Repeat Performances This parallel between Jewish ritual and Civil War reenactment reveals a deep, unexpected similarity in Jewish and Southern culture that distinguishes both from mainstream American public life. Jewish and Southern cultures are both post-traumatic civilizations—they are both built upon a sense of overwhelming obligation to the past.

Pompeii Fast Food Joint To Re-open After Two Thousand Year Hiatus. [Via]

Draw yr own Monkey In fresh scalable vectors to adorn your website or other graphic creation. Or Just Because.

Waterboarding guidelines . This is the stuff of nightmares.

Exploring the meaning of Evil Pictures by Danish artist Nina Kleivan of her daughter dressed as Stalin and Saddam, as part of her exhibition 'Potency'. more inside

The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation How Lincoln could have better put his points across.

You can make your own loudspeakers... if you have access to a good woodshop, have the inclination, time and patience, you can make a pair of extremely good loudspeakers. Troels Gravesen is a biochemist and audio hobbyist - his website publishes some of the best documented DIY designs around.

March Madness: Not Just For Basketball Fans some spirited competitions here, from the Whedonverse to the Muppetverse (please please please vote for Rowlf), although the lovely and talented Miss C and the Flossers failed to include Consumerist's Worst Company Playoff or Nerdcast's Game Vs. Game Tournament or Queen Victoria's Royal Pick-Em, or the non-playoff-oriented Modok Madness (via thatotherfilter).

Video game bosses' lament.

Not left to chance. Making sure you get that amazing wildlife shot by renting the wildlife is apparently a widespread, if somewhat under the radar, practice. more inside

Mix and match album covers Album cover art literally stitched together to create something new.

Star Wars as Icelandic saga - There is also an Old High German palimpsest known to scholars, later overwritten by a Latin choral and only partly legible to us today, which contains fragments of a version wherein “Veitare” survives to old age after slaying “Lûc” out of loyalty to the emperor, but is naturally still conflicted about the deed when the son of his daughter Leia avenges the killing on him.

Tree shrew lavatory in Borneo - the pitcher plant has evolved to capture tree shrew poo as a much needed source of nitrogen.

Lazertits! Because you always need to see nekkid ladies with lasers coming out of their boobs! Fluff for a Friday night.

So anyway, this website I visit reckons that I suck (well, not me personally, we've never met, but in a Venn Diagram I would be in the "suck" balloon...) because I block their ads. They've now written a detailed guide to not blocking their ads. more inside

Vroom!

A regular dose of lemon juice , that's all it took to prevent scurvy. The Royal Navy knew that in the 18th century. So why was scurvy back at the start of the 20th?

Ten songs you know, that never won an Oscar, in their original movie form. I never knew that Dean Martin had to fend off Jerry Lewis's bleatings whilst crooning "That's amore." And wouldn't we all prefer "Mean green mother from outer space" to be a standard instead of "Take your breath away"?

Star Wars Made In France [SLYT] I have no words to describe this. It has to be seen and heard. [via]

Building better teachers - or rather, preparing teachers better. (via, which includes this singularly *ahem* illuminating comment on why one is not prime. anyway.)