Monday links

Dorothy Parker's birthday: quotes, poems, a brief bio, and the weird journey of her ashes

Five Ancient Athletes Who Dominated the Olympics Thousands of Years Ago, and The United States' First Trip to the Olympics.

In Jerusalem, the World's Only Surviving Tattoo Shop For Medieval Pilgrims.

Excellent supercut of technology breaking down, then being beaten until it works again.

The Rules About How to Address the U.S. Flag Came About Because No One Wanted to Look Like a Nazi.

This Incredible Wooden Book Is a Series of Puzzles That Have to Be Solved to Continue Reading.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include bizarre Victorian inventions, hackers and lock picking, missing counterfeit money, and Australian weird wildlife.

Friday links

Australian weird wildlife update: football-sized goldfish invading waterways (with bonus Aussie wildlife links)

Why hackers are so obsessed with picking locks. Related: The MIT Guide to Lock picking.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Cars For Sale.

François Bourassa printed $250 million in counterfeit twenties before he was was caught. But $50 million of it is still missing, and he only spent six weeks in jail.

The Life of a Phone Sex Operator.

Temporary Tattoo Tells You When You’re Drunk.

16 Bizarre Victorian Inventions.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include Genghis Khan the climate change hero, trees communicating with each other, why the driver  doesn't get carsick, and what happens when a fly lands on your food.

Australian wildlife update: football-sized goldfish invading waterways (with bonus Aussie wildlife links)

There's lots of over-the-top wildlife in Australia, in addition to the cane toad (wiki). 

Telegraph:

Unwanted former pet goldfish that have grown to the size of footballs are travelling hundreds of kilometres through Western Australian waterways, new research has found.

Weighing up to 1.9kg, the goldfish enter river systems after being dumped from aquariums into catchment lakes.

Once established they are difficult to eradicate and damage Australian ecosystems, Murdoch University researchers have found.

Australia has way too much weird wildlife. Remember this?: Python Caught on Camera Eating a Crocodile After 5 Hour Battle:

 And this spider web forest:

Plus a spider big (and mean) enough to eat snakes:

This spider eats birds:

And Feral Camels Plague Australian Outback:

The 1.5 billion poisonous cane toads (wiki) are the most famous of the outrageous Aussie wildlife:

Here's a brief (4 minute) BBC video on them:



And the snakes are adapting so that they can eat the poisonous cane toads:

As if all that wasn't enough, they also have firenados:

Feel free to provide your own favorite Aussie wildlife stories in the comments, and I'll update this post.

Thursday links

Today is the anniversary of the death of Genghis Khan: founder of Mongolian Empire, prolific spreader of DNA, and climate change hero.

Eric Clapton Goes Fishing and Lands the Biggest Salmon of the Summer.

Do trees communicate with each other?

Is it Better to Walk or Run in the Rain?

Why doesn’t the driver get carsick?

This Is What Happens When A Fly Lands On Your Food.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include what happens when your Roomba runs over dog poop, what happened in the seconds, hours and weeks after the dinosaur-killing asteroid, Schrödinger's cat explanation, jokes, and videos, and a brief history of athletes drinking their own urine. and a visual history of the human pyramid.

Hillary cartoon du jour: charitable donations