Pooooooofs! After such an exhausting week, here's a soft-and-fluffy visit with more of MoFi's favorite animal mascots. Apologies ahead of time for annoying Geocities URL

The zombie dots have evolved! "You're a citizen of Malton, a city that's in the process of being evacuated and quarantined to contain an unspecified contagion..." Like you don't already know that means 'brains on toast' is the hip new breakfast trend. (via robotwisdom.) more inside

Unborn babies carry pollutants Unborn babies in the United States are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report released yesterday. . . "If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution laws aren't working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in the bodies of babies who have not yet lived outside the womb". . . more inside

Curious George: Traffic Tickets and Points I received two different traffic violations last year when I lived in NY and had a NY license. I live in CT and have a CT license now. If a NY driver gets a traffic ticket in other states and pleads guilty, the points that would go on an in-state license don't transfer. The driver can plead guilty, pay the fee, and go back home to NY. Since CT DMV is difficult to navigate, here are my questions: Does CT have a point penalty system for their in-state drivers? If so, what is CT's policy on transfer of points? How would the monkeys here approach this problem? Thanks in advance for any info!

Artefacts from the ancient kingdoms of Qataban, Himya, and Saba (biblical Sheba) Flash: click the picture on the right

After a tough week, heres some Friday Fun Launch gonzo from the cannon into the bucket o'water. 'tis fun me hearties!

Billy the Kid in Literature

Mashups! Something over 700 mashups available for your listening pleasure at goodblimey.com. Unfortunately, you can't leech 'em anymore, since the bandwidth was exceeded in a matter of days when they were available for download. Lots of good stuff here for a wide variety of tastes. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go dance around to Rockafeller Rocket Shack.

The Power of Nightmares , by Adam Curtis, is now available online. more inside

When it comes to winning or even making the shortlist of prizes in fiction, poetry, art, architecture and music, women fare poorly. Why? Are professional women artists less talented than their male colleagues or are women simply being denied equal opportunity? more inside

Picture Australia
A vast repository of digital images from a large number of libraries, archives, museums, galleries & universities. There are more than a million images accessible.

It all started with some spiderwebs. more inside

Database of inflight incidents (via FAA/NASDAC). Pilots and flight attendents can get immunity from FAA sanctions by filing an report. Colorful searching shows not just technical reports that help improve safety, but bizarre incidents involving nude sunbathers, drunk passengers, and crew falling asleep. (more) more inside

In 1895, Sven Hedin , a Swedish explorer inspired by tales of lost cities under the sand, trekked across China's forbidding Takla-makan desert (meaning Place Of No Return). He barely survived, and over half of his party perished, including his problematic guide, nicknamed Yollchi, the pointer of the way. The Takla-makan is the second largest desert in the world, but it may still be hard to find.

Marathon's Story. Huge, aging Mac nerds need only click on this link. Wow. "In addition to these questions is the question - who is communicating this message to us? The first line is typical of Leela "Your last mission was a success, but I have terrible news". The reference to your last mission is presumably the clearing of the Engineering Section of Pfhor to prevent them from detonating a bomb (Shake Before Using...). If you had successfully completed the earlier level "Bob-B-Q" you would have received the following message from Leela..."

Magical Musical Mayhem A delighfully whimsical interactive Flash program that invites you to create your own ambient music contraption. Addictive and enchanting. Via Waxy

Curious George, Undergrad Edition: So, on July 31st, I'm breaking my piggy banks and heading up to the University of Montreal for a certain physics conference. It's my first academic conference and I've never been up to Uni of Montreal, so I've got some questions. more inside

Spaceweather PHONE is an astronomy alert service from the creators of Spaceweather.com. When auroras appear over your hometown, your phone will ring. When the space station is about to fly over your back yard, your phone will ring. When planets align ... you get the idea. Costs money. But could be useful.

Curious George: My grandfather, who hates most everything, turns 80 this week and I have no idea what to get him. more inside

Daily Jigsaw I have no idea how many of you already know about this, but the puzzles are decent, and you can adjust the difficulty level. They amuse me, thought I'd share.