Blog Heap of Links for the day 31 May 2016

…North Korea… ballistic missile thought to have a range of 2,500 miles failed to launch early Monday morning… blew up shortly after takeoff… had the potential to hit U.S. military bases as far away as Guam. "They are 0-4" one official said describing North Korea's most recent missile launch attempts. …

To Protect Soldiers From Bombs, Military Scientists Build a Better Dummy…

America's answer to the 'carrier-killer missile.'…

…In most cases, the dinosaurs would have needed lips to protect their teeth, as the majority of them weren't water dwelling creatures. They would have had scaly lips, just like reptiles such as the monitor lizard.

“It’s also important to remember that teeth would have been partially covered by gums. If we look at where the enamel stops, we can see that a substantial portion of the teeth would be hidden in the gums. The teeth would have appeared much smaller on a living animal." Reisz concluded: “In popular culture, we imagine dinosaurs as more ferocious-looking, but that is not the case.”…

…The Syrian refugee crisis has precipitated a “catastrophic outbreak” of a flesh-eating disease that is spreading across the Middle East and North Africa… ongoing violence in Syria has “created a setting in which we have seen the re-emergence of polio and measles, as well as tuberculosis, hepatitis A, and other infections in Syria and among displaced Syrian refugees.” … Regarding the flesh-eating disease, leishmaniasis… “We may be witnessing an epidemic of historic and unprecedented proportions, but it has largely been hidden due to lack of specific information.”…

…A new study looked not at military and historical records but at tree rings and found that the winter of 1241 was cold and snowy. Big deal. A little sold and snow couldn’t stop the mighty thundering army led by Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu, could it? No, but it could stop their horses. The Mongols depended on dry, flat plains for their fast and furious attacks and for grass to feed their all-important horses. The snowy winter of 1241 became the swampy spring of 1242, the plains became muck, the grass became scarce and the Mongol Horde became the army formerly known as the mightiest fighting machine of history as it picked up its saddles and went home.…

A man in New York has been charged with manslaughter after brutally attacking the man who attempted to rape his wife Monday… woman was able to alert her husband… [who] eventually entered the apartment as the attack was still happening. He punched the attempted rapist… multiple times.… [rapist] later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.…

Internet giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft signed up Tuesday to a new EU code of conduct against hate speech, the European Commission said.

The US-based firms have agreed to speed up their reactions when illegal material is flagged up, with the aim of looking at all suspicious material within 24 hours.…

Almost 46 million people are living as slaves globally with the greatest number in India but the highest prevalence in North Korea, according to the third Global Slavery Index launched on Tuesday… by Australia-based human rights group Walk Free Foundation, increased its estimate of people born into servitude, trafficked for sex work, or trapped in debt bondage or forced labor to 45.8 million from 35.8 million in 2014.…

The news feed is light tonight. Our American tipsters are probably eating BBQ down at the VFW hall, but I’m not sure where everyone else is.

The weird news story of the day concerns two alligators who were found feasting on a human corpse in a canal in Broward County, in South Florida. According to police, the body had been in the water awhile before the alligators started on it, and it has not been identified yet — it’s not even clear whether it is male or female. The whole thing sounds like the opening sequence in a “Law and Order” episode.…

Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person…
Things Are Thriving In The "Modern Hooker Economy"…
When Wives Cheat…

UN: 'Islamic State' using human shields in Fallujah…
Taliban overrun Afghan police checkpoints in Helmand Province…
Dalai Lama says 'too many' refugees in Europe…
Tech giants back EU hate speech rules…

Deadly floods in TX…
F.B.I. arrests man on most wanted list…
Airlines suspending flights to Venezuela…

…On this day in 1971 in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by a Democrat congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day began occurring on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30. This was passed with little or no opposition from the Republican Party and was designed to give federal workers more three day holidays.…

Even as a federal judge rules against Donald Trump and today unsealed hundreds of documents related to the lawsuit against Trump University, a new bombshell in the case has just been revealed.

Turns out, one of the two law firms representing plaintiffs in this case against Trump — coincidentally, appointed by the judge overseeing the case whom Trump has (it appears rightly) accused of being “hater” and “very hostile” — have some ties to Hillary and Bill Clinton.

As in half a million dollars worth of ties.…

Ace of Spades: Well I have two objections to a David French candidacy…

2. He'd be a strong, well-funded, perfectly acceptable spoiler. My problem isn't a David French candidacy; it's a David French candidacy that can't actually win, but just serve as a protest vessel for 10% of the party, and thereby deliver the presidency into the corrupt talons of Hillary Clinton.…