![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" "\\"7_quick_takes_sm\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I know we\u2019re all done with Halloween, but I wanted to share these delightful, historical costumes<\/a> with you all. \u00a0I love the \u201cRadio Queen\u201d one (which reminds me of the set direction in\u00a0Rocky Horror<\/em>), but my favorite has to be this plane.<\/p>\n You could plan to do a less naked one next year, if it suits your fancy! \u00a0Halloween is less than twelve months away!<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I love clever construction, whether physical or methodological. \u00a0And, speaking of the latter category, the\u00a0NYT<\/em> had a fun thing on\u00a0how<\/em> scientists try to estimate the number of rats in the world\u2019s greatest city<\/a>. \u00a0Including an explanations of how they\u00a0don\u2019t<\/em> do the count:<\/p>\n He faced other methodological problems. He could not capture a large number of rats, mark them for identification purposes, release them, capture a second batch and count the number of marked rats in that batch. \u201cUnfortunately,\u201d he wrote, the health department \u201cis unlikely to approve a large-scale rat-releasing experiment (I know, because I asked).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 3 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Of course, rats and other vermin (pigeons have always been known in my family as \u201crats with wings\u201d) have their uses. \u00a0A thief in Venice has worked out how to make good use of them<\/a>:<\/p>\n When he got to the window he\u2019d spotted from the San Marco bell tower, it was locked, as expected. But the wooden frame was old, rotted in places, and gave easily. On some jobs he brought a pigeon with him, which he would release inside the house to determine if there were motion detectors. This time, he was close to busy Campo San Barnaba. If an alarm went off, he figured he could just run out the back door and disappear into a crowd.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This was merely the shortest interesting thing I could excerpt from this story, I\u00a0strongly<\/em> recommend reading the whole thing<\/a>. \u00a0A mafioso tries to steal a relic as a hostage in this story.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 4 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The thief in the story is trying to steal a piece of art, but he might have faced additional complications if he\u2019d been trying to rob the\u00a0Mariners\u2019 Museum in Newport News, Virginia. \u00a0They\u2019re mounting an exhibit of the works of James E. Butterworth.<\/p>\n Well, mostly Butterworth.<\/p>\n The museum also got ahold of a forgery. \u00a0On purpose.<\/a><\/p>\n On entering the exhibition, visitors approach a high-resolution digital image of \u201cMagic and Gracie off Castle Garden,\u201d an 1871 Butterworth that shows two yachts, sails taut in the wind, racing neck and neck in New York Harbor. On a nearby television screen, a photo of Buttersworth pops up, and \u201chot spots,\u201d activated with the touch of a finger, explain the fine points: the signature, size, background features, sky and weather, seas and sea gulls, composition and meticulous detailing of the ships.<\/p>\n Visitors, prompted by clues in the wall texts, then try to identify the lone forgery. At two voting booths, they can test their suspicions by entering the number of the suspected forgery on touch screens that tell them whether they are right or wrong and offer to give them the correct answer. Then the honor system applies. Those in the know are asked not to give away the secret.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 5 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n If I lived closer, I\u2019d love to visit that show. \u00a0The whole thing reminds me a little of a documentary I recently saw:\u00a0Art and Craft<\/em>, about a serial art forger who donated his fraudulent works to museums for the pleasure of seeing them exhibited, rather than any financial gain. \u00a0Here\u2019s the trailer.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n