These photographs of famous landmarks such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Blackpool Tower could have been lost forever, were it not for a major conservation project which has made them freely available on the internet for the first time.
Osama Bin Laden is all over the news again, not bad for someone who has been dead and gone for quite some time now. Today sees the disclosure of documents seized at his compound. It is also a great opportunity for those looking for a keepsake to get in on the ground floor – the bricks from his compound are going on sale.
On World Press Freedom Day, the highly acclaimed writer, and Nobel Prize winner for literature, Nadine Gordimer, called for the Protection of Information Bill to be “rejected in its entirety.” She launched the scathing rebuttal in an article entitled, “South Africa: The New Threat to Freedom”, on the New York Review of Books website.
A juvenile mammoth – nicknamed “Yuka” – was found entombed in Siberian ice near the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and shows signs of being cut open by ancient people. The frozen carcass is believed to be at least 10 000 years old – and could prove to be the first mammoth carcass revealing signs of human interaction in the region.
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory has partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to launch what will arguably become the most extensive online archive of Nelson Mandela’s life. The free global access to photos, videos, letters and personal documents about his life and times will continue to expand as people across the world add their memorabilia to the archive.
For the first time ever, you’ll be able to watch every single Olympic event live, for free, without having to pirate it through some dodgy online stream. In fact, it’s actually a clever marketing ploy on the behalf of NBC, but still, it’s better than nothing.
This might turn out to be the most inspiring documentary you will watch all year. A serious campaign is underway to bring down Joseph Kony, the infamous leader of the Ugandan guerrilla group: the Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA is responsible for an unquantifiable number of atrocities across Uganda. Human trafficking, brutal rape, and child soldier deployment are commonplace. This is KONY 2102.
Contract archaeologist, Katie Smuts, said on Friday that she estimated the foundations were constructed between 1830 and 1850, and that archaeologists were trying to determine their significance. Smuts jokingly compared that the styles revealed on the porcelain artefacts they found helped determine their age because it was similar to comparing the styles that hipsters wore on their clothes in the year 2012.
Today, Euro zone finance ministers will meet to decide whether Greece has done enough to warrant a huge bailout loan of €130 billion. Greece needs the loan in order to avoid bankruptcy midway through March, when a massive repayment on its governmental debt must be completed.
There is great excitement in Cape Town after the discovery of a ship found buried in a pit on the construction site at the No. 1 Silo at the V&A Waterfront. Read more about the excavation process, and see a video of the process, after the jump.
Scientists have done something they have been working on for over two decades: successfully drilled more than three kilometres through sheer Antarctic ice into a freshwater lake to take a sample. All they really know now is that Lake Vostok has had no contact with atmospheric pollutants for millions of years.
Scientists believe they have discovered the oldest works of art known to mankind. Although the six pieces are supposedly of seals, they’ve been described as somewhat of “an academic bombshell”. That’s because they’re 42 000 years old, and are the only known pieces created by Neanderthal man, who preceded homo sapiens, more commonly known as humans.
Check out this awesome gallery of young Indian boys marching to commemorate their country’s hero, Mahatma Gandhi, dressed like the man himself!
A teenage girl from the Netherlands sailed into St Maarten harbour on Saturday, ending a year long solo journey around the globe. The Guinness World Records has said it’s not going to back that up though. It no longer recognises records for youngest sailors because it wants to discourage dangerous attempts.
Controversy is raging on both sides of the Atlantic over a British publisher’s plan to reprint Adolf Hitler’s anti-semitic manifesto, Mein Kampf, in German for the first time since the end of the Second World War.
Nelson Mandela’s life story is to be turned into a television mini-series, entitled “Madiba”. Mandela has given his personal approval for a series that will follow six decades of his life, but there’s been no word yet as to whether or not Matt Damon or Morgan Freeman will be involved.
The Titanic has been lying at the bottom of the ocean for nearly a century. On 15 April this year, 5 000 items from the world’s most famous shipwreck will be auctioned off in one lot – on the 100th anniversary of the disaster that took place on April 15, 1912. See some of them after the jump.
Regis McKenna has very kindly donated rare vintage footage of Steve Jobs giving a presentation in the early 1980’s to the Computer History Museum. It shows Jobs discussing the early history of Apple, and speaking in his usual inspiring manner.
Not only are the beds about 77 000 years old, but it appears they were also designed to ward off insects like mosquitoes. The fossilized material has been found at an ancient cliff shelter known as Sibudu, which is near to Durban on our east coast, and continues to fuel the debate that modern man evolved out of Africa.
Would you consider it a selling point for an alcoholic beverage to depict Adolf Hitler on its label? Didn’t think so. Which is why it’s so fascinating that a man, who goes by the name Rolande Marte, is attempting to sell bottles of wine and Schnapps with an image of the dictator gracing the bottle. Swastika, and so on.
The ramifications for forcing through the Protection of Information Bill as it stands have been far and wide. International media sniggered, and local media took their grievances to new levels. Now, world-renowned Apartheid photographer, David Goldblatt, has decided to denounce a top South African award in protest against the bill in an open letter to President Zuma.
Yesterday, the ANC decided it would threaten its members who voted with their consciences against the passing of the Protection of State Information Bill in Parliament on Tuesday. Luckily and unluckily, the minutes of proceedings for the vote have to be released into the public domain showing exactly who voted for what.
News.com.au, the primary news portal of embattled media tycoon and lizard being, Rupert Murdoch, made a magnificent headline flub this morning, seen above. According to history and fact, the last time Queen Victoria met a soldier was some time before her death in 1901, although the war in Afghanistan may well have been the topic […]
Next year, the ANC will be celebrating 100 years of political activity. In the midst of the celebrations, the organisation will make various precious metals memorabilia for sale in the form of gold coins and other commemorative items. The most expensive of these will be the President Zuma one kilogram fine gold medallion, valued at over R1 million.
The Libyan Prime Minister has officially confirmed Gaddafi is dead. Rebel forces have been surrounding Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte for weeks, and according to reports, finally got their man. National Transitional Council official, Abdel Majid Mlegta, told Reuters that Gaddafi was wounded in both legs during a firefight at dawn on Thursday, but was again attacked by Nato warplanes when he attempted to flee, later dying of his wounds.
India’s most famous tourist attraction, the 358-year-old Taj Mahal, will collapse within five years unless something drastic is done. The wooden foundation is becoming brittle and disintegrating due to a lack of water. This is because the river crucial to its survival is being blighted by pollution, industry and deforestation.
One can understand the anger of Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), Julia Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) when Fox Television explained that they would be receiving a 45% pay cut. The broadcasting network claims they can’t afford production costs and, if the actors won’t budge, they’ll pull the plug. I think I speak for everyone when I say: Fox you, Fox.
So hey, it turns out that on top of everything else, Hitler got slapped with a speeding fine south of Ingolstadt for going twice the speed limit in his Mercedes limousine. This was about two years before becoming Fuhrer, though, so Adolf got his chauffeur to take the heat to keep from spoiling his image.
Google and Israel’s national museum, the Israel Museum, have come together to place a number of the world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls online for the first time. The project is the first of many hoping to showcase some of the manuscripts that make up what many consider the most important archaeological find of the 20th century.
European stocks have bounced back slightly (well, leveled, more than anything) on news that China and Italy are in discussions about “significant” purchases of Italian bonds and investments in strategic companies. Greece will probably get that next round of funding, but Europe still needs to approve it. Here are some interesting numbers if Greece does go bang.