Dr. John K. Lattimer died earlier this week. &nCThe fact that he was the former chairman of the urology department at Columbia University is the least interesting fact about him. He was an expert in ballstics and became the first private citizen granted access to Kennedy's autopsy photos (he made this drawing to explain the path of the bullet). He treated survivors of the Hindenburg explosion and Nazi defendants at Nuremberg. He was also a collector of some very odd items: a pair of Eva Braun's earrings, the cyanide ampule that Hermann Goring used to commit suicide [.pdf], the key to Lincoln's presidental box at Ford's Theater. Oh, and he bought Napoleon's penis in 1977 for $3000. Some think it should finally be allowed to rest in peace.
posted by scblackman on May 19, 2007 - 9 comments

Moldovan wine was famous throughout the former Soviet Union. The centerpiece of its industry was (and is) a huge network of caverns known as Cricova where Stalin supposedly stored the remnants of Goering’s wine collection. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought extreme economic hardship to Moldova. In the midst of this hardship, the Russian Government imposed a ban on Moldovan (and Georgian) wines and cut off access to their largest export market. You might want to consider their plight if you visit the liquor store this weekend.
posted by jason's_planet on Aug 12, 2006 - 11 comments