Blog Heap of Links for the day 5 April 2009

The U.S. and its allies sought punishment Sunday for North Korea's defiant launch of a rocket that apparently fizzled into the Pacific, holding an emergency U.N. meeting in response to fears the country was testing long-range missile technology. President Barack Obama called for a global response and condemned North Korea for threatening the peace and stability of nations "near and far." Minutes after liftoff, Japan requested the emergency Security Council session in New York.

One person is reported dead and several others injured after a car ran into an IHOP restaurant in northwest Oklahoma City.... [24yo woman] was turning into the restaurant parking lot when she hit a curb, struck a parking block and crashed into the building. The reported dead man was in a booth inside the restaurant.... driving under the influence manslaughter.

The FBI has been looking for patterns in killings along U.S. highways, suspecting that some long-haul truck drivers are responsible for many of them. The victims include prostitutes, hitchhikers and women whose cars have broken down.... The Highway Serial Killings Initiative began five years ago after an analyst with the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation asked the FBI for help with a string of seven killings of prostitutes along I-40. An FBI analyst going through the bureau's data base found killings that matched the Oklahoma crimes.

Sir Paul headlined the concert, in aid of The David Lynch Foundation, and sang a string of Beatles and solo career hits before bringing Starr on stage. The pair performed the Beatles song, With a Little Help from My Friends together before embracing afterwards. Sir Paul also paid a tearful tribute to the late John Lennon before playing Here Today, a song he wrote for him.

The famously subversive US cartoonist Robert Crumb has announced the completion of his long-awaited take on the Book of Genesis. The acclaimed satirist revealed on his personal website that he had finished the project, which is out this autumn, and which his UK publisher is predicting will "provoke the religious right". Four years in the making, Crumb worked from the King James Bible and Robert Alter's translation to reinterpret the Book of Genesis, from the Creation via Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to Noah boarding his ark.

The progress of the earth sciences and the advancement of technologies associated with the understanding of our planet during the 1940's and 50's have led geologists to develop a new way of looking at the world and how it works. This exhibit explains the history of our new understanding of the Earth and provides a brief overview of the theories behind it.

To see continental positions during a particular time, click on the STOP button of your browser as the red arrow reaches the era of interest.

After more than 40 years of transmissions these papers known as the "Urantia Papers" were published in 1955 as the Urantia Book. This 2,000 page book self proclaims to be the most recent presentation of truth to our planet. The first 1,300 pages teach how things are done in Heaven. The last 700 pages are the complete life and teachings of Jesus. These papers give a detailed account of 19 appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. The New Testament only tells of four appearances... -Lynn E. Rhoderick Grants

Three Pittsburgh police officers were killed and two others were injured after a heavily armed man began firing at them as they responded to a domestic call this morning at a home in Stanton Heights. ... told friends he was wearing a bulletproof vest ... surrendered to police about 11 a.m., four hours after the standoff began ... shot several times in the legs ...