WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian is asking for the public to help fund an exhibit about the history of yoga.

The first-ever exhibition on the visual history of yoga is scheduled to debut this fall at the Sackler Gallery....

Source:  WaPo Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/smithsonian-to-ask-for-donations-from-public-to-help-fund-exhibit-on-history-of-yoga/2013/05/18/df825f4e-bfe7-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html Date:  5-18-13

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Soldiers in Hagerstown were among the first black men in Maryland to join the ranks of the Union during the Civil War, and were involved in the siege of Petersburg, Va., during the conflict.

Among the first local blacks who joined the Union were members of Moxley’s Band, a Hagerstown-based black brass band that became known as the 1st Brigade Band, U.S. Colored Troops, according to local historian Steve Bockmiller....

Source:  AP Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/group-raising-money-for-memorial-to-black-civil-war-veterans-in-hagerstown/2013/05/20/0ffd4e5e-c173-11e2-9aa6-fc21ae807a8a_story.html Date:  5-20-13

Researchers began decoding the glyphic language of the ancient Maya long ago, but the Internet is helping them finish the job and write the history of this enigmatic Mesoamerican civilization.

For centuries, scholars understood little about Maya script beyond its elegant astronomical calculations and calendar. The Maya had dominated much of Central America and southern Mexico for 1,000 years before their civilization collapsed about 600 years before the Spaniards reached the New World....

Source:  AP Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-ancient-maya-meet-the-modern-internet/2013/05/20/cab3d018-b1a8-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_story.html Date:  5-20-13

SAN DIEGO — In the ocean off Coronado, a Navy team has discovered a relic worthy of display in a military museum: a torpedo of the kind deployed in the late 19th century, considered a technological marvel in its day.

But don't look for the primary discoverers to get a promotion or an invitation to meet the admirals at the Pentagon — although they might get an extra fish for dinner or maybe a pat on the snout.

The so-called Howell torpedo was discovered by bottlenose dolphins being trained by the Navy to find undersea objects, including mines, that not even billion-dollar technology can detect....

Source:  LA Times Source URL:  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-torpedo-dolphins-20130518,0,7621822.story Date:  5-18-13

Five copper coins and a nearly 70-year-old map with an ‘‘X’’ might lead to a discovery that could rewrite Australia’s history.

Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, currently Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University in the US, plans an expedition in July that has stirred up the archaeological community.

The scientist wants to revisit the location where five coins were found in the Northern Territory in 1944 that have proven to be 1000 years old, opening up the possibility that seafarers from distant countries might have landed in Australia much earlier than what is currently believed.

Back in 1944 during World War II, after Japanese bombers had attacked Darwin two years earlier, the Wessel Islands - an uninhabited group of islands off Australia’s north coast - had become a strategic position to help protect the mainland....

Source:  The Age (AU) Source URL:  http://www.theage.com.au/national/ancient-discovery-set-to-rewrite-australian-history-20130519-2juck.html Date:  5-19-13

Jorge Rafael Videla, the military junta leader who oversaw a ruthless campaign of political killings and forced disappearances during Argentina’s so-called Dirty War against dissidents in the mid-1970s, died on Friday in the Marcos Paz Prison in Buenos Aires, where he was serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity. He was 87.

His death was announced by Argentina’s Secretariat for Human Rights.

At least 15,000 people were killed or “disappeared” during the junta’s campaign, according to government estimates. Human rights officials say the figure is closer to 30,000.

General Videla rose to power in 1976, when he led a largely bloodless coup against President Isabel Martínez de Perón, widow of Juan Domingo Perón, the founder of the country’s populist movement. Whisked away by helicopter in the dead of night, Mrs. Perón was arrested and charged with corruption, and General Videla, the chief of the armed forces, took over the presidency and established a military junta, promising to restore civilian rule promptly....

Source:  NYT Source URL:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/world/americas/jorge-rafael-videla-argentina-military-leader-in-dirty-war-dies-at-87.html?hp Date:  5-18-13

An MP for the ultra-right Golden Dawn party, Panayiotis Iliopoulos, was ejected from a session in Parliament on Friday after the deputy used derogatory language to revile fellow MPs and cries of "Heil Hitler" were heard in the House.

Originally assumed to have been uttered by far-right MPs, Parliament's minutes revealed that it was actually leftist Syriza MP Christos Pantzas who first cried 'Heil Hitler' in the House, not the far-right MPs.

The upheaval began when Yiannis Dragasakis, a prominent SYRIZA MP and economist who was chairing the session, asked security guards to remove Iliopoulos after the far-right MP remarked that «Mr Alexis is preparing a souped-up question for the prime minister," he said, adding that the leftist opposition leader Alexis Tsipras was "sleeping the sleep of the just" and dreaming of waking up as prime minister....

Source:  Ekathimerini Source URL:  http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_17/05/2013_499368 Date:  5-17-13

Nicholas Winton is famous because he did not turn over the page. While many British people tut-tutted when they read about the plight of Jews in central Europe under the Nazis in late 1938 and then turned to the next item of news, he took action. At the time, he was working as a broker at the London Stock Exchange and was about to go on a skiing trip as a Christmas break. Instead, he received an urgent call from a friend to come to Prague, where the latter was visiting a refugee camp. Winton cancelled his holiday, went over and saw the situation facing the Jews in the Nazi-occupied part of Czechoslovakia.

Source:  Guardian (UK) Source URL:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/17/salute-british-schindler-104-nicholas-wintonut the raw form of history -- the documents. Date:  5-17-13

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During a joint press conference this afternoon at the White House, President Obama dismissed his critics’ charges that this weeks scandals are of a similar nature to those that tarnished and shortened the tenure of President Richard Nixon during the early 1970s. Shrugging off the accusations, the president indicated the comparisons don’t bother him and that his critics can draw their own conclusions....

Source:  Mediaite Source URL:  http://www.mediaite.com/tv/obama-dismisses-nixonian-comparisons-read-the-history-and-draw-your-own-conclusions/ Date:  5-16-13

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One by one the teenage singers practice the opening lines to “Boogie Wonderland,” a disco-funk hit from an era before they were born, as dancers work on hip-swinging moves that require perfect choreography.

In another room, young musicians play the same song over and over on guitar, piano and drums, trying to get in rhythm and in tune before the singers and dancers join them to rehearse for an outdoor concert. The music hits a fevered high as the singers and the band mesh to recreate a pop classic....

Source:  AP Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stax-records-left-a-powerful-legacy-with-an-ongoing-impact-on-students-in-memphis-soulsville/2013/05/16/73c6b2a2-be05-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html Date:  5-16-13

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish museum officials say that an archaeological dig last year has revealed 365 items from the Viking era, including 60 rare coins.

Danish National Museum spokesman Jens Christian Moesgaard says the coins have a distinctive cross motif attributed to Norse King Harald Bluetooth, who is believed to have brought Christianity to Norway and Denmark....

Source:  AP Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/danish-teenager-makes-rare-viking-era-find-with-metal-detector/2013/05/16/cac49330-be23-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html Date:  5-16-13

Today, what’s hot in cartography! We need to talk about cartography more often here on the A-blog. Let’s just admit it: Most of us could easily spend an entire evening studying maps. And I don’t mean Rand McNally road atlases, though those are great, too. I mean old maps, obscure maps, maps of the dark side of the moon, star charts, nautical charts, topographic maps, lidar maps, maps of Civil War battles, maps of subway systems and sewer lines, and maps of buried treasures that we’d go out and find if we weren’t so busy, you know, looking at maps.

Here’s my news item: Friday a bunch of historians with a cartographic interest will convene at the Library of Congress to discuss the famous maps of Martin Waldseemuller....

Source:  WaPo Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog/wp/2013/05/16/martin-waldseemullers-secret-knowledge/ Date:  5-16-13

When Elias Unger looked out from his front porch on May 31, 1889, he was astounded by what he saw. His house overlooked Pennsylvania’s Lake Conemaugh, a 2½ mile-long man-made body of water formed by one of the world’s largest earthen dams. On that morning, the rain-swollen lake was dangerously close to breaching the wall.

Gathering a work crew, Unger labored frantically to shore up the dam, but it was too late. By afternoon, the 72-foot wall had given way, sending 20 million tons of water surging down the Little Conemaugh River Valley toward Johnstown, Pa., and claiming the lives of 2,209 people.

On a recent visit, I stood near Unger’s porch, looking out over a pastoral valley dotted with trees and the Little Conemaugh gently meandering through it. A railroad track ran along the valley floor. I could see the remainder of the dam: two earthen abutments with a telltale 270-foot gap between them....

Source:  WaPo Source URL:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/revisiting-the-johnstown-flood/2013/05/16/49e6c468-b80b-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_story.html Date:  5-16-13

The nurse and the soldier may never have met – and eventually married – had it not been for the American government’s mistreatment of black women during World War II.

Elinor Elizabeth Powell was an African-American military nurse. Frederick Albert was a German prisoner of war. Their paths crossed in Arizona in 1944. It was a time when the Army was resisting enlisting black nurses and the relatively small number allowed entry tended to be assigned to the least desirable duties....

Source:  NYT Source URL:  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/a-black-nurse-a-german-soldier-and-an-unlikely-wwii-romance/ Date:  5-15-13

Kansas State Board of Education member Steve Roberts came under fire Tuesday for using the “N-word” at last month’s board meeting.

Roberts, R-Overland Park, who used the word during a discussion of African-American history, stood by his choice of words “100 percent.”

But board member Carolyn Campbell, D-Topeka, along with two members of the NAACP, called Roberts’ comments offensive.

Roberts said the word on April 16 in the context of a vote on history standards....

Source:  Topeka Capita- Journal Source URL:  http://m.cjonline.com/news/2013-05-14/state-board-education-member-stands-use-n-word Date:  5-14-13

Safely guarded in an air-conditioned vault in Atlanta, Georgia, lies one of western society's most valuable artefacts.

So valuable, that its owner could lose millions if anyone so much as got a look at it.

That's what Coca-Cola would have us believe anyway, claiming the only original copy of the soft drink's top-secret recipe lies underneath its US headquarters.

But one man is threatening to lift this veil of secrecy this week as he claims to publish a copy of the original formula in a new book....

Source:  Irish Independent Source URL:  http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/the-real-thing-historian-publishes-coca-colas-secret-formula-29273126.html Date:  5-16-13

New images of a possible lost city hidden by Honduran rain forests show what might be the building foundations and mounds of Ciudad Blanca, a never-confirmed legendary metropolis.

Archaeologists and filmmakers Steven Elkins and Bill Benenson announced last year that they had discovered possible ruins in Honduras' Mosquitia region using lidar, or light detection and ranging. Essentially, slow-flying planes send constant laser pulses toward the ground as they pass over the rain forest, imaging the topography below the thick forest canopy.

What the archaeologists found and what the new images reveal are features that could be ancient ruins, including canals, roads, building foundations and terraced agricultural land. The University of Houston archaeologists who led the expedition will reveal their new images and discuss them Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union Meeting of the Americas in Cancun....

Source:  LiveScience Source URL:  http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/15/ruins-lost-city-may-lurk-deep-in-honduras-rain-forest/?intcmp=features Date:  5-15-13

A statue honoring Confederate soldiers that has stood for more than 100 years outside a Leesburg, Va., courthouse is now at the center of a battle between an attorney and residents.

The statue, which reads “In memory of the Confederate Soldiers of Loudoun County, Va. Erected May 28, 1908,” shows a soldier standing guard with his rifle, WTOP reports.

John Flannery, an attorney who regularly hears cases inside the courthouse, said the statue intimidates clients and should be moved into a museum or graveyard.

"It deters people. It chills them from believing they can get a fair shake in court," Flannery told WTOP....

Source:  Fox News Source URL:  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/15/attorney-in-fight-to-move-105-year-old- confederate-soldier-statue-away-from/?test=latestnews Date:  5-15-13

Experts believe that the church is one of the most important archaeological finds in Britain, as it pre-dates both the castle and the Norman Conquest.

Construction workers have also unearthed eight skeletons in the Norman building, believed to be the remains of powerful and wealthy people.

Cecily Spall, an archaeologist on the site, said the find was hugely significant for Lincoln. “The information we can get from this undocumented church is gold dust,” she said.

“Historical documents only tell part of the story for this area so this find is very special.”...

Source:  Telegraph (UK) Source URL:  www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10061294/1000-year-old-church-discovered-under-Lincoln-castle.html Date:  5-16-13

The first German settlers arrived in Texas over 150 years ago and successfully passed on their native language throughout the generations - until now.

German was the main language used in schools, churches and businesses around the hill country between Austin and San Antonio. But two world wars and the resulting drop in the standing of German meant that the fifth and sixth generation of immigrants did not pass it on to their children....

Hans Boas, a linguistic and German professor at the University of Texas, has made it his mission to record as many speakers of German in the Lone Star State as he can before the last generation of Texas Germans passes away.

Mr Boas has recorded 800 hours of interviews with over 400 German descendants in Texas and archived them at the Texas German Dialect Project. He says the dialect, created from various regional German origins and a mix of English, is one of a kind....

Source:  BBC News Source URL:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22490560 Date:  5-14-13