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From CNN: “Sonia Vallabh was in her second year at Harvard Law School in 2010 when her mother got sick. Just months before, her mother had been healthy and vibrant, planning Vallabh’s wedding. Then she began having trouble with her eyesight, and her strange symptoms progressed to the point where she couldn’t recognize her daughter. Her muscles would jerk and spasm. She spoke in tongues. By fall 2010, she was on life support, with needles, tubes and wires coming out of her. Her mother died in December 2010 at age 52. Shortly thereafter, Vallabh’s father, a doctor, pulled her aside during a visit home and told her the disease was genetic. In 1986, it was given a name: fatal familial insomnia, or FFI. Much of what doctors first learned about the disease comes from a family in Venice, Italy, who have suffered from it for over 200 years.”

Contrary to popular depictions Napoleon Bonaparte was about average height

From MissedHistory: “You’ve probably heard jokes and references to Napoleon being extremely short. This enduring misconception has shaped popular culture’s view of the French emperor, but the truth about his physical stature reveals a fascinating story of how historical propaganda can distort reality for generations to come. Gillray’s caricatures portrayed Napoleon as a diminutive, childish figure, mocking both his physical appearance and his expansionist ambitions. The widespread circulation of these images throughout Britain had a lasting impact on public perception. But Napoleon was actually about 5 feet 7 inches tall, which was average height for a man during his time period. His height was given as 5’2″, but in French units of the time, this equated to roughly 168-170 centimeters or about 5’6″ in modern measurements.”

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Continue reading “This family’s genetic disorder causes fatal insomnia”

From The Daily Beast: “The iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ photo that was taken in Vietnam in 1972 is considered one of the most powerful images depicting the human toll of armed conflict that has ever been captured, redirecting the course of the Vietnam War when it was first published and resonating still today. According to detailed investigations and the testimony of witnesses who were in the room when the fateful decision happened, Nick Út, the photographer credited with the image, did not take the photo. An Associated Press photo editor confirms what is said to have been an open secret in certain circles of the industry: a local Vietnamese stringer had actually captured the image. That man was given $20 and a print of the photo as a keepsake. Út, on the other hand, won the Pulitzer Prize, and has spent the last 52 years basking in the glory and recognition.”

The identity of Oregon’s Googly-Eye Bandit has finally been revealed

From the New York Times: “Last month, googly eyes appeared on pieces of public art throughout Bend, Ore. Drivers would rubberneck, befuddled and amused by statues of deer and other sculptures that had been given an irreverent, cross-eyed gaze. The eyes became a sensation, except among frustrated city officials, who paid for their removal. The identity of the person behind the pranks, who became known as the Googly Eye Bandit, was unknown. That is until Jeff Keith came forward to claim responsibility.Mr. Keith, 53, who runs the Guardian Group, a nonprofit focused on disrupting sex trafficking in the United States, said that in mid-December he sneaked into the middle of a roundabout and put the googly eyes on some public art. “I love making people smile,” Mr. Keith said in an interview on Saturday. “Other people started joining in. I’m not taking credit for all of them. That’s the cool part.”

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

Continue reading “There’s a lie behind one of history’s most famous photos”

From The New York Times: “The last time Dawn Momohara’s mother heard from her daughter, she told her she was going to meet friends at a shopping center in Honolulu.Hours later, after Dawn, 16, didn’t return home that Sunday afternoon in 1977, she was reported missing, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser later reported. The next day, March 21, 1977, just before students began Monday morning classes at McKinley High, Dawn was found dead on the second floor of what was then called the English building. She was partially clothed and an orange cloth was tightly wrapped around her neck. The police determined at the time that she had been strangled and possibly sexually assaulted, but a suspect would not be identified for decades. Nearly a half-century after Dawn’s body was found, Gideon Castro, 66, was arrested and charged with murdering her.”

These seven thrift store finds turned into small fortunes in 2024

From Artnet: “Discovering a hidden treasure in an unexpected place is a thrill like no other. In 2024, artworks and valuable artifacts didn’t just turn up in the most surprising locations—from thrift stores to musty old attics—some of them made quite the mint on the auction block. A tiny painting by British artist John Constable was found in a cupboard during a renovation. Bought for $37 at an auction years ago, the authenticated work could now be worth $315,000. A sealed vintage Lego set, discovered in a donated jewelry box at Goodwill, sold for $18,000 at auction. The set included a rare 14-karat gold Bionicle Hau mask, making it a dream find for collectors. A Victorian brooch bought for just $25 at an antiques market was identified on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow as a rare treasure by William Burges and sold for $15,000 at auction.”

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

Continue reading “50 years after a teen’s murder police arrest an ex-schoolmate”

From The Daily Mail: “Aristocrat Unity Mitford’s leather-bound journal reveals fresh insights into the dictator widely reviled as the most evil man in history – whom she worshipped. One of the famous Mitford sisters, Unity gushed about the Nazi monster in her flowing handwriting. The young upper-class beauty scandalised British society by fawning over Hitler and becoming closer to him than any other Briton. She confided secrets of their extraordinary liaisons to her daily diary over five years running up to the Second World War. While plotting global carnage, Hitler was said to have ‘behaved as a 17-year-old’ around the 6ft statuesque blonde beauty. Unseen for 80 years, Unity’s diaries span 1935 to 1939 and chronicle an extraordinary 139 meetings with Hitler.”

They want to get to the top of Everest faster so they are going to inhale some xenon

From Why Is This Interesting: “Traditionally, climbing Everest requires a long, 18-day hike to Base Camp, which is an often challenging start to the trip, due to thin air and exertion. This acclimatization trek is considered a rite of passage, and those who bypass it by taking a chopper to Base Camp are typically given some side eye from the climbing community. But the FT outlines a radically different approach: Early this May, an airline pilot, two entrepreneurs and a government minister will wait for the call to mobilise. They will then take a taxi straight to a health clinic. For 30 minutes, each adventurer will wear a mask attached to a ventilator for administering xenon, a rare noble gas more often used as an anaesthetic and a rocket propellant. The men will fly by helicopter to base camp. After no more than two hours, they will begin their ascent.”

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

Continue reading “Newspaper says it has the diary of Hitler’s British girlfriend”

At the risk of making things too personal, the recent election of Donald Trump to a second term as president triggered some pretty severe negative flashbacks for me, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. I remember waking up in 2016 after he was elected and saying to someone (perhaps myself) that it felt like journalism had failed. For months, newspapers and TV networks had been reporting the details of Trump’s various indiscretions and even outright crimes: the tape in which he bragged about getting away with sexual assault, the fraud, payments to former porn stars for keeping quiet about his affairs, and so on.

Every day, it seemed as though dozens of lies were being fact-checked rigorously by journalists, including during TV debates. All of this effort at setting the record straight, at showing how Trump lied not just for specific political purposes but flagrantly and enthusiastically for no reason. Multiple stories proving that he was a philanderer and a terrible businessman who lied about his net worth, someone who talked about Christian values but has been accused by twenty-seven women of sexual misconduct, and found liable by a jury in a civil sexual-abuse case. How could so many people have voted for him anyway?

In a recent edition of this newsletter, I wrote about how it’s tempting to blame social media for the outcome of the election, to see Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and TikTok as the source of the problem:

It’s tempting to blame what happened on Tuesday night on social media in one form or another. Maybe you think that Musk used Twitter to platform white supremacists and swing voters to Trump, or that Facebook promoted Russian troll accounts posting AI-generated deepfakes of Kamala Harris eating cats and dogs, or that TikTok polarized voters using a combination of soft-core porn and Chinese-style indoctrination videos to change minds — and so on. In the end, that is too simple an explanation, just as blaming the New York Times’ coverage of the race is too simple, or accusing more than half of the American electorate of being too stupid to see Trump for what he really is. They saw it, and they voted for him anyway. That’s the reality.

Continue reading “Does fact-checking even work?”

From The Atlantic: “The sexual-assault-evidence collection box, colloquially known as the “rape kit,” is a simple yet potent tool: a small case, perhaps made of cardboard, containing items such as sterile nail clippers, cotton swabs, slides for holding bodily fluids, paper bags, and a tiny plastic comb. Designed to gather and preserve biological evidence found on the body of a person reporting a sexual assault, it introduced standardized forensics into the investigation of rape where there had previously been no common protocol. The kit was trademarked under the name “Vitullo Evidence Collection Kit,” after Sergeant Louis Vitullo. The Chicago police officer had a well-publicized role in the 1967 conviction of serial killer Richard Speck. But thanks to a new book we know about the collection box’s real inventor—a woman named Martha “Marty” Goddard.”

Italian towns used to have the equivalent of skyscrapers built by rich families

From Exurbe: “This implausible Medieval forest of towers, as dense as Manhattan skyscrapers, is our best reconstruction of the town of Bologna at its height, toward the end of the Medieval Guelph-Ghibelline wars. We don’t see many such towers today… or think we don’t, but actually their remnants are all over Italy. Often when in Florence one sees buildings where one section is rough stone standing out amid stucco neighbors. These are actually the bottom nubs of Medieval stone towers. The town of San Gimigniano is famous for having several still intact. Wealthy families built these as mini-fortresses within the city, where they could defend against riots, enemy families and invasion. Signs of wealth and prestige, these all-stone buildings were also fireproof, leading to a terrible but effective tactic: take your family, treasures & goods up into your tower then set fire to enemies’ homes and let the city burn around you while you sit safe above.”

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Continue reading “She invented the rape kit but died in obscurity”

From Science Focus: “More and more adults have an extra artery in their arms as humans continue to evolve at a rapid rate, a study has found. Scientists in Australia believe that humans are undergoing a micro-evolution in which evolutionary changes can be observed over a short period of time. The artery forms while a baby is in the womb and is the main vessel that supplies blood to the forearm and hand, but it usually disappears during gestation and is replaced by the radial and ulnar arteries. However, some people retain all three. The investigation by Dr Teghan Lucas of Flinders University showed a significant increase in the prevalence of the artery. The team analysed records in anatomical literature and dissected cadavers from individuals born in 20th Century. “Since the 18^th Century, anatomists have been studying the prevalence of this artery in adults and our study shows it’s clearly increasing,” said Dr Lucas.

Two men in a hot-air balloon in 1832 hold the record for highest altitude without oxygen

From Everything is Amazing: “It’s just before two on an afternoon in early September, and professional aeronaut Henry Tracey Coxwell has just discovered something that’s turned his blood cold. The balloon he’s riding in with meteorologist James Glaisher has developed a serious fault. As it rose above the countryside around Wolverhampton, it’s developed a slow but inexorable spin – and Henry’s just discovered this has tangled up the release-valve line, the duo’s only way of venting enough gas from the balloon to trigger a descent. Around them, the sky is turning a deeper blue. The temperature has fallen below freezing, and every surface is becoming slippery with ice. They’re past 8,000 metres, the altitude which mountaineers call ‘The Death Zone’, because of the catastrophic effect it can have upon the unprotected human body.”

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Continue reading “More people are growing to adulthood with an extra artery”

From Scientific American: “Captain Meriwether Lewis — William Clark’s expedition partner on the Corps of Discovery’s historic trek to the Pacific, Thomas Jefferson’s confidante, governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory and all-around American hero — was only 35 when he died of gunshot wounds sustained along a perilous Tennessee trail called Natchez Trace. A broken column, symbol of a life cut short, marks his grave. But exactly what transpired at a remote inn 200 years ago this Saturday? Most historians agree that he committed suicide; others are convinced he was murdered. Even now, precious little is known about the events of October 10, 1809, after Lewis – armed with several pistols, a rifle and a tomahawk – stopped at a log cabin lodging house known as Grinder’s Stand. He and Clark had finished their expedition three years earlier.”

This town in Manitoba is the only place that has a prison for polar bears

From Now I Know: “Churchill is home to about 800 to 1,000 people, and, for about six to eight weeks in the late fall, also to a similar number of polar bears. Including the handful that are locked up in Churchill’s polar bear prison. Polar bears subsist on a high-fat, high-protein diet consisting mainly of ringed seals. Each year, hundreds of polar bears make their way to the Churchill area in search of food – the Bay is home to many ringed seals – and when seals are hard to find, the bears go searching for food elsewhere. Often, this means there’s a polar bear or two walking around town. In response, Manitoba has a group of “conservation officers” who are charged with keeping bears (not people) in check and, similarly, to protect the bear population. Call 675-BEAR and the six officers (or some subset of them) will be on-scene as soon as possible.”

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

Continue reading “Did Meriwether Clark commit suicide or was he murdered?”

From Atlas Obscura: “It’s April 1907. You’re an American in Paris, searching for a taste of real culture. You settle down in a quaint café, but before you can choose a police officer approaches and asks you—not exactly politely—to leave. You stagger off, confused and hungry. Around the city at that time, high-end waiters were on strike to demand better pay, more time off—and the right to grow mustaches. The bristly adornments had been virtually ubiquitous among French men for decades, though many waiters, domestic servants, and priests were not allowed to have them—“sentenced to forced shaving,” as the newspaper La Lanterne put it. Indignant waiters walked out of their fancy restaurants en masse, along with roughly 25,000 francs a day in revenue.”

The deepest hotel in the world is 1,400 feet underground in a former slate mine

From Architectural Digest: “Hard hats, flashlights, and hiking boots aren’t the type of toiletries one is used to receiving at their overnight accommodations, but visiting the world’s deepest hotel isn’t your usual retreat. Known as the Deep Sleep, the property is located in Snowdonia, Wales, at the base of an abandoned slate mine. The vacation experience is among the most evident tangible examples of the old maxim, the journey is more important than the destination. When guests arrive, they’re given all the equipment necessary to travel to their cabins, which are roughly 1,400-feet underground. The trip is operated by the mine exploration company Go Below Underground Adventure. A guide leads them through the massive pit, which goes for miles in a series of maze-like tunnels created by miners over 200 years. To get to the bottom, visitors climb through caverns, journey through tunnels, and even zip line at times.”

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

Continue reading “Waiters in France went on strike for the right to grow mustaches”