Thursday links

June 28 is the anniversary of both the event that started (the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife - heirs to the Austrian throne) and the treaty that ended World War One

The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities.

DARPA Literally Reinvented the Wheel.

Want your vagina steam-cleaned but don't have a spa nearby? Here are the do-it-yourself instructions.

WHO (World Health Organization) warns you not to drink camel urine.

Bake the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies by Knowing What to Tweak.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include Helen Keller's birthday, the science of colorful monkey butts (and a gallery), the new supervolcano is brewing under New England. and the taxpayer funding behind Domino's Extra Cheesy Pizza. 

Friday links

November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day: God preserved us from the "secret contrivance and hellish malice of Popish Conspirators". Also on November 5th this year, Daylight Saving Time ends: here's DST history (including Ben Franklin's proposal), stories and video.

Inside the NSA’s For-Sale Spy Town.

What Happens When You Enter the Witness Protection Program?

Sick of politics? 2016 version of the annual Parents Tell Their Kids They Ate All Their Halloween Candy.

Hijacking the remote control: a new way to take down drones, and it doesn’t involve shotguns.

Would you visit a robot gynecologist?

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and are all Halloween related: costumes, candy, history, movies, music, witches, werewolves and more.

Friday links

Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches...we shall never surrender" speech: it's the anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk by a flotilla of small boats.

The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster.

Dagger in King Tut's tomb was made with iron from a meteorite.

June Is Goat Trauma Awareness Month.

Stonehenge Rock Source Identified.

Read the NSA's Exceedingly Weird Guide to the Internet.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include Vonnegut's letter home after imprisonment in an underground slaughterhouse (Slaughterhouse Five, specifically) during the Dresden bombing, what happens when you swallow gum, laser helicopters, and Beatrix Potter's pet pothead bunny (on which she based Peter Rabbit).

Monday links

May 4th is International Respect for Chickens Day: here are lots of chicken-related links to help you celebrate.

Not as interesting as chickens, of course, but May the Fourth (be with you) is also Star Wars Day. Related: a nice collection of Star Wars propaganda posters.

That time the NSA banned the Furby.

Map: What Does Each State Have More Of (Per Capita) Than Any Other?

What happens to someone when they get tarred and feathered?

Inside The Fed's Cold War "Doomsday" Bunker.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Willie Nelson's personal brand of marijuana, a 19th century seal fur g-string, and a 102-year-old dancer watching, for the first time, film of herself performing.