Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Rocket

To boldly go... 'Scotty's' ashes fall in New Mexico

A rocket payload that flew briefly into space with ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and "Star Trek" actor James Doohan was recovered Friday in the New Mexico mountains.

The payload was found in its designated recovery zone 20 days after Farmington, Connecticut-based UP Aerospace sent it up in a 20-foot rocket on April 28.

Bulb

Bush's Seat Belt Usage Not Locked Down

WASHINGTON - President Bush encourages people to wear seat belts. Whether he routinely does so himself is not as clear. The question arose Tuesday, Bush's first full day back in town after a weekend at his ranch in Texas _ where he was spotted driving a pickup truck without wearing a seat belt.

Laptop

The Visible Man: An FBI Target Puts His Whole Life Online

Hasan Elahi whips out his Samsung Pocket PC phone and shows me how he's keeping himself out of Guantanamo. He swivels the camera lens around and snaps a picture of the Manhattan Starbucks where we're dinking coffee. Then he squints and pecks at the phone's touchscreen. "OK! It's uploading now," says the cheery, 35-year-old artist and Rutgers professor, whose bleached-blond hair complements his fluorescent-green pants. "It'll go public in a few seconds. "Sure enough, a moment later the shot appears on the front page of his Web site, TrackingTransience.net.

Bizarro Earth

Belgian anarchist artist's latest coup d'etat attempt fails

Belgian anarchist artist Jan Bucquoy failed on Monday to seize power in Belgium in his latest of three attempts to carry out a coup d'etat, according local media.

According to the Belga news agency, Bucquoy, an artist from Belgium's northern Flanders region, was brought in for questioning by two police officers after he planted a red and black flag bearing the image of a banana in the royal palace's garden.

Bucquoy famous for his cult comedy films and decapitating a statue of a former king in Brussels' renowned Grand-Place.

Magnify

Debate starts about 17 ton silver Undersea Treasure

Explorers for a shipwreck exploration company based in Tampa said Friday that they had located a treasure estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in what may be the richest undersea treasure recovery to date.

©Odyssey Marine Exploration, via AP
Greg Stemm, left, co-founder of Odyssey Marine Exploration, examining coins recovered from a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean.

Evil Rays

Men's Underwear that Protects Against Cellphone Radiation

If you thought donning tin foil caps was excessive, Isabodywear is out to make those contraptions looks mighty mild. While the debate about just how dangerous (or not) cellphone radiation is still rages on, there's certainly a paranoid sect that will snap up anything that claims to "protect them," and this Swiss garb maker is latching onto said opportunity.

Bizarro Earth

Hey girl, want to spend time alone with your Muslim colleague? Breast feed him.

I really had to read this three times to make sense of it! I still don't get it, but here it is. It's hilarious. (Fortunately in Arabic)

See these guys at Al Azhar University may seem like they have too much time on their hands, but in fact they are not sitting around twiddling their thumps; they are working hard on coming up with Fatwas to help Muslims deal with some of the challenges facing them in these challenging times.

Wine

The Alchemist's Revenge; A thriller suggests Isaac Newton was murderously ambitious

GHOSTWALK

By Rebecca Stott

Spiegel & Grau. 304 pp. $24.95


To concoct this cerebral thriller about 17th-century alchemy, Rebecca Stott grinds two parts of historical research into a fine powder, folds in some human blood, adds a pinch of the occult, and heats the mixture over an open flame. By the time Ghostwalk begins to boil, it's a hypnotic brew of speculation, intrigue and murder.

Life Preserver

Wealthy Saudi's yacht runs aground at Cannes festival

One of the world's biggest private yachts, a 108-metre (354-foot) vessel belonging to Saudi billionaire Nasser Al-Rashid, sparked a beach pollution alert at the Cannes film festival Sunday after running aground.

The luxury vessel, the Lady Moura, hit a submerged rocky outcrop near the port in this French Riviera resort as it was navigating a short distance off-shore Saturday. Its passengers were evacuated.

Monkey Wrench

Pakistani Husband Accused of Being Woman

LAHORE, Pakistan - Police on Sunday arrested a couple who are accused of lying to a Pakistani court about the gender of the husband, who was born female and had sex reassignment surgery 16 years ago.