"Bands of Brothers" Will Get "The Pacific"

American Forces Network, the television outlet serving military personnel overseas will be airing The Pacific for free starting this weekend, though at a late hour because of its mature content.

One of HBO's conditions for supplying the highly-anticipated, 10-part program was that it'd air unedited which means that it'll be broadcast at 11pm in Europe and the Pacific, while because they can't adjust for timezones, the show won't be on until 1AM in the Middle East.

As part of the build-up in advance of the series, Stars & Stripes has a six minute video from an event at the World War II Memorial, along with a twenty-six picture slideshow.

Lede: When a House has a History

Barbra Streisand once paid $176,000 for its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed desk. A wealthy media heir was once kidnapped there and buried alive. On Tuesday, a pair of leaded-glass windows, which were removed from its dining room sideboard years ago, sold for $15,000 at Christie’s art auction house in New York City.

Like other storied Wright homes, the B. Harley Bradley House in Kankakee (left) has had brushes with celebrity and tragedy. Now, after decades of painstaking restoration carried out by a series of owners, a University of Illinois architecture professor and his wife want to turn the house over to local activists who envision transforming the grand but little-known home into a house museum and arts education center.

Chicago Tribune

Educational Exercise: Err on the Side of Freedom?

Holocaust-denier Bradley Smith purchased a one-month text ad on the website of the Badger Herald, the University of Wisconsin's student newspaper for $75 and though the paper's publisher and staff disagrees with Mr. Smith's message, they felt that they couldn't deny the advertiser's freedom of speech.

After the jump, a video report from Channel3000 about the initial controversy and a Holocaust awareness rally held in response, plus subsequent reports about a journalism ethics forum held on campus also from Channel3000, along with a text story from the school newspaper which contains embeds of the two hour discussion.

History: It's All in the Interpretation

The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum opened Sunday, the day before what would've been her birthday. In addition to several local dignitaries, a small group of protesters gathered to distribute leaflets and point toward a website, with what they deem to be "the truth" about Ms. Anthony's abortion stance.

It seems that her birthplace had been sold at auction in 2006 to Carol Crossed, a New York state anti-abortion activist and the museum board consists primarily of people from "Feminists for Life".

Additionally in December, a trained historian abruptly resigned as the museum's director and was replaced by a Vice-President of the New York organization, plus the museum's mission statement describes the suffragette hero as being "pro-life".

Not a lot is actually known about Ms. Anthony's stance on the abortion question; Activists point toward the fact that her newsletter didn't allow advertising from companies peddling chemical abortions and reportedly this is highlighted in the museum's "Restellism" exhibit, but if you read an excellent history of "Madame Restelle", you'll find that Horace Greeley and other giants of New York City media regularly railed against the smaller publications which featured her advertisements. Perhaps, Ms. Anthony was at least partially motivated by a desire to keep her publication in a separate sphere than the lesser press.

Apparently, based on a local blogger's account, there may not be any exhibits in the museum directly referencing the one Revolution article anti-abortion activists have long used to co-opt Ms. Anthony's legacy, but whose authorship is in dispute.

The article, which was signed simply "A", used the phrase "the horrible crime of child-murder" while journalist Lynn Sherr, who has publisheda collection of Susan B. Anthony's writings and other scholars say that she only signed things with the initials "S.B.A.".

Personally, I didn't know that there was such a controversy surrounding the thoughts of Ms. Anthony and not only do I think that the anecdotal evidence may be stretch, but it's also a lot of hoopla about a couple of isolated examples which can easily be dismissed or explained.

If there's anything that can be taken from this situation, other than it producing more work for researchers, it'd be that any future historical leaders should write it all down and should really sign their name.

Usury Law & Banking Circumvention Explained

Al Lewis of Dow Jones Newswire profiles Terry Smiljanich, former U.S. Attorney and current Managing Editor of Consumer Warning Network about the history of usury laws, consumer interest and the strong language used in Mr. Smiljanich's latest video.



Update: Credit Rules Worry S.D. Banks

Digitizing the Past to Make it Searchable

The North Carolina State Archives have digitized 23,483 images of full newspaper pages from 1751 to 1898 and have made them keyword searchable.

Obviously this was a massive undertaking, even though a relatively small, but influential handful of papers were archived in this manner.

In addition to all of the wear, tear and copy quality questions one might easily imagine, the Charlotte Observer notes that the April 14, 1775, edition of the North Carolina Gazette was 52 pages long and completely handwritten, which had to have taken extra time and care.

I've spent a few minutes looking around the archives and once you learn that it's better to double-click to enlarge and the index is only a minor help, if you have any interest in the people, places or things from that era, the N.C. Digitization Project has made an effort against which all future endeavors could be measured.

The Devil's in the Details

I was flipping through the images on WhiteHouse.gov, when a photo of reporters recording a ceremonial shovel's inscription caused me to wonder what they were seeing. Click the thumbnail for the original-sized image, a photo of the inscription and for good measure, the White House video from which it was captured.