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[[File:|180px|Ceilings of the Central Hall at the Natural History Museum, London ]]

The decorated ceilings of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, were designed by the museum's architect Alfred Waterhouse, and were unveiled at the building's opening in 1881. The ceiling of the large Central Hall (pictured) consists of 162 panels, 108 of which depict plants considered significant to the history of the museum, to the British Empire or to the museum's visitors. The remaining 54 are highly stylised decorative botanical paintings. The ceiling of the smaller North Hall consists of 36 panels, 18 of which depict plants growing in the British Isles. Both ceilings make extensive use of gilding for visual effect. Built of lath and plaster to save costs, the ceilings are unusually fragile and require extensive maintenance and restoration. Since 2016 the skeleton of a blue whale has been suspended from the ceiling of the Central Hall. (Full article...)

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... that slime monsters (example pictured) have been described as both "a tool for questioning the idea of human exceptionalism" and "loyal punching bags"?
... that some Idaho mountain deathcamas are pollinated by carrion and flesh flies rather than bees?
... that What a Merry-Go-Round closed with evil clowns cavorting around a carousel?
... that the ghost of Margaret C. Waites is said to haunt an undergraduate suite at Harvard College's Cabot House, protecting her book collection?
... that trunk-or-treating was created as a safer alternative to regular trick-or-treating?
... that Vincent Darré had a Parisian apartment decorated with skulls?
... that the song "Haunted" "blends cuteness and spookiness"?
... that the Australian spider Progradungula barringtonensis has been called a "ghost of Gondwana"?
... that Brian David Gilbert released a series of monster-themed ABBA covers under the name AAAH!BBA?
... that the zombie film Get the Hell Out was shot at the currently abandoned Kaohsiung City Council Hall, which had neither water nor electricity?
... that the Devil's Doorway is found in Wisconsin?

In the news

Daniel Chapo

Flooding in Spain kills more than 95 people.
In the Japanese general election, the LDP-led ruling coalition loses its majority in the House of Representatives.
Georgian Dream wins the parliamentary election in Georgia amidst allegations of voting irregularities.
Daniel Chapo (pictured) is announced as the president-elect of Mozambique following protests against his party during the Mozambican general election.

On this day

October 31: Halloween

USS Reuben James in 1939

1917 – World War I: Allied forces defeated Turkish troops in Beersheba in Southern Palestine at the Battle of Beersheba, with the battle involving one of the last successful cavalry charges.
1941 – 100 crew members of the USS Reuben James (pictured) perished when their vessel became the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action during World War II after it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552.
1963 – A gas explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis killed 81 people and injured about 400 others.
1973 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in the prison's exercise yard.
2003 – After 22 years in power, Tun Mahathir Mohamad retired as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Cosimo III de' Medici (d. 1723)
Muriel Duckworth (b. 1908)
William Evans-Gordon (d. 1913)
Gordon Steege (b. 1917)

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a German silent horror film, first released in 1920. Directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, it is considered to be the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, and tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. The film features a dark and twisted visual style. The sets have sharp-pointed forms, oblique and curving lines, and structures that lean and twist in unusual angles. The film's design team, Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrig, recommended a fantastic, graphic style over a naturalistic one. With a violent and insane authority figure as its antagonist, the film expresses the theme of brutal and irrational authority. Considered a classic, it helped draw worldwide attention to the artistic merit of German cinema and had a major influence on American films, particularly in the genres of horror and film noir.

Film credit: Robert Wiene

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