On the warpath: For over a century, the New Zealand rugby union team has been laying down a challenge to it's opponents before every match in the form of the Haka (240k .mov video). A fearsome Maori dance, the Haka is intended to scare the opposition into submission. Here you can learn how to perform it for yourself.

Serpent's Wall "60 years ago a Kiev's area witnessed ones of the most severe battles of WW2." The woman who gained fame for her motorcycle trip through Chernobyl visits another Soviet landmark.

Curious George: Gas or Electric Coffee is my lifeblood, my hope, my dreams, and so I boil a lot of water every day. Since my electric version broke a few months ago, I've been using an old school whistling stove top kettle on a gas hob. The question I've been pondering while I spoon out the Illy, oh my wisest of simian siblings, is which method has the least environmental impact? Gas or electric?

Curious George: Made in China. Here in the US I am absolutely astounded by the amount of merchandise made in China. It seems to be a quiet revolution that swept over retail America during the late 1990s. One curiosity that comes to mind is Wal-Mart, which back in the 1980s trumpeted "Made in the USA" on all of its TV commercials and has since gone a full 180. What are your thoughts on whether Made in China is good or bad? Is there any virtue in trying to buy American? And are there any department stores that maintain American inventory?

Virtual walking in Europe. This is in response to the great California Coastline Project thread a couple of posts down: Pages Jaunes has a really fun feature in which you can take a virtual stroll in any number of European cities. [Flash] more inside

A headless, bullet-riddled body - the Black Hand - a severed head put on public display. A Mystery to this day - November 19, 1904: hunters make a shocking discovery on a remote road outside Pennsylvania coal town Shamokin. A headless, naked body with multiple bullet wounds. 100 years ago.

The virtual California coastline. Over 20,500 photographs (totaling over 134GB) of the current California coast are now online, covering from the Oregon Border (42N latitude) to the Mexican Border (32.5N latitude), except for the Vandenberg AFB restricted area. An additional 5833 images from 1972, 8000 images from 1979, 4173 images from 1987, and 1074 images from 1989 are now online. more inside

What kind of Target merchandise is this? Possibly NSFW (?). On sale, 10% off. Free shipping. Offered at Target's "Red Hot Shop" Similar items: "Entertainment" Item availability: 4-8 weeks "No Picture Available" URL may be retracted at any time. more inside

And you thought that you had a spam problem. Bill Gates receives 4 million pieces of spam a day?!?! Attn: Steve Ballmer "When you misuse the word 'literally,' you COMPLETELY !#$!ing misuse it. When you #$!! that up, you !@$@ it up so bad! It's not like a little goof, like you said 'penultimate' and you meant 'ultimate.' You COMPLETELY !@#$ing misuse it, and you should stop using the word FOREVER until you #!$%ing figure it out." -- David Cross

According to Hobbes "in the state of nature, man is nasty, BRITISH and short. Ahem...!!! More interesting "facts" can be found here.

Curious Traveller: Cross Country in Dec. Seattle to NY, starting Dec. 6th more inside

Children's TV show gone horrible wrong TV program "Rainbow" from the 70's and 80's...I cant even believe this is real.

Onerous George...is anyone else dealing with fibromyalgia? Mine is making me very snarkalicious at the moment - I went off a medication for other reasons, not remembering that it also helped keep away the 'sombody-must-have-beat-me-with-a-stick-all-night' waking up goodness I'm experiencing now. Mmmmm-mmm.

Holly-Bolly "Two young filmmakers are forced to go cross genre." A short film, around 12 minutes long. more inside