Lights Out: Japan.

[b3ta.]

Today On TDW: Geek –

• Above: “Cthulhuchu, I choose you!”

• Senators seek to make “unlicensed streaming of copyrighted work” illegal.

• Anonymous civil war rages on, splinter group forms.

• Scientists say solar system 20 light-years away may host habitable planet.

• Lego. In. Spaaaaaaace!

• Plants vs. Zombies singer performs Portal 2 end credits song.

• Real-life Portal 2 Personality Spheres.

• Dead Island gets a brand new teaser trailer.

• The Boba Fett Tiffany Lamp.

• X-Men and Muppets — together at last.

• Beatdown Batman speaks out, blames his cape.

Accepted Challenge II of the Day: Day 2 of the Stewart-O’Reilly Summit finds the Sock and Buskin pair discussing the GOP’s presidential pretenders and assessing President Obama’s job performance.

Part 2 after the jump:

Click to see more… »

The Interpipes Are Leaking of the Day: Living legend Bear Grylls takes the piss out of himself.

[context / @beargrylls.]

This x That:

Know This:

• US officials tell AP bin Laden raid “nearly went terribly wrong.”

• Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer Ben Brafman says his client’s defense based on claim of consent.

• RIP: Harmon “Killer” Killebrew, Hall of Fame ball player, dead at 74. Also: Actor Edward Hardwicke, at 78.

Read This:

• Researchers search for bones of Mona Lisa model.

• Legendary NYC eatery Elaine’s to close up shop.

• Someone’s stalking Lindsay Lohan.

• James Franco carved “Brad Renfro” into his arm. For art.

• A Who’s Who of Sitcom Theme Song Composers.

Look At This:

• Disgruntled Iowa Republican confronts Newt Gingrich: “You’re an embarrassment to our party.”

The Other:

• NewsFeed: A Sucker for Punishment? James Frey Goes Back on Oprah.

• Nerve: Ranked: Woody Allen Films from Worst to Best.

• Tea x Time List: 5 Superhero Movies You Won’t Believe Almost Got Made.

• Above: “Twin One” knife and fork set by DesignWright for Lékué.

This Day In History of the Day: On May 17, 1861 — exactly 150 years ago — Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell and photographer Thomas Sutton (who invented the SLR camera that same year) used three projectors fitted with red, green, and blue filters to combine three black-and-white photos of a tartan ribbon shot through similar filters, thereby forming the world’s first color photo (above) and, consequently, the “basis of nearly all subsequent photochemical and electronic methods of colour photography.”

[bbc / petapixel.]

Paging Gallagher of the Day: Go ahead and add “exploding watermelons” to China’s growing list of food-related scandals.

According to local reports, the plant growth accelerator forchlorfenuron — a legal additive — was improperly sprayed on watermelon crops late in the season under damp conditions, causing them to explode “like landmines.”

Farmer Liu Mingsuo recalled the horror he had witnessed: “On 7 May, I came out and counted 80 [burst watermelons] but by the afternoon it was 100. Two days later I didn’t bother to count any more.”

Farmers say the chemical can speed up the harvest by as much as two weeks, in addition to increasing the size and price of the fruit by 20% or more. But director of the vegetable research institute at Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Science Cui Jian says use of forchlorfenuron on watermelons is not recommended, as it has a tendency to encourage the growth of misshapen melons that would be deemed unsellable due to their poor taste and difficult storage. “But,” he adds, “it should not harm anyone’s health.”

Of course, having one of these suckers blow up in your face may put a damper on your day.

[guardian.]

Sign Of The Times of the Day: Hipster photo/text combo IRL, spotted in Exeter.

[reddit.]

So Shines A Good Reunion of the Day: The Today Show recently reunited the surviving cast members of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory to mark the 40th anniversary of Mel Stuart’s cult classic. (Starts @ 1:55.)

For record, Gene Wilder is very much alive, but sadly couldn’t be in attendance.

[buzzfeed.]

See Also: Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Lacrosse Bosses of the Day: In their first round NCAA tournament game against North Carolina, Maryland pulled off their signature Hidden Ball Trick.

Also: “So smooth with a six foot pole.”

[nycbarstool / vvv.]