through caverns measureless to man/ down to a sunless sea

[oloriel]

Some cool stuff discovered on friends' journals, here gathered for your edification and/or amusement and to brighten a day darkened by learning, work, or just by Mondayism. (Or, should that apply to you, to round off an already good day, I guess?)

Via elenbarathi: amazing pictures from Vietnam's "mammoth cavern". Including spectacular dripstones, cave rivers, and a subterranean forest. Yes, for reals. Oh, the plotbunnies!

That in itself should already be enough, but wait, there's more!

Via conuly: I'm not usually a fan of heartwarming religion-based stories, but this one about a particularly beautiful reaction to the terrorist attacks on Copts in Egypt is such a nice way of saying SEE? SEE? FUCK YOU! to people like Thilo Sarrazin and ProKöln and the batshit Evangelicals clamouring against the building of certain Muslim cultural centres close to certain construction/memorial sites that I'm making an exception for it.

And finally, on a cute and amusing note, joyful_molly has cats who take copies of their bums (well, mostly their paws, and have I ever mentioned how much I adore kitty paws?) while she isn't at home...

Thank you, we now return to our pathetic attempt at reading and translating Chaucer on the spot.