Religious extremists like to link Darwin to Communism and the Soviet Union. Ed Darrell dismantles those arguments here.

Were gay civil unions sanctioned in medieval Europe? There’s some evidence that they were, and nobody thought twice about it. Read the story here.

Wil Wheaton (of Star Trek, The Next Generation fame) talks about his problems with a DirecTV software bug relating to DRM.  Update:  He fixed it by unplugging his TV.  I’ve done the same thing with a finicky VCR.

Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have survived a major six week dust storm that threatened to put them out of commission permanently. The rovers were originally designed to last about 3 months but have been returning science data for over 3 and a half years. That’s a pretty good return on investment.