I never heard this guy's theories on Columbus but almost everyone knows that history is subject to the motives of the storytellers. It's interesting that "many academics" think his theories are "nonsense" and "drivel". He is apparently, after all, basing his theory on a single letter from 1474 that he is translating in a certain (but not widely-accepted) way and material contributed by "readers of his books and associated Web sites". Hmm ...

Quoted: LONDON (Reuters) - Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of machines are uncannily similar to Chinese originals and were undoubtedly derived from them, a British amateur historian says in a newly-published book.
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Gavin Menzies sparked headlines across the globe in 2002 with the claim that Chinese sailors reached America 70 years before Christopher Columbus.
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Now he says a Chinese fleet brought encyclopedias of technology undiscovered by the West to Italy in 1434, laying the foundation for the engineering marvels such as flying machines later drawn by Italian polymath Leonardo.

It's really interesting that so many people are upset that the concept of the interior is being updated from its Communist origin -- and not for architectural reasons. There really seems to be sentimentality for the Soviet ...

Quoted: The same year that Sputnik soared into space saw the launch of another Soviet-era icon that may have loomed larger for generations of Russians: a huge toy store in central Moscow called Detsky Mir, or Children's World.

Nothing is quite as cool as a super-secret submarine hunt ...

Quoted: The man who located the wreck of the Titanic has revealed that the discovery was a cover story to camouflage the real mission of inspecting the wrecks of two Cold War nuclear submarines.

Congrats Kobe!!

Quoted: Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2007-08 NBA Most Valuable Player presented by Kia Motors, the NBA announced today.

It's kind of sad to have this historical mystery solved once and for all. It was more fun to imagine a secret royal blood line out there. I guess I'll just have to stick to reading historical fiction.

Quoted: DNA tests carried out by a U.S. laboratory prove that remains exhumed last year belong to two children of Czar Nicholas II, putting to rest questions about what happened to Russia's last royal family, a regional governor said Wednesday.

Awesome. darwin-online.org.uk

Quoted: The first draft of Charles Darwin's "On The Origin Of Species" is among a wealth of papers belonging to the intensely private man who changed science being published on the Internet on Thursday for the first time.

... and speaking of nazis ...

Quoted: Digging has resumed at a site in the southeastern German town of Deutschneudorf, where treasure hunters believe there are almost 2 tons of Nazi gold and possibly clues to the whereabouts of the legendary Amber Room, a prize taken from a Russian castle during World War II.

How terrible. Luckily they can just track his ebay seller's history and find all of the transactions.

Quoted: A New York state employee who had access to government-owned archives has been arrested on suspicion of stealing hundreds of historic documents, many of which he sold on eBay, authorities said on Monday.