A weekend trip to Granada, Spain gives us all a look at the Nazrid Palaces of the Alhambra, built in the 14th century by the conquering Moors of North Africa. Considering the history, it's astonishing that these buildings have survived 700 years without significant damage. The Alhambra is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Link -Thanks, Juergen!

(YouTube link)

The secret is out! The internet's favorite Japanese Scottish Fold, Maru, carries a security blanket. I've had several cats that did the same. -via Arbroath

This list of hilarious answers to game show questions proves that American contestants aren't the only ones who fall apart under pressure. Here is a sample:

BEG, BORROW OR STEAL (BBC2)

Jamie Theakston: Where do you think Cambridge University is?

Contestant: Geography isn't my strong point.

Theakston: There's a clue in the title.

Contestant: Leicester.

PHIL WOOD SHOW (BBC GMR)

Wood: What 'K' could be described as the Islamic Bible?

Contestant: Er. . .

Wood: It's got two syllables . . . Kor . . .

Contestant: Blimey?

Wood: Ha ha ha ha, no. The past participle of run . . .

Contestant: (Silence.)

Wood: OK, try it another way. Today I run, yesterday I . . .

Contestant: Walked?

What's doubly funny is how the hosts try their best to help out a clueless contestant. Link -via Bits and Pieces

Mei Lan the panda is on her way to Chengdu, China. She was born at Zoo Atlanta in 2006 under an agreement that all pandas in American zoos belong to China. Today she is being shipped to Washington DC, where she will join Tai Shan, the panda born at the National Zoo. The two will be the only cargo aboard a FedEx 14-hour non-stop flight to China.

After a caravan to the airport and a ride past dozens of waiting photographers, Mei Lan was lifted into the 777 Freighter emblazoned with panda logos. Shortly after 8 a.m., the door was closed, the plane taxied and the flight took off.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed agreed it was fine to be “reflective, or even wistful” about Mei Lan’s departure, but important, too, to remember that she’s a healthy member of an endangered species, and by moving to China, she can help her kind survive. (Reeds advice to her: “be fruitful and multiply.”) Scientists estimate there are about 1,600 Giant Pandas in the wild. About 300 live in captivity, mostly in China.

Three giant pandas remain at the Atlanta Zoo, Mei Lan's parents and an infant. Link -via Metafilter

More on Mei Lan.

More on Tai Shan.

At one time or another, almost everyone dreams about receiving an unexpected inheritance. Maybe you share DNA with a rich person you didn't know about. Maybe an ex has forgiven you for whatever reason you broke up. Maybe a relative has more money to leave than you know of. Or maybe some rich person will pick your name from a phone book and make you a beneficiary. Yeah, right, but... all those things have happened! Shown is former waitress Cara Wood, who received a half-million dollars when a regular customer died. Link -via Look at This

This article at Discover Magazine has nothing to do with the science fiction stories we are so familiar with. Author Sean Carroll looks at time travel as a physicist. He says if time travel were possible (and it might be), there would be no paradox, because we cannot change what has already happened. Ever. Then it gets weird.

Imagine that we have been appointed Guardian of the Gate, and our job is to keep vigilant watch over who passes through. One day, as we are standing off to the side, we see a person walk out of the rear side of the gate, emerging from one day in the future. That’s no surprise; it just means that you will see that person enter the front side of the gate tomorrow. But as you keep watch, you notice that he simply loiters around for one day, and when precisely 24 hours have passed, the traveler walks calmly through the front of the gate. Nobody ever approached from elsewhere. That 24-hour period constitutes the entire life span of this time traveler. He experiences the same thing over and over again, although he doesn’t realize it himself, since he does not accumulate new memories along the way. Every trip through the gate is precisely the same to him. That may strike you as weird or unlikely, but there is nothing paradoxical or logically inconsistent about it.

Link -via Digg

(image credit: Biwa Studios)

Each post in this blog pairs a screenshot from a TV show with a literary quote. The pairings are astonishingly apt, at least for the shows I recognize, and there are a lot of them to go through. Link -via Metafilter

22-year-old Julia Popova was mugged on her way home from work in Moscow. She struggled with the purse-snatcher and was so shocked by the experience that she didn't realize he'd left a 6-inch knife sticking in her neck at the top of her back!

Her horrified parents rushed her to hospital where surgeons managed to remove the blade without damaging Julia's spine.

"Shock had kicked in and her body prevented her from feeling any pain. She simply walked home without feeling the knife in her back," said one medic.

Warning: the full picture at the link may be disturbing. http://austriantimes.at/news/Around_the_World/2010-02-02/20227/Shoulder_blade -via Arbroath

How can you possibly have a bad day when you start it with rainbow pancakes? Link -via Buzzfeed

How well do you know US National Parks? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will be easier if you've traveled a bit. You'll be given a park name, and you identify where it is. Good luck; I only scored 50%. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/46386

31-year-old Andi Susanto of Jakarta, Indonesia, received compensation from a tobacco company after a cigarette exploded in his face and knocked out six of his teeth while he was riding his motorcycle.

A spokesman for Clas Mild cigarettes, the brand Mr Susanto had been smoking, said there were no plans for a recall.

"We are communicating with the police and still waiting on the forensic laboratory tests," Iwan Sulistyo told the Jakarta Globe.

Susanto accepted the settlement, and said he was planning to give up smoking anyway. Link -Thanks actor212!

Sisso the swift was found with a damaged wing seven months ago. The little bird has healed, but must learn to fly all over again with some inventive physical therapy. Sisso takes flying lessons suspended from a custom-made sling!

The swift is being treated at an Israeli animal hospital and it is thanks to this ingenious device - which resembles a mobile in a child's bedroom - that he can practise flying.

Fitting snugly into a red tube-like vest made of bandages and gauze pads, Sisso has holes for his head, wings, feet and tail.

A string is fixed to the harness and attached to the ceiling which allows him to whizz around a room at the Ramat Gan Safari Park Animal Hospital without falling to the floor.

However, until the muscles in his weakened right wing become strong enough, he will be kept indoors and in the sling.

Sisso will be freed when he can fly normally again. Link -via mental_floss

On February 2nd of every year, people wait to see if their local groundhog comes out of its winter nest. The superstition says that if the groundhog sees its shadow, it will be scared and run back into hiding, and we will have six more weeks of bad weather. If the groundhog stays out, better weather is on the way. The most famous groundhog in the US is Punxsutawney Phil, who is escorted out of his pen with pomp and ceremony every year. However, PETA doesn't think this is a good idea.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it's unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model.

But William Deeley, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says the animal is "being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania." The groundhog is kept in a climate-controlled environment and is inspected annually by the state Department of Agriculture.

Deeley considers this a publicity stunt. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012701394.html

(image credit: Flickr user faz the persian)

It's a terrifying scenario you may have dreamed about: falling to earth from a high altitude. A very few people have survived such an event. Popular Mechanics has a survival guide that will take you longer to read than the six mile fall would take.

Things are bad. But now’s the time to focus on the good news. (Yes, it goes beyond surviving the destruction of your aircraft.) Although gravity is against you, another force is working in your favor: time. Believe it or not, you’re better off up here than if you’d slipped from the balcony of your high-rise hotel room after one too many drinks last night.

Or at least you will be. Oxygen is scarce at these heights. By now, hypoxia is starting to set in. You’ll be unconscious soon, and you’ll cannonball at least a mile before waking up again. When that happens, remember what you are about to read. The ground, after all, is your next destination.

This post is not for the faint of heart. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4344036.html?page=1 -via Metafilter

Dark Roasted Blend takes a look at artful and unusual bank notes from around the world, past and present. You thought Zimbabwe's inflation was outrageous when they issued the 100 billion dollar notes? Now they have 100 trillion dollar notes! That kind of hyperinflation is not new, as you'll see in this post. Link