Month: October 2016

Hogwarts letter got lost in the mail? Don’t worry: You can still experience Halloween the Harry Potter way by visiting one of these events. From fast-paced Quidditch tournaments to frothy mugs of butterbeer, these community festivals and private events will help you celebrate the most magical night of the year the way Dumbledore would have wanted you to.

1. WIZARDING WEEKEND // ITHACA, NEW YORK

Press Bay Alley in Ithaca, New York transfigures into Diagon Alley from October 28 to 30 this year, and you don’t even need to tap any bricks with a wand to get there. In fact, it’s free, so it’s extra easy for muggles to attend. Wizarding Weekend started last year as a one-day trick-or-treat route for the community, but blew up like a game of Exploding Snap and drew nearly 8000 attendees. This Wizarding Weekend will be just as magical as the last, with Quidditch matches (on electric bikes instead of broomsticks), advanced potions (a.k.a. cocktails) classes for adults, Horcrux scavenger hunts, Dark Arts coffee tours, and more.

2. HARRY POTTER HALLOWEEN // SCOTTSVILLE, VIRGINIA

If your permission slip is signed, visit Valley Street in Scottsvilla, Virginia from noon to 10 p.m. on October 29 for a day in Hogsmeade. Local stores transform into their wizarding world alter egos, like Honeydukes and Ollivanders, and host Harry Potter-themed activities.

3. POTTERPALOOZA // NORMAL, ILLINOIS

Adults (21 and over) take over the Children’s Discovery Museum on October 21 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Get sorted into your Hogwarts house and take classes like divination, herbology, and potions. Admission is $25, but includes food and a free drink ticket. Come in your finest wizarding attire or dressed as your favorite character from the series.

4. GREAT HALL HALLOWEEN FEAST // CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

The Ada Street restaurant gives Hogwarts a run for its galleons on October 28 to 30. The restaurant will serve guests a four-course dinner complete with firewhiskey dessert; each course is paired with Harry Potter-themed cocktails, like Pumpkin Juice and the Dementor Antidote. Diners will also enjoy a pre-dinner butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, as well as house sorting and Quidditch beer pong on the patio. Tickets are $75 and include tax and tip.

5. A HAUNTING AT HOGWARTS // OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Hogwarts alums get to dust off their robe uniforms on October 22 at the Omaha Children’s Museum. Activities at this adults-only event include Harry Potter trivia and a costume contest, plus a special “potions class” science show. Appetizers and drinks, including nonalcoholic butterbeer, will be served. The museum’s permanent exhibits will remain open for this event as well. The event is sold out, but you can have your named added to the wait list by calling the museum.

6. HARRY POTTER FESTIVAL AND QUIDDITCH TOURNAMENT // PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

This festival, held from October 21 to 22, is more expansive than the underground vaults at Gringotts, spanning a full 10 blocks of Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood and drawing in thousands of attendees. Attendees can have a cup of tea at Madame Puddifoot’s, explore the Triwizard straw maze, try hands-on activities at Horcrux stations, see live owls, ride thestrals, and more. There’s also a ticketed Potter Pub Crawl complete with glasses of butterbeer, and a Harry Potter conference with an academic bent, but admission is free to both the festival and the Quidditch tournament.

7. HARRY POTTER FESTIVAL // EDGERTON, WISCONSIN

From October 21 to 23, witches and wizards young and old celebrate all things Potter at this pay-as-you-go community festival. (Guests also have the option of paying $25 for the entire weekend.) There are plenty of Hogwarts classes on the roster, like Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, as well as house sorting, live raptor demonstrations, wizard roller-skating, and Horcrux hunts. All the activities and events are laid out on the festival’s version of the Marauder’s Map; just solemnly swear you’re up to no good.

8. HARRY POTTER AND THE TRANSFIGURED TOWN // GODERICH, ONTARIO

The Huron County Museum gets Potter-fied on October 29 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with activities like a costumed photo booth and face painting. The museum’s stationary train becomes the Hogwarts Express for the night, and Ministry of Magic officials have volunteered their services for misguided museum tours. Sweet tooths will be satisfied with a Honeydukes candy trolley and (nonalcoholic) butterbeer. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for kids, with proceeds to support local food banks.

On average, organic food items are 47 percent more expensive than standard supermarket fare—but thanks to their purported health and environmental benefits, many shoppers still splurge on them. In fact, the total retail market for organic products in the United States was valued at over $39 billion in 2016. But while the organic industry means big business for farmers and food companies, the question still remains: Are organic foods actually better for both you and the environment?

In the video below, AsapSCIENCE co-creator and host Mitchell Moffit explains why eating organic may not be the panacea most people think it is. Contrary to popular belief, an organic diet isn’t chemical-free. In fact, Moffit explains, organic farmers can still use natural pesticides and fungicides to keep crop-destroying insects at bay—and studies show that they aren’t necessarily better for you or the soil than synthetic ones.

Labels tend to be misleading, too. If a food product’s package simply says “organic,” it only has to contain 95 percent organic ingredients. (This percentage is even lower with items labeled “made with organic ingredients” or “containing organic ingredients.”) And in some cases, chemicals or ingredients are the least of a shopper’s worries: In 2015, organic foods had accounted for 7 percent of recalled foods units as of August of that year, thanks in part to incidents of potential bacterial contamination.

Even if you’re extra-careful to only consume food that’s labeled “100 percent organic,” the jury’s still out on whether it’s good for you or the environment. In 2012, Stanford University scientists published a meta-analysis of 237 studies concluding that organic fruits and veggies don’t provide more nutritional benefits than regular produce. Meanwhile, a study published in the journal Nature in 2012 found that organic crop yields are much lower than conventional ones. They require more farmland for growth, and put a greater strain on the environment.

Adding to the confusion, other studies suggest that organic farming methods can actually increase important nutrients in foods, and some agricultural experts say they improve soil quality. In short, there’s no surefire answer for whether or not you’re wasting your money at Whole Foods—but at the end of the day, “production methods vary greatly for both organic and conventional foods from one farm to another,” Moffit points out.

[h/t Science Alert]

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The world’s longest cruise is the ultimate addition to your travel bucket list. The new “World of Travel” package from the UK’s Mundy Cruising is the pinnacle of around-the-world journeys, clocking in at 357 days that will take you to all seven continents, according to Condé Nast Traveler.

The trip leaves from Miami in January and sets sail around South America, stopping in Rio, cruising up the Amazon, taking in Machu Picchu, and more. From there, you’ll travel to Athens and wind your way through the Mediterranean to the UK and through the North Sea and the Baltic all the way to Russia. By late August, you’ll be sailing from Vancouver up to Alaska before going through Central America over to the Atlantic and to New England and Quebec. October will bring you to Australia, and in December, you’ll spend 33 nights traveling around Africa. After you check out Antarctica, you’ll travel to Singapore, where you’ll set sail for China and Indonesia. The trip ends in May 2018.

Each leg of the journey is separate, giving you time to fly home and repack for the next leg of the journey or to travel on your own before meeting your ship at the next continent. The South American and European parts of the cruise are the longest, at 94 and 92 nights each, respectively.

The cost comes in at around $155,000, including business-class flights to your departure points and back home after each leg. If you can’t afford such luxuries, there are plenty of other record-breaking trips that will cost you a little less.

[h/t Condé Nast Traveler]

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