History

A little over a week ago, Sam Katz spoke to John F. Street's class at Temple University. Afterward, the onetime mayoral rivals turned political soul mates were seen huddling together for a couple of hours, prompting a cadre of usual suspects in the political class to wonder what they were cooking up. Was Street once again urging Katz to make one last mayoral run? It's never too early for rumor. There is speculation that Councilman Bill Green and mayoral aspirant Tom Knox recently reached an accommodation that would sideline Green in 2015.

ELEVEN YEARS ago, the Eagles hit the trifecta in the second and third rounds of the 2002 draft, selecting Colorado safety Michael Lewis, cornerback Sheldon Brown and a Division 1-AA running back by the name of Brian Westbrook. Lewis spent five seasons with the Eagles, three as a starter. Went to a Super Bowl and Pro Bowl with the Birds. Brown was a rock at right corner for the franchise, starting 98 games in eight seasons and helping the Eagles advance to five NFC Championship Games.

THE NEXT TIME you grind a little black pepper on your steak, give a moment of silence to the diners who've come before you. The pepper trade was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, the enslavement of countless others, the establishment of the opium trade in India and the extinction of the dodo. Now, enjoy your dinner. Marjorie Shaffer, a science writer and editor at the New York University School of Medicine, thoroughly examines our culinary friend in Pepper: A History of the World's Most Influential Spice (St. Martin's Press)

Patterson Farm, founded in colonial times, has a rich history: The soil is among the most fertile in Bucks County, and patches of pumpkins, fields of corn, and heaps of fresh vegetables have grown there. For decades, Thomas and Alice Patterson owned the 234 acres in Lower Makefield Township and lived in the stone-covered Janney house, one of the property's two homes. The other - the Satterthwaite house, a large home made out of wood painted white - was built in 1760, according to Kaaren Steil, chair of the Lower Makefield Historical Commission.

And so we have arrived at another Roy Halladay start. At some point, his outings will cease receiving so much scrutiny and the hackneyed expression "it is what it is" will rule the day. Exactly how this developing story is going to end remains to be seen, but history suggests it is not going to end well for the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Oddly, this start Sunday afternoon against the Miami Marlins will be a bit of a defining one for the 35-year-old pitcher who threw a perfect game against the same franchise in 2010.

Try to forget for a moment what a stud Diligence was. Yes, the legendary stallion sired more than 400 foals, but his amorous prowess is just part of why a group of Moorestown residents hopes to install a bronze statue in his honor. Diligence's truer claim to fame is as the founding father of the Percheron horse in America: a breed so hardworking and gentle that it became the nation's most popular draft horse. And it was to Moorestown that Percherons, including Diligence, were first imported to this country in the early 19th century.

BERLIN - For nearly 30 years, the Berlin Wall was the hated symbol of the division of Europe, a gray, concrete mass that snaked through neighborhoods, separating families and friends. One morning last month, it took hundreds of police to guarantee the safe removal of 15 feet of what's left of the wall. Construction crews, protected by about 250 police, hauled down part of the three-quarter-mile strip of the wall to provide access to a planned luxury apartment complex overlooking the Spree River.

The title may sound like an anthology of author Dan Brown's best sellers, but in fact this new series falls into an increasingly popular genre: historical fantasy. ("I'm sure Peter Stuyvesant was a perfectly capable administrator. But wouldn't it be more interesting if he could shoot lasers out of his eyes that would kill zombies?") In this Starz original, which debuts after the series finale of Spartacus , our dashing hero is the quintessential Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci (rakishly played by Brit Tom Riley)

MAFRAQ, Jordan - To the caches of ammunition and medicines that they lug each day from this border city back into their homeland, Syrian rebels have added new tools to support their fight against President Bashar al-Assad: metal detectors and pickaxes. The rebels, struggling to finance their effort, have joined an emerging trade in illicitly acquired Syrian artifacts and antiquities, selling off the country's past as the war for its future intensifies. "Some days we are fighters; others we are archaeologists," Jihad Abu Saoud, 27, a rebel from the Syrian city of Idlib, said in an interview in this northern Jordanian city.