Batch of links

- With Halloween coming up, I wanted to share these amazing pumpkin carvings.

- When you’re cooking and something goes awry, don’t apologize: simply rename the dish. Melissa Clark gives some good tips in the article and reminds us that it’s often the apologies that will ruin a dish, but if it tastes good, the people eating it don’t know that it veered from the cook’s expectations.

- Bon Appétit recommends a $20 chef’s knife, for those who want quality kitchenware without breaking the bank.

- The Kitchn had a good tip: freeze leftover ingredients to use as pizza toppings. It turns out that my beloved mini San Marzanos (or at least their regular-sized cousins) are the ideal tomatoes for pizza sauce.

- A gimmick that I actually would use: Scientists have come up with dissolvable strips to heal burns in your mouth. I think they should be served alongside every pizza!

- Here’s an infographicto identify your pasta by its shape. Pretty complete, but lacking things like fettuccini!

- Since I moved to South Texas, I sometimes miss the rain. I was therefore quite tickled to find Rainy Mood, a rain simulator that is surprisingly lifelike. If I liked sleeping with white noise, I’d consider leaving my laptop running overnight. It seems to have no effect on Darwin, though, who mostly ignores it (despite being terrified of actual storms).

- A great article about the inhabitants of Ikaria, the island where people forget to die.

- It’s not easy being white, a satire article about racism (which is still very much on the news given the upcoming election).

- A nifty video: The truth about dishonesty.

- The Ghosts of World War II: An artist has superimposed pictures of soldiers taken during World War II with pictures of the same locations taken recently.

- A great article written by Alana: In defense of Instagram. I thought this would particularly interest the Engineer, since he scoffs at Instagram (and Facebook and Twitter). I personally like Instagram and would use it much more if I had a smart phone (as of now, I only use it when I take pictures with my iPad, which isn’t often; I wish I could upload pictures onto the program, though!).

- Scientists are looking at sustainable methods of dealing with super weeds, the latter being created by the increasing use of pesticides.

- Finally, in French: Séralini’s rebuttal to criticism about his study (educating, but not entirely convincing on certain points).