Summer wildfires are drawing near Lthe birthplace of the atomic bomb. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, built as Site Y of the Manhattan Project, is today used for research, including weapons engineering. The town of Los Alamos has been evacuated and the lab temporarily closed. Some pictures of the lividly lit skies on the lab's Flickr page. more inside

Oh Baby... California Lieutenant Governor, ex-San Francisco Mayor and Outspoken Gay Marriage Supporter Gavin Newsom just announced that his wife has given birth to their second child. Backdating, that would put the conception right in the heat of the campaign that got him elected. Now THAT's the kind of political sex story I can get behind.

Empty trash. Buy milk. Forge history. To trace the great arcs of civilization, historians tap the humble list.

Meat Glue . The meat industry's dirty little secret From Australia's Today Tonight program: "The industry-wide secret butchers don't want you to know about: the special product called Meat Glue sticking your steak together." Banned by the European Union, Meat Glue remains legal in Australia — and the U.S. (disgusting SLYT)

A description of the Joplin tornado by an ER doctor who was on duty at St. John's Hospital when it was hit. more inside

I'm calling out homunculus . With 580 links, and being the most regular (and creative) poster we've been lately fortunate to have, I think we need to give our homunculus three monkey cheers. I, for one, welcome our appreciate the effort Our Guy puts forth! Pop Tarts! Pop Tarts! Yeah!

The story behind the world's oldest museum, built by a Babylonian princess 2,500 years ago.

24 hours of minutes The Los Angeles County Museum is showing a 24-hour film in which the minutes tick by in real time, while the audience sees clocks or watches from movies and television. It starts Monday at 11 AM and ends Tuesday at AM. LACMA is keeping the café open all night to serve the moviegoers. more inside

In Today's Society, Are You Master of Your Own Skin? Having found a publisher's proof copy of The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life, which principles I'm trying to apply to my own life (up to a point), there is a reference to spanking children with books bound by the flayed flesh of criminals. Not popular today. But looking into it, I was led to the Boston Athenium for the story of the referenced highwayman who claimed to be "master of his own skin," thence on his way to become the book binding on his confession... But it turns out that not only criminals observed the practice. The Athenium link also notes that a famous beautiful lady had her skin put up on a treatise of astronomy. More on such practices here.

Vegan FAIL

Moire weird stuff from Japan Wearable brain-wave controlled cosplay cat ears. Meow!

I do NOT SEE anything to worry about!

But it need not be taken seriously any longer, its deputies merely providing the House with amusement when they indulge in their fantastic outbursts.

Portal Tetris proves that sometimes putting two cool things together is not the best idea.

The monkeytail beard: the hipness of the goatee in 1993 without any of the social acceptance.

Visit Abbey Road and watch tourists reenact the ever-so-famous album cover with great schadenfreude (if that's your thing).

If I told you Keyboard Cat had a band and they're pretty good, what would you say? "HOLY F***!" more inside

Curious, George: Old blog of superhero battle back-&-forth. I recall a wonderful blog in which two cartoon artists went back-and-forth conquering the previous day's superhero. For example maybe one day "Spike Hand Man" would beat the previous day's "Waterbed Man," and then the next day "Marshmellow Body Man" would beat "Spike Hand Man," and so forth. My Google-fu has failed me!

There's new courseware up at Open Yale Courses There's lots of open courseware out there, but Yale's is the most complete. Just today (or maybe yesterday), nine new courses were posted. more inside

An infinite number of monkeys with typewriters (Monkius typeriterus) . That is all.

What to do when your pilot gets sucked out the window . The Story of BA 5390 mostly repeat, but with additional photos Old newsfilter, but still interesting if you missed the first go-round