I’m pretty sure that I have seen more images of giraffes this week than I have ever before in my entire life (and that was well before I started looking for an image to use in this post). I’m not alone. Thanks to a viral riddle this week, Facebook users began to change their profile pictures to giraffe images in droves. The phenomenon garnered coverage on (spoiler alert: the answer to the riddle, if you haven’t already figured it out or read about it, is revealed in these articles) CNN, The Huffington Post, and many other major news networks. Apparently, the riddle is the brainchild of New Zealand vlogger, Andrew Strugnell, who has promised that there are more riddles to come in this article on inquistr.com [sic].
Offered in the spirit of the season, this Flavorwire post from earlier in October lists The 50 Scariest Books of All Time. Unsurprisingly, the chosen titles favor horror (It, The Exorcist, Amityville Horror), but the list also includes less conventional options such as ProfHacker favorite House of Leaves, The Handmaiden’s Tale, The Trial, and 1984.
In related news, in Chronicle of Higher Education, Jennifer Howard reported on the launch of the Shelly-Godwin digital archive. Appropriately, the launch debuted on Halloween night with the unveiling of the Frankenstein manuscripts. The archive is the result of a collaboration between numerous institutions including the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, the New York library and the Bodleian library. It is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
If Halloween wasn’t frightening enough for you, CNN, USA Today, BBC, and Time magazine have all led with news of a looming wine shortage. In a nutshell, wine consumption has increased, especially in China and the United States, and production hasn’t kept pace. The latter makes sense when you consider that many of the higher end vintages must be aged for several months or even years.
Wine is apparently not the only food item in jeopardy: The Los Angeles Times reported this week that production of the cult favorite hot sauce Sriracha had been suspended due to a lawsuit filed local residents complaining that fumes from the plant cause burning eyes, sore throats, and headaches. Update: The “Rooster” is safe, at least for the time being. The LA Times reported this morning that a judge has set a hearing for November 22, and the plant can continue operations in the meanwhile.
Lastly, the Federal Aviation Administration announced yesterday that soon passengers will be able to use their electronic devices during the entire duration of a flight. So the days of stowing your devices in preparation for takeoff or landing will soon be behind us.
We will leave you with two videos: first, a belated happy Halloween birthday to John Keats and a recording of Benedict Cumberbatch reading “Ode to the Nightingale.”
Second, because it is November, and it is raining, a little G’n R to send us into the weekend:
[Creative Commons licensed image by Flickr user Ted].