PBS Eons explored the history of pumpkins and other cucurbits, examining how these fruits narrowly escaped extinction and adapted to a new relationship with humans. The narrator further explains how they evolved through human domestication, from tough-skinned, bitter wild plants to the celebratory gourd we know today.

Pumpkins only survived thanks to an unlikely partnership they forged with another type of mammal. One that still found them to be toxic and disgusting at first, but could see the potential in the relationship. Us.

The episode draws on a 2015 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that linked the extinction of mastodons and other seed-spreading megafauna to the decline of wild squashes and gourds and, eventually, their domestication by humans.

Pumpkins still meet the occasional giant, like Samudra the elephant, who squished a 500-pound one at the Oregon Zoo.

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Incredibly talented musicians from nine Commonwealth nations performed a beautiful Playing For Change rendition of The Beatles song “With a Little Help From My Friends”, conveying a worldwide message of unity.

No matter where we come from, we are all connected by the universal language of music. When we share our voices, embrace our differences, and help one another, we can create something truly beautiful and impactful!

One song. Many voices. One shared humanity.

Playing For Change created this performance to celebrate the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), hosted by Antigua and Barbuda.

The artists, who performed from such countries as Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Cameroon, Fiji, Ghana, India, Samoa, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, are listed below.

Asher Otto- Vocals
Antigua Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra & The InSpire Youth Choir- Choir, Orchestra
Bizung Family Dancers- Dancers
Davey Johnstone- Mandolin
Davy Knowles- Electric guitar, Vocals
Fa’ae’e Te’o- Vocals
Falaniko Solomon King- Fire Dancer
Kaustubh More- Tanpura
Khan Cordice- Steel pan drums
Malo Faamausili- Log Drum
Manava Performing Arts in partnership with Sweet Sensation (Trio):
Demetria Mohelata Tawake- Vocals
Jim Raiwalui- Vocals
Olsen Joseph Sefo- Guitar
Pete Thomas- Drums
Peti Key- Guitar
Prasad Rahane- Sitar
Richard Bona- Bass
Titi Tsira- Vocals
Tushar Lall- Harmonium
William Barton- Didgeridoo

Previous Playing For Change Performances

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Dr. Erica Brozovsky, from the PBS series Otherwords, explained that some of the most common words in languages worldwide were directly inspired by the mythological names of gods and goddesses.

Gods are all around us… in the words we use everyday!

Examples include space exploration (Apollo), days of the week (Thursday = Thor’s day), months (June = Juno, goddess of marriage and childbirth), natural phenomena (volcano = Vulcan, god of fire), human biology (iris = Iris, goddess of rainbows), and history (the Titanic).

Brozovsky also traces the word hurricane to a storm deity of the Taíno people of the Caribbean and notes that zombie may have roots in Nzambi, a creator god of some Bantu peoples in Central and Western Africa.

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An adorable young miniature donkey named Rodney, who lives at the Sunflower Farm Creamery in Cumberland, Maine, enjoyed some dedicated snuggling time with his favorite human, Hope Hall, who said that it was just as enjoyable for her.

Sweet Rodney is like a huge stuffed animal. Let me just say, this morning my heart almost blew up he was so sweet!

Hope also said that this snuggle was an integral part of Rodney’s training.

Step one of donkey training! Build ❤️ and trust!

Training Donkeys

Hope, a high school English teacher of 30 years, said that earning each donkey’s trust feels a lot like building trust with each student in a classroom.

Hope Introduces Rodney, Vegas and Jenny

Rodney shares the farm with two older donkeys, Vegas and Jenny, along with a herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats whose babies are known for romping around the barn in pajamas.

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Natalie Sideserf of Sideserf Cake Studio in Austin revisited her hyperrealistic octopus cake, making a life-sized version with a hidden structural skeleton, specialized edible materials, and intricate hand-sculpted details so it could wrap around her arm and stay that way when she removed her appendage.

Is it a real, wet octopus, or is it cake? I built a hyperrealistic, life-sized octopus cake designed to wrap entirely around my real arm without breaking when I let go.

While this process demanded precise engineering and artistic techniques to achieve a lifelike appearance, Sideserf made a rather memorable mistake by giving the octopus only seven arms instead of eight. Luckily, her quick thinking corrected this error in no time.

Seven. I only made seven arms. How did I mess that up? … I have to add an eighth arm right now. … Now I just have to keep sculpting the arms and convince everyone that it was meant to be there the whole time.

Sideserf first made a name for herself with a best-in-show cake bust of Willie Nelson and a Halloween wedding cake made as a pair of bloody severed heads.

Sideserf’s Previous Octopus Cake

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Sarah Larson of The New Yorker went backstage at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to conduct a “Talk of the Town” interview with a donkey named Wanda, who plays a pivotal role in a scene of Puccini‘s classic opera “La Bohème”.

“La Bohème” is about tragic Bohemian lovers in 1830s Paris, but for a few glorious minutes in Act Two, it’s also about a toy seller and his donkey. She doesn’t sing, and she’s not what we in the biz call a good talker, but she has plenty of “je ne sais quoi”. Tonight, we’ll follow along with Wanda as she gets ready for her big performance.

Wanda has pulled Parpignol’s toy cart at the Met since 2022, when she took over the part from Sir Gabriel, a donkey who had played it for 16 seasons.

While Wanda didn’t have much to say, her agent, Nancy Novograd of All Tame Animals, talked shop.

I represent all sorts of animals for movies, television, commercials, the opera, the ballet, special events. I got two calls for peacocks today.

Gregory Warren, who plays the toy seller Parpignol, said Wanda has a very distinct personality.

She’ll throw you a little shade every once in a while. Like, “I’m the star here, you’re waiting for me”.

Wanda doesn’t sing, but Monte, a rescued donkey in Texas, once serenaded his human in a beautiful baritone voice.

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Mandy Kocevar of Mulberry Acres Parrot Rescue shared the remarkable story of Auggie, a lovable elder African Gray whose bottom half is paralyzed. Auggie came to live with her after his original human was no longer able to care for him. He was in rough condition, as he can’t preen or clean himself, but Kocevar and another parrot named Simon make sure Auggie looks and feels great.

Because of his condition, he can’t turn himself around to get at his back feathers. And Simon helps us preen Auggie. It’s like he knows that Auggie can’t do it himself. And so he just went right in and started doing it for him. I’m thinking that he’s had this disability for a very long time, but we aren’t sure.

Kocevar also makes sure to keep Auggie close and Auggie doesn’t mind that at all. In fact, Auggie has learned to climb with his beak to let his beloved human know that he wants attention.

I’ll put this wire perch on the outside of his cage and he knows that he can climb up onto this wire perch. Then I’ll take him out and I’ll hold him and cuddle him and preen him. …He loves to be with somebody on them on their lap being held all the time. We also have a little sling that I got. …it was perfect for him. …So when I’m doing dishes, I can have him close to me and he just hangs out in that sling.

Mulberry Acres, a nonprofit parrot sanctuary in Brighton, Michigan, keeps birds who need ongoing care as part of its special-needs flock, which is where Auggie spends his days chatting with his fellow residents.

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New Yorker Abby Jardine shared how she came to have a “snobby” purse pigeon who doesn’t care to socialize with the regular pigeons who live on the streets.

Where are their purses?

Jardine found the baby pigeon, whom she named Pidge, on the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Pidge couldn’t fly or fend for herself, so Jardine took her home and gave her a safe place to stay. Jardine thought this was only temporary, but the pair have been together for more than three years. During that time, Jardine taught Pidge everything she needed to know about living life as a purse pigeon, including potty training.

Y’all, I don’t know what possessed me to think of putting her in a purse. I did need to transport her and I had a sample left over from when I was working on the bag team at Madewell and it was a perfect fit. I really wanted her to be well socialized, comfortable around people, and brave in new situations in the city, and somehow this worked really well.

As Jardine explains, all of the pigeons in New York are domestic birds, and as pets they can live more than 15 years, compared to only two or three on the street. At first, Jardine thought Pidge was a boy until the bird laid an egg in her lap at about six months old.

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Two talented sea otters at the Oregon Zoo playfully slam-dunked miniature pumpkins through their hoop like basketballs, a festive seasonal twist on their regular training routine.

punkin dunkin

Playing basketball is a unique yet adorable daily enrichment exercise that keeps the otters’ minds and bodies in excellent shape.

Positive-reinforcement training like the sea otters’ basketball routine plays a critical role in animal well-being, and using novel items like mini pumpkins helps keep it even more interesting.

The zoo’s hoops tradition began with Eddie, an elderly sea otter whom keepers taught to dunk as therapy for his arthritic elbows.

Other Otter Games

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Brooklyn artist Olivia Springberg created a giant sculpture of the iconic “Pizza Rat” and its oversized slice, making the determined rodent look like it was crawling down the side of the “West Village Famous” townhouse in Manhattan. According to the homeowner, this was a loving Halloween memorial, complete with a “ghost of pizza rat” sign, to a creature who symbolized the spirit of New York City.

Halloween homage to that iconic rodent Pizza Rat, who personifies the New York gift of determination and grit.

The original Pizza Rat video, filmed by Matt Little and posted to YouTube in September 2015, went viral within hours and inspired a wave of Pizza Rat Halloween costumes that fall.

While the Pizza Rat’s specific fate is unknown, this species, a wild Norwegian rat, rarely lives more than a year or two, hence the memorial. As Wikipedia explains:

The maximum life span is three years, although most barely manage one. A yearly mortality rate of 95% is estimated, with predators and interspecies conflict as major causes.

The rodent joins other oversized West Village Halloween critters, including a giant pigeon that burst out of the windows of a Bethune Street townhouse.

Eyewitness News ABC7 New York took a closer look at the giant rodent and its slice.

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“Come Back to Firefox” is a clever ad that reunites some of the most viral content creators of the 2000s and 2010s, giving a humorous nod to the past while inviting people to return and discover what’s new in Firefox, such as a free built-in VPN and optional AI features.

Somewhere along the way, big tech started tracking you everywhere, ads started following you home, and AI showed up uninvited. Firefox stayed put, with built-in privacy protections, AI that’s always your choice, and customizations that make the internet feel like yours again. It’s time to come back.

The ad features memes such as Tay Zonday‘s “Chocolate Rain”, Gary Brolsma‘s “Numa Numa”, the “Apparently” Kid, Overly Attached Girlfriend, Where the Hell Is Matt?, Liam Kyle Sullivan‘s “Shoes”, Annoying Orange, Success Kid, and Chuck Testa.

Mozilla, which calls this its most ambitious campaign yet, had some fun with a few of the stars in its announcement.

• Overly Attached Girlfriend may have wanted to know everything about you, but your browser shouldn’t.
• Dancing Matt boogied all over the world, without any corporations tracking him or selling his personal data.
• And while Annoying Orange is still incredibly annoying, he’s not as annoying as forced AI features.

Previous Posts About These Creators

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Time Out New York visited Sharon Hershkowitz, the joyful proprietor of the historic Balloon Saloon, a bustling lower Manhattan novelty shop that has operated since 1981. Hershkowitz gave a lively tour, pointing out her colorful balloon work and other exciting treasures.

Step inside Balloon Saloon, NYC’s legendary wonderland of custom balloon art, vintage nostalgia, and quirky novelty treasures!

Hershkowitz also talked about how this tiny idea, which was born in Brooklyn, became a Tribeca institution.

Founded in 1981, Balloon Saloon started in a Brooklyn living room with an ad in New York Magazine and a helium tank packed into a Volkswagen Rabbit. Over four decades later, it has become a cherished Lower Manhattan institution known for massive installations—from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to historic balloon drops—and an unmatched collection of retro toys that transport every visitor back to childhood.

Her proudest challenge was a “frozen balloon drop” that filled the Park Avenue Armory with balloons that seemed to fall but never landed, a feat she said cost her a month of sleep.

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Wisconsin costume designer Brandon Johnson created the “Spirit Walker”, a towering four-legged creature with an anthropomorphic face. He told 60 Second Docs that he gave this incredible 9-foot costume, made from random thrift-store and discarded items, a lovely history that explains why it isn’t scary.

The Spirit Walker personality is curious, cute, fun. It’s an old soul, but it’s in a new land. …

The Spirit Walker means something different to everybody. To me, it means an outlet to give people experiences. This is about inspiring people. … It never is meant to be terrifying.

Performing in it is no small feat. Johnson says he’s literally planking on four stilts, which he calls the hardest thing he’s ever done.

Johnson has also built other amazing, larger-than-life costumes, and his creatures have even hammed it up on a snowy film set.

Anyone inspired to build their own can pick up Johnson’s Spiritwalker build guide on Etsy.

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In the spirit of Halloween, musician Captain Pikant used his Hapax sequencer to recreate the complex drum beat behind Ray Parker Jr.’s classic Ghostbusters theme. He explained that the original version used a LinnDrum drum machine and a Simmons SDS-V electronic drum kit.

The sounds come from the LinnDrum, which of course by the mid-80s was one of the most popular drum machines in music production. …The SDS-V was actually velocity sensitive, meaning it reacted to soft and loud drum stick hits. …

The track also featured a lot of guitar, which created the creepy laughter in the song’s intro.

The lead guitar is on the right with a prominent chorus effect. And you know that creepy laugh at the start of the song? Nearly my whole life I thought this was something like a laughing bag toy. You know like “Ha – Ha – Ha – Ha”. But while we were picking apart the track, I realized that this was actually done on guitar as well.

After Ghostbusters became a huge hit, it was revealed that the opening phrase was quite similar to the Huey Lewis and the News song “I Want a New Drug”. This was not coincidental.

…”I Want A New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News, which director Ivan Reitman used as a temp track while cutting Ghostbusters. He wanted the song for the movie but when Huey Lewis declined, he gave the temp soundtrack as a reference to Ray Parker Jr.

This, of course, led to a lawsuit, which was settled out of court in 1985. Nick in Revue summed the whole case up nicely.

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California resident Susan Burgos set the Guinness World Record for the “largest collection of frog-related items” in January 2026, with 13,201 pieces.

The largest collection of frog related items is 13,201 and was achieved by Susan Burgos (USA) in Camarillo, California, USA, on 12 January 2026.

Her froggy collection grew so big that she bought a second home with a large garage just to store it all, and it easily topped the previous record of 10,502 items held by Sheila Crown of the United Kingdom.

Burgos said it all started with a tiny tree frog that wandered into her kitchen in 1983, and she looks for frog memorabilia wherever she goes.

“It stole my heart,” she told us. “It inspired me, and I bought my first item: a gold frog ring with emerald eyes.” She looks for items [to add to her collection] everywhere she goes, often picking them up while she’s travelling or thumbing through pages of catalogues to find the perfect additions to her froggy family.

In the video, Burgos says the collection fills more than 290 numbered boxes and that she hopes someone will open a museum for it, with any profits going to charity.

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Dustin Ballard of There I Ruined It remixed Linkin Park‘s “In the End” with corporate jargon pulled from actual LinkedIn profiles to create a catchy, memorable workplace anthem.

Introducing: LinkedIn Park

Ballard explained how he uses AI to enhance his song parodies in a TED Talk about where the technology fits in music.

The Origins of Corporate Jargon

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Documentarian HD1080ide captured great footage of Amphib 2026, the annual European gathering of Les Amis de l’Amphibie in Berlin, featuring the world’s largest group of road-legal amphibious vehicles. The lineup included Amphicars, Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, an Amphicruiser, and custom-built vehicles that were driven into and cruised such waterways as Lake Wannsee and Lake Schwielowsee near Potsdam over several days in August 2026.

From August 1st to 8th, 2026, the world’s largest amphibious car meeting took place in Berlin. Among the partly extremely rare vehicles were numerous Amphicars, Schwimmwagen, Ford GPA (Seep), three Amphi-Ranger, an Amphicruiser, four DUKW and several custom-built vehicles.

The meet moves to a different European country each year, and every vehicle must be registered and able to both drive and swim.

The 2027 gathering is slated to take place in London. Amphibious vehicles have a history there, as seen in 1965 footage of an amphibious water scooter riding on the River Thames.

via The Awesomer

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Someone at Meep Meepleton’s World of Fun in Madison, Wisconsin, amusingly played a vintage Hasbro Big Mouth Singers toy keyboard in time with the classic Beastie Boys track “Brass Monkey”, making the toy’s characters’ heads pop up whenever it was their time to sing.

Not bad for a 50 year old toy and my piano skills are rusty.

Meep Meepleton’s World of Fun is a vintage and modern toy store on Williamson Street that also sells collectibles and records.

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Talented British pianist David Bennett analyzed the specific chords and keys that made Queen‘s classic song “We Are the Champions” sound so triumphant.

Queen had a real knack of writing songs that bottled feelings, and a perfect example is We Are The Champions. This song literally sounds like a victory!

Bennett notes that the song starts with darker minor chords, then shifts to major chords, and finally to a five-chord progression that builds confidence before a significant key change, up a whole step from E-flat to F, evoking a true sense of victory.

It’s not just the lyrics that make us feel like champions when we listen to this piece of music, but it’s the music as well. The music evokes those feelings, those emotions of going against hardship, of overcoming challenges, and ultimately emerging victorious.

David Bennett also points out that the studio version never resolves, ending on a mysterious C minor 11 chord like a cliffhanger, though the live version finally gives the story its ending.

Other Videos by David Bennett

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Jelle Bakker of Jelle’s Marble Runs presented a spooky Halloween-themed competition in which eight marbles had to navigate a perilous, haunted-castle course with traps, moving obstacles, and ominous creatures, such as giant spiders. As in previous races, the marbles competed in a series of elimination rounds to see which one could safely navigate the course and claim the Halloween championship title.

8 marbles must roll through a spooktacular course full of tricky traps over 8 rounds. From round 4 onwards, the marble with the fewest points gets gobbled up by the giant spiders. Who will have the guts to make it to the final round? Don’t lose your marbles, and don’t get caught in the web!

Commentator Greg Woods calls the action in a suitably spooky voice, naming each trap along the way, from the “Skull Swinger” and the “Boo Basher” to a gang of evil snails known as “Scary Gary”.

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