Love these photos.

They could be the earliest Christian writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian cave. They could, just possibly, change our understanding of how Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and how Christianity was born.

Stunning find. The length of time is really significant. 15,500 years ago we had tool-making humans living out in the Americas. Take that Clovis Civilization!

Let that sentence sink in. Using a finger bone from 30,000 years ago science has discovered a new group of humans that lived in Siberia.

A giant illustration of 101 Muppets. Mouse over them to learn more about some of the lesser-known ones. Done in celebration of their 40th anniversary.

What led to the creation of the State of Franklin and why isn’t around today? Even more to the point, why hasn’t anyone ever made a movie out of this strange but remarkable story? My parents would live right near the State of Franklin if it were around today.

These are really good. "It's no secret that the Something Awful Forum Goons love inserting Star Wars references into things, and this week that love runs wild and untamed. Using classic art as their canvas, they, uh, paint in Star Wars references. If you enjoy the wonders of art and/or the darling antics of beepy robots and outer space wizards, this Phriday is for you!"

I particularly like the rack of hats, and all the various font treatments on the signs.

Amazing collection of images of early New York. From 1894 on, just a real solid trip down history.

A great article about how great the Butthole Surfers were live. How crazy, how nuts, and how great. For starters they were total freaks. Drummer King Koffey and his “sister” Theresa played the double drums like they were from another planet, the bassist Jeff had a backwards Mohawk and looked like he was having trouble staying awake, guitarist Paul Leary was cross-eyed on purpose Last, but certainly not least, was seven-foot tall, Gibby Haynes. No shirt, gut hanging out, long greasy hair, yelling at whomever he could yell at. The guy was fucking scary.

Fascinating. Did you know Oscar the Grouch was originally an alarming shade of orange. In Pakistan, his name is Akhtar and he lives in an oil barrel. In Turkey, he is Kirpik and lives in a basket. And in Israel, it's not Oscar at all -- it's his cousin, Moishe Oofnik, who lives in an old car.

Approximately 1,500 bunkers were built during World War II along the French shores to forestall an Allied landing—“the Atlantic Wall.” Decommissioned after the Allied invasion of Normandy, this elaborate defense system now lies abandoned. At the age of 25, Paul Virilio stumbled upon these relics with his camera and began a study that would continue for 30 years.

HOLY CRAP BATMAN! This snake, this monster measured 42 feet long, weighed about 2,500 lbs., and slithered through the rainforests 60 million years ago devouring crocodiles.

NatGeo has a fantastic zoomable map showing the past paths of exploration that we've taken. Gorgeous detail, fantastic fun.

The Big Picture comes through again with this excellent series of photos from the Inauguration.

Wow. This is a photo from 1916 of 4 former slaves. They're all over 100 years old. James Madison was president when they were born, and America was 36 years old. And here they are in a relatively "modern" photo. I'm blown away.

Wondermark's latest print, the "Hierarchy of Beards," depicts the evolutionary history of luxuriant face-fur. I love the descriptions as much as the beards. (via Boing-Boing)

A really nice collection of photos. What I found shocking was how many of these photos I've never really seen before. I think I was familiar with about 3 of these 20 photos.

Annotated History of the DC Universe

30 seconds of progress.

Islamic Star Patterns

Amazing book on Atom Bombs

Simply the Best.Keyboards.Ever.

Navaho Gunleg has created a shell that runs BASIC using Javascript. Quite fascinating.

The Illustrated History of the Roman Empire.