Ninjas on roller skates

The movie is called Ninja Thunderbolt and came out in 1986. Here's the synopsis at IMDB: "The Ninja Empire has been run by an evil master and one member decides to leave the empire. The ex-Ninja wants a Hong Kong detective to track down the new leader and end his reign of terror."

NASA space shuttle mission had a secret emblem

It signified that the shuttle mission had the secret task of deploying a satellite inspection spacecraft.

Indonesia claims sole ownership of the bird flu

The concept is "viral sovereignty" and the theory is that Indonesia (and other countries) want to claim ownership of viruses appearing within their country--so if a valuable vaccine is created, their country will benefit monetarily. You can read a bit more here and here.

Black Belt Patriotism by Chuck Norris

 In Black Belt Patriotism Norris gives a no-holds-barred assessment of American culture, tackling everything from family values to national security. More than a cultural critique of what's wrong with our nation, Black Belt Patriotism provides real solutions for solving our problems, moving our country forward, and changing our nation's course for the better.

...

It seems like wherever you turn these days, the news is bad. Illegal immigrants are swarming over our borders. Our nation and American families are crippled by debt. We remain vulnerable to Islamist terrorist attacks. Judges ignore the Constitution and instead legislate from the bench. Faith and traditional values are under incessant assault from the media, leftist lawyers, and the liberal establishment.

Redesign of the Baltimore Ravens' helmet

GQ asked Luke Hayman to redesign the Baltimore Ravens' helmet. He came up with a design featuring glowing eyes and feathers:

V paper toy

Download the template here.

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was banned and burned in California

During May of 1939, as the Nazis were burning books throughout Germany, the people of Bakersfield Calif., did exactly the same thing with John Steinbeck's new bestseller, The Grapes of Wrath. As Wartzman (The King of California) shows in this intriguing account, the banning of Steinbeck's masterpiece throughout California's Kern County was orchestrated by rich local growers: men who were busy exploiting scores of Joad families, the very men Steinbeck exposed in his novel. As a pretext, the growers cited, among other things, Steinbeck's use of foul language (bastard, bitch) and vivid scenes such as Rose of Sharon, having lost her baby, offering her milk-filled breast to a starving man.