RenoVous

  Remember when I mentioned turnip Jack o' lanterns? Creepy, right? And I'm reminded of some masks throughout horror.  Such as from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Rise of Leslie Vernon Hush As much as I love the Scream  movie mask, MTV's show had this: And then there's the dollface masks which hit the "Uncanny Valley" aesthetic. Tourist Trap Alice, Sweet Alice The Strangers Or yeah, a bag. The Town That Dreaded Sundown Do you have a favorite??

  Lily Collins Allison Williams Michelle Yeoh Janelle Monae Logan Browning From Halloweekend: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Keke Palmer Rosalia Victoria Justice Paris Hilton

  In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, influenced by a scientific feud and our modern understanding of electricity. By 1780, researchers knew electrical shocks could produce spasms, and wondered if electricity was involved in muscle contractions.  In 1781, Luigi Galvani was dissecting a frog near a static electricity machine, and when his assistant touched a nerve with a scalpel, the leg jumped.  He believed the electricity resided in the animal itself, and he published his findings in 1791. This was read by Alessandro Volta, who had already discovered electrical capacitance, potential and charge.  He replicated Galvani's work but reached different conclusions, declaring that the frog was acting as the conductor.  He replaced the frog leg with brine-soaked paper and detected a current. So this is where the feud began. Enter Galvini's nephew, Giovanni Aldini, who would demonstrate jolting corpses and making decapitated criminals sit upright.  Most famou...

  From the local Ferrari Farms. Tonight is, in fact, our pumpkin date, but I haven't decided if I want to carve or paint.  I both love and hate cleaning out the pulp and seeds. If I go for it, the leftovers can be good for the  pups . All the animals love 'em! Pumpkins are native to North America and are one of the oldest domesticated plants. Carving vegetables, usually turnips, for Jack-o'-lanterns is an old tradition from Samhain. In the US, it was done more for harvest season before it became a Halloween symbol.

  Eolone mentioned a student of his, from Nepal, currently celebrating Dashain. A Hindu festival that commemorates when Goddess Durga killed the demons known as Mahishasura.  The demons were attacking the world of the gods, the devaloka. And so, a celebration of the victory of good over evil. The Linge Ping is a traditional swing, constructed in the shape of Shiva Linga.  It is believed that one must leave the ground once a year by riding the swing. Day 10 is Bijayadashami, which involves the preparation of tika.  Made from rice, yogurt, and vermilion, the mixture is applied to the foreheads of younger relatives.  The red symbolizes the bonds of family and community. On October 28, the festival will end on a full moon and the celebration of Kojagrat.  Believers stay awake all night with hopes of being blessed by Goddess Laxmi.

 We were so warm and sunshiny... The winds came. And so, the leaves. It's definitely fall, y'all.

  Or perhaps most interesting.... Michaela Cole Ashley Park Sandra Oh America Ferrera Halle Bailey Haley Bennett Reese Witherspoon Naomi Watts Billy Porter Lupita Nyong'o

  Earlier this year we touched on cymatics - the science of visible sound. Then it was Chladni plates, and now it's Ruben's tube. While the plates were a study in acoustics and vibrations, the tube shows the relationship between sound waves and sound pressure. Heinrich Rubens was a German physicist born in 1865.  He worked with Max Planck on some of the ground work for quantum physics, but he is best known for his flame tube, first demonstrated in 1905. I like the trumpet. When sound is applied from one end of the tube, it changes the internal pressure. The tallest flames occur at pressure nodes, and the lowest at antinodes.  The antinodes correspond to the locations with the highest amount of compression and rarefaction.

  For the second year in a row, we caught the shadow-acting performance of the  Bawdy Caste  at the Reno Aces stadium. The night celebrates the movie, of course, our shared love of a cult classic that some of these people have seen a LOT.  I love seeing the old man in fishnets shouting out every bit of audience participation dialogue that there is. It is also a celebration of LGBTQ+ gender fluidity.  Many people identify with the theme of acceptance, it's okay to be different, deviant even.  Live yourself. "Don't dream it, be it." The soundtrack is a hit too.

 The Mason Dixon Line. Established on this day in 1767, surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were hired to settle a proprietary dispute over the Pennsylvania and Maryland colonies. Mason was the astronomer, following a line of latitude with the stars.  They also had Iroquois guides through the wilderness, and a crew of about 120 men. The Bird Transit has been restored and is on display in Independence Hall. A zenith sector, telescope, and plumb line mounted on a tripod.  We have more electronic gadgets these days, but the technique is much the same. Limestone markers were placed at each mile, and crownstones were placed every 5 miles.  These were carved with a C on one side, for the Calvert family of the Maryland colony, and P on the other, for the Penn family. When they reached the Appalachian Mountains, they started using wood posts. In 1991, a team went out and found all but 10 of the original 132 markers. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise established the lin...

  Artist and stream scientist, Todd Gilens, has created a mile long poem along the sidewalks of downtown Reno.  He's used a unique font, made from the handwriting of Claude Dukes, Federal Water Master for the Truckee and Carson rivers from 1959 to 1984. His research focuses on the dynamics of water in mountain ecosystems and changing climates.  The poem is a celebration of water and its journey, making connections between people, resources, and their surrounding landscapes. "...to connect in a public place, and the public place was the urban curb like the pathway where water flows through cities." His Site Excerpt