Phallic bomb shelters of Nazi Germany. First appearing in 1936, they were quickly dubbed "cigarette stubbs" or "sugar beet heads". Officially they were called Winkeltürme (Winkel Towers)- after their architect Leo Winkel of Duisburg. Winkel patented his design in 1934, and in the following years Germany built 98 Winkeltürme of five different types.

Burning a man's eyes with lime. The NY Public Library has scans of an 1804 book from China that shows 22 engravings of common punishment methods of the day. more inside

Entertainment giant Sony launches the highly anticipated 'God of War II' game with the apparent slaughter of a goat? Electronics giant Sony has sparked a major row over animal cruelty and the ethics of the computer industry by using a freshly slaughtered goat to promote a violent video game. The corpse of the decapitated animal was the centerpiece of a party to celebrate the launch of the God Of War II game for the company’s PlayStation game consoles. more inside

"An amazing collection of postcards from the dawn of the twentieth century that depict what life would be like in the year 2000" This collection of German postcards were originally give-aways in Hildebrands chocolates in 1900 -- they depict the world as it would be in 2000. Included are a water-unicycle, slidewalks, locomotives pulling houses, personal airplanes, weather control systems, amphibious railways, police X-rays for seeing through walls, and, of course, zeppelins. Beautiful artwork, too more inside

The Divine Comedy, or Commedia Divina if you prefer, marked the Europe's transition from Medieval to Renaissance. Written in 1321 by Dante Alighieri, it is an epic poem composed of depictions of Hell, (Inferno), Purgatory, (Purgatorio), and Heaven, (Paradisio). more inside