Spooky, Vintage American Halloween Photos

"Haunted Air, a new book by Ossian Brown showcases anonymous Halloween photographs taken between 1875 and 1955.
 It is published by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Random House UK."
via TIME.com / more

Does and aspirin a day keep the cancer surgeon away?

"Two pills a day for two years reduced the incidence of bowel cancer by 63% in a group of 861 at-risk patients, a study reported in The Lancet said. Newcastle University's Prof Sir John Burn, who led the study, said the evidence "seems overwhelmingly strong". Other experts said the findings added to a growing body of proof that aspirin could be used in the fight on cancer. The study was conducted on 861 patients with Lynch syndrome, which affects one in every 1,000 people. They struggle to detect and repair damaged DNA which means they are more likely to develop a range of cancers including those of the bowel, womb and stomach. "
  BBC News - By James Gallagher / more

Scientists Decipher German Secret Society’s ‘Uncrackable’ Code

 "Researchers have finally decoded a mystical manuscript that has confounded experts for centuries, revealing the bizarre inner workings of an 19th-century Masonic organisation.

Known as the Copial Cipher, the 105-page document was written in Germany over 250 years ago, using complex code that had seemed uncrackable. Researchers used a combination of cutting-edge technology and human intuition to unlock the document's secrets."
By Jak Phillips/TIME NewsFeed/more

This is not who I am...

reddit

Jadranka Kosor, confirmed at an extraordinary news conference today that the ongoing investigation into alleged HDZ slush funds had been expanded to cover the party as a legal entity

"Kosor said the HDZ would come out of the proceedings as a strong party that had been the first to lead the country in the fight against corruption. The successful fight against corruption was one of the reasons why we completed the EU entry talks, said Kosor, adding that many wanted that fact to be ignored. We will not allow them to do it, she added. She went on to say that she would request other investigations as well, including into scandals such as the Trznice Rijeka fresh produce market operator and scandals in Sisak-Moslavina County, wondering why confidential investigations were not confidential and where information was leaked from. "Just as with the fight against corruption, we will not stop demanding answers to those questions, information leaks are criminal acts and someone will answer for it," she said. HDZ vice-president Ivan Jarnjak said he still had not received a confirmation that he was under investigation, but that he would definitely give a statement to the anti-corruption investigative agency USKOK. In that interview, I will remove possible accusations against me and the HDZ, he said. The media speculate that aside from the HDZ as a legal entity, USKOK is also investigating, over allegations of party slush funds, former HDZ secretaries Ivan Jarnjak and Branko Vukelic, and former HDZ spokesman Ratko Macek who was in charge of the party's election campaigns that were allegedly financed with money from the HDZ's slush funds. The investigation in this case, dubbed Fimi Media, has so far covered 17 suspects, led by former Prime Minister and HDZ president Ivo Sanader. Under investigation are also former HDZ treasurer Mladen Barisic and former party accountant Branka Pavosevic on whose statements the media claim USKOK bases most of its suspicions. Barisic and Pavosevic have spoken about the existence of party slush funds in the investigation into the Fimi Media case, named after the company through which money was siphoned from public companies and ministries, a part of which is believed to have ended up in the HDZ slush funds. The media speculate that it is suspected that around 30 million kuna ended up this way in the party that has been leading Croatia's ruling coalition for the last eight years, and that the funds were used to finance the HDZ's election campaigns and a presidential campaign of incumbent PM Kosor."
Daily - tportal.hr

Tea Rex

BigFun.be

Not in front of the corgis!

No one knows more about the Royal Family than their 1,200 staff. They know which royal is most popular below stairs, who the Queen gives her cast-off clothes to, who has his shoelaces ironed, and what goes on behind a trick mirror at Buckingham Palace. Now, a fascinating new book by author BRIAN HOEY - who’s chronicled the monarchy for 40 years - shares their secrets. 

 

Living with a gamer

EatLiver.com

'You miss the shots you don't take'

Keith Colmer has logged over 5000 hours in the sky (Image: US air force) 

More than 500 people – including a dozen or so former or current NASA astronauts – applied to take paying passengers to the edge of space with the firm Virgin Galactic. Keith Colmer, a former US air force test pilot with degrees in aerospace engineering and telecommunications, is the first to be chosen, joining Virgin's chief pilot David Mackay in flight training. New Scientist spoke with Colmer last week at the dedication of Virgin Galactic's new hangar in the New Mexico desert.

Things you never knew that nobody knows

 "Before Donald Rumsfeld talked about known unknowns, and Disney’s Pocahontas sang about the things you never knew you never knew, there was Confucius.

Quoting the ancient Chinese philosopher in his book Walden, Henry David Thoreau wrote “To know that we know what we know and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”

Enter William Hartston, a British chess champion-cum-newspaper columnist, who highlights his own true knowledge in The Things that Nobody Knows: 501 Mysteries of Life, the Universe and Everything, a guide to today’s known unknowns. Written in alphabetical order, it begins with Aardvarks (are they the closest living relative of a creature from which all mammals evolved?) and ends in Zymology, the study of fermentation."
via CultureLab By Wendy Zukerman /continue reading

Scared to Death

Slate Magazine

An artist in Thailand is baking up some bloody bread.

"Artist Kittiwat Unarrom sculpts bread in his family's bakery in Thailand to look like human heads and body parts. The ghoulish creations are made of flour, raisins, nuts and other traditional bread ingredients. Unarrom said he makes the bread to reflect the Buddhist philosophy of "Do not believe in what you see, what you see might not be true as you thought." He hopes people ponder whether "they are consuming food, or food is consuming them."
Discovery News

90 Corgis In Costumes

more here

 

I'm stuck on you!

The tiny creature is captured perching on top of a strawberry at Gowinta Farms,

 near Brisbane, Australia.

 

Sealyham Terrier

The Sealyham terrier, once beloved of Hollywood stars and royalty, is on the verge of extinction. 

 The decline is highlighted in the latest issue of Country Life as it sends out an 'SOS' - that's

 'Save Our Sealyhams'.

 

The 2011 Army Photographic Competition Awards

Rifleman Ross Mills, serving with A Company, 1 RIFLES in Helmand, Afghanistan, holds the company's adopted dog called Sharpie, in this photo taken by Sergeant Alison Baskerville RLC, which won the Professional Portrait Category. 

more here

 

Barack Obama appears on Jay Leno

US President Barack Obama discusses the death of Colonel Gaddafi, his approval ratings and the Republican nominations during his appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Is there life after death?

via

 

John McCarthy obituary

"In 1955, the computer scientist John McCarthy, who has died aged 84, coined the term "artificial intelligence", or AI. His pioneering work in AI – which he defined as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines" – and robotics included the development of the programming language Lisp in 1958. This was the second such high-level language, after Fortran, and was based on the idea of computing using symbolic expressions rather than numbers. McCarthy was also the first to propose a "time-sharing" model of computing. In 1961, he suggested that if his approach were adopted, "computing may some day be organised as a public utility, just as the telephone system is a public utility," and that that utility could become the basis of a significant new industry. This is the way that "cloud computing" is being sold today."

 By Jack Schofield / The Guardian / more

 

Mac on... Tory rebellion on Europe

'...so after a long and bloody battle, me and the other brave rebels found Cameron hiding down a drain. "Don't shoot!" he cried...'
via

Hmm.. now what?

This grasshopper adopts the look of a bemused human as it sits atop a Devil's-bit Scabious flower for 

Matt Cole's photo.

 

Animal shelters halt adoption of black cats for Halloween

If you are expecting to see a lot of black cats this Halloween, you may end up disappointed.

"Animal shelters across the country are prohibiting the adoption of black cats over the holiday period, fearing the possibility of animal cruelty towards the felines, who usually take centre stage at this time of year.

Black cats are the subject of many superstitions and rituals and rescue organisations usually try to push their adoptions, as they are generally neglected because of the stigma surrounding them. But many shelters across the U.S. are putting a ban on the adoptions until November 2, when Halloween is safely over."
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Scaredy cat tiger frightened by a floating leaf

"A 22-month-old female scaredy cat tiger appeared to get the shock of her young life when she encountered a dead leaf floating on a pool of water in the Bandhavgarh National Park, India. Clearly unusure about just what was approaching her, the partially submerged youngster's tail shot up in the air and with teeth bared she let out her most fearsome growl - all in an effort to scare the humble leaf away."
Telegraph

The Abandoned House By Mike Doyle

 "This spooky haunted Victorian house was built out of Lego by 44 year-old graphic designer Mike Doyle for project he has called: The Abandoned House Series. "
Telegraph

Bizarre Halloween Jack O'Lantern pumpkin carving by Ray Villafane

"Halloween is fast approaching the annual tradition of pumpkin carving has begun to rear its ugly head - literally. American artist Ray Villafane has taken pumpkin carving to a whole new level. Using his background in fine art and his work in designing models for DC and Marvel comics, Ray turns pumpkins into gruesome gothic gargoyles."
via Telegraph / more

Have you ever wanted to be The Girl With The Pearl Earring?

"Well thanks to a Canadian artist, many people were able to follow in Scarlett Johansson's footsteps and remake the classic painting by 17th Century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Jeff Hamada, an artist from Vancouver, has been running a competition named Remake on his website 'Booooooom'. It allows classic paintings to be skillfully created by every day people."

 
more here