LATELY: Iceland, Iran

Finally, those who worry that recent volcanic explosions in Iceland are corrupting the air quality in Iran, can suspend. Mohammad Reza Masjedi, of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (IUATLD) in the Middle East, has determined that emissions of Icelandic carbon dioxide and ash only "reach the skies of Iran at high altitude, which lowers the possible hazard to public health." Curious, then, that the man polished off his official statement with a warning of lingering danger, concluding that the eruption "may pose a serious threat to the environment and could alter the ecosystem of the whole country."

In any case, here's how a volcano works:

BANG: How the West Was Won

Ronnie Lee Gardner, condemned to death in Utah since 1985, has requested that his execution be delivered by firing squad. A state judge signed his death warrant on Friday, and ordered the firing to commence in June. The last Utah prisoner to be executed in such a fashion was the rapist and murderer John Albert Taylor, who in 1996 was hooded and bound in a chair when lawmen began to fire at the cloth target taped over his heart.

Ronnie Lee Gardner has been approaching a similiar fate since 1985, when after attempting to escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse he shot an attorney in the head. (Gardner's woman-friend met him there and she slipped him the gun he fired.) The five-person squad whose task it will be to fatally wound Gardner on June 18 will be selected by the state's Correctional Department, along with one alternate and one 'team leader.' They will all be anonymous and certified peace officers.

Read the entire report and case history in The Salt Lake Tribune.

LATELY: The Americas Page

"Dozens of gunmen were involved in the attacks, which occurred at 3 a.m. and were bold even by Mexican standards."

-Marc Lacey, reporting from Mexico City.

CONSIDER: Orbital Romance

As it happens, NASA spacecraft and German Romanticsm follow remarkably similar trajectories:

One image has the Times tracing the route of the Cassini spacecraft, now circling Saturn, while the other arrives from Marianne Thalmann's Literary Sign Language of German Romanticism, and claims to depict E.T.A. Hoffmann's 1816 novelette "The Nutcracker and Mouse King."

THE VIEW FROM ABOVE: Eyjafjallajokull

As observed from space. The Daily Mail thinks the volcano resembles Edvard Munch's, The Scream.

"Coincidentally," the Mail goes on, "it is thought that the masterpiece was inspired by the blood red skies caused by the powerful volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883."

What's more, this singular image has seemed to evoke rather severe notions of reticence, apocalypse, and contemptuousness from the Mail's readership. That is a ticklish body indeed-

charlie, USA: "It was a natural disaster that was bound to happen sooner than later;"

Aaron, Little Rock, AK: "Sin is causing the land to spew us out;"

Outraged67, corresponding from Hate-town: "It is not a sign of the second coming of ANYTHING. scare mungering muppets..."

-they bat around epithets and have a damned grand time doing it.

SEE (IT).

APRIL QUERY: Wonder and Deep Sea Diving

So far as we can tell from our present knowledge, life has come into existence only twice in all the cosmos-- upon Mars and upon the Earth. The latter was a momentous occasion and of infinitely greater import to us than any other-- except one.

This exception I call the First Wonderer; and it has become very real to me since I saw the expression on the face of a man, sculptured in bronze, squatting in the center of the great drawing room of the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. He is half-seated, half-crouched, and with two flints he has just struck a spark. But the expression in his face is not amazement at the flash, not astonishment at something new, not mental adumbration of future possible uses-- but a struggling wonder at the half-realization that he knows he is wondering.

From "Thoughts on Diving" by William Beebe, as published by Harper's Monthly Magazine in April, 1933.

INTRODUCTIONS: The New Bill

The $100 bill has freshly arrived from its mint, and this time boasts of intaglio printing, gold, and a third dimension. Here are two views of the bill, one with back lighting and the other without. You, too, can explore the new note--even take a virtual tour--and observe as it responds under various scope and to such exotic fare as ultraviolet ray. GET IT.

SPOKEN ROMANCE: Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes

The British Library has acquired for its archives a first edition of the literary magazine, Saint Botolph's Review, which was founded in part by Ted Hughes. Their copy is stained by wine.

The Library has also released a recording that features the voices of Hughes and Sylvia Plath, who first met at a party to celebrate the Review's debut. In the tape, the two poets discuss their early courtship and marriage, as well as that first night's acquaintance. To see it, hear it, FOLLOW.

ENDEARING TO THE END: The Enquirer

The recipients of this year's Pulitzer Prizes were named earlier this week, and, alas, the National Enquirer was not among them; it was beat by The Washington Post and New York Times.

Its excitement dampered, the paper was nevertheless noble and even spirited in defeat: says Executive Editor Barry Levine, "We're disappointed, we thought we should have won. But we think we have new found respectability and credibility just for going through this process."

The Enquirer was considered a finalist for its investigative report of the John Edwards affair and scandal.

UPDATE: Volcano Takes Europe

Yesterday, Eyjafjallajokull erupted for the second time since March, forcing more than 800 people from Iceland. Of those evacuated, not all were tourists-- who have arrived in gaggles for their volcano encounters ever since the first eruption.

Glacial waters flood, Europe is engulfed in a cloud of ash; all air travel is suspended, the planes won't fly. Katla broods.

ON DETROIT: Andrew Moore

The New York Review's blog, in its "roving thoughts and provocations," has come upon Andrew Moore and his beautiful and strange and terrible photographs of Detroit. These are some of them.

National Time, Detroit

Walden Street, Detroit

Ballroom, Lee Plaza Hotel

Car Wash Cafe, East Jefferson Avenue

Model T HQ, Detroit

See the entire series, "Detroit Disassembled," on the artist's website.

LATELY: Disappearing Glaciers, at Glacier

Glacier National Park, of Northwestern Montana, has lost two more of the icefields for which it is famous. According to Discovery News, the latest two to fall below the 25 acre threshold had "shrunk by roughly 55 percent since the mid-1960s." Once boasting as many as 150 glaciers, the Park now counts only 25, and scientists warn that those, too, could disappear before the decade's end.

We pause here to commend the prescience of Discovery News: after delivering the troubling item from above, it is as if the editors there heard our collective sigh and immediately sought to supplant despondency with wonder. They succeeded; turns out that global warming also stimulates mountain growth.

CONTEST WINNER: A Society of Wargamers

Here we have "Hutaree," and the winning image from our March 31 coloring contest. Note the extreme peril of both Christian and foe, also the general air of confusion. Congratulations to the Hong Kong Society of Wargamers, whose fine work may be seen in full, HERE.

MOTS JUSTES: Classifying Mystical Experiences

Here are some of the words and phrases culled by Bishop Rovenius from the mystical literature of his time-- the seventeenth century:

Inflaming Transubstantiations;

Super-Essential Unions;

Absorbent Enthusiasms;

Abyssmal Liquefactions;

Deific Confrications;

Insupportable Assaults;

Hypercelestial Penetrations;

Spiritual Shamelessness;

and

Meridian Holocausts In A Visceral And Medullar Penetrability.

For more literature and science, READ IT.

INTRODUCTIONS: Varanus bitatawa

This is one of our first images of the giant lizard recently discovered in the Phillippines. It has been named Varanus bitatawa.

Scientists say the lizard can grow about six and half feet long, is "incredibly secretive," and spends nearly all of its life in trees more than 66 feet high. Varanus bitatawa has evolved to be strictly vegetarian, and its males have likewise developed a double penis, which points in two directions.

LATELY: It's Every Republican For Itself

Tom Fetzer, head of North Carolina's Republican Party and member of the National Committee, has come forward to call for the Committee Chairman's resignation. He is of the opinion that, at this point, the best service Michael Steele could offer would be to "graciously step aside and allow the party to move on from this current quagmire."

The current quagmire metastasized last week, after the media began to print embarrassing reports of the RNC's (mis)handling of party funds (SEE: Club Voyeur). Mr. Fetzer is the first to suggest that Mr. Steele resign.

INVESTIGATION: The 2007 Apache Attack

In July of 2007, American forces took aim and fired from Apache helicopters upon one dozen individuals in Baghdad. Those killed were suspected to have been militants, and in possession of weaponry. In the aftermath of the killings, it became apparent that the American servicemen were mistaken, and that the group on the street that afternoon were not militants, but included two photojournalists from the news agency, Reuters. What were thought to have been rocket launchers were, in fact, telephoto lenses.

Now, video footage of the episode has been leaked to the whistle-blowing website, wikileaks.org, which publishes unattributed, purportedly classified material. In the video, Apache operators can be heard as they attempt to identify the figures on the ground, wait for a good shot, and then "engage" what was essentially a news crew. This knowledge puts into stark relief the comments heard in the footage, as when, upon learning that a child has taken a wound to the belly, one serviceman says, "Well, it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle." (A transcription of that afternoon's conversation may be read here.)

In its official response to the tape, Central Command affirmed that it has "no current plans to reinvestigate or review this combat action." It did, however, conduct a rather serious review of the website, WikiLeaks.

For more information about the site, SEE the Harvard-helmed Citizen Media Law Project.

HEADLINES: Revolt in Kyrgyzstan, as it happens

KYRGYZ PRESIDENT WILLING TO RESIGN, WITH CONDITIONS

CNN

KYRGYZ PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF LOOTING

CNN International

KYRGYZSTAN: COUP IN A U.S. ALLIED COUNTRY

ABC News

40 DEAD IN ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS IN KYRGYZSTAN

Voice of America

17 KILLED AS KYRGYZSTAN PROTESTORS CLASH WITH POLICE

Times Online

KYRGYZSTAN GOVERNMENT OUSTED IN VIOLENT REVOLT

Sydney Morning Herald

KYRGYZ UPRISING SEIZES SECURITY HQ

Associated Press

KYRGYZ OPPOSITION SAYS IT HAS TAKEN POWER

Washington Post

OPPOSITION CLAIMS CENTRAL CONTROL IN KYRGYZSTAN

New York Times

RUSSIA NOT INVOLVED IN KYRGYZ EVENTS - PUTIN

RIA Novosti

STATE OF EMERGENCY IN BISHKEK

BBC

KYRGYZ LEADER HAS FLED; OPPOSITION MAY BE IN CONTROL

National Public Radio

KYRGYZSTAN OPPOSITION 'IN CHARGE'

Al Jazeera

LATELY: Phenomenal Adverts

From Harpers magazine, April 2010.

NOSTALGIA FOR: The River of No Return

-Kinda crazy, ain't they?

-What's that?

-The times. White man chasing gold, Indian chasing white man, army chasing the Indians.

-You like that rifle, keep it.

-What are you chasing, Matt?

Starring Marilyn Monroe as mining camp chanteuse Kay Weston; and Robert Mitchum as Matt Calder, a farmer with a past.

POST SCRIPT: UbyKotex

What follows is the complete script from a new commercial for UbyKotex tampons.

Hi.

I'm a believably attractive eighteen to twenty-four-year old female.

You can relate to me because I'm racially ambiguous, and I'm in this tampon commercial because market research shows girls like you love girls like me.

Don't all these angles make me seem dynamic?

Now I'm going to tell you to buy something:

Buy the same tampons I use.

Because I'm wearing white pants, and I have good hair, and you wish you could be me.

UbyKotex, a new line of tampons, pads, and liners.

SEE IT.

LATELY: Black Widows

In October 2002, a group of veiled woman seized a Moscow theater and took for hostage its 850 patrons. For more than two days, the women kept guard and demanded Russian forces be withdrawn from Chechnya; it was not until Special Agents pumped a sleep-inducing gas from the air ducts that the state regained control of the theater. As the agents entered the slumbering house, they shot and killed the captors, who were all dressed in black. Once their identities were uncovered, it was reported that all 40 women had lost their Chechen husbands at the hands of the Russians; they were named "The Black Widows."

Now, almost a decade later, Russia's fear of the Black Widows has been reawakened. The Associated Press reported today that one of the two female suicide bombers who attacked the Moscow subway system on March 29 was a 17-year old widow, from the province of Dagestan in the Northern Caucasus region. The other bomber, 20-years old, is also believed to have travelled to Moscow from Chechyna.

In his piece for the Times, Russian novelist Sergey Kuznetsov struck perhaps the most premonitory note of all: "After the bombings, it was said that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was starting his next presidential campaign." Read it in full, here.