Wednesday links

August 29th, 2:14 AM: Skynet Becomes Self-aware.

How drunk were the Founding Fathers? Revolutionary-era Americans could drink you under the table.

Scientists look to music of volcanos to better monitor eruptions: the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador is "the largest pipe organ you've ever come across."

Excellent Supercut of Improbable Weapons.

How to Fight Multiple Assailants.

LBJ's birthday was earlier this week: he was the President Who Marked His Territory.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the U.S. Senate monorail (a private subway system under Washington D.C.), and the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii in A.D. 79.

Wednesday links

June 27 is Helen Keller's birthday: here are quotes, links, some history, and a selection of (non-PC) jokes.

The taxpayer funding behind Domino's Extra Cheesy Pizza. Kind of related: How Domino's Pizza Lost Its Mascot.

Synthetic Street USA was a fake, part of the camouflage that covered the B17 Bomber factory in Seattle during WWII.

Anoint the gums with the brains of a hare: advice from c. 1450 on soothing a teething baby. Apparently dog milk works, too.

Science: Why Are Monkey Butts So Colorful? Includes a gallery of colorful monkey butts.

A new supervolcano is brewing under Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire.

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include the survival uses for tampons and condoms, that time the U.S. Navy built a battleship in New York City's Union Square, a supercut of movie characters getting angry and flipping over tables, and an interactive map showing where your house would have been 750 million years ago.

Monday links

Animated map of the changing borders and population of Europe: every year since 400 BC.

Why all the actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age have such a distinct and strange accent.

We All Nearly Missed The Largest Underwater Volcano Eruption Ever Recorded.

Wave tank demonstration showing the impact of coastal defenses on flood risk.

Found: Two New Drawings by Vincent van Gogh

Big Brother on wheels: Why your car company may know more about you than your spouse.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include weird vintage beauty hacks, the birthdays of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stonewall Jackson (including the story of his left arm's separate grave), how apple pie became "American", and the anniversary of  French King Louis XVI's guillotining.

Friday links

This short 1901 film has some rather impressive special effects: The Fat and the Lean Wrestling Match.

The Mathematics Of Measuring Cups.

The Krakatoa volcanic eruption in 1883 was so loud it ruptured eardrums of people 40 miles away, traveled around the world four times, and was clearly heard 3,000 miles away.

Flowers Have Secret Blue Halos That Bumblebees Can See.

10 Fun Fashion Facts from the Middle Ages.

How The Princess Bride Built Film’s Most Beloved Sword Fight. Here's the fight scene.

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include how Martian laws will differ from Earth laws, a set of 1860s photos of the five stages of inebriation, eating the world's spiciest chip, and, for Rita Hayworth's birthday, a compilation of her dancing.

Friday links

Why Do We Sleep Under Blankets, Even on the Hottest Nights? Related - air conditioning: invention, historical reactions, the days before air-conditioning.

Now you can buy cough-drop flavored Kit Kats in Japan.

Why Nature Prefers Hexagons: the geometric rules behind fly eyes, honeycombs, and soap bubbles.

Extremely cool wind-propelled sculptures.

In 1943, a farmer's cornfield suddenly sprouted a 1,300-foot volcano.

The Background Paintings of Scooby Doo Are Delightfully Creepy and Rather Beautiful.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include St. Bartholomew's Day, the sisters with 37 feet of hair, women's fashion in every year from 1784-1970, and the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii in A.D. 79.

Wednesday links

It's Gene Kelly's birthday: here the famous "Singin' In The Rain" dance.

15 of the Dumbest Inventions in the 20th Century.

Photos of Victorian living rooms from the 1800s.

This 1957 film on how grocery stores work is a hoot.

NASA's ambitious plan to save Earth from a supervolcano.

Gallery: the Topiary Trees of San Francisco.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include a latitude/longitude digits explainer, ranking sci-fi spacesuits, a Navy SEAL explains what to do if you're attacked by a dog, and the weird journey of Dorothy Parker's ashes.