Surviving a massive wildfire —

In 2011, the Pagami Creek Fire burned through 92,000 acres of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area. At Outside magazine, Frank Bures tells the story of two kayakers caught in the inferno. Includes some amazing photos taken by one of the kayakers. — Maggie •

What would you take with you if your house was on fire? —

Maria Popova: "That’s precisely the question Foster Huntington asked himself, so he gathered the belongings he himself would take and photographed them, then asked a few friends to do the dame. Then, on May 10 of 2011, he launched The Burning House with 10 such photographs. Within a few hours, he got his first submission from a complete stranger. Within a few days, he was making headlines" [Brainpicker] — Rob •

Franceso sez, "Rick Hamel, an American RC airplanes builder, created the Mythical Beast, a radio controlled fire-breathing dragon. It's powered by a Jetcat P80 Kerostart turbine, is over 7 feet long and has a wing span of 9 feet. Beside flying, this scratchbuilt dragon is able to breath fire thanks to a liquid propane and a stun gun circuit. Mythical Beast won Best of Show at the Weak Signal event held in Toledo a few weeks ago."

Drago Volante Sputafuoco Radiocomandato - RC Dragon (Thanks, Francesco!)

Kaiser21 and child show off this flaming tailfined auto-stroller at the 2010 June 5 Monthly Muscle Car Show in Plano, TX. Papa Kaiser notes, "This little stroller won first place in the Open Car class. It has air-ride, lights under the car, and even fire out of the tailpipes!"

Brady Cash Custom Cadillac Baby Stroller (via DVICE)

Karen sez, "Instructables user lvl_joe has built the ultimate Fire-Breathing Animatronic Pony from a FurReal Butterscotch play pony."

For Maker Faire Detroit 2011, I displayed a hack I made to a FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony. My fellow LVL1 Hackers and I had taken control of the motor control system of the toy and added a flame thrower to it. It seemed to go over really well with the crowd, so I am putting up the information for anyone to make there own. It was a blast to make and I hope everyone has as much fun remaking it. Just remember that this project uses Fire and should only be built and operated by no less then 2 adults with appropriate experience in fire safety and proper fire safety equipment on hand.

Make a Fire Breathing Animetronic Pony from FurReal Butterscotch or S'Mores (Thanks, Karen!)

Why would a battery burst into flame? —

In several crash tests, the battery on a Chevy Volt began to heat up or burst into flame. The battery problems happened a few days or weeks after the impact and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating. (One potential factor: NHTSA testers didn't drain the batteries of juice after the crash, which is recommended. As a comparison, it's standard practice to drain a gas tank after a similar collision. So this could be an issue of new technology learning curve.) If you want to better understand why a battery that's been through a car accident could burst into flame, I'd recommend reading this piece by the Midwest Energy News. It's a nice summary of how lithium-ion batteries work, and how they respond to damage. — Maggie •

The BBC has aerial footage of a huge blaze in the London Borough of Croydon, after violence broke out on the U.K. capital's streets for a third day. Camberwell, where I lived for years, is reportedly in a state of panic, with shops being vandalized in nearby Peckham. Sky News reports that there is now unrest in Birmingham.

The building on fire is the House of Reeves, a 140-year old furniture business.

Residents report widespread looting in Croydon's downtown, with updates appearing regularly on the the local newspaper's liveblog. One odd aspect of all this is that it's unfolding live on TV and twitter in one of the world's wealthiest and most high-tech cities, with politicians on-hand to condemn events occurring in front of their very eyes. But that seems to be all they can do about it.

Labour Party MP Diane Abbott expressed astonishment that the police were unable to prevent the continued looting: "is the Metropolitan Police telling us they can't be in two places at once?" The Guardian speculates that the Police are so accustomed to well-planned "kettling" operations that they are simply unable to cope with roaming groups who aren't filing their protest march routes. [via Mennonot]

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who had refused to cut short his vacation, has finally decided to return to the U.K., as has Prime Minister David Cameron.

The unrest was sparked after Metropolitan police shot dead 29-year-old Mark Duggan and did not contact his next of kin. The force has apologized to his relatives. Forensic evidence from the scene of the shooting is still being examined. [BBC]