Weird Science ponders the inevitable stupidity of public transit - Ars Technica
Weird Science rounds up the week's odd science news, including a bird-dropped baguette that interfered with the Large Hadron Collider, man-eating lions, and the daily irritations of public transit modeled mathematically. via arstechnica.com

Ambush of the Common Sort
Got a ping today about an attack on the road between Jalalabad and Kabul.  It's a dangerous road and I don't like to drive it.  The source has always been reliable, so I pinged Tim Lynch (who often is on that road), and Tim just sent these pics and a quick narrative.  (Unedited, and my post also coming via Blackberry.)  Tim writes: via www.michaelyon-online.com

Hitler house sale alarms locals
The sale of Adolf Hitler's family home in the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn has triggered concern that it could become a shrine for Nazi sympathisers. The unassuming house where Hitler was born in 1889 has been put on the market priced at 2.2m euros (£1.9m; $3.3m). Residents and local politicians fear that the property could fall into the hands of far-right extremists. Braunau's mayor Gerhard Skiba wants to prevent that happening, but the council does not have the funds to buy it. The building is currently used by an organisation helping the disabled and has at various times in its history housed a

BBC NEWS | Technology | China plans for humanoid Olympics
China is planning to hold a robot Olympics in 2010.The international event will be held in the city of Harbin and will see robots take part in 16 different events. Robots will be able to compete in familiar Olympic sports such as athletics as well as those more suited to machines such as cleaning. Entry to the competition will be restricted to robots resembling humans. They must possess two arms and legs. Wheels are banned. via news.bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS | Americas | Brazil man appears at own funeral
A 59-year-old Brazilian man has surprised his family by turning up at his own funeral, local media report. Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, a bricklayer, had identified him as the victim of a car crash in southern Parana state the previous day. Police told O Globo newspaper that relatives had trouble identifying the corpse because it was badly disfigured. It emerged that Mr Goncalves had spent the night drinking a rum-like liquor called "pinga" with his friends. He did not get word of his funeral until it was already happening on Monday morning, his niece Rosa Sampaio said. She said some