Elena Filatova update You probably know Elena Filatova from her purported motorcycle trip, "Ghost Town", in the area around Chernobyl, Ukraine. You may know of her revisit and her follow up to that story, "Chernobyl - Land of the Wolves". But, she also has newer* entries online. *It's hard to determine the chronology since most of the journaling is done sans date stamps. more inside

The Differences Slavery Made A comparison of two communities near the Mason-Dixon Line "designed to isolate the role of slavery in shaping societies of similar location and histories", "an applied experiment in digital scholarship".

Perhaps the greatest disaster in the history of rocketry occurred in 1960, at Baikonur Cosmodrome, during the test of a new ICBM, the R16, when the second stage accidentally ignited while sitting on the launch pad, rupturing the fuel tank of the 1st stage below it and causing a huge fireball that incinerated about 100 personnel who were on the launch pad. The Western world would not learn of this incident until James Oberg, an expert on the Soviet space program, pieced it together from various stories and rumors he heard coming out of the USSR in the early 80s. More here.

Images from Iceland contains some nice pictures of Iceland more inside

Overheard in Dublin Current favourite

Scientists have found the world's oldest dildo. Proof that women have had trouble finding an adequate man for 28,000 years.

Wow! As in Wow Cards From the fertile mind of Ian Rowland comes these amazing topographic/artistic curiosities. more inside

[insert enemy target here] Why bother getting real quotes from real Iraqis when you can just make one up, even though it's in pure military jargon, and attribute it repeatedly to "an unidentified Iraqi?" Also spotted on the blue, but posted here in the hopes of engendering less sniping and snark and encouraging intelligent discourse. more inside

A cell phone just for her. "At Samsung, we acknowledge the unique individuality of every modern woman in this society and have thus created the Egèo that will meet her every needs.... Just for the Ladies - Pink Schedule, Calories Calculator, Bio Rhythm, Fatness Indicator".

Cadillac Man is "homeless." He had 10 pages of his writing recently featured in Esquire magazine. Sometimes you never know where life will take you... [Second link has the entire Esquire piece for free] more inside

Whale eats squid! In puppet form! more inside

GM crops created superweed, say scientists - the stupid fucking assholes.

Curious George I'm running a day camp all this week. It's french immersion, and is centered around doing activities and arts and crafts which educate and inform the participants about a local endangered species. Hopefully in the end, we'll create a great big hand painted sign to be installed near this animal's habitat. One of the kids is blind, and has limited motor function. I'm bad enough around kids as it is...how can I make this a fun camp for him, without insulting his intelligence or making him feel left out? (He's roughly 13 or so.)

Nicholas Murray Butler is a Horses Ass. (The good part starts at the 6th paragraph, that begins: One of his former students ...). More info here.

Interesting noises from your head Various free teach-yourself links to making odd noises. Teach yourself Tuvan throat-singing! Learn to yodel. Put your lips together and blow! Try a little scat. Dabble in ventriloquism. Try your hand at the finger flute. Apologies to librarians everywhere.

Free Sex with coupon!!! A German magazine has sold out all its copies after advertising a free sex session at a brothel in Austria. A little one-off newsfiltery thing, but irrestible nonethless. via Huffpo

Alpha Mom (The Martha Stewart of Parenting). With the right planning, resources, and work ethic, you can, too, be a perfect and fulfilled woman, raising a perfect and happy child. "It’s not like everyone doesn’t want the best for their child, but to me, it seems people these days have a more professional attitude toward raising their children. A lot of it is very intellectually thought-out and very scheduled, almost like they have a business plan for their children.” Isabel.... would later describe the typical member of this breed as, “you know, the maven of mommyhood, the leader of the pack.... Definitely dominant." (via a little pregnant)

The History of the Fashion Bathing Suit Bathing is a sport Enjoyed by great and small In suits of any sort Though better none at all [Anonymous, 19th-century poem]

The most psychedelic car brochure ever created was for the 1968 Mazda 110S, otherwise known as the Cosmo Sport. The graphic artist was apparently Tadanori Yokoo before he moved into fine art. Sgt Pepper meets Top Gear. This is a keeper.

Retiring Chimps (NYT-reg.)