Wednesday links

Hey, Firefly fans - It's Unification Day. 

Joshua Norton, Emperor of the United States.

The origins of Kotex.

In 1859, the United States and Britain Almost Went to War Over a Pig.

A Secret World Hidden Beneath the Vineyards of Champagne.

Alexander Graham Bell’s Tetrahedral Kites (1903–9).

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include Talk Like a Pirate Day, the 1899 Johnstown flood that killed 2,000 people, and why blue is the world's favorite color.