Linkfest

-- James posts on getting his hearing back via a cochlear implant. Very, very cool.

-- I'd never heard this before, but Japan waged germ warfare during World War Two.

-- A satirical Onion headline from 12 years ago: "Area Woman Tired Of Men Staring At Her Breast Implants." From a Maine newspaper a couple of months ago: "About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity. ... Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on." (via Dr. Helen) In 1998 it was a joke. Today it's still a joke, but in a different way.

-- Here's a nice photo of the International Space Station passing by Jupiter, in daytime no less. And here's photos and a short video showing the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its final mission docking with the ISS as they transit across the sun.

-- There's a new movie out about Hypatia of Alexandria which, apparently (I haven't seen it), focuses on the mythical destruction of the great library of Alexandria in order to propagate the mythical conflict between science and Christianity throughout history. An interesting review of the movie is at Armarium Magnum (a follow-up to a post he wrote a year ago), but if you want a quicker rundown, check out Michael Flynn.

-- When I was in the Marines, I once got up on stage at a club filled with several hundred drunk Army soldiers, grabbed a microphone, and sang a song mocking and denigrating the Army and praising the Marine Corps. For this, a friend of mine (a soldier himself) nicknamed me "Balls". But this guy, wow.

-- A space elevator in seven years? Maybe we could have the technology necessary to build it in seven (although I doubt it), but I can't believe it could be up and running in that short of a time.

-- 5 True War Stories That Put Every Action Movie to Shame.

-- The scramjet test that I mentioned last week worked gloriously. It's exciting to see this stuff finally coming to fruition.

-- Three people in Germany were killed when a recently-discovered bomb from World War Two blew up. This happens on the Continent from time to time. A few months ago, I read about a bomb discovered near Ghent that was allegedly from World War One, although I can't find anything about it online now.

-- This ticks me off.

-- This week, after dark, you'll be able to see three planets (well, four if you look down). Saturn, Mars, and Venus will all be visible about an hour after sunset.

-- SpaceX's Falcon 9 has achieved Earth orbit. Also very, very cool.