As this Wall Street Journal article explains, with the increased popularity of genealogical research, the demand for the work done by historical photo detectives has increased.

"Maureen Taylor has dated a photograph to 1913 by studying the size and shape of a Lion touring car's headlamps. Armed with her collection of 19th-century fashion magazines, she can pinpoint the brief period when Victorian women wore their bangs in tight curls rather than swept back. Using a technique borrowed from the CIA, she identified a photo of Jesse James by examining the shape of his right ear."

"How the Edwardians Spoke" is a BBC documentary on how British accents have changed over the last 100 years. You can watch the hour-long program here on Google Video.

According to this article from The Hill, Democrats are optimistic about their chances in the 2008 Minnesota congressional elections.

"The entry of a trio of top Democratic candidates into races in the state’s three GOP-held House districts in the past 10 days has spurred talk of turning Minnesota into the Massachusetts of the Midwest, electing a congressional delegation that could mirror the all-Democratic slate representing arguably the most liberal state in the Union.

Whether or not the Democrats can achieve such a tall order, the state has quickly turned into a battleground, with as many as half its congressional seats up for grabs in 2008."