The astronauts were more than excited to feel the ground, though standing on it was too hard for them after spending so many days in the state of weightlessness.

After 191 days, Soyuz TMA-11 and its three human occupants returned to Earth from the International Space Station, landing in Kazakhstan, April 19, 2008. A partial separation failure caused a ballistic re-entry that in turn caused the spacecraft to land 475 km from its intended landing site. The occupants, Yuri Malenchenko, Peggy Whitson and Yi So-Yeon, were assisted by local residents who discovered the charred spacecraft resting in their fields.

Impact craters of note. // Hidden water. // Big hair, sideburns and mainframes. (h/t, Coudal) // A compendium of temporal anomalies. // Tactile holograms inching closer. // Tentacles in New York. // Plant structures. // The root bridges of Cherrapungee. // Temporary fixes. // From terrorist to tenure. // Bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed jalapeno thingies. // The deadly buttocks of Astro Boy. // I think I see a problem with the kinetic lamp. // LED graffiti. // Remarkable motorcycles. // Electrical wire octopus. // What to do with a concrete stalker. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Mr Hoagy Carmichael.  

Pioneering adverts of the West, 1867-1918. 

The marvellous Mrs Gunn and her bust-restoring oils, 1917. “No parafine used.”

Michael Yon is in Afghanistan with the British military. 

  

Some people say the Taliban are cowardly for planting bombs, but I do not believe this makes them any more cowardly than the A-10s, Apaches, B-1Bs and Reapers make us cowardly. We didn’t come here for a fair fight. We came to win. Some troops even say that if you show up to a battle and find it’s evenly matched, you didn’t plan well. What most of us find cowardly and despicable are the enemies who hide behind children. The bombs they plant for us are fair play. But males who hide behind children are not worthy of respect.

His site really should be in your blogroll. Via Mr Eugenides. 

From the ephemera archives, more irregular listening.

Liz Brady: Palladium (The Hip). (1966) 

Gilbert Bécaud: Quand Tu Danses. (1953)

Richard Cheese: Ice Ice Baby. (2006) 

Señor Coconut: Showroom Dummies. (2000) 

John Barry: The Ipcress File. (1965)

Shirley Maclaine: Big Spender. (1969)  

Tommy McCook and the Skatalites: Dr Zhivago. (1969) 

Rose Murphy: Busy Line. (Circa 1940s)

Hayseed Dixie: Monster Mash. (2005) 

John Morris & Mel Brooks: Young Frankenstein. (1976)

Previous mixtapes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.