Feral flowers. This rare wildflower landscape portfolio represents a 19-year historical documentation of a phenomenon in the Californian deserts known as "carpet blooms". A surreal display of flowers on such a scale and magnitude not seen anywhere else on earth.

A Walk Through Durham Township

Profiles of men who knit just in case you didn't think it possible. Have a yen for yarn? Learn to knit! Knit Happens? Blog about it! Knit a rabbit, knit a kitten, knit a dog a sweater. For the HP-obsessed, knit all the woolly wear from the Harry Potter movies! Sci-fi fan? Knit Doctor Who's scarf! (Warning: Tom Baker's scarf varied from 12-17 feet in length.)

Curious, George: Help The Visually Disadvantaged. Hi. I have an elementary question here, something I'm sure some of our monkeys can help me with — where are the best places to look for an education in visual design? more inside

Giant Squid Caught on Camera! At last, proof of the elusive, mysterious, and slightly shy giant squid. Absolute proof that the scurvy sea-dawgs of yesteryear weren't just drunk on grog and high on life! more inside

My my, doesn't the time fly Happy centenary!

Spacefilter: Astronomers have found the first evidence of cracks in a neutron star's crust. The star cracked when it was rocked by the strongest "starquake" ever recorded, researchers said last week. more inside

Ye olde Chew and Screw. A dine-and-dash in Jersey, with a little something extra for the staff. [via obscurestore] more inside

The Farmers Wife - Images from the land of corn & soybeans

I'm a vegetarian, but I do eat roadkill, so says Fergus Drennan, forager extraordinaire. His business, Wild Man, can be found at The Goods Shed in Canterbury. Now off you go, forage! "A man is standing at my front door holding a dead fox. It is stiff with rigor mortis and seems to be grinning at me."

Portrait of a Master

Much has been written about Philippe Dufour, his mastery of the craft of watchmaking, his insistence on perfection, his stubborn-ness to remain close to the art of his forebears, his open-ness to sharing with collectors and other watchmakers alike.

Dogonauts!!! Before there were manned missions to space, the way was paved by animals; cute, furry animals. Laika was the first cosmonaut, traveling in a low orbit around the earth, before dying of stress, in November, 1957. Later dogonauts Belka and Strelka fared better, not only returning to earth alive, but sending progeny to the Kennedy White House. more inside

Yabusame. Mounted archery then and mounted archery now. Lots 'o links. more inside

The Light and the Land

If you missed the last night's interview, here is a transcript and realplayer video of Q-and-A's interview with Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. more inside

His shoe phone no longer rings.... RIP Don Adams, Maxwell Smart of "Get Smart", one of the funniest comedies i remember watching as a kid. "Noooo, not the Craw...the CRAAAWWW!"

NZ health politics are a little....overwrought, aren't they. Hey, just to prove the axis of the U's don't have a monopoly on people who say outrageous stuff. more inside

The World Solar Challenge participants will traverse more than 3,000km over the Australian continent - from tropical Darwin to balmy Adelaide, in cars powered by nothing more than the sun. more inside

Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing. What could go wrong? via HuffPo

The Duplex Planet "Since the elderly are already thought of by what they have in common - that they're all old - I try to recast them as individuals. I quote and write about them in order to address the larger world. The audience/reader meets them and comes to feel the characters are familiar, people they might want to spend time with. The men and women whose individualities expose the myths of aging are not extraordinary. They are typical in their unique humanness." Mainly, though, it's about old people saying funny things. more inside