First off, a secular thought for the day.

"What you would call the spiritual, I would call the life of the imagination - and I think that is amazingly powerful in all human beings. I think we all live much more than half of our lives inside our imaginations."

Polly Toynbee ♥, speaking on the Sunday Programme in her capacity as new Chairman of the British Humanist Association. (RealAudio, 6:52 mins)

I thought that was a rather disappointing interview. Bolton was practically dismissive. It felt a little sharply edited, too; I wanted more overall.

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China revamps menu translations. No more burnt lion's head for you!

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But don't worry, because now the Australians are tucking into stewed kitty. Good show, I say! Pot the blighters!

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Minks, however, are awesome.

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Baboon: "I'd tap that."

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Fears over Australia's Asian language decline

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Polish crime author on trial for murder - this is the awesome.

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In the heart of Transylvania...

This morning I had a legitimate excuse to scare a coworker with this, which I saw via Zenbie. (She says "Oh, eww! Eww!" but likes the title of the email I sent it in, which was "Vampire moths invade Finland".)

(I'm looking forward to this vampire storyboard Zenb and I cooked up. Crackish AUs for the absolute win. Writers plzkthx?)

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Photo ID cards for Indian cattle

I'm picturing these sacred cows getting carded. Would preventing them getting into nightclubs count as hampering freedom of religious expression?

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Female Beefeater.

In case you were wondering, as I was, "beefeater" apparently comes from the Old English for loaf-eater (hlaf = loaf, incidentally the same root as the festival of Lammas, loaf-mass).

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Television writer Jimmy McGovern calls BBC 'racist'

He's referring to the employee makeup, not the output. And he has a point.