Wednesday links

August 21st is Dorothy Parker's birthday: quotes, poems, a brief bio, and the weird journey of her ashes

How Not to Get Eaten After Sex (If You're a Black Widow)

This 1960s Comic Strip Claimed Nuclear Explosions Were the Future of Road Construction. Related, in this optimistic 1957 Disney classroom film Our Friend the Atom, radioactive isotopes are depicted as a sparkling, magic dust sprinkled as plant fertilizer and in animal feed.

The World War of the Ants – The Army Ant.

Whatever Happened to the Wild Camels of the American West?

Comics Published by the Federal Government.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the anniversary of the death of Genghis Khan, how easily rats can swim up your toilet, 19th century cancer treatment, alien abduction insurance, and lightbulb history.

Tuesday links

June 18 is the anniversary of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo: history, quotes and video (including a Lego re-enactment).

5 Terrifyingly Huge Spiders.

When Express Delivery to California Meant 100 Grueling Days at Sea.

"Your smile is a naughty goblin": Foolproof pick up lines, per Chinese scientists

The next big thing in fashion? Not washing your clothes.

The Sticky History of Adhesives.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the physics of the (im)possibility of lightsabers, Flag Day and Father's Day links (with lots of Homer Simpson advice), a map of the literal translation of every country's name, and the time when foster care was synonymous with farm labor.

Monday links

The Physics of How Lawn Mower Blades Cut Grass (at 50K frames per second).

Photos That Prove Japan Is Not Like Any Other Country.

Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity.

On July 16, 1945 the atomic age began with the Trinity nuclear test. Related: 1954 film: How a Clean, Tidy Home Can Help You Survive the Atomic Bomb

Kazakhstan tax dollars at work: this 40 foot tall squirrel statue is part of an art project commissioned by city authorities.

Man Spends 23 Years Carving Sprawling Underground Temple Under His House.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky, the history of trial by combat, Bastille Day, Mozart's less family-friendly works, and how local authorities are surveilling U. S. citizens.

Friday links

June 24 is the birthday of Ambrose Bierce, author of The Devil's Dictionary.

The Weird and Very Long History of State Liquor Laws.

This explains a lot: In 1950, the U.S. Released a Bioweapon in San Francisco.

Awkward Pregnancy Photos.

The surprisingly interesting history of Pyrex.

Traditional Japanese Spider Fighting.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include the summer solstice, a gallery of cars with propellers, healthy summer advice from 1656, and the unsuccessful Cold War-era attempt to eavesdrop via transmitters implanted into cats:

"CIA staffers drove Acoustic Kitty to the park and tasked it with capturing the conversation of two men sitting on a bench. Instead, the cat wandered into the street, where it was promptly squashed by a taxi."

Thursday links

A day that will live in infamy: It's the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor: some history, contemporaneous newsreels, and a Monty Python re-enactment.

The voice actress who played Snow White was forbidden by Disney from appearing in films, radio, or television.

How rats conquered New York

If spiders worked together, they could eat all the humans in a year.

This ‘smart condom’ will give insights into your sex life that you probably didn’t want.

Do emotions related to alcohol consumption differ by alcohol type?

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra (aka Santa Claus), how Civil War soldiers gave themselves syphilis while trying to avoid smallpox, a famous French fartist from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a selection of weird nativity sets.

Tuesday links

On April 18, 1906, an earthquake and fire destroyed 80% of San Francisco: here's a documentary, Library of Congress footage of the destruction, and side by side film of Market Street two weeks before the earthquake compared to afterward.

The Swashbuckling History of Women Pirates.

The McDonalds Monopoly Fraud: from 1995 to 2001, there was only one real winner - Uncle Jerry.

T'was the eighteenth of April in seventy-five: The midnight ride of William Dawes and Samuel Prescott (and Paul Revere)

You are always within three feet of a spider: Fact or Fiction?

Doing the math: Could you get drunk from drinking a drunk person's blood?

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Cadbury Egg history, marshmallow peep violence, the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination (and the eyewitness who appeared on TV in 1956), a first-person account of the sinking of the Titanic, and lots of creepy Easter Bunny photos.

Wednesday links

Don Featherstone, creator of the plastic pink flamingo, died yesterday. He and his wife wore matching outfits every day for 37 years. Kind of related: Why Flamingos Succeed at Escaping the Zoo While All Other Animals Fail.

To Gaze into the Jaws Of Camel Spiders Is to Gaze into the Jaws of Hell.

Fridgehenge: to celebrate the solstice, British guy recreates Stonehenge using old refrigerators.  

Just so you know, there are poop-filled mites on your face right now.

How Many iPhones Does It Take to Stop a Round From an AK-47?

10 Enormous Foods That Have Shattered World Records.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Victorian fairy tale art, heroic librarians, and Father's Day lessons from Homer Simpson, Walter White, Don Draper, and Tywin Lannister,