Famous for all eternity; Donald Trump only wishes he had this much bling Photo by v.williams46 Few historical figures are mired in as much mystery as the young boy king, Tutankhamun. Had he died in the 21st century, it's likely his face would have been plastered across celebrity gossip blogs (alongside pictures of his enormous treasure trove of wealth) and Internet forums endlessly circulating rumors regarding his cause of death. To this day, historians are still uncertain how Tutankhamun died so suddenly at age 19. However, had it not been for his untimely death, he might have been lost in historical obscurity; just another Egyptian pharaoh with a lot of pretty baubles. Sure, Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army is one of the greatest archeological discoveries of modern times, but did Steve Martin perform a song about him? British Egyptologist Howard Carter first discovered the steps to Tutankhamun's tomb under the remains of workers' huts in November of 1922, more than 3,000 years after it had first been sealed. A few weeks later on November 26, Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the antechamber of the tomb, uncovering one of the most extensive and well-preserved burial sites of a pharaoh to date. Their discovery vaulted Tutankhamun out of royal anonymity and into the same sphere of other tragic historical figures such as Pocahontas, the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, and Princess Diana. Within a short period of time, Tutankhamun had gone from a blip in an ancient line of rulers, to a mysterious young king frozen inside a gilded fairytale. People love a good story, but there's something unique about that combination of wealth, privilege, and a life cut down at its prime that continues to pique our curiosity. Suggested Sites... Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs - official website of the touring exhibition. Tutankhamun at the Griffith Institute - pictures of the original excavation, excerpts from Howard Carter's diary, and maps of the site. Global Egyptian Museum - a virtual museum that gathers artifacts and pictures from all over the world. The Mysteries of King Tut - National Geographic's exploration on the boy king, with photos, stories, and more. Theban Mapping Project - a project to catalog tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Theban Necropolis.

Directory categories: Tutankhamun, The Curse of King Tut, Howard Carter, Egyptian History, Egyptology

Archived under: 1920s, Ancient History, Archaeology, Curses, Egypt, History, Museums, Royalty, Tutankhamun

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Capone's vault was underneath his HQ, here, at the Lexington Hotel In 1986, television reporter Geraldo Rivera was a little down on his luck. The year before, he'd been fired by ABC for criticizing the network's decision to not air a story describing the romantic relationship between Marilyn Monroe and both Robert and John Kennedy. He was a respected reporter at this point, but his career was in a lull. Then Geraldo embarked on an opportunity that would dramatically alter the course of his career -- for better and for worse. On April 14th of that year, Rivera hosted a television special called "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault." The program was based around the rumors that former mobster Al Capone had stashed a great treasure within the extensive catacombs beneath his Chicago headquarters at the Lexington Hotel. Geraldo planned on opening the long-sealed vault on live television and, along with his audience, discovering the hidden treasure held within. However, at the end of the two-hour special, the vault was opened to reveal nothing but dust and debris. An embarrassed Rivera awkwardly ended the show, and the special that had gathered so much hype went out with a whimper. Despite the anti-climactic ending, the special drew a huge audience and subsequently launched Geraldo into the stratosphere as the King of Trash Television. He would go on to host his outlandish eponymous talk show, "Geraldo," and later return to journalism (of a sort), bringing audiences all the melodrama of that particular brand of from-the-heart reporting that makes Geraldo "Geraldo." Suggested Sites... Geraldo.com - Geraldo's official site. Geraldo at Large - Geraldo's current show on Fox News. Al Capone Museum - photos, articles, and other stuff about Al Capone.

Directory categories: Geraldo Rivera, Al Capone, Real-Life Mystery, Talk Show Hosts, Journalism

Archived under: 1980s, Al Capone, Anniversaries, Archaeology, Celebrities, Chicago, Criminals, Entertainment, Flops, Hoaxes, Journalism, Journalists, Media, Mustaches, Mysteries, News, Organized Crime, Reality TV, Reporters, Scams, Secrets, TV, Talk Show Hosts, Treasure

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"What's in the daily news? I'll tell you what’s in the daily news." So this afternoon I took a gander at what folks were looking for on the Interwebs; seeing what people are searching for or sending to each other. As I surfed, it occurred to me that we have a lot of information in the Yahoo! Directory on those very subjects; the things that people are interested in, whether it be the Obama's dog; the doings at the caves in Lascaux, France; serial killers; Tiger Woods's comeback (and his wife, of course); or baseball gearing up again (not to mention the question of just where Manny Ramirez is going to end up). So take a look at the Yahoo! Directory, won't you? The more you know about the stuff you’re interested in, the more interesting it (and you) will be. Suggested Sites... Yahoo! Directory: Michelle Obama - he may run the country, but I'll bet she runs the household. Yahoo! Directory: French Travel - see the caves before they're fungused away -- and the rest of the country, too. Yahoo! Directory: PGA Tournaments - follow all the action. Yahoo! Directory: Homicide - more than just serial killers -- though they're there, too. Yahoo! Directory: Spring Training - all the info about the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues.

Directory categories: Dogs, Barack Obama Administration, Paleolithic Cave Painting, Serial Killers, Manny Ramirez

Archived under: Ancient History, Animals, Archaeology, Artists, Arts, Athletes, Barack Obama, Baseball, Baseball Players, Crime, Criminals, Dogs, France, Golf, History, In Character, Internet, Law Enforcement, MLB, Models, Presidents, Serial Killers, Spring, Spring Training, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Directory

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Darwin ape If history does indeed repeat itself, then today we should be on the lookout for groundbreaking news in the study of evolution. Why? Well, it was on this day in 1859 that Charles Darwin published the revolutionary "On the Origin of Species," and 115 years later, Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discovered the Lucy skeleton at Hadar, Ethiopia. "On the Origin of Species" detailed the processes of natural selection and adaptive radiation. Though the work never explicitly claimed we were descended from apes, Darwin was nonetheless attacked for that proposition. Even today, he's still a polarizing figure, as creationists try to refute what biologists and the scientific community defend -- that man evolved over time from ancient hominid ancestors. The debate continues with no likely end in sight. So did Lucy's discovery lend a hand to Darwin and his proponents? Most certainly. The discovery of this 40%-complete skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis offered fossil evidence of a potential human ancestor that walked upright 3,000,000 years ago. Furthermore, this evidence was supported by Mary Leakey's amazing find of footprints from Lucy's time at Laetoli. While it may seem that debate over scientific theory is one best left to the experts, average Americans haven't been deterred from taking it to the streets. Nothing short of a silent evolutionary war is being waged on the backsides of automobiles. From the Jesus fish to the Darwin fish to the truth-eats-Darwin fish and beyond, this once-binary argument has given birth to unforeseen allegiances and a unique forum for debate. With such a contentious topic at hand, it seems as though it may be risky to make a call for one side or the other. However, based on the historical significance of this day in history, the 24th of November is going to have to be called in favor of the evolutionists. So go have a banana and go for a walk, you bipedal hominids of today! Suggested Sites... Literature.org: The Origin of Species - read Darwin's legendary work firsthand. The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online - when "On the Origin of Species" just isn't enough. BBC: The Evolution of Man - browse articles discussing the story of human evolution. The Darwin Awards - for those less interested in science and more interested in the idiocies of others.

Directory categories: Charles Darwin, Evolution, Creation vs. Evolution, Australopithecus Afarensis

Archived under: Anniversaries, Archaeology, Biology, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Evolution, Nature, Primates, Science, Scientists

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Mechanical dinosaurs were common in ancient times (Photo by Nicole Makauskas) Today is the 6012th birthday of our home planet. The old girl looks pretty good, doesn't she? What's that? You thought the Earth was, like, a million times older? Well, it's obvious you haven't studied the work of Bishop James Ussher. Ussher was an English archbishop who joined in the 17th-century scholarly mania of trying to figure out just how old the Earth was. Science not being then what it is today, resources were limited, so Ussher (along with such worthies as astronomer Johannes Kepler and physicist Isaac Newton) relied on the chronologies contained in the Bible. After years of comparing sources and resolving inconsistencies, Ussher announced that the world had been created on October 23, 4004 BCE -- though he didn't go as far as his contemporary James Lightfoot, who fixed the exact time at 9:00 am. (As lawyer Henry Drummond asked in "Inherit the Wind:" "Was that Eastern Standard Time?") Ussher's calculations may have been slightly off, but they were accepted as reasonably valid until scholars looked at the geologic, rather than theological, evidence, and determined that the Earth was anywhere from 75,000 to 96 million years old. With the discovery of radioactivity in the 19th century, scientists were able to push the date back to the generally-accepted age of about 4.5 billion years. Of course, humans being what they are, not everyone accepts that age. Parallel to mainstream scientific thought runs creationism, which posits that the Biblical history of the universe is accurate, the earth is only six millennia old, and dinosaurs and men once roamed the planet simultaneously -- think of "The Flintstones" as a reality show rather than a cartoon. The good folks of Petersburg, Kentucky have even opened a museum dedicated to this alternate history. While we have to admit we don't totally buy into their ideas, the thought of saddling up the ol' dinosaur is a pretty tempting one. Suggested Sites... Wikipedia: The Ussher Chronology - details about the 6,000-year-old Earth theory. Creation Museum - visit Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with their pet dinosaurs. Visible Earth - NASA's collection of images and animations of our home. Darrow Examines Bryan - from the Scopes "Monkey Trial" -- evolution vs.creationism in the courtroom. You Tube: Inherit the Wind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtNdYsoool8

Directory categories: The Earth, Geology, Earth Sciences, Creationism vs. Evolution, Science and Religion

Archived under: Archaeology, Birthdays, Creationism, Geology, History, Mythology and Folklore, Planets, Religion, Science, Scientists, Society and Culture, Tourist Attractions

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