Tuesday links

The Best Kitchen Gadget of the 1600s Was This Small, Short-Legged Dog.

That Old-Time Hucksterism: The Oddest Doohickeys of Industrial-Age Entrepreneurs.

Laser Weapons Will Turn Earth's Atmosphere into Lenses, Deflector Shields.

Scots, wha hae - Happy Burns Day! Here's a bio, Burns Supper instructions, and lots of haggis.

Amazing images of Tokyo before it was a city.

London Necropolis Railway: The Train For The Dead.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Buffy the Vampire Slayer's birthday, how a dead millionaire convinced dozens of women to have as many babies as possible, Picasso's self-portraits from age 15 to age 90, and the story of Stonewall Jackson's left arm's separate grave.

Friday links

Chinese restaurant menu of the day (and a few extras).

That Time When You Could Save Yourself From Being Executed by Beating the Executioner in a Foot Race.

Where Do Dogs Come From? Related: Dog picture of the day - Cornered.

The National Archives Released A Free Coloring Book Of Weird Patents.

The 2016 Oscar Best Picture Nominees Recapped in 4 Minutes.

Russians Built A Turbojet Train In The 1960s.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include pawn shop economics, why we yell Geronimo when we jump out of planes, the grid system (that never happened) for London after the Great Fire, the c. 1275 miraculous transplantation of a leg, and pizza that can last 3 years.