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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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The Interstellar Space Sex Fallacy : Discovery News
What’s more, although sex is one of the most basic of human functions, space sex is one of the greatest unknowns in the history of manned spaceflight — apart from a few hushed rumors, sex in space has never been attempted. However, as we are about to discover, future human sexuality in space — particularly in interstellar space — may not be very familiar… or even desirable (for procreation purposes, at least).
tags: space sex
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Mice sing ultrasonic love songs to their sweethearts
If you’ve ever seen a common domestic mouse, your first thought probably wasn’t, “You know, I bet that guy has an amazing singing voice.” But it turns out male house mice are rodent crooners, singing ultrasonic love songs to woo females.
tags: mice
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“Tweedland” The Gentlemen’s club: Oxford Bags
Oxford bags were a loose-fitting baggy form of trousers favoured by members of the University of Oxford, especially undergraduates, in England during the early 20th century from the 1920s to around the 1950s. The style had a more general influence outside the University, including in America, but has been somewhat out of fashion since then.
The style originated from a ban in 1924 on the wearing of knickers by Oxford (and Cambridge) undergraduates at lectures. The bagginess allowed knickers to be hidden underneath easily. The style was invented by Harold Acton of Christ Church.
The style made a comeback in 1970s Britain, often worn with platform shoes. A popular 1970s Scottish boy band, The Bay City Rollers wore a variant of oxford bags with tartan trimmings that fell short of ankle-length.
tags: fashion 30s
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Knobkierrie – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knobkierrie, also spelled knobkerrie, knopkierie or knobkerry, are African clubs used mainly in Southern and Eastern Africa. Typically they have a large knob at one end and can be used for throwing at animals in hunting or for clubbing an enemy’s head. This knob is carved out of a treetrunk and the shaft is simply the branch that protruded from the tree at that point.
tags: stick weapons
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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A Thatcher state funeral would be bound to lead to protests | Seumas Milne | Comment is free | The Guardian
But most shocking are the secret preparations now being made to give Thatcher a state funeral. In the 20th century only one former prime minister, Winston Churchill, was given such a ceremonial send-off. Churchill had his own share of political enemies, of course, from the south Wales valleys to India. But his role as war leader when Britain was threatened with Nazi invasion meant he was accepted as a national figure at his death. Thatcher, who cloaked herself in the political spoils of a vicious colonial war in the South Atlantic, has no such status, and is the most divisive British politician of our time.
tags: Thatcher politics
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Cephaloporn, a critique | Pharyngula
Try to respect the erotic properties of the mollusc that make it an interesting subject for porn: texture. It’s the wet slickness, the velvety softness, the muscular rubberiness* that fascinate. I suspect it’s hard to capture in crudely representational figures, and should be more a subject of abstract art.
tags: squid
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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Belle Vue Zoo Park, Manchester guide and map Belle Vue Zoo Park, Manchester guide and map on eBay (end time 11-Jan-12 21:51:25 GMT)
I’m selling this guide to the Belle Vue Zoo Park on Ebay.
tags: bellevue manchester ebay
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Belle Vue Zoological Gardens – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was a large zoo, amusement park, exhibition hall complex and speedway stadium in Belle Vue (Gorton), Manchester, England, opened in 1836. The brainchild of John Jennison, the gardens were initially intended to be an entertainment for the genteel middle classes, with formal gardens and dancing on open-air platforms during the summer, but they soon became one of the most popular attractions in Northern England. Before moving to Belle Vue, Jennison, part-time gardener, had run a small aviary at his home: the beginnings of the zoo which over the years grew to become the third-largest in the United Kingdom.
tags: bellevue Manchester
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“Tweedland” The Gentlemen’s club: The Spitfire Girls
She climbed out of the cockpit of her Fairey Barracuda and became instantly famous. Wearing a summer uniform of white shirt, dark tie and sleeves rolled above the elbows, she slung a parachute over her shoulder and shook out her long blonde hair.
Back-lit by the afternoon sun, pilot Maureen Dunlop looked unbelievably glamorous.
And when the picture appeared in 1944 on the cover of the magazine Picture Post, the world was convinced the Air Transport Auxiliary – or ATA – was an-all woman outfit.
The ATA, or the “legion of the air” as it was known, performed an essential role during World War Two, delivering British warplanes from the factories where they were made to RAF airfields all over Britain. It was dangerous work which gave rise to incredible feats of heroism.
tags: Spitfire WW2
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Orgies for Jesus | Disinformation
What if Christian theology dismissed the virgin birth and other miracles as fairy tales? What if your pastor/priest told you to flush the Ten Commandments down the toilet and instead live life to the fullest? What if Sunday service at your local church consisted in a juicy orgy? All of this could have happened had Carpocrates had his way.
tags: religion
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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The Bloody Red Baron – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
tags: ww1
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Biggles Forum – a place to talk about Biggles • View topic – The Vickers Vandal
The illustrations obviously and unmistakably depict a Walrus/Seagull-V, albeit with an inline engine. Incidentally, the author of the definitive Walrus and Stranraer book has assured me the old Shagbat never ever used anything but a radial. Funny that it is depicted in Biggles with what looks like the Rolls double row 12 cylinder (as used in the Viking IV amphib). Anyway, the Seagull entered service in ’35 and BFA was published in ’34, but presumably Johns knew about the Seagull much earlier than its service date, being editor of Pop. Flying. Perhaps he showed Sindall pictures as a guide for the illustrations, and for whatever reason decided it should have a Viking engine. Once again, I’d dearly love to know what the author-illustrator relationship was.
tags: Biggles
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Biggles – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Biggles” (nickname for James Bigglesworth), a pilot and adventurer, is the title character and main hero of the Biggles series of youth-oriented adventure books written by W. E. Johns.
He first appeared in the story “The White Fokker”, published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine, in 1932. The first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels are Coming, was published that same year. The series was continued until the author’s death in 1968, eventually spanning nearly a hundred volumes – including novels and short story collections – most, but not all, of the latter with a common setting and time frame.
tags: Biggles
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SCALE MODEL NEWS: EXHIBITION OF BOX-ART FROM THE FRENCH HELLER KIT COMPANY
Gallerie 64bis is showing original art through the whole history of the French Heller kit company, from 1957 through to the present. The exhibition brings together some 60 original works by artists such as Michel Bez, Francis Bergèse, and Daniel Bechennec. These are little-known names outside their native country perhaps, but their skills are well worth a closer look – at the show if you can, or via the internet if you can’t. Either way, it’s good to see paintings free of the necessary commercial surroundings of titles and descriptive texts on the boxes.
tags: model art
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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Quids-in! | UK Uncut Legal Action
Are you angry that HMRC lets big business avoid huge sums on their tax bills? Are you concerned about the impact the cuts will have on our public services? There is something you can do! Help us take HMRC to court over the deal that allowed Goldman Sachs – the global banking giant- to get away with avoiding millions in unpaid tax.
We are taking HMRC to court because we believe that their secret deal was unlawful. HMRC and Goldman Sachs can afford the best lawyers in town, so we need your help to take them on. It’s the people’s court case.
Our fantastic lawyers are taking the case on a no-win, no-fee basis, but if we do lose our legal case we are likely to be liable for HMRC and Goldman Sachs legal costs, and we can’t imagine the bill is going to come cheap! Without this money we can’t continue with the legal challenge.
tags: activism banks ukuncut
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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Senators Demand the Military Lock Up American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union
While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself.
tags: usa
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Common Mistakes Writers Make About Guns
As you work on your mystery or thriller, you suddenly realize that you need to know more about guns. You want to do some research so that you can take advantage of a gun’s individual characteristics in your story and what that says about your character. But you also want to avoid the most common mistakes. Where do you start?
tags: guns weapons writing
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Threats from The Burzynski Clinic | Rhys’s Blog
You probably haven’t heard of a man named Stanislaw Burzynski. He offers a treatment called antineoplaston therapy, which he claims can treat cancer, in a centre called the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas. That’s quite a claim, but the Nobel Prize Committee does not need to convene quite yet, because this treatment has been in non-randomised clinical trials since its discovery by Burzynski some 34 years ago. Moreover, no randomised controlled trials showing the effectiveness of antineoplaston therapy have been published in peer reviewed scientific literature.
tags: Burzynski bad science
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John Amery – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Amery (14 March 1912 Chelsea, London – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist who proposed to the Wehrmacht the formation of a British volunteer force (that subsequently became the British Free Corps) and made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany. He was executed for treason after the war having pleaded guilty.
tags: WW2
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