The Red Russian Army Choir and the Leningrad Cowboys are happy together. (h/t, Dr Westerhaus.) // Dr Strangelove transcript. (h/t, Coudal.) // Stanley Kubrick: The Invisible Man. (1996) Excellent documentary. Part 2. (h/t, The Thin Man.) // Film directors, directing. // Tarkovsky bloopers. Oh, how we laughed. // The passage of time may not be what it was. // Hinode telescope footage of the Sun’s chromosphere. More. // Volcanic plume on Io. // Bearded men of the 21st century. (1939) “The man of the next century will revolt against shaving.” // Mark Steyn on the wrongs of Canada’s Human Rights Commission. // And on the right kind of imperialism. // Mr Eugenides on Seumas Milne. // Norman Geras on double standards. // Why Martin Luther King was a Republican. Discuss. // The H-Bomb and You. (1954) // BSG season 4 preview. // Everything you need to know about Lost in 8 minutes 15 seconds. // Dante’s Cove. What Torchwood wishes it was. (h/t, The Thin Man.) // Jerry O’Connell does Tom Cruise. Wait for the laugh. // Scientology documents. “Between 38 trillion years ago and present time a lot of off-beat implants can be found.” // Reconstructing shredded Stasi documents. “We all knew they could know everything. But we didn’t understand what that meant until that moment. Suddenly it was palpable.” // How to peel potatoes. (h/t, Grow-a-brain.) // A toilet seat for cats. $109.95 // And, via The Thin Man, it’s all about appearance.

Vintage colour photographs of American cities. Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans. (h/t, Grow-a-brain.) // Radical cosmetics. Stem cells, skull lifts, harvested buttocks. // Micrograph beauty contest. Behold the nanotoilet. // 80 million tiny images. // A gallery of psychics. But you knew that already. // Virtual TR-909 drum machine. // Sandstorm, Khartoum. // Plantage. // The politics of Doctor Who. // 2007: a year of BBC impartiality. // Alan Johnson upsets Guardian readers. “The left takes its cue from what it is against rather than what it is for.” // Ophelia Benson on the difference between civility and respect. // Philip Carl Salzman on Muhammad’s tribalism. “Most accounts of Islamic history… glide over these conquests, as if they were friendly takeovers.” // Andrew Bostom on Steven Coughlin. // Jonathan Fine on terrorism and beliefs. “Downplaying religious inspiration for terrorism… is both inaccurate and dangerous.” // Deogolwulf on dreams of a world government. // On Hollywood bad guys. // Masked hoodie. Fight crime, scare the elderly. // A fan obsesses over the Spider-Man theme tune. Lousy cartoon, groovy music. (h/t, Coudal.) // Heroes action figures. Man bags, brains and a Japanese Elvis. // Still life foodscapes. (h/t, the EQ-aliser.) // The world of Spam. It’s a versatile product. (h/t, Dr Westerhaus.) // A small house made of meat. // Jackie Gleason meets LSD. // And, via The Thin Man, the agonies of youth. Lovely.

Original Star Wars trailer. (1977) “The story of a boy, a girl and a universe… A billion years in the making.” // Life-size beer brewing Bender. Bite his shiny metal ass. // Cannibalism in Texas. (h/t, Ace.) // Tintin redubbed. Caution: salty language. // A magnificently cheesy moment from Mike Hodges’ Flash Gordon. (1980) Sydow to the max. // The art of Syd Mead. // The race to the Moon, told graphically. // New solar cycle begins. “This upcoming cycle will be one of the most intense ever measured.” More. // Soyuz TMA-11, Kazakhstan. // Oliver Kamm on Oliver “laughing boy” James. // Deogolwulf on Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, mistress of rigour. // Andrew Bostom and Matthias Kuntzel on Islamic anti-Semitism. // John Rosenberg on Obama not being “ideologically black.” // Five dangerous things you should let your kids do. “They’re young. They heal fast.” // Tokyo’s traffic control centre. (h/t, Coudal.) // Inverkip power station. (h/t, 30gms.) // The science projects of Johnny Chung Lee. Low-budget EEG, the $14 Steadicam and new things to do with your Wii remote. (h/t, The EQ-aliser.) // 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. // Tetris, played well. (h/t, An Insomniac.) // Snow flakes. // Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth. (h/t, Savage Popcorn.) // Punishments of 19th century China. // 79 versions of Popcorn. (h/t, Dan Collins.) // And, via The Thin Man, a tale of improper passion.

Via the Bureau of Communication, some helpful tools for self-expression.

For instance, on the airing of grievance.   

Or, apology made simple.*

*See also, statement of gratitude. 

More.

Now here’s a thing. Aniket Chindak holds the unofficial world record for ‘limbo-skating’, a feat that involves trundling under low bars and a range of other obstacles – say, 57 parked cars – while sprawling so that no part of the anatomy is more than eight inches above the ground.

“The hardest thing is to go fast enough before I bend down, because that’s how you can skate under so many cars at once,” the six-year-old explained. Needless to say, Aniket has rivals to contend with, among them, seven-year-old Zoey Beda, aka the Roller Limbo Princess.

More ephemera tomorrow.