Valentine's Day was a week ago, but MSNBC's Chris Matthews has belatedly gifted a particular former president with a mash note - strike that, a one-hour special called "President of the World: The Bill Clinton Phenomenon," airing on the cable news channel Monday night. Why? Because it's Presidents' Day. Also because it's been a full decade since Clinton left office, embarking on an epic quest to remain at the forefront of the celebripoliticomedia hive mind. Or, as Matthews reminds us much more than once: He is Everywhere. "Bill Clinton's position in the world continues to grow. He's part dignitary, part humanitarian, part politician, part international statesman, and somehow, greater than them all, " he intones. For much of the hour, you'll wonder if you're watching one of Robert Smigel's old "X-Presidents" cartoon parodies for "Saturday Night Live." Matthews, aided by the likes of Terry McAuliffe,...

By Edmund Morris Friday, February 4, 2011; 5:00 PM It has been argued that Ronald Reagan was a myth himself, a construct of his own and other people's imaginings, rather than an extraordinary American about whom some untruths are told. The sentimental colossus his acolytes are trying to erect today, with gilded pecs, red-painted smile and an NRA-approved pistol in each manly fist, bears no resemblance to the man I knew: in private a person of no ego and little charisma, in public a statesman of formidable purpose.   1. He was a bad actor. Well, yes and no. Most of the movies he made as a Warner Bros. contract player are unwatchable by persons of sound mind. When he was president, it was easy to laugh at them. The spectacle of the leader of the free world, a.k.a. Secret Service agent Brass Bancroft, deploying an enormous ray gun against an airborne armada was especially hilarious in 1983, the year he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, that vaporizer of foreig...

The Gebelein predynastic mummies are six naturally mummified bodies, dating to approximately 3400 BC from the Late Predynastic period of Egypt, and were the first complete pre-dynastic bodies to be discovered. The well-preserved bodies were excavated at the end of the nineteenth century by Wallis Budge, the British Museum Keeper for Egyptology, from shallow sand graves near Gebelein (modern name Naga el-Gherira ) in the Egyptian desert. Budge excavated all the bodies from the same grave site. Two were identified as male and one as female, with the others being of undetermined gender. The bodies were given to the British Museum in 1900. Some grave-goods were documented at the time of excavation as "pots and flints", however they were not passed on to the British Museum and their whereabouts remain unknown. Three of the bodies were found with coverings of different types (reed matting, palm fibre and an animal skin), which still remain with the bodies. The bodies ...

Tomb at abydos (called tomb o) arrests 300 accessory burials, scarce weest of Aha; made of brick 70 x 40 meters. Discovered by Emile Amelineau in 1895 with a 5 year abbreviate for archaeological site. He was a hapless archaeologist – credibly he got the abbreviate because he was friends with the conductor of the Egyptian ancientnesses Service in Cairo – and discovered the “Tomb of Osiris” in Umm El Gaab, an region simply loaded with artifacts. He completely cleared the tomb between January 1 and January 12th, flinging whole piles of art artifacts and continuing only accomplished aims. Most matters were merely discounted if the experienced them of no appraise. He base a basalt statue on a bier (alike to the funerary cast of King Tut) in the tomb, and a skull in one chamber. He decided (quite arbitrarily, based on the staircase) that this was the tomb of Osiris himself, and the skull was that of the deity – or, in his aspect, a real historical anatomy. The skull was later...

A mummy is a corpse whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness (ice mummies), very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs. Presently, the oldest discovered (naturally) mummified human corpse was a decapitated head dated as 6,000 years old and was found in 1936. The most famous Egyptian mummies are those of Seti I and Rameses II (13th century BC), though the earliest known Egyptian mummy, nicknamed 'Ginger' for its hair color, dates back to approximately 3300 BC. Mummies of humans and other animals have been found throughout the world, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts to preserve the dead. There are more than 1000 mummies in dry Xinjiang China. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats. There are so called mummies of mythical beings. Mummia or Mumia , is a kind of...

Hundreds of Egyptian tour guides gathered on Monday in the shadow of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids to urge tourists to return to the country following the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. The upheaval of recent weeks and media coverage of days of violent clashes have combined to scare off visitors and stifle Egypt’s key tourism industry, threatening thousands of jobs. Inspired by the success of political protests in bringing down the regime, workers in several public and private sector industries have launched a wave of strikes to demand pay rises. But the message from tourism workers was simpler. The guides - whose business has been badly hit by the crisis - gathered at the Giza Plateau site, bearing Egyptian flags and banners in English, French, Russian and German reading: "Egypt loves you." One by one, the guides mounted a tribune to plead for tourists to return in a variety of languages. Behind them a handful of Egyptian visitors were at the site, but ther...

Last week Dr. Zahi Hawass stated that Egyptian antiquities and Egyptian sites are all safe. Today he says: “The staff of the database department at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo have given me their report on the inventory of objects at the museum following the break in. Sadly, they have discovered objects are missing from the museum. The objects missing are as follows: 1. Gilded wood statue of Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess 2. Gilded wood statue of Tutankhamun harpooning. Only the torso and upper limbs of the king are missing 3. Limestone statue of Akhena ten holding an offering table 4. Statue of Nefertiti making offerings 5. Sandstone head of an Amarna princess 6. Stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna 7. Wooden shabti statuettes from Yuya (11 pieces) 8. Heart Scarab of Yuya An investigation has begun to search for the people who have taken these objects, and the police and army plan to follow up with the criminals already in custody. I have said if the Egyptian Museum is...

"I'm 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free," an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir Square, where crowds remained all through the night. Egypt has inscribed Its New History on a New Liberal Pyramid built in Tahreer Square by the rebellions of the Jan 25  ,with a base of dignity ,honor and self sacrifice for a bright sunny future and for a glorious Egypt. Around 11 a.m. EST, Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president for almost 30 years, resigned. In a 30-second statement, his vice president, Omar Suleiman, announced that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces would manage the state's affairs. The military now appears to be fully in control of the country. Suleiman, Mubarak's ally, is still part of the governing body but with potentially diminished influence.  It is a fluid situation, and how power ultimately will shake out is unclear. The Supreme...

The Liberation square : Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of 16 consecutive days of protests aimed at forcing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign, has been host to several public demonstrations since it was built in the 19th century. The square, known as Midan Ismailia before the leaders of the revolution of 1952 renamed it Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, was the focal point of riots in 1977 that were sparked when President Anwar Sadat announced the government was ending subsidies on basic foodstuffs such as bread and cooking oil. The square was also the site of demonstrations in 1881 against the ruling Khedive Tawfik and in 1919 against British occupation. “Its importance is due to its size and its closeness to vital sovereign institutions and embassies,” said Obada Kohela, a professor of history at Cairo University. “This is the first popular revolt against an Egyptian ruler.” The protests have left more than 100 people dead and roiled international stock, bond and oil markets, w...