Blog Heap of Links for the day 25 May 2009

North Korea defied world powers and carried out an underground test Monday of a nuclear bomb Russian officials said was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The incident drew condemnation from Washington to Beijing and set the communist regime up for a showdown with the United Nations.

Bartlesville native Robert Radebaugh was in the 11th wave. He was drafted at age 19 after having been kicked out of school for beating up the principal's son. "I knew I was going to be drafted," he said. "I was ready to go. There was nothing left here. I had quit school. I had been kicked out of school so I was ready to go."

veteran Chicago police officer accused of being drunk behind the wheel while causing a fatal hit-and-run accident that killed a 13-year-old boy on the South Side.

ELM GROVE, Wis. -- A father and a police officer were injured Monday when a minivan was hit by a southbound freight train in Elm Grove. Police said traffic was backed up because of a parade that was supposed to start within the hour and that when the gates came down, two vehicles were stuck between the gates....

The Monroe County Sheriffs Office is investigating the disappearance of Neviaeh Amyah Buchanan. The 5-year old's abandoned bike was found in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

Chances are, the skeletal remains of at least one of Oklahoma 's missing persons sets unidentified somewhere in a medical examiner's office. For decades, the lack of a uniform state and nationwide system to match unidentified remains with missing people has prevented some families from learning that their missing loved one has died.

an artist and illustrator specialising in prehistoric animals; Mesozoic reptiles mostly, and pterosaurs in particular.

Sutton served his country both as an U.S. Army soldier as well as a member of the Air Force and the Air Guard, the former during the Vietnam conflict. The ride is currently foremost in his mind, but such rides are never far from his thoughts. This one will be held for Army Spc. Adam Noel Brewer. The 22-year-old was killed Feb. 25, 2005 near Taji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was on patrol.