Friday links

"The War to End All Wars" ended 100 years ago on the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month in 1918. Before it was Veterans Day it was Armistice Day, for the fallen of the First World War: here's some history. 

Rome’s Heroes And America’s Founding Fathers.

The Little-Known Reason Pencils Are Yellow.

Advice on hair washing from the 12th and 17th centuries.

Football Physics: Newton, Einstein and The Forces Behind Those Big Hits.

NASA has plans to probe Uranus in search of gas.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include how telegraph operators were the first to know news of the Civil War (which arrived in code), political maps of the United States from 1850 and 1880, Nazi werewolves, making whiskey and wine in a lab, and Guy Fawkes Day.

Friday links

October 21 is Trafalgar Day: history, videos of reenactments and background explanations, and re-fighting with BBC's interactive Battlefield Academy.

The Biggest Guns in Human History.

The history of Oktoberfest is much bigger than beer.

Faust, Mephistopheles, Napoleon, Oliver Cromwell or a Hugenot: Halloween Ideas From an 1884 Costume Guide, with bonus 1880-era Batgirl costumes.

The Flyway Code: How birds avoid crashing into each other in mid-air.

A Deep Dive Into Uranus Jokes, because they never get old.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include teaching yourself to echolocate, where to poop in King Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace, jet engines on trucks, Rita Hayworth's birthday (and an excellent compilation of her dancing), and patching crumbling walls with LEGOs.