New England Sun-Times

By Andrew LaSane   Image via Whitney Plantation on Facebook As tourist attractions, plantations in the South that use to run on slave labor are very strange places to explore (take it from someone who took field trips to a few of them during grade school). Despite good intentions by those who offer educational tours and programming at the historic sites, it's hard to admire gardens, pet animals, and learn about slavery in a place where people were kept and forced to work. There is one plantation in Louisiana that has a different approach to teaching about the past because, besides the fact that it still has the word "plantation" in the name, it is has been converted into the first plantation museum in America to focus on slavery. Image via Whitney Plantation on  Facebook     According to the New York Times , the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana (which was used as a backdrop for scenes in Quentin Tar...

Britain is being sued with France and the Netherlands by 14 Caribbean countries demanding what could be hundreds of billions of pounds in reparations for slavery. Around 175 years after Britain freed its last slaves in the West Indies, an alliance of Caribbean nations is demanding to be repaid for the 'awful', lingering legacy of the Atlantic slave trade. Caricom, a group of 12 former British colonies together with the former French colony Haiti and the Dutch-held Suriname, believes the European governments should pay – and the UK in particular. Legal action: Britain, France and the Netherlands are being sued by 14 Caribbean countries for what could be billions of pounds in reparations for slavery, illustrated here in this 1861 drawing of a chain gang 'Awful legacy': In a speech at United Nations General Assembly last month (above), Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gons...

By Lakshmi Sandhana A woman's severed head awaits a new body, in the 1962 film The Brain That Wouldn't Die Transplanting a human head onto a donor body may sound like the stuff of science fiction comics, but not to Italian doctor Sergio Canavero. He has not only published a paper describing the operation in detail, but also believes that the surgery could be a reality as early as 2017. Canavero, Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, initially highlighted the idea in 2013, stating his belief that the technology to successfully join two severed spinal cords existed. Since then he's worked out the details, describing the operation in his recent paper, as the Gemini spinal cord fusion protocol (GEMINI GCF). To carry out the transplant, a state of hypothermia is first induced in both the head to be transplanted and the donor body, to help the cells stay alive without oxyg...

While listening to your music library in iTunes, do you get annoyed by gaps of silence between songs? If you're wondering how to configure iTunes to smoothly fade songs in and out, then this short tutorial will show you how. Crossfading involves slowly decreasing the volume of one song and increasing the volume of the next song at the same time. This overlap creates a smooth transition between the two songs and enhances you listening experience - this technique is used extensively by DJ's. If you like listening to continuous non-stop music, then mix like a DJ and use crossfading. Difficulty: Easy Time Required: iTunes crossfading configuration time - 2 minutes max. Here's How: Setting up Crossfading On the iTunes main screen, click the Edit menu tab and choose Preferences . Click on the Playback tab to see the option for crossfading. Now, put a check in the box next to the Crossfade Songs option. You can use the sliderbar to a...

By Gregory Krieg There was some serious shock and awe when the Oscars nominations dropped Jan. 15 and the critically acclaimed  Selma received only two nods, one for best picture and another for original song. Director Ava DuVernay and leading man David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr., were both snubbed, leading to a wide-ranging discussion about the lack of racial diversity at the top of the Hollywood pantheon. How was it possible, critics and moviegoers asked, that the two brightest lights from this brilliant film, which tells the dramatic story of the 1965 freedom marches in Selma, Alabama, did not even manage to make their way onto Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' shortlist? On Sunday night, an anonymous member of the Academy gave us a chilling insight into those snubs. Quoted in the Hollywood Reporter, the individual, described as an Oscar winner himself, gave this explanation (emphasis added): "I lived through the ...

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — Police are investigating the source of a drug that sent at least 11 Wesleyan University students to area hospitals, including two who were in such serious condition they were flown to Hartford for treatment. School officials said Sunday that the overdose symptoms seemed to point to the drug "Molly," a party drug that is a form of MDMA or ecstasy. Middletown Police Chief William McKenna said his department was helping medical providers pursue information about the "bad batch" of the drug. The drug can vary radically in potency and can sharply drive up body temperature, which can lead to liver, kidney or cardiovascular failure, or death. "Our first and foremost goal is to obtain information on the batch of Molly that was distributed to the students on the campus," McKenna said. "This information is critical in ensuring the recovery of those students affected." Police received multiple calls for help i...

by Lorraine Brown Harriet Tubman , best known for her work as an abolitionist who freed thousands of slaves through the Underground Railroad , will be celebrated and commemorated for ten days this Sunday. As part of the celebration of her life and legacy (March, 1822 - March 10, 1913), a national holiday has been created to remember the sacrifices, struggles and strength of Black people enslaved in America. The holiday, ' Kumi Siku Kikumbuko' (Swahili for 'Ten day Remembrance,' comes on the heels of Black History Month. Kumi Siku Kikumbuko (' Kumi Siku ' for short) adds ten days to remembrance and teaching, particularly the atrocities and after-effects of slavery.  Families will celebrate by teaching their child ten reasons why slavery should never be forgotten. Families are asked to teach at least one reason for each of the ten days. Jillian Winn, a mother in Quincy, Massachusetts is excited to participate and will have her son load a video online expla...