AMF: Civil War Embalming Goodness

Hey, folks! It's Friday! You know what that means! Arbeit macht Freitag! First, the news.

Space.com: New Planet Orbits Backward

CNN: Why some Muslim youth turn to violence

BBC: Camel cull - Australia plans drastic solution to outback problem

BBC: Why Iran and Venezuela are new best friends

Guardian: Cheney 'thought Bush had gone soft'

Guardian: The lost Kennedy - With Eunice Kennedy Shriver gone, it gives journalists another chance to showcase one of the many horrible Kennedy secrets: the fact that they had a mentally handicapped Kennedy sister lobotomized to prevent her from embarrassing the family.

Guardian: Invest in Africa, invest in the whole world - Gotta say, I'm in favor of support to Africa, but it's tough to treat Africa as an "investment" - thus far, it's been a pretty lousy investment for those who have sunk money into trying to help it develop.

Guardian: Australian Senate rejects curbs on greenhouse gases - Maybe Australia is finally coming to the point of realizing what the rest of the world will eventually realize, hopefully not too late: that Global Warming is a farce, and that scare tactics and pseudo-science shouldn't be necessary to get people to make ecologically sustainable choices.

Times: PM tweets defence of NHS amid US attacks - Gordon Brown's the worst Prime Minister that the United Kingdom has had in decades. There have already been calls for his resignation. If Gordon Brown is defending the NHS and recommending it as the model to follow, that's probably a good indication that we should not adopt a British-esque system.

Times: Ducks in a House - You've heard of snakes on a plane - here's a picture of ducks in a house.

Times: Dodgy elections? We have them, too, Hillary Clinton tells Nigerians - I'm really not a fan of Hillary Clinton.

Wired: New Zealand Sending Elite Troops to A-stan

UPI: Britain rethinks jump jet order - Behold! The MoD prepares to make another mistake.

Fars: Iranian Chess Master Hopes to Break Guinness World Record - Shouldn't this man be stoned for doing anything related to alcohol? Do the mullahs and the editors at Fars understand that Guinness is alcohol?

Fars: Iran Arrests 4 Rigi Linked Agents, Iran Serious about Executing Jundallah No.2 - The mullahs are going to burn in Hell.

Michael Yon: Reporting from Afghanistan: Not Your Typical Job

Okay. For several weeks, I've wanted to post this link: Civil War Undertaker. I've been fascinated with the history and science of embalming for several years now. As I was digging around on the web a few weeks ago, I came across this page, which is the website of a licensed embalmer from Missouri who's also a Civil War re-enactor. The character he plays? A Civil War-era embalmer-surgeon. Absolutely fascinating. Even if you have no fascination with embalming, the site's worth checking out. So... Go. Check it out.

That's it for today, folks. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.