The Alexander Palace Time Machine. Since the Nicky-Sunny letters got such a good response, I thought I'd share with y'all the mother lode of late-Romanov goodies. "The site started out as a virtual tour of the home of the last Tsar and his family, but in ten years has evolved into a databank of information on the last years of Imperial Russia. Here you can browse from a wide range of options - from rare online books, to palaces, recipes, antique cars and travelogues." more inside

"His 'Beatbox' is a control panel, with five little satelites...." Courtesy of musicthing.blogspot.com ... a more direct link here (includes QT MOV) more inside

Flying Snakes are a small group of species of tree snakes that live in South and Southeast Asia. They fly by flinging themselves off a high thing, and flattening their whole bodies like some kind of biological streamer. They glide. They can turn in mid-air. They do not have wings. They bite. They can fly up your arse. Ok, I made that last part up, but if you were worried about bats getting in your hair, this is worse. more inside

The History Crier Continuing a Proud Tradition in Reporting Since 1941. Hosted by the Military Department of Indiana. (History Crier link is to the left). more inside

The Oil We Eat

Curious George: Message board elitism. I am curious whether you all have had experiences with elitism and "inner circles" within any online communities. more inside

The Icelandic Phallological Museum is probably the only museum in the world to contain a collection of phallic specimens belonging to all the various types of mammal found in a single country. [possibly NSFW] more inside

An android recreation of Philip K Dick is appearing at nextfest.

Nerds make better lovers. But we knew this already. If you don't feel like dropping by your local chess tournament, particle accelerator lab or Dungeons and Dragons game to find your own hawt geek companion, you can do so online (surprise!) at sites such as Geek 2 Geek and Star Trek Dating. [via craigblog]

A trail of weird footprints found next to a creek, south of Broome (Australia), have folks wondering what beastie made them. Is it a cat, a Yowie (the Australian Yeti) a Bunyip (the Australian, er.. swamp thing), a bird-like thingie or just a fucking big dog? In other Oz Crypto news, misplaced big cats & Tasmanian Tigers are apparently 'out there'. more inside

Vote For the Greatest American The History Channel is running a special on 'The Greatest American'. One of the five nominees is Reagan. Get the word out so we can cast votes for the other four choices out there. Washington, Franklin, Lincoln and Martin Luther King. Who do you think should have been nominated for 'greatest american' that wasn't on the list?

Letters from Nicky to Sunny. Or, if you want to be stuffy about it, from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra, written between September 1914 and March 1917. With historical notes. more inside

A new poem from Sappho . Its publication adds greatly to the sadly little that has survived from the oeuvre of thegreat poet of Lesbos. The TLS publishes Dr. Martin West's translation.

Help a monkey out Yes, this is a self link. I don't know if you all remember the posts that I did about this place in the past, but I am part of an ad-hock commitee to save, Irv's, a local hamburger stand here in West Hollywood. more inside

Commuter Car Choice I am in the market for a commuter car later this year and want to know people's personal experience with some of the cars I am considering. more inside

Art of Science This spring we asked the Princeton University community to submit imagery produced in the course of research or incorporating tools and concepts from science.

WriteHere A collaborative writing wiki, not unlike (though wholly inferior to) our own effort. more inside

Need a crazy supernatural movie to look forward to. [WMV] Yokai is an upcoming movie by Takashi Miike due to be released in Japan in 2005. Most Miike films look like most of their budget was spent on weed, shrooms and crack to "inspire" the script. Yokai however seems as if a lot of money was left over to make it into the actual filming. One of his most presentable films Happiness of the Katakuris is a comedy/horror/musical with a volcano. Don't touch his films if you are squeamish for they are usually very extreme, but for the rest enjoy the insanity that is Miike.

Radio Candy Stunt Not So Sweet Courtesy of the Smoking Gun. more inside

More good news: Rotten.com site shut down by government. Specifically, the Gaping Maw (and rate my boner). It's all fun and games until you're censored. more inside