Check back after Ragbrai to check out the photos from this years event. Until they are ready, check out ones from the previous years.

The United States has apologized to Guatemala for a 1940s STD study that infected them with syphilis. The U.S. has 15 more trading partners to call with the bad news.

China launched an unmanned lunar probe today, another step closer to its ultimate goal of landing a man on the moon. Other ambitious projects for China include inventing the wheel and slicing bread.

Today is Nigeria’s 50th birthday. They sent out invites to the party, but most people don’t check their spam folder.

Burglars in Arizona are breaking into houses, stealing food and water, and then taking showers before they leave. Crime experts refer to it as “pulling a Randy Quaid”.

For more please visit www.brandonmuller.com

Just because most alternative medicine is quackery doesn’t mean the drug companies are not evil immoral and driven by greed.

RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) is an infamous non-competitive bicycle ride across Iowa that draws recreational riders from across the United States and even overseas. Riders start at a community on Iowa’s western border to a community on Iowa’s eastern border, stopping in towns across the state. RAGBRAI is ‘limited’ to 8,500 week-long riders and 1,500 day riders. However, there are anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 riders, depending on who you ask.

The length of the route averages just under 500 miles. Eight “host communities” are selected each year; one each for the beginning and end points, while the other six are overnight stops. The distance between host communities is on average sixty-eight miles. At the beginning of the ride, riders traditionally dip the rear wheel of their bikes in either the Missouri River or the Big Sioux River (depending on the starting point of the ride). At the end, the riders dip the front wheels in the Mississippi River.

In 2007, RAGBRAI began in Rock Rapids and ended in Bellevue. I used a small Pentax 3.2 megapixel camera to document my journey of my ride filled with Amish pie, freshly picked corn on the cob, beer slides and of course, beer gardens.

[View with PicLens]

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