* Top read: Michael Scherer on the dark heart of Russia.
* Former Iranian president Rafsanjani calls for the release of jailed protesters.
* FiveThirtyEight.com on conservative activist judges.
* Eating well on fifty dollars a week.
* Japan's 'love hotels' thrive in tough economic times.
* Neat: creating erotica for the blind.
* Whoah! "Turkmenistan has launched the latest stage of a plan to channel water across thousands of kilometres of desert to create a vast inland sea."
* More on the rebooted Nightmare on Elm Street.
* Hmmm. Was undecided about Zombieland, but the new trailer isn't bad...
* Whoah. Newly-discovered Phineas Gage daguerreotype!