Weekend Link Dump

Strange Company wishes to remind you all that life is a cabaret, old chum.

We learned this from the cats.

On to this week's Link Extravaganza:

What the hell happened to this F-89?

What the hell happened to Michael Rockefeller?

What the hell is the Petralona Skull?

What the hell was the Phantom Light of Deakin's Woods?

What the hell is this megalithic site in Russia?

Ottawa is really sinking!

Watch out for those Danish candleholders!

Watch out for those chihuahuas!

Where's a medieval Hercule Poirot when you really need him?

Where are the ancient Hercule Poirots when you really need them?

Treating the Kaiser.  "Revolting and idiotic" pretty much says it all.

The colorful, and occasionally tragic history of New York's No. 62 Bank Street.

Crossing the line with Rose de Freycinet.

Some Hawaiian petroglyphs that have recently been uncovered.

Pace the classic Jackson 5 song, the ABCs are not as easy as 1-2-3.

Investigating a 17th century pirate alliance.

19th century mammoths?!

A ghost story from ancient Greece.

Meet Dick the Crow, professional mourner, practical joker and sneak thief.

If you think you were feeling lonely before...

Here is a real golden oldie:  the first known recording of a human voice.  1860!

As the old TV commercial said, "It isn't nice to fool Mother Nature."

If you visit this hut, I have some advice:  Walk very, very softly.

A reminder:  Elephants are people too.

With many a flirt and flutter:  The fine art of the fan.

Let's face it, we all have trouble finding new uses for all those mummies we have lying around the house. This post is here to help.

This was possibly the coolest contest ever.  Meet the winner.

Happily, New Orleans' first Mardi Gras went just about as you'd expect.

The trial of Florence Maybrick:  A classic enigmatic murder case.

Why giving Catherine the Great your dog was full of potential hazards.

The kind of thing that happens when someone is fool enough to challenge Kathryn Warner on the topic of Edward II.

Yet another famed Sailor Cat,  plus an equally brave Sailor Pug.

An Edwardian, uh, "anti-female-hysteria" device that frankly looks like something that would produce hysteria in anybody.

Alicia Meynell, England's first female jockey.

The Mystery Boy of Hampton Court.

An 1872 description of Lincoln's Phantom Funeral Train.

Return of the Viking Bad Boys!

A German ghost town in the Namibian desert.

Time-traveling celebrities.  Remember that time Sylvester Stallone was Pope?

The perfect gift for the Sultan who had everything:  the world's biggest baby name book.

Sweet dreams.

Conspiracy theory of the week:  Did NASA deliberately destroy evidence of life on Mars?

Conspiracy theory of the week II: ECM + CIA = UFO.

My favorite internet discovery of the week:  An elderly Japanese woman and her feline best friend.

Here is a list of things that would cause your screenplay to be rejected in the 1920s.  Nowadays, of course, the film industry sees this as a how-to manual:

Circa 1920 rejection slip the Essanay Film Company sent screenwriters whose submissions were found wanting. pic.twitter.com/ei1JKHPvhS
— Sean Fagan Books (@SeanFaganBooks) February 24, 2014

And, finally, if you're in the market for some knitted aquatic critters, check out this Etsy shop.

There we are for the week!  See you all on Monday, when I will be presenting a lesson in how not to commit the perfect murder.  Take notes, because there'll be a quiz at the end.