June 6 is the 75th anniversary of D-Day: quotes (Shakespeare, Eisenhower, Churchill), videos (footage, FDR’s and Reagan’s speeches, a Lego re-enactment), lots of links.

‘Botanical Sexism’ Could Be Behind Your Seasonal Allergies: Male trees dominate city plantings, and “they’re indiscriminate, spewing their gametes in every direction.”

When Cyclists Made Up an Entire Political Bloc.


Earlier this week was the anniversary of the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk by a flotilla of small boats — the inspiration for Churchill’s “We shall fight on the beaches . . . “We shall never surrender” speech.

Design Regulations Helped Ruin American Cars. Related: A Design Engineer Explains Exactly Why Your Car Is So Boring.


Well, that’s handy, I guess: Butterflies Have an Extra Stomach Attached to Their Vaginas.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the 1453 fall of Constantinople, differences between moths and butterflies, weight loss via tequila drinking, determining whether snails fart, and Kurt Vonnegut’s 1945 letter home after imprisonment in an underground slaughterhouse (Slaughterhouse Five) during the Dresden bombing.