Friday, November 3, 2017

Friday links

Sunday will be Guy Fawkes Day, when God preserved us from the "secret contrivance and hellish malice of Popish Conspirators".

How Researchers Uncovered a Massive Void In The Great Pyramid of Giza.

Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend: here's DST history (including Ben Franklin's proposal), stories and video. Related: A new American revolution is starting in New England -- against Daylight Saving Time.

French Regulators Approve Human Trial of a Bionic Eye.


ICYMI, Tuesday's links were here, and consist entirely of Halloween-related stuff - history, pumpkins, costumes, and candy. 

Monday, October 30, 2017

Pumpkin Land at the Dallas Arboretum is quite extraordinary

Pumpkin Land at the Dallas Arboretum - apparently they do several seasonal displays, but I've not seen anything but the autumn versions. A video of the 2017 exhibit is below the still photos:





Halloween links

Halloween (n.):
also Hallow-e'en, c. 1745, Scottish shortening of Allhallow-even "Eve of All Saints, last night of October" (1550s), the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, a night for witches.
Videos: Halloween pumpkin carving tricks and NASA Engineers Show You How To Carve a Pumpkin.

Today I Found Out has an excellent Halloween Facts Roundup, including why witches are use broomsticks, trick or treating origins, and the relationship between Halloween candy and Daylight Saving Time.

The Onion's Timeline Of Halloween History.

From 1873: How to Make a Turnip Jack-o-Lantern, plus The Oracle of the Nuts.

The story behind The Monster Mash.




ICYMI, Dave Barry's Halloween column from 1996: Night Of The Living Chocolate never gets old.

40,000 people's votes determined this candy hierarchy.

No poisoned candy, no razor blades in apples: Free Range Kids' archive of articles on ludicrous Halloween-related parental fears. Related: Has Anyone Ever Actually Poisoned Or Put Razor Blades or Needles in Halloween Candy? (the short answer is "No!")

A selection from Halloweens past: Faust, Mephistopheles, Napoleon, Oliver Cromwell or a Hugenot: Halloween Ideas From an 1884 Costume Guide, the best bacon costume from 1894's Covent Gardens Fancy Dress Ball, NYC architects dressed as their buildings, and several Batgirl costume ideas from the 1880s.

Is someone you know wearing a Star Trek costume? How to Read The Secret Language of Starfleet Uniforms.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include an excellent site for DIY intelligent women's costumes, rare photos from the 1862 battle of Antietam, and Earth's eighth continent, Zealandia.