“A Roman pot unearthed at an archaeological dig in London has been opened to reveal cream which is nearly 2,000 years old.
The sealed pot full of ointment, complete with finger marks, was discovered at a Roman temple complex in Southwark, south London.” (BBC)
“A museum is to return four Aboriginal skulls, collected 100 years ago, to tribal elders.
Manchester Museum is to hand over the remains to a delegation of Aborigines so they can be buried in Australia.” (BBC)
“A week without e-mail is more traumatic than moving house or getting divorced, say techies.” (BBC) Says everyone, I should imagine.

“‘[A bed is] a device or arrangement that may be used to permit a patient to lie down when the need to do so is a consequence of the patient’s condition rather than a need for active intervention such as examination, diagnostic investigation, manipulative treatment, obstetric delivery or transport.” – the NHS, courtesy of the ‘Nonsense League Table’. (BBC)

“Dannii Minogue sparked a new dance trend at an outdoor concert when she tried to alert the crowd to a capsized boat in the lake behind them.
The Australian pop star began pointing frantically over the heads of the audience as she saw the boat overturn at the water park in Warwickshire, England.
But the fans thought it was a new dance move and began joining in, pointing back at her…” (Age)

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674 to 1834 at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/: “A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.”

“Copies of more than 900 works of art at the National Gallery are being made available at the flick of a switch as new technology is unveiled.”
“The “print on demand” technology will allow visitors to browse through and print in reproduction quality A3, A4 and A5 size prints.” (BBC)
“A mystery Roman capsule unearthed at an archaeological dig in the heart of London is to be opened on Monday.”
“The 2,000-year-old sealed tin canister was discovered by a team of archaeologists who have been excavating the site in Southwark, just south of the Thames, for the past year.”

” The site is believed to be the remains of a Roman temple complex dating from around the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.
As well as the bronze foot, an ancient plaque bearing the oldest known naming of London was recently unveiled.
Experts said the plaque appeared to refer to a champagne importer and newspapers said it could be viewed as London’s earliest known advert.
The capsule will go on immediate display at the Museum of London, along with all the other finds.” (BBC)

The information age it may be. But people choose the bias that they prefer: “[T]he media produced in different cultures don’t merely reflect different opinions about the news, they actually recount alternative versions of reality.” (Age)

“Three top agencies responsible for Australia’s intelligence, foreign policy and defence assessment – the Office of National Assessments, the Foreign Affairs Department and the Defence Intelligence Organisation – have now admitted being aware that the US State Department doubted claims that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa for a nuclear program. Yet all say they didn’t tell their political bosses.
For a man apparently seriously and embarrassingly dudded by his experts, John Howard appears extraordinarily forbearing. You have to wonder why.
ONA let him make a claim it knew was highly dubious, and yet the PM finds excuses for it. When it comes to the missing weapons of mass destruction, the PM wants to move on.” Age

An interesting discussion of the media, fame and the right to privacy in the Age:
“A first step would be for the media to consider and articulate more precisely the justifications for intruding into the privacy of certain famous people at particular times for specified reasons.
I think there are at least five types of fame, and in particular circumstances you may get varying responses to the question: “Does the public interest in disclosure outweigh the privacy interest of the people involved?””