Tuesday links

First day of Fall (well, the middle of the night tonight, anyway): Autumnal equinox science, videos, quotes, poems, Vivaldi and Copernicus.

The Biggest Guns in Human History. Kind of related - Forgotten Weapons: The Burgess Folding Shotgun, a fascinating folding oddity from the 1890s.

The lies we tell are more convincing when we need to pee.

"Fiddler On The Roof" opened on this date in 1964. Here's some history, the Chagall painting it was based on, Zero Mostel singing "If I Were A Rich Man" and a Lego version.

Gallery of Soviet cigarettes.

46 Vintage Photos Of Boston After The Great Fire Of 1872

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Samuel Johnson insults, pulling a tooth with a drone, near-extinction events, and unusual travel warnings for visitors to the U.S.

Monday links

Really bad book covers (and books).

The world's longest yard sale runs for nearly 700 miles.

Seattle sisters, 10 and 8, launch own craft to edge of space - with cat pic and LEGO R2-D2 on board.

On this date in 2014:  the battle of Baltimore, inspiration for the Star-Spangled Banner.

Firenado! Footage of the moment (in 2003) 800K gallons of Jim Beam accidentally released into a Kentucky lake bursts into flames after being hit by lightning... before a tornado sucks the flaming liquid 100 feet up into the air. 

Scottish distillery reveals results of 'space whisky' experiment.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include a collection of dubious and obsolete medical remedies, two boys who tunneled out of Kindergarten to go buy a car, money-begging letters home from medieval college students, and a patent for a training system for walking through walls.

Man attempting to blow nose and smoke cigarette at same time winds up burning house down

Imagine if he'd farted, too - he might have taken out the neighborhood.

DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — A Davidson County home is destroyed after officials said a house fire started when a man smoking a cigarette tried blowing his nose.

Authorities said the tissue caught fire when the man smoking tried blowing his nose. He reportedly tried stomping it out, but couldn’t and the fire spread.

Silver Valley fire officials said the home was fully involved by the time they arrived. A man and woman, both in their 60s, lived there and got out safety, officials said.

The home is said to be a total loss. The fire marshal is investigating, although it is not said to be suspicious. The American Red Cross is assisting the victims.