McNaught from New Zealand : un-FREAKING-believable. Check out the shots from the Southern Hemisphere in the spaceweather forum. (previously but I felt this was worth another FPP — forgive me! ).

Jean-Philippe Charbonnier In 1954 Jean-Philippe Charbonnier documented French Psychiatric hospitals and this exhibition includes rarely seen photographs from the series. Some photos NSFW. via xenmate's blog

The Dreaming. Contemporary traditional Art/History/Ontography from the people that Gillen brought Spencer to meet and record at the turn of the 20th century.

The Science of Superheroes. The Ontario Science Centre is hosting an exhibit (Marvel-based, so unfortunately lacking in Batman) all about the science involved in being a superhero. But even if you can't make it, you can always read up on this how-to of supervillainy. more inside

Housing project in Scotland for badgers. Protects them from being kilt, you know. more inside

China Successfully Tests Satellite Killer Tech. And there's chuff all anyone can do about it.

Now a Word From Our Scumbag Sponsor

Curious Skype replacement George Now that Skype has ended its free PC-to-phone service to anywhere in North America, this cheap monkey is looking for an alternative. Any monkeys out there found a good one? Anyone using FreeCall?

Posh waiter (YouTube)

Antiques dealer files a million dollar lawsuit ... against the homeless... Good luck collecting on that...

Bill Moyers Speaks on Media Conglomerates' Threat to Democracy "The lobby representing the broadcast, cable, and newspapers industries was extremely powerful, with an iron grip on lawmakers and regulators alike. Both parties bowed to their will when the Republican Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. That monstrous assault on democracy, with malignant consequences for journalism, was nothing but a welfare giveaway to the largest, richest, and most powerful media conglomerations in the world. Goliaths, whose handful of owners controlled, commodified, and monetized everyone and everything in sight." video, audio links here via Ol' Bluey

Death on the High Seas. Fascinating article about mysterious deaths and missing persons on holiday cruises.

1918 flu recovered from frozen Arctic corpse kills monkeys in the lab. WE'RE DOOMED. more inside

Pictaps - make your own dancing man. Click on paint to start. (flash) more inside

Why you procrastinate.

That's so Book! In an interesting technical flavor to linguistics, T9 predictive text on mobile phones is now starting to have an effect on language. For example, 'book' now means 'cool' because when either is entered (2665) into a T9 predictive phone, 'book' is offered before 'cool,' and is now used in place of the latter. via.

The Greatest becomes a senior citizen. Happy Birthday to Muhammad Ali! Now go sit down, and feel old.

Live near the Monticello reactor? Get your free potassium iodide! Announcement made 1/3/2007. Pills will be available "in February". On 1/16/2007 "federal officials" announced that the previous Tuesday (1/10/2007) a 35,000-pound control box fell off a steel beam inside the plant, (but outside the reactor) leading to a plant shutdown. Earlier reports (1/11/2007) said it occurred "during turbine valve testing". A 2nd update that day said: more inside

Chimp born at Chimp Haven. But all the males had vasectomies. Added goodness: her name is Tracy. more inside

Marching Penguins. A short ad for a French TV station. via: SE & Meta.