Blog Heap of Links for the day 2 May 2015

• Hundreds of Yazidi prisoners have been killed near Mosul in northern Iraq
• About 40,000 were captured when Isis attacked Yazidi villages last summer

An Italian man hung up the phone on Pope Francis twice thinking he was being pranked, but later apologised to him for his error

For 68 years the Kiddie Park in Bartlesville has given children a theme park experience; and despite vandalism and broken machines, the park has held strong. Friday was opening night at the park where generations have families have come since it opened in 1947.…

Among newly discovered, 160-million-year-old, fossils in northeastern China is one of Yi qi (“Yi” meaning “wing” and “qi” meaning “strange”), a pigeon-sized dinosaur without feathered wings. Instead, Yi qi has a long bone extending from the wrist, which resembles the structure of bat wings. …completely new to dinosaurs, and only by comparing it to bats, flying squirrels and the like could the researchers, published in Nature, even guess as to its function.…

A bill signed by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday seeks to protect religious leaders from being forced to perform marriage ceremonies that run counter to their beliefs. The measure also seeks to make clergy immune from lawsuits arising from their refusal to perform such ceremonies. …

“This bill makes it clear that the government can never compel our religious leaders or houses of worship to act in violation of their faith where marriage is concerned,” Fallin said. “I am proud to join our Legislature in taking a strong stand in defense of religious liberty and the freedoms awarded to all American citizens by the U.S. Constitution.”

The first citizens will arrive on Friday to populate the world's newest self-declared country – Liberland, a tiny patch of woodland and fields on the sandy banks of the River Danube. The establishment of the pocket-sized nation was declared earlier this month on land wedged between Croatia and Serbia which, its founders argue, was never properly claimed by either country.…

[Oklahoma] Legislation authorizing medical trials for children with severe forms of epilepsy by using an oil derived from the marijuana plant has been signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin. … Fallin says she remains opposed to legalizing marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes.

Eighteen black women who were told decades ago that their babies had died soon after birth at a St. Louis hospital now wonder if the infants were taken away by hospital officials to be raised by other families. The suspicions arose from the story of Zella Jackson Price, who was 26 in 1965 when she gave birth at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis. Hours later, she was told that her daughter had died, but she never saw a body or a death certificate. No one is sure who was responsible, but Price's daughter ended up in foster care, only to resurface almost 50 years later.…

…New York City media is reporting an NYPD officer was shot this evening in Queens Village. …shot in the head …ambushed …

…Might it be possible to reconstruct what someone was saying from video of nearby objects alone? A team of MIT computer scientists have figured out how to do just that, turning a chip bag into a "visual microphone."…

The early bluebird of bitterness catches the cats at play.

Oklahoma City: Jerry Billings was a U.S. Navy aviation machinist airman who served his country in the 1960s. On Christmas Eve, the 69-year-old man passed away with no family to claim his remains. Christine Hoffman, who works for the city, took it upon herself to find out more about the veteran. …thanks to thousands of shares about the funeral service on social media… More than 750 people, from military men and women to first responders and bikers showed up to pay their respects to a man they never even knew. …

Today's video selections totally dominated by the mob violence in Baltimore, and repercussions.

Pete's latest lesson in how to view the world on May Day. [Blogged here a day late]

"…No idea where this is going.Which is normal.…"

TGIF Toons are still good on Saturday.

Vic find the world peculiar and lets it know, starting here today.

:On this day in 1863 : Stonewall Jackson was wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He died eight days later. An interesting little known fact about this event is that he is buried in two places…."