Let's see what happened in this day 521 years ago… Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of the New World, which gave us American history textbooks. Many of us were taught that Columbus "discovered" America, despite the fact that there were plenty of people already here, and he wasn't even the first European to come. What Columbus did was to open the floodgates for immigrants who came here and established new nations, including the United States. Meanwhile, those who were already here suffered enormously. Five hundred years later, Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the US, but you won't notice it as the federal government is undergoing a shutdown. It's not even observed on the 12th anymore, but the nearest Monday. We "observe" Columbus Day more than we "celebrate" it, mostly using it as a time to examine the legacy of Columbus' journey and what came after. But it gives the Neatobot another opportunity to dress up. In case you've been busy, here's some of the highlights from the past week here at Neatorama.
Jill Harness brought us some spooky stories in 5 of the Most Haunted Places on Earth.
She also showed us the lighter side of Halloween with 24 Animals (That Aren't Dogs) In Costumes.
John Farrier wrote 10 Wonderful Ways to Eat Pigs' Feet.
Eddie Deezen gave us Don't Make a Grown Man Cry: Men Who Have Cried in Their Movies.
Alex brought us two posts on the Spotlight blog with Teenager Teenager and Here's What You Need to Know About the New $100 Bill.
The Origins of River Names was brought to you by Uncle John's Bathroom reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research gave us The Reviewer, not written by Edgar Allen Poe.
Paint by Numbers was from mental_floss magazine.
Jill unveiled a new feature called Great Pics of The Week, with this week's column Are You Ready for Halloween Time? We are looking forward to more!
Wanna t-shirt? You Can Win A NeatoShop T-Shirt of Your Choice! the contest is open through Monday, so get your entry in now!
Hy Conrad gave us another Whodunit with the story of Big Daddy Brown.
Our riddle from Pzzlr this week was Family Reunion. Did you figure out out? I was hoping someone would also guess who the family in the accompanying picture was.
In the What is It? game this week, the pictured item is a fusible plug for a boiler. If the temperature gets too hot, the tin plug in the middle will melt and release pressure. There's a more detailed explanation at the What is It? blog, but we were looking for humorous answers this week. Ladybugs got ♥s for her answer: "It's the loose screw of the U.S. Congress in dealing with the budget crises." Makes perfect sense! And Chris Stevens had good one, too: "The holidays are coming, and Iron Man has been known to spend a little too much time at the buffet. Sometimes the suit needs to be 'let out' a little, and these babies are just the hardware to do it!" Those both win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop!
In our polls this week, more of you want to see "meme" (as a verb) added to the Oxford Dictionary than any other word they're considering, and you think that a 7-year-old should be given credit for recognizing a "fart" as a gas. Also, you are pretty sure the Ping Pong Knife-Throwing Trick is fake, and schools have no business banning romance between students. There's a new poll in the post Huge Secret Tunnels Found Beneath the Ice of Antarctica, where so far your suggestions are more interesting than the poll options.
Our readers' costume parade continues on the Halloween blog, with a new costume featured every day! You can join in, too: send us a picture of a memorable Halloween costume from your past, whether it's awesome, clever, embarrassing, or just plain fun. Tell us the story behind it, and we'll post it on the Halloween blog, just like these folks! The best pictures t-shirts from the NeatoShop. Send your pictures to tips@neatorama.com and then look for it on the Halloween blog! Even if you don't send one, you'll want to see all the featured costumes so far, and check back every day on the Halloween blog for more.
The (non-contest) post with the most comments this week was The Saddest US Government Shutdown Photo, followed by Guess Whose Birthday It Was Yesterday? and a tie between Man Sawed Own Leg Off Because He Couldn't Afford Hospital's Amputation Bill and Inside Miss Cellania's House/Bunker/Blogging Factory.
The comment of the week was when Eddie Willers saw the new hundred dollar bill: "There's a hundred dollar bill? Wow, the things you miss out on when you have kids…" I know what you mean!
The most popular post was Guess Whose Birthday It Was Yesterday? Coming in second was 25 Funny and Unique TV-Inspired Halloween Costumes, and 32 Awesome And Ridiculous Children's Halloween Costumes was third.
The two posts that people ♥ed most were 6-Year Old Writes a Letter to a US Navy Admiral about Ninjas, Gets a Response and Elephant Family Reunion (a tie), and Cats Love Babies came in third.
The most emailed post was The Ping Pong Knife-Throwing Trick followed by Cats Love Babies.
There was so much more here this past week. If you are looking for a particular post and can recall any relevant words, you can enter them in the search field at the top right of each page and pull it up. If you are browsing Halloween decorating ideas or costumes or scary stories, you'll see them all together on the Halloween blog. The recipes and food posts go into the blog Neatolicious, unless it was specifically for Halloween. If the post you're looking for involved parenting or children, look through NeatoBambino. And if you are jonesin' for something adorable to look at, the easy way to find plenty of that is to check out the blog Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly.
The NeatoShop has a huge selection of Halloween costumes, accessories, decorations, and party supplies! You can order until October 23rd for delivery in time in the US, but don't wait until what you want is sold out. Visit the Halloween store today!
I also suspected you were just being too nice to link to The Oatmeal's rant, so I did it. But yes, "how people can be so awful to each other"... it does make the awful people of today look relatively nice: most of them have given up slavery and genocide, although if the CDC stays shutdown too long, they may bring back 'causing epidemics'. (end rant)
What I said was the NDT was eight days younger than I am, because my birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but thanks for the good wishes anyway!
But I am proud to have done MY job this week by mildly terrorizing you in the comments, helping to keep the 'Rama from declining into the same muck as most other internet places-where-they-let the-masses-comment. Seriously, somebody was trolling Neil deGrasse Tyson? That's what happens when you're popular - a few idiots sneak in. (However, you did reveal that your birthday is eight days after his, which would make it - hmmm, how do I count days on my fingers? - tomorrow! So, Happy Birthday and Welcome to the Not-So-Secret Society of Librans Who Are Neither Librarians, Libertarians, or, Considering the Zodiac Symbol, All That Well-Balanced)