Today in 1869, one of the most famous hoaxes of the 19th century began, when workers in Cardiff, New York supposedly uncovered the remains of a 10 foot tall man known as the Cardiff Giant. Plus: today in 1962 Manute Bol was born. At 7 foot 7 inches, he was the tallest player in NBA history, and yet, when he first came to the US from Sudan, his passport said he was just 5 foot 2! 

“A Remarkable Deception”: The Cardiff Giant Hoax (Massachusetts Historical Society)

A Tall Story

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A lot of people believe Friday the 13th is bad luck, and that comes from a lot of legends and traditions. But a guy in 19th Century New York decided to rep this maligned number by flouting superstition and holding regular meals for what he called the Thirteen Club. Plus: the Chicago Botanic Garden is welcoming visitors for the Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns.

Origins of Friday the 13th: How the Day Got So Spooky (Live Science) 

Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns (Chicago Botanic Garden)

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Today in 2020, the Nobel Foundation tried to call a Stanford professor to tell him he'd won the Economics Prize... except that he was asleep with his phone in Sleep Mode! Fortunately they found a good workaround. Plus: this weekend in Goffstown, New Hampshire, it’s the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off And Regatta. 

Doorbell camera captures moment Nobel Prize winner is told he won (NBC News)

Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Regatta  

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Flip a standard coin and you’ve got a 50 percent chance of heads and a 50 percent chance of tails, right? Well, there’s new research out that says… maybe not quite. Plus: for National Coming Out Day, the story of a teen who came out to her family with a cake and a pun-filled letter.

Coin toss not so random after all, says groundbreaking study (Boing Boing) 

Girl comes out to parents with help from a cake (Yahoo)

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This month in 1870, a magazine called The Galaxy published a puzzling article that essentially asks, what's the big deal about Yosemite?  Plus: the channel Jamie’s Lego Jams just used LEGO to build an air-powered pipe organ.

Is Yosemite Worth It? This 150-Year-Old Negative Review Laughingly Misses the Mark (Outside via MyYosemitePark.com) 

LEGO Pan Pipe Organ (The Awesomer)

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Today we’re learning about new research on learning in jellyfish that suggests that you can learn even if you don’t have a brain! Plus: we have a new record holder for the world’s longest mullet!

Brainless jellyfish show they can learn from past experience (Interesting Engineering) 

I Have The World's Longest Mullet! (Guinness World Records via YouTube)

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This month in 1993, the start of a project that is going to take a while: the Zeitpyramide, a 120 block art installation that’s being built at the rate of one block every decade. Plus: starting tomorrow in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, it’s the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese Fest.

Zeitpyramide 

Wisconsin Mac & Cheese Fest

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This month in 1930 an experiment to document a very, very slow process began. It holds the world record for longest-running lab experiment: the Pitch Drop Experiment at the University of Queensland. Plus: this weekend in Easton, Pennsylvania, the Easton Garlic Fest.

Pitch Drop experiment (University of Queensland)

Easton Garlic Fest 

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Today in 1936, the premiere of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 1. That was 71 years after the symphony was written, which is what happens when a symphony is thought to be lost. Plus: atarting tomorrow at the Conner Prairie outdoor history museum in Indiana, it's the Headless Horseman Festival.

José Serebrier writes about the strange history of Dvořák’s First Symphony, The Bells of Zlonice (Classical Source)

Antonín Dvořák and the lost symphony (Radio Prague International)  

Headless Horseman Festival at Conner Prairie  

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This month in 1995, the conclusion of a very odd saga involving one Patrick Combs, who deposited a promotional check from a piece of junk mail and actually got the money! Plus: it's the Day of German Unity. Under a German law, if a family had a seventh kid, the country's president would automatically serve as godparent!

Playing With Money / How a $95,093.35 junk mail check changed Patrick's life (SFGate.com)

Unlucky number seven causes headache for German president (Deutsche Welle)  

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