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.

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?

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

A temple complex in Turkey that apparently pre-dates the Pyramids of Egypt. Could this be the site of the worst mistake in human history? (agriculture or religion, take your pick...)

An 8.8 earthquake has occurred in Chile. Australia and other pacific regions are on tsunami watch.

Wooden clock plans. Beautiful. (via)

Wind farm wakes

Flying 101 - new livery from Kulula. This makes me happy.

Classic photos in lego more inside

Crayola colours 1903 to 2010.

Fish and Chips!

Authors talk about their big idea.

Frame 10,525 - opening photo to Edge of the World by Jim Richardson. more inside

Pb outperforms Au in 2009.

I'll see your complex plane and raise you an imaginary dimension.

Pelican 1 : Bugatti Veyron owner 0

Camera left on mountain top with instructions for climbers to photograph themselves gets returned.