Plot by religious fanatics to blow up Parliament foiled - 400 years ago today. more inside

Curious George: Photo Rates I've been contacted regarding one of my photographs on Flickr. A startup magazine would like to use the image in one of its issues. I'm not a professional photographer or anything, so I have no idea how to negotiate on something like this. My question is, what does someone ask for as compensation? If money, how much? Any advice would be appreciated.

The Monkey Quiz Can you beat the monkeys?

Feline Friday Flash Foolishness

It's all wrong - Some good - some bad

Head Like a Hat Rack Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman thinks graffiti artists' thumbs should be amputated on live TV. Street art blog Wooster Collective suggests that thumb photos with appropriate messages should be sent to them to be forwarded to hizzonner.

Shame On You, Sony After Criticism, Sony Issues Fix for Hidden Rootkits.

Senate OK's Oil Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The American media is all over this story, which is why the only link I could find is from The Guardian, but the hotbutton issue over Oil Drilling in the Arctic Reserve has hit the proverbial fan. The vote was 57-42, with five Republicans voting "Nay" and two Democrats voting "Yea" Shamelessly cribbed from MeFi

The Secret of the Hidden Hummers. Wherein our blog-writing super sleuths make a startling discovery. via mefi

Teflon has worn off the Moron For the first time in his presidency, a majority of Americans questioned President George W. Bush's personal integrity as his approval ratings on key issues fell to new lows in an ABC News/Washington Post Poll published on Thursday

The other good thing about sex.

Director's erotic auditions 'were sexual assault' A French film director appeared in a Paris court yesterday accused by four young actresses of forcing them to masturbate as part of their screen tests.

Curious LA Eatin' George Hello, I'm going to be in Los Angeles next week for a conference. I know squat about the city. It's happening downtown at the Convention Center and I'm staying at the Holiday Inn(City Center). My question is: what are good, cheap places to eat that are within walking distance (10-15 minutes) from there? My schedule's going to be busy so I can't spend too much time in transit plus I don't plan to get a car. Also, on my last day there I might want to try something fancier. Any suggestions for that also?

How many of the Bush administration's dirty water deeds do you know about? Take this quiz to find out. Q: Complete this sentence: The Bush administration wants to change the definition of "waters of the United States"... a) ...so that it includes more waters. b) ...so that many small streams, wetlands and ponds are excluded. c) ...to ensure that waters shared with other nations are excluded. d) ...so that privately owned lakes are not included.

What Killed Reece? A sad, but beautifully-written multi-part story by the Minneapolis StarTribune about a boy who died of a mysterious disease and the limits of medical science. Via more inside

Can you not hear the sound of my victory? Dancing finger style Kung Fu from The Ministry of Unknown Science. [via]

The very first stars in the universe. Astronomers from NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center have published news in the journal Nature claiming that they have seen the light of the very first stars in the Universe, using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, the infrared "Great Observatory" run by NASA. Could this be the humanity's first glimpse of the universe's first stars? more inside

I want to... A useful list of links to online services when you need to do something.

Panexa : Cafepress doesn't get the joke hilarious

Bonobos compose music. With Peter Gabriel, even. To complete the sex/money, drugs/alcohol, rock and roll trifecta (pentecta?) I offer you some evidence that various non-human primates like to compose and listen to music. And it makes them mellow. more inside