Pity the Poles: "It was taken for granted that a Warsaw Pact attack on the West would entail nuclear annihilation of Poland."

Did you know...? Qatar is well on its way to becoming the world's largest exporter of liquified natural gas. I didn't either until I wrote that article.

Say what?

Remember way back when -- what was it, last Christmas -- when IRA goons allegedly made off with the biggest cash scoop in the storied history of crime? They lifted £26.5 million by kidnapping bank employees and their family members, then forcing the employees to quietly empty the vaults into waiting vans, right smack in the center of Belfast.

Subsequent waves of weirdness ensued, like that one report about the man arrested, then released, for burning Northern Irish banknotes in his backyard.

Well, well, well...

Turns out one of the guys who's just been arrested in connection with the heist is a one of the bank employees -- one who'd described, weeks after the robbery took place, how the gunmen had taken him hostage, threatened to kill him and his family, etc. (Via Slugger O'Toole.)

Vaguely related, from the archive: The North African-Celtic connection. I'm hot on the trail, folks.

Maniacs: "A life-size bronze statue of Bruce Lee erected in the Bosnian city Mostar was vandalized only hours after being unveiled on Saturday.... "