Friday links

Daylight Saving Time starts this weekend, at 2:00 AM Sunday March 10: some DST history (including Ben Franklin's proposal), stories and video. 

A Skeleton City: Washington DC in the 1820s.

The Unusual Occupation of the Leech Collectors or Leech Gatherers.

March 10th is Chuck Norris' 79th (!!!) birthday: his 5 most badass movies and a bunch of Norris "facts" plus a supercut of Norris's best kicks. Related: UK scientists recreated Neanderthal man, who looks just like Chuck Norris.

The British Library Digitizes Its Collection of Obscene Books (1658-1940).

The Hidden History of the Nutmeg Island That Was Traded for Manhattan.

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include the anniversary of Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, fast food French fry rankings, a new posthumous Dr. Seuss book, and a study on shared personalities of dogs and their humans.

Friday links

July 27 is free-market economist Milton Friedman's birthday: here are some favorite quotes and short videos. And Beatrix Potter's birthday is this weekend: in addition to Peter Rabbit et al, she produced some gorgeous botanical drawings.

How to build a mountain range.

Stealing Passwords by Reading Thermal Residue on Keyboards.

Advice from 1380: How to Tell if Someone Is or Is Not Dead (the onion test), plus bonus Monty Python.

How to Make a Fossil in a Single Day and How To Become A Fossil After You Die.

How the tiniest plot of land in Manhattan came to be.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include cutting hair with fire, the instant pot of the 1600s known as the Digester of Bones, the 2018 UK snail racing championship, and for Aldous Huxley's birthday, an audio of him narrating Brave New World.

Friday links

April 28th is Duke Ellington's birthday.

The Literal Meaning of Every Country's Name on a Map (zoomable).

Inside the Strange World of Dried Hummingbird Love Charm Trafficking.

Because it's time to get the herb gardens planted, here's some advice from the 16th century on avoiding brain scorpions: Take heede therefore ye smellers of Basil.

Here's a clickable map of every street tree in New York City.

Teddy Roosevelt's Epic Hunt for a White Rhino.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include how to download a copy of everything Google knows about you, ANZAC Day (the anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli), the 19th century art of measuring criminals, and, for Oliver Cromwell's birthday, his excellent (and evergreen) speech throwing out the corrupt Parliament (plus the posthumous adventures of his head). 

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.

Friday links

Kids re-enact the first Black Friday.

Tomorrow, November 25 is "Evacuation Day (wiki), when the British ran 'way" from New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War. Here's the story of the young man who slithered up a greased flagpole to rip down the British flag.

The Forgotten History of Jingle Bells.

Getting angry and flipping over a table: the supercut.

The Serial-Killer Detector - A former journalist, equipped with an algorithm and the largest collection of murder records in the country, finds patterns in crime.

Cat and Dog Research. Including two studies on how dogs affect their owner's urine.

ICYMI, Thursday's links consisted of a boatload of obscure Thanksgiving-related material.

Friday links

August 12 is Erwin Schrödinger's (he of the famous half-dead cat) birthday: explanation, quotes, jokes, video.

12 Plane Crashes That Changed Aviation.

Browse the British Library’s online copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s 570-page notebook.

Roman roads of Britain.

The Tiny Island in New York That Nobody’s Allowed to Visit.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include directly streaming music to your cochlear implant, the anniversary of the battle of Thermopylae, the 1814 beer flood that killed eight people, village sin-eaters, and Glen Campbell's Alzheimer's-related song.

Friday links

It's Beatrix Potter's birthday: in addition to Peter Rabbit et al, she produced some gorgeous botanical drawings.

The Invention of the Chilean Sea Bass.

The Proper Names of 17 Bodily Functions.

Some examples of bad taxidermy.

Medieval Fashion Trends.

Meet the Woman Behind New York’s 1800s School For Crooks.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include a history of prosthetic limbs,  Aldous Huxley's birthday, why monks have strange haircuts, and what happens when you leave a tetherball hanging in the forest.

Monday links

On July 16, 1945 the atomic age began with the Trinity nuclear test.

The Medieval History of Stonehenge.

Why ancient Roman concrete is better than modern mixes

Old New York: film from the Library of Congress of New York City circa 1900.

A Short History of the Condom.

 Is Every Speed Limit Too Low?

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Bastille Day, the 47 names Disney considered for the 7 dwarfs, 1796 cases of Madeira found in a museum basement, and the stories behind iconic movie props.

Old New York: film from the Library of Congress of New York City around 1900

Per YouTube, the video features Enrico Caruso singing "La donna e Mobile"* (from Rigoletto (wiki)) circa 1908 and clips of films taken in New York City dating from 1898 to 1906 from the Library of Congress.

"La donna e Mobile" translates as "woman is fickle".

h/t Miss Cellania

Friday links

Saint Patrick’s Day: origin, history, videos, and how to make your own green beer. Related: From Slave to Saint, The Story of Patrick 

An Interactive Map of New York’s Earliest Skyscrapers.

When Medieval Monks Couldn't Cure the Plague, They Launched a Luxe Skincare Line.

Fan of mushroom clouds? Dozens of nuclear test videos declassified, uploaded to YouTube.

The Forged ‘Ancient’ Statues That Fooled the Met’s Art Experts for Decades.

The CIA uses board games to train officers.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include intricately carved fruits and veggies, a video on the evolution of animation, how Russians In 1960 imagined the year 2017 would look, and the Ides of March. 

Monday links

A Thanksgiving miscellany: Mark Twain, science, WKRP, Cicero, the best turkey fryer PSA ever, more. Related, this may be a good idea this year: in 1939, the U.S. celebrated Democrat Thanksgiving and Republican Thanksgiving.

Photographs Taken By NASA's Apollo Mission Astronauts.

That Surprisingly Recent Time in British History When Husbands Sold Their Wives at Market.

The traditional drunken turkey recipe.

This Is What Life Was Like in New York City Before the Invention of Indoor Plumbing and Indoor Toilets.

“Tightly holding the pelican by his mouth pouch” and other foreign euphemisms for masturbation.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include the rise and fall of the 1-900 number, advice on hair washing from the 12th and 17th centuries. the Gettysburg Address anniversary, recipes for leftover bacon fat, and President James Garfield's birthday (of note - when he was shot, Alexander Graham Bell showed up with a metal detector to try to locate the bullet.)