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Robert Fisk writes in the London Independent newspaper: “So yesterday was the burning of books: first came the looters, then the arsonists. It was the final chapter in the sacking of Baghdad. The National Library and Archives ? a priceless treasure of Ottoman historical documents, including the old royal archives of Iraq ? were turned to ashes in 3,000 degrees of heat. Then the library of Korans at the Ministry of Religious Endowment were set ablaze.” Could it happen here? The impulse to destroy archives runs deep among people who would like to alter history to fit their beliefs. The National Archives and Records Administration is reporting an upsurge in threats against U.S. National Archives, and wants to tighten their regulations.
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The Stella Awards are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. Stella Awards are given out each year for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the U.S. However, there’s a twist: for some reason, both real and fake Stellas are announced annually, and we present both lists here. The true Stellas have their own website. Keep reading to find out what really happened in U.S. law courts in 2002.
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Remember the Apache helicopter that was supposedly shot down by an Iraqi farmer in the early days of the Iraq war? The fact that Saddam mentioned this in a video tape was used as proof that he was still alive and wasn’t killed by the early bombing of his bunker. Now it turns out the incident never happened?the farmer simply discovered the downed helicopter lying in his field.
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Two British microbiologists say SARS may have come from space, riding on a comet. Microbiologist Dr. Milton Wainwright says, “Several aspects of the SARS outbreak appear to fit this general scheme.”

Debris from a comet, including the SARS virus, could have arrived in the stratosphere. It would have reached the Himalayas, whose high peaks are on the edge of the stratosphere, where particles would then descend to Earth. Then the Earth’s rotation and prevailing winds could have blown the virus into China. A recent study of the atmosphere 25 miles into space shows that about a ton of biological material arrives from space every day.
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