Blog Heap of Links for the day 29 May 2015

Some 20,000 residents in the western German city of Cologne are being forced to evacuate their homes after authorities discovered a 200-kilogram (440-pound) bomb from World War II. Schools and kindergartens remained closed and dozens of ambulances were on the scene to evacuate residents of a nursing home.…

…In a series of experiments on mice involving a technique called optogenetics – when light is used to activate specific nerve cells in the brain – the researchers found that it was possible for the mice to remember a memory that had previously been lost.…

Firefighters were too big to rescue a kitten from a storm drain in south-central Pennsylvania, but a six-year-old girl proved to be just the right size.…

A new decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals holds that New York’s state government has the right to ban “Choose Life” license plates on the grounds that such a statement is “patently offensive.” …

Yesterday more than 740 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean by the Italian coast guard and German, Irish and British naval vessels. Today some 3,300 migrants were rescued by Italy. Meanwhile, Frontex reports that the people smugglers make an average of €1 million for every boat carrying 450 migrant passengers across the Med.

In other news, forces for the Libyan franchise of the Islamic State have seized the airport at Sirte, Muammar Qaddafi’s home town. Kinetic activists for ISIS now control most of Sirte. …

"…I did find some fun things,but some of it is not so cheerful.But it is what it is.…"

"…On this day in 1942 Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra record Irving Berlin's White Christmas, which becomes best-selling single in history."