Do the Russians Really Have a Piece of Hitler’s Skull?

Here’s an interesting story from CNN on a skull fragment long claimed by the Russians to be that of Nazi German Dictator Adolf Hitler. Of course, most everyone is familiar with the story of Hitler’s suicide in his bunker deep in the heart of Berlin just as World War II came to an end in 1945.  [...]

N.C. Unemployment Down Slightly in November

The News & Record reported today that North Carolina’s jobless rate dropped .1% in November to 10.8%. The same report includes a forecast from UNC-Charlotte economist John Connaughton.  Unfortunately, Connaughton is decidedly downbeat, for he sees little likelihood of a vigorous economic expansion in the near term owing especially to damage suffered by the financial sector and the resulting credit squeeze. Please remember to [...]

Unemployment Getting Better?

With national unemployment at 10.0%, but down .2% from its October high, some, such as Newsweek’s Daniel Gross, are arguing that the jobs situation is beginning to turn around.     As evidence, Gross points to the November jobs data which shows that job losses slowed to 11,000 last month.  That’s the best we’ve done since the recession started.  He [...]

Christie’s Sale of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane Sets Record Price for American Literature

An extremely rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane and Other Poems , the author’s first published work, broke a record for American literature at a Christie’s auction in New York on Friday when it realized $662,500.  You can view Christie’s online catalog here for a description of the lot, provenance, etc.  Only twelve copies of this very ordinary [...]

Greensboro Welcomes New and Returning City Council Members

Tuesday evening, December 1st, the City of Greensboro’s newly elected Council was sworn in. This ceremony was preceded by tributes to outgoing Mayor Yvonne Johnson and outgoing Council members Mike Barber and Sandra Anderson Groat.   As most of you probably know, the City Council is composed of a Mayor and eight Council members (five of whom represent districts, while [...]

Here’s a Macabre Auction Find: Two of Galileo’s Fingers & a Tooth

I thought this was an interesting, if morbid, story:  two of the famous scientist Galileo Galilei’s fingers and one of his teeth recently turned up at an auction.  Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was of course the famous Italian scientist who is probably best remembered for the first telescopic observations of the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus, and his [...]