new alphabet consisted of 38 to 40 characters as part of a project to help simplify spelling in the English Language. Really neat info here. You can even download the font! picked by muppet 3 months ago

Robert Scoble came up with the idea in a recent blog post to make a list of 'obsolete skills.' He describes these skills as things we used to know that are no longer very useful to us picked by Bornbad 3 months ago

The idea of basic human rights is a relatively recent one. It grew in favor about the 18th century driven by a number of factors, the french and american revolution among them. Some say the birth of the novel is one of those forces that made be realize all humans has basic inalienable rights. picked by 2manyusernames 3 months ago

Archaeologists have uncovered a pristinely preserved statue of a powerful Egyptian queen at the sprawling mortuary temple of Amenhotep III on Luxor's West Bank. picked by AutumnLotus 3 months ago

Hundreds of ancient coins unearthed last week close to Sweden's main international airport suggests the Vikings were bringing home foreign currency earlier than previously thought, archaeologists say. picked by AutumnLotus 3 months ago

With a little ink, some stinging pain and a helping hand from the ancestors, Mark Kopua can heal a wounded soul. picked by JDRucker 3 months ago

96 years ago, the Titanic was preparing for its maiden voyage. It was on April 14th, 1912, when the last meal was served in the first-class dining room. As we all know, later that night, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank... Here’s a detailed look at what was on the menu for the first-class passengers. picked by TheJehosephat 3 months ago

Weak rivets?

Slide show here picked by suebe 3 months ago

It was on this date, April 10, 1866, that the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was chartered under the leadership of 55-year-old Henry Bergh. Bergh was horrified by the extensive cruelty he observed towards working horses, as well as stray cats and dogs in New York City. A philanthropist and diplomat, Bergh persuaded the New York state legislature to pass the USA... read full post picked by buddha 3 months ago

Ten years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, filmmaker Alain Resnais documented the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz. Night and Fog is one of the first cinematic reflections on the horrors of the Holocaust, and also one of the most important. It is still available from the Criterion Collection Night and Fog contains disturbing images of the Holocaust. Posted in remembrance of... read full post picked by buddha 3 months ago

The spectator said he was passing along a confession from a Dartmouth graduate whose only caveat was anonymity. While a student in the early 1960s, the man revealed he had stolen a cannon and ammunition carriage from the Vermont Veterans Home in Bennington, Vt., and transported it back to Dartmouth as a college prank. picked by dollyllama 3 months ago

The Olympic torch is being welcomed this weekend in the UK as a symbol of the sporting spirit, uniting people around the world in peaceful competition.

But the idea of lighting the torch at the ancient Olympian site in Greece and then running it through different countries has much darker origins. picked by 2manyusernames 3 months ago

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and many of his dreams remain unfulfilled picked by buddha 3 months ago

The earliest known gold jewelry made in the Americas has been discovered in southern Peru. The gold necklace, made nearly 4,000 years ago, was found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca. picked by AutumnLotus 3 months ago

A 2,200-year-old clay jar found near Baghdad, Iraq, has been described as the oldest known electric battery in existence. picked by doggylives 3 months ago

The Japanese court agreed with Kenzaburo Oe’s assertion that the Japanese military was deeply involved in the mass suicides of civilians in Okinawa at the end of World War II.

Finally, a ray of light on some of the Japanese human abuses during the '30s and '40s. picked by DerAlt1 3 months ago