BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, VLAD 🧄

Happy Garlic Lovers Day! It seems an odd choice to celebrate a classic vampire repellent in October, the official month for all things spooky, but I don't make the rules. While Drac is taking this day off, I'll be over here working on my garlic breath game.

My breath by the end of Garlic Lovers Day.

Here's what I know about garlic, in addition to it being delicious:

1. It's been cultivated for at least 4,000 years and is popular around the world in cuisines from Asia, Northern Africa, Latin America, Southern Europe, and the Middle East. Finally, something most of the planet can agree on!

2. There is a town here in California, Gilroy, that is known as the Garlic Capital of the World and it throws an annual garlic festival serving garlic everything, even garlic ice cream! The town also smells like garlic every time I've passed through.

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Alright, let's have some birthday cake!

• Happy birthday to actress and adventurous babysitter Elisabeth Shue, born this day in 1963! Known for roles in films like The Karate Kid, Hollow Man, Adventures in Babysitting, and Leaving Las Vegas (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress).

• Birthday shoutout to Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, first published in London on this day in 1847! The novel revolutionized prose fiction by being the first to focus on its protagonist's moral and spiritual development through an intimate first-person narrative, where actions and events are colored by a psychological intensity.

Finally, let's get to the main course, fun links to brighten your day!

1. Pretty fly for a freshly baked pie

Pie artist Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin turns pastry into a canvas with pies so pretty you wouldn't want to slice into them. From Goblin King tributes to exquisite sugar skulls, Jessica's creations are as much a feast for the eyes as they would be for the belly.

2. The cutest wildlife interviews

This zookeeper chats with a capybara, a porcupine, a hedgehog, and other wild critters with her tiny mic.

3. The ultimate collection of Dad Jokes

Roll your eyes all you want, but this epic collection of silly jokes will (probably) make you chuckle. Pro tip: if you have a hard time getting natural smiles from people when you take their photo, save a few of these zingers and roll them out when you're ready to snap some pics — you'll capture better looking smiles, guaranteed! I have found this trick reliable 100% of the time for even the most reluctant photo subjects.

4. 40 concepts you should know

This Twitter mega-thread by Gurwinder dives into topics from flow state to status quo bias, giving us explanations for stuff we see every day but don't always have a name for.

5. Mind bending street art by Scaf_oner

These 3D optical illusions painted onto buildings and under overpasses are a visual delight and no doubt stop passersby in their tracks.

OK! Hopefully these little diversions helped to brighten your day! We'll be back here in your inbox on Friday with more random holidays, celebrity birthdays, a new episode of the Boredwalk Podcast, and new art! Until then...

Peace, love, and garlic breath,

Meredith