Nobody Steals a Kinkade

Why do museum robbers steal a famous painter's work or a well-known painting? Wouldn't it be practically impossible to sell it on the open market?

Slate answers the question.

(Oh, and everyone's favorite quaint cottages)

Scavengers

Via Digg, this article about India's "Sulabh" and how it is changing the lives of the scavengers. Nothing new, if you are familiar with Sulabh's story.

A few months ago, Tehelka did a superb job at covering a related story about the lives (and deaths) of India's manhole cleaners. That story is a must-read.
***

Sulabh hosts a "Museum of Toilets" website which has a section titled the Aryan Code Of Toilets. Reading it will cure most people of nostalgia about the good old days.

But what I want to know is, why did the Aryans require an instruction manual for performing numbers 1 and 2? (And does that mean even back then "RTFM" was the stock response?)

Mutatin' Bacteria, Batman!

"Over the generations, in fits and starts, the bacteria did indeed evolve into faster breeders. The bacteria in the flasks today breed 75% faster on average than their original ancestor. Lenski and his colleagues have pinpointed some of the genes that have evolved along the way;"

This is a fascinating bit of science research. (Link to science writer Carl Zimmer's blog, The Loom.)

Dirty Deeds Sold Dirt Cheap

At what point in a rock band's career does its distribution channel become more newsworthy than the music?

His Cousin Marvin May Be Undecided

But "Chuck won't sing for Johnny".

Satyajit

Three YT videos featuring the master talking about cinema. His cinema.

That's all.

(courtesy MetaFilter)

Hey Bo Diddley :(

RIP.

Even if he had never played that crazy "hambone", I would still worship Bo Diddley for writing one of *the* all-time great, scary badass songs:

I walked 47 miles on barb wire,
Use a cobra-snake for a necktie.
Got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made from rattlesnake hide.
I got a brand new chimney on top,
And it's a-made out of human skulls.
Now come on baby, let's take a little walk
And tell me, who do you love?