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Detailed images two American ships that sank off the coast of England during a pre-D-Day training exercise in World War II have been recorded by a U.S. submarine. The images, recorded by a Massachusetts company that surveyed the wreckage to mark the 70th anniversary of the sinking, are the first in high definition. The two ships were sunk off by German forces during Exercise Tiger on April 28, 1944, claiming the lives of 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors.

It was an angry book. Much of the response was angry too. Some towns banned it, some towns burned it. Every town talked about it. "The Grapes of Wrath" was published 75 years ago this month, a seminal masterpiece of American literature that seems freshly relevant to this era of wealth disparity, rapacious banks and growing poverty. John Steinbeck introduced readers to the Joads, a poor, proud clan of Depression-era Oklahoma farmers who set out for the promised land of California in a rickety truck after their own land dries up and blows away and the bank seizes what little...

...why did people domesticate a mere dozen or so of the roughly 200,000 species of wild flowering plants? And why only about five of the 148 species of large wild mammalian herbivores or omnivores? And while we’re at it, why haven’t more species of either plants or animals been domesticated in modern times? ... [Fiona Marshall:] “We used to think cats and dogs were real outliers in the animal domestication process because they were attracted to human settlements for food and in some sense domesticated themselves. But new research is showing that other domesticated animals may be more like cats...

The chisel was found along with a gold bell that may have been on the clothes of the High Priest. This 2,000-year-old chisel may have been used to help build the Western Wall, according to archaeologists. This 2,000-year-old chisel may have been used to help build the Western Wall, according to archaeologists. Archaeologists have discovered a treasure of Second Temple-era objects, including a chisel that may have been used to build the Western Wall, but officials at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) are not officially confirming anything until conclusive studies are completed. IAA archaeologist Eli Shukrun told Haaretz that he...

A surprised group of hikers in Gush Etzion stumbled across human bones in a cave near Ein Tzurim, according to police. The hikers immediately called 100 (Israel’s 911), and the police came to investigate. The police, once on the scene realized that this wasn’t a murder scene and called the Israel Antiquities Authority. A preliminary examination by their experts indicate that the bones are apparently those of Jews from the Second Temple period. Davidi Perl, the mayor of the Gush Etzion Regional Council discussed the discovery with Tazpit, “We’re talking about a very interesting discovery, and in retrospect, an incredibly...

On the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, Michael Billington has picked the best Hamlets he's seen in each decade of his theatregoing life. To help you choose your own favourite Prince of Denmark, here are 45 actors who've found a method for the character's madness

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CASTRILLO MATAJUDIOS , Spain, April 14 (UPI) -- Families in a Spanish village who have been living with the name Castrillo Matajudios (Kill Jews) since the Spanish Inquisition may finally be changing their town’s name back to what it was originally, Castrillo Mota de Judios (Jews Hill). -snip-According to Haaretz, area residents often say “killing Jews” when they are referring to “the traditional drinking of lemonade spiked with alcohol at festivals held in city squares at Easter, or drinking in general.”

Conventional biblical scholars tentatively position Moses during the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom reign of Ramses II. Not much evidence supports this view. However, the Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty stories provide so many details which match the Exodus details, that these coincidences strongly suggest that both sources are describing the same events... Amenemhet I - Sehetepibre (1991-1962) First king of the 12th Dynasty... The Story of Sinuhe tells of the events concerning his murder... This is 'the Egyptian' killed by Moses (as Sinuhe) for 'abusing a Hebrew'. He is Moses' half-brother and adoptive step-father. His mother is Nubian. Senusret I - Kheperkare...

Osborne Reef is an artificial reef off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida constructed of concrete jacks in a 50 feet (15 m) diameter circle.[1][2] In the 1970s, the reef was the subject of an ambitious expansion project utilizing old and discarded tires. The project ultimately failed, and the "reef" has come to be considered an environmental disaster[3][4]—ultimately doing more harm than good in the coastal Florida waters.

Modern greens who inappropriately and metaphorically often use the term “denier” to compare global warming skeptics to Holocaust deniers are shockingly betrayed by their very own environmental history. Modern environmentalism was largely born in the racist forests of Germany in the 1800's that was at first anti-Semitic, but later became mixed up with Social Darwinian biological science in which the very word 'ecology' was coined in 1866. Today, the green movement is no longer racist, but has evolved into anti-humanism in general ...

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Scientists have suggested the exodus from Africa started between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. However, stone artifacts dating to at least 100,000 years ago that were recently uncovered in the Arabian Desert suggested that modern humans might have begun their march across the globe earlier than once suspected. Out of Africa models To help solve this mystery, Katerina Harvati, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany, and her colleagues tested four competing out-of-Africa models. one involved a route northward, up the Nile River valley and then eastward across the northern end of the Arabian Peninsula into Asiathe other...

The paw prints and hoof prints of a few meddlesome animals have been preserved for posterity on ancient Roman tiles recently discovered by archaeologists in England... The artifacts, which could be nearly 2,000 years old, were found in the Blackfriars area of Leicester... Wardell Armstrong Archaeology was brought in to dig at a site where a construction company plans to build student housing. At least one of the tiles is tainted with dog paw prints, and one is marked with the hoof prints of a sheep or a goat that trampled on the clay before it was dry... The tiles...

Medieval slave trade routes in Eastern Europe extended from Finland and the Baltic Countries to Central Asia April 15, 2014 University of Eastern Finland Summary: The routes of slave trade in Eastern Europe in the medieval and pre-modern period extended all the way to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. A recent study suggests that persons captured during raids into areas which today constitute parts of Finland, the Russian Karelia and the Baltic Countries ended up being sold on these remote trade routes. The routes of slave trade in Eastern Europe in the medieval and pre-modern period extended all the...

In a new national poll on America's scientific acumen, more than half of respondents said they were "not too confident" or "not at all confident" that "the universe began 13.8 billion years ago with a big bang." The poll was conducted by GfK Public Affairs & Corporate Communications. Scientists were apparently dismayed by this news, which arrives only a few weeks after astrophysicists located the first hard evidence of cosmic inflation. But when compared to results from other science knowledge surveys, 51 percent isn't too shameful -- or surprising. Other polls on America's scientific beliefs have arrived at similar findings....

This 5,500 year old Stone Age monument (a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure) on Whitehawk Hill in Brighton, East Sussex is a rare type of ritual monument (predating Stonehenge by around 500 years) and marks the emergence of Britain’s first farming communities. It is the project’s aim to work with the local community to build understanding of the importance of the monument, engender a spirit of ownership and identity and actively work for the physical improvement of the site and its archive.

A statue, believed to be the ancient Greek goddess Demeter, has been unearthed at an illegal excavation in Simav, western Turkey. The statue, weighing in at 610kg and standing 2.8 meters tall, was discovered by two Turks, Ramazan C. And Ismail G, 26 and 62 years old respectively, who are alleged to have been conducting illegal excavations in the wider area where the statue was found. The two men were taken into custody by the Turkish police and sent to court. The head of the statue and the altar, missing during the raid, were later found in a house in...

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The world needs to see this.

There is new real state to be seen in the Pompeii, Italy, archaeological site, with three restored houses open to the public. In time for Easter tourists, three additional houses in the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy, buried in a volcano eruption in 79 A.D., were opened Thursday. Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini inaugurated the three restored houses, or domus, in a ceremony at the celebrated archeological site. The houses were formerly occupied by the families of Marcus Lucretius Fronto, Romulus and Remus and Trittolemo, the office of Pompeii’s archeological superintendent said. Superintendent Massimo Osanna described them as “aristocratic houses.”...

---SNIP-- After almost two decades of judge-shopping, Carter's defense team finally had the good fortune to come up before federal Judge Lee Sarokin, the most criminal-friendly judge in the nation. Sarokin ordered a new trial on the grounds that the prosecution should not have been permitted to argue that racial revenge was the motive. "For the state to contend that an accused has the motive to commit murder solely because of his membership in a racial group is an argument which should never be permitted to sway a jury or provide the basis of a conviction." Sarokin wrote. By that...

<p>In 1867, Russia sold the territory of Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million. A mere 50 years later, the Americans had earned that amount back 100 times over. How could the imperial officials have given up such a choice parcel? RBTH sorts out the muddled story of the sale of Alaska.</p>

"Do you have any butter lambs?” When I called the Schenectady meat store, the woman who answered knew exactly what I wanted. “We don’t have them, but my sister gets them in Utica,” she said. I called another store, this time in Niskayuna, and was referred to the manager. “Come again?” he said. “I’m not sure what that is.” The butter lamb is an Easter tradition for Polish-Americans, and since the Middle Ages, the lamb has been a symbol for Jesus Christ. A small block of butter, molded into the shape of a seated sheep, is put into a basket...

People in North Mississippi prepared for Easter on Good Friday. "[We're] shopping for the kids, making sure the kids have their Easter dresses," Tupelo resident Andre Johnson said. The Mall at Barnes Crossing was the place to be Friday. Many start their holiday weekend by searching for not just any outfit, but a special Easter look. "Something that looks like spring and doesn't look like it's going to rain outside," Fulton resident Judy McFadden said. "Something bright and cheery." Painting and hunting Easter eggs is also on the top of the list. "I like to draw and stuff, so that's...

Tradition that goes back centuries is kept alive by faithfulOn Sunday morning, as Christians in the region and around the world take part in the Easter traditions they enjoy, an observer might be tempted to ask: How do the ways they celebrate the holiday reflect its meaning? Children pet bunnies and gobble jelly beans. Wal-Mart sells more than 500 types of Easter confection, including unicorn- and space alien-themed baskets. Just a few of them allude to Christianity. How does eating a package of Peeps recall the man Christians believe redeemed the world by rising from the dead nearly 2,000 years...

(Reuters) - You've heard of the Model T Ford, the famed early 20th-century automobile that was the forerunner of the modern car. But how about the Model T shark? Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of the impeccably preserved fossilized remains of a shark that lived 325 million years ago in what is now Arkansas, complete with a series of cartilage arches that supported its gills and jaws. :snip: Employing sophisticated equipment at the European Synchrotron in France, the scientists used high-resolution X-rays to obtain a detailed view of the shape and organization of the arches and associated structures. They...

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the boxer who infamously served 19 years in jail after he was wrongly convicted for a triple murder, passed away Sunday in Toronto at the age of 76. Immortalized in a Bob Dylan song and a 1999 feature film, Carter was jailed in 1966 for a fatal shooting at a bar in New Jersey. Although he and his acquaintance John Artis passed a lie detector test and professed their innocence, the all-white jury convicted them. After multiple legal efforts, in 1985 a federal judge ruled that the convictions of Carter and Artis were based "upon an appeal...

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Crowds gathered early Friday in San Francisco - as they have done every year for 108 years - to remember the great quake of 1906. Children and grownups gathered at 5 a.m. around Lotta's Fountain to lay a wreath and sound sirens remembering the moment the quake struck. The gold-painted fountain on Market Street served as a meeting point during the earthquake and its aftermath. The early 20th century earthquake struck at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906 in San Francisco, leading to a devastating fires that lasted for several days. In the end, about 3,000 people died and more...

A German submarine sank to its watery grave somewhere off the coast of South America in 1943. This is the exact moment it's discovered. Secrets of the Third Reich: The Ghost of U-513 The pride of the wolfpacks, German sub U-513, became a tomb for all but seven of her crew after being bombed by a U.S. patrol plane in 1943. The U-boat then vanished off the South American coast, where it was lost for more than 68 years. Now, witness the ghost ship's story through rare archival footage and interviews with U-boat vets, and follow the Brazilian entrepreneur who...

The beer will be called Bone Dusters Paleo Ale (Hardy har har [Okay, actually, "paleo ale" is pretty good]). The yeast come from the surface of one of the oldest marine mammal fossils ever discovered in the western hemisphere. The idea for the beer came from Jason Osborne, who co-directs a nonprofit dedicated to advancing paleontology and geology. A paleo beer, Osborne thought, would be a great hook to interest non-scientists in fossils. I think many non-scientists are quite interested in fossils already, but I cannot argue against a paleo beer. Will whale-fossil beer really taste that different from other...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ikO6LMxF4#t=104

THE SIEGE OF the Waco compound belonging to the religious group Branch Davidians by the US military and police took place between 28 February and 19 April 1993. The Branch Davidians was a sect that separated from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1955 and were led by David Koresh. In the run up to the siege, a local newspaper had printed a series of stories about the cult’s leader Koresh, stating that he had physically abused children in the compound and had committed statutory rape by taking multiple underage brides. Koresh, an advocate for polygamy was married to several women...

With passage of the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Act, Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). ---SNIP-- the KKK engaged in terrorist raids against African-Americans and white Republicans at night, employing intimidation, destruction of property, assault, and murder to achieve its aims and influence upcoming elections. In a few Southern states, Republicans organized militia units to break up the Klan.

Officials say that the Laney’s can redeem their 80 cattle for $40,950Southwest New Mexico – The Diamond Bar Ranch was acquired by the Laney family in 1986, and its adjacent Laney Cattle Company was allowed to utilize grazing lands since 1883. According to the US Forest Service, however, they are no longer entitled to do so, and the USFS has posted notices along the fence line of their property advising people not to attempt to enter the ranch. Lands are being seized, and the cattle removed, “one way or the other.”Now they say that the cattle may be redeemed if the Laney’s pay for the costs...

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.

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"The Hollies, an English rock group known for their pioneering and distinctive three part vocal harmony style. The Hollies became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s. Formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in late 1962 as a Merseybeat type music group in Manchester. They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries (at least 60 singles or EPs and 26 albums charting somewhere in the world spanning over five decades), although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966 with "Bus Stop". The Hollies had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 22...

"No, I am not and I haven't a man that is!" Thus on 19 April 1775 did Capt. Isaac Davis respond to the query if he was afraid to lead his Acton minute company and the colonial column "into the middle of the town (Concord) for its defense or die in the attempt". Details of the moments just preceding the eventful Bridge fight are limited or shrouded in the silence of time and report. It is certain that upon sighting smoke rising from Concord, Col. Barrett ordered Maj. Buttrick to march the assembled force into the town. How and why...

Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the...

That pretzel you're munching is not only an ideal accompaniment to a beer, it has a connection with Lent that dates back to the fourth century. In the Roman Empire, the faithful kept a strict fast all through Lent: no milk, no butter, no cheese, no eggs, no cream and no meat, according to CatholicCulture.com Ancient Romans made small breads of water, flour and salt, as a reminder that Lent was a time of prayer. The breads — the first pretzel-like breads — were shaped to form crossed arms to symbolize prayer, as praying was done with arms crossed their...

In what will be a first for New England and perhaps even the rest of the United States, Boston is about to get its very own Uyghur food truck. Although the truck won't have an onboard noodle maker turning out plates of lagman, the truck -- which is scheduled to hit the streets in the coming days -- will be serving Uyghur style kebabs, sold on skewers or inside wraps. The truck, Uyghur Kitchen, is the brainchild of Payzulla Polat, a professional musician currently studying music production and engineering at Boston's Berklee School of Music and who originally hails from...

Easter often is associated with the candy aisle, and its tempting display of rainbow-hued jelly beans, foil-wrapped chocolate eggs and bright-yellow marshmallow Peeps. For an 85-year-old cheese company in Verona, the 40-day Lenten season is punctuated not by sweets but by an unusual cheese product that for two days each week leading up to Easter puts its small staff into curd-making overdrive. And no, it's not the ricotta on which the family has built its name over three generations. It's called basket cheese, and it's been an Easter tradition at Lamagna Cheese Co. for as long as anyone can remember...

Yesterday was a significant day in the IRS abuse scandal. The scandal evolved from being about pesky delays in IRS exemption applications to a government conniving with outside interests to put political opponents in prison. Emails obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act reveal Lois Lerner cooking up plans with Justice Department officials to talk about ways to criminally charge conservative groups that are insufficiently quiet. Larry Noble, a law professor now with the Soros-funded Campaign Legal Center, was cited in the emails as someone agitating to jail conservatives who “falsely” report on IRS forms that they...

Launching In a few minutes!

Central-east Mexico gave birth to the domesticated chili pepper—now the world's most widely grown spice crop—reports an international team of researchers, led by a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis. Results from the four-pronged investigation—based on linguistic and ecological evidence as well as the more traditional archaeological and genetic data—suggest a regional, rather than a geographically specific, birthplace for the domesticated chili pepper. That region, extending from southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, is further south than was previously thought, the researchers found. The region also is different from areas of origin that have been suggested...

I'm liking what Fiat is doing with Chrysler more and more, even their choice of ad agency and marketing campaigns. This is a startling, hilarious and cool ad commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Dodge and announcing the 2015 Challenger.

They are the colourful carpets used to coat the streets of Guatemala's cities during their iconic Easter Holy Week processions. And this year the strongly Catholic country has a new reason to celebrate - it has been recognised by Guinness World Records for producing the longest sawdust carpet in the world. Using 5,000 volunteers to create it, as well as 54 tonnes of sawdust, the record-breaking carpet measure a whopping 6,600ft - more than 2,000ft longer than the previous record holder.