Now that we are well into October, I hope you are checking out the Halloween blog for all kinds of spooky stuff to get you ready for the holiday. Our parade of featured costumes from our readers has been going on since Tuesday. Here are the first of them:
No, it's not too late to send yours in. Send us a picture of a memorable Halloween costume from your past, whether it's one you wore or one you made. Tell us the story behind it, and we'll post it on the Halloween blog, just like these folks! As it gets close to Halloween, we'll give those who send in 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.
We had a guest post from J. Tithonus Pednaud in The Heart Cherished by Frankentstein's Maker. It's an excerpt from his forthcoming book.
Jill Harness gave us 13 Geek Characters Reimagined As Classic Pinups.
Eddie Deezen looked at the song "A Horse With No Name" -What Does That Mean?
On the Spotlight blog, we saw an amazing creation in You Can Bring This Mother of All Swiss Army Knives to a Gunfight.
Alex had two more entries in the "5 Facts" series: 5 Yummy Facts About Cinnabon and Here Are 5 Fun Facts About Coffee For National Coffee Day.
War Plan Red: The U.S. Plan to Invade Canada came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Rsearch contributed Cat Research Review.
The Secret Lives of Kitchen Spices was from mental_floss magazine.
This week, we welcomed a new collaboration with the site Pzzler, in which we present one of their many riddles. This week's entry was Ready, Aim, Fire! Look for a new Pzzler every Wednesday.
Hy Conrad's Whodunit this week was Mrs. Krenshaw's Spare Key.
In the What Is It? game this week, the pictured object is a twelve-barrel hand-crafted copper brewing kettle that was used by the Lemp Brewing Company in St. Louis, circa 1840. That's interesting, but not nearly as funny as the answers Neatoramanauts came up with! Bryan Hoerber said it was the tomb of Augustus Gloop inside Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Samantha Simons said it was the first attempt at an Iron Man suit.
While doing an experiment with using methane gas as a fuel there was an accident. At first he had the right amount inside the suit, and the suit looked normal. But here's where things went bad. The previous night, he had eaten several burritos with extra beans. So with the combination of the gas inside the suit and the gas created by Iron Man himself, his suit expanded with a loud Phhhtttttbbbbttttt! Sound!
Both those answers are good enough to win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! And the rest of the entries are pretty funny, too -you should check them out. Find the answers to all of this week's mystery items at the What Is It? blog.
According to the Neatorama polls this week, you think that this chart accurately explains the different cultures of the world, sex between consenting adults who are tangentially related by marriage should not be called incest, and red pandas are cuter then giant pandas.
Also, you think a college degree is still worth the time and expense, the government shutdown does not affect you, and the Marina Shriflrin dance video and its followup are probably viral stunts.
The post with the most comments this week was How's the US Government Shutdown Affecting You? In second place was a tie between "A Horse With No Name" -What Does That Mean? and Vegetarian Specials.
The comments of the week came from Mag Pie, who explained her preference for red pandas by saying, "The red ones taste minty," and Barking Bud, who responded to the submarine in the street stunt with this image:
The most popular post was by far You Can Bring This Mother of All Swiss Army Knives to a Gunfight on the Spotlight blog. That was followed by War Plan Red: The U.S. Plan to Invade Canada, and The World’s Grimmest Cupcakes came in third.
The post that people ♥ed most was Otter Wants to Play and Adorable Baby Laughs in His Sleep.
What stood out on social media this week was You Can Bring This Mother of All Swiss Army Knives to a Gunfight, which was our #1 post on Facebook and G+, and it tied with The World’s Grimmest Cupcakes on Twitter.
It's easy to share our items on your social networks: click on the title, and then at the bottom you'll see handy buttons for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. You'll also find a list of related posts, and a button to email the post to your friends.
Speaking of social networking, there's always something going on at the Neatoramanauts Facebook page, and be sure to visit our Pinterest board and Twitter feed, too! And the NeatoShop has its own Pinterest board now, too!