Month: January 2026

An engraving issued by a publisher called John Boydell gave libertine Georgians the opportunity to hang “Joconda” in their boudoir. It must have been popular because many copies survive. This Mona Lisa sits in a chair with her hands crossed in front of a fading view of distant rock formations. And, like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, she smiles enigmatically. But there is one key difference: she is naked from the waist up. The print has a caption saying this is a reproduction of the painting by “Lionardo da Vinci” that hangs “in the Gallery at Houghton”. Back then it was famous for the oil paintings amassed by its owner, Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. The nude Mona Lisa no longer attributed to Leonardo but to one of his 16th-century followers. Yet, if the work is by a Leonardo imitator, was there a nude Mona Lisa by him to imitate? And if there was, why did Leonardo paint it and for whom? It is one of the most tantalising, and entertaining, mysteries in art – and I think I may have solved it. (via The Guardian)

He doesn’t know Spanish but after undergoing surgery he started speaking it fluently

Stephen Chase was 19 years old when he woke up from a knee surgery speaking fluent Spanish. Despite having only minimal knowledge of the language prior to the surgery, he was able to converse fluently in Spanish for about 20 minutes after waking up from the surgery, before going back to English. The father-of-three from Salt Lake City, Utah, doesn’t remember speaking Spanish, just that nurses were asking him to speak English after waking up from the surgery, which made him really confused. He recalls everything he said to them in English, and it was only later that he found out he spoke fluent Spanish. The 33-year-old attorney was diagnosed with Foreign Language Syndrome (FLS) an extremely rare medical condition that can be caused by anaesthesia, with only around 100 confirmed cases on record since it was discovered in 1907. (via Oddity Central)

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Continue reading “Leonardo da Vinci may have painted a nude Mona Lisa”

In a recent post at the blog Astral Codex Ten, a writer reviewed a book written by a young Catholic missionary about his time with a tribe in the Amazon rainforest whose language and culture are structured around lived experience rather than a discussion of things that might have theoretically happened (the Piraha language has other peculiarities as well, including the fact that they use no numbers or names for colours):

The men listening to me understood that there was a man named Jesus, and that he wanted others to do what he told them. “The Pirahã men then asked, “Hey Dan, what does Jesus look like? Is he dark like us or light like you?” I said, “Well, I have never actually seen him. He lived a long time ago. But I do have his words.” “Well, Dan, how do you have his words if you have never heard him or seen him?” They then made it clear that if I had not actually seen this guy (and not in any metaphorical sense, but literally), they weren’t interested in any stories I had to tell about him. This is because, as I now knew, the Pirahãs believe only what they see. Sometimes they also believe in things that someone else has told them, so long as that person has personally witnessed what he or she is reporting.

In the end, Everett never converted a single Pirahã. But he did even worse than converting zero people according to Scott Alexander — he lost his own faith after coming to believe that the Pirahã had a good point. After keeping this to himself for many years, he revealed his loss of faith to his family, which led to a divorce and his children breaking contact with him for a number of years afterward.

It almost seems like a parody of the British aristocracy: a gentleman named Sir Benjamin Slade, 7th Baronet, is advertising for a mate to give him an “heir and a spare” and to look after his two castles. According to a news article, he is advertising for applicants, offering a salary of £50,000 per year, along with accommodation, meals, and bonus perks, for a woman who “meets his detailed list of requirements.” These include:

• You must not be a Scorpio.
• You must not read The Guardian newspaper.
• You must not be from countries starting with “I” or with green in their flag
• Taller than 5ft 6in (167 cm)
• At least 20 years younger than him (he is 79, so preferably under 60)
• A helicopter licence, shotgun licence, driving licence, and legal or accountancy training are listed as bonuses.
• He also wants someone fit, socially active, and capable of managing his estates and staff.
• You must be of childbearing age and a “good breeder” capable of producing two sons (an heir and a spare)

Here’s what you are getting, according to his Wikipedia page: Slade was in a relationship with socialite Fiona Aitken, wife of George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon, for a few years during the 1990s. From 1995 to 2011, his partner was actress Kirsten Hughes until, in his words, she “run off with the handyman”. In 2017, he split from his partner, domestic worker Bridget Convey, because, at the age of 50, she had become too old to supply him with an heir. In the same year, he advertised for a wife, citing that she should have a shotgun licence, a driving license, a coat of arms, and be young enough to have sons. In addition to rejecting candidates from countries beginning with an ‘I’ or with green in the flag (with the exception of Italian and northern Indian women), he says he won’t accept any candidates who are Scottish, lesbians, and/or communists.

While a handful of genetic mutations are linked to the disease, about 90 percent of cases of Parkinson’s are “sporadic,” meaning the disease does not run in the family. In one of the largest longitudinal twin studies of the disease, Swedish scientists reported in 2011 that of 542 pairs in which at least one twin had Parkinson’s, the majority were “discordant,” meaning that the second twin was unaffected. But the environmental connection is precisely what makes Jack and Jeff so interesting. For almost all of their 68 years, they have lived no more than half a mile apart. They have been exposed to the same air, the same well water, the same dusty farm chores, the same pesticides. They built their homes a five-minute walk from each other. And since 1971 they have worked in the same office, their desks pushed together, at a graphic design firm. (via Nautilus)

This tiny British deer barks like a dog and has fangs even though it is a vegetarian

Muntjacs are a small stocky type of deer, widespread in British woodlands. They are often overlooked because, being just 50cm high and no bigger than a medium-sized dog, they are hidden by tall vegetation for much of the summer. Muntjac deer are herbivores, and enjoy trees and shrubs, shoots, herbs, berries, nuts and fungi. Muntjac are extremely vocal, hence their other name ‘barking deer’. Though it is called a ‘bark’, the sound is more like a scream and can be mistaken for a fox. Odd though these adaptations are, it is the ‘fangs’ that really seem out of place. Most prominent in the adult male, the elongated upper canines are up to 6cm long. Whereas most male deer use antlers to fight and display their fitness, the male muntjac has only an elementary set. Once again, the tangle of shrubby habitats preferred by this species explains why. Big antlers would simply be impractical; the fangs are for close-up combat. (via Discover Wildlife)

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Continue reading “He has Parkinson’s but his identical twin brother doesn’t”

The scaffolding surrounding the Charing Cross railway bridge has received an addition – two bales of hay/straw – because an ancient British law requires it. The law requires that a bale of straw be hung from a bridge as a warning to mariners whenever the height between the river and the bridge’s arches is reduced, as it is at Charing Cross at the moment (due to construction). According to the Port of London Thames Byelaws, Clause 36.2, a bale of straw has to be placed under London bridges “when the headroom of an arch or span of a bridge is reduced from its usual limits”. At night, the bale of straw is harder to see, so some warning lights are also switched on. Quite why a bale of straw is needed has long since been lost to time, but regardless of its origins, whenever the river bylaws are updated, they keep the medieval law intact. (via IanVisits)

If your eye gets injured it can cause your body’s immune system to attack your other eye

Certain organs and tissues of our body, including the eye, are referred to as immune-privileged organs and tissues, which means under normal conditions the body’s immune cells cannot attack them. However, in some pathological conditions, those proteins are exposed to the immune cells and the disease occurs. The disease known as sympathetic ophthalmia is a rare, bilateral, and vision-threatening condition that occurs due to trauma (or rarely surgery) in one eye. During the injury, previously unexposed proteins of the eye are exposed to the immune cells. In some rare instances, the immune system reacts as it would to any foreign body and attacks the non-traumatized eye.  Louise Braille, the inventor of the Braille writing system for the visually impaired is believed to have lost his vision due to sympathetic ophthalmia. (via Amblyoplay)

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Continue reading “An ancient law is behind the hay bale hanging from a UK bridge”

I got an unusual email the other day from someone representing the Oxford Union, a fairly prestigious student-run debating society based (not surprisingly) at the University of Oxford in England. The Union was founded by students in 1823 and, despite the name, is separate and distinct from the actual student union at the university. According to Wikipedia, the Union’s first recorded debate was about the topic of Parliamentarianism vs Royalism during the English Civil War. The Union has hosted interviews and addresses by world leaders, celebrities, and others, and its roster of past speakers includes Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, and Barack Obama. The email noted that these past speakers have also included more contemporary celebrities such as Morgan Freeman and Shakira (I wonder what that address was like) as well as famous world leaders like His Highness the Dalai Lama.

Once it had listed all of these previous celebrities, the email asked if I would be willing to take part in a debate sometime during the current term at Oxford (known as the Hilary term, in honour of St. Hilary of Poitiers). The topic? Whether social media ought to be owned not by huge private corporations, but by the public. By way of background, the Union is modeled on the British House of Parliament, with banks of seats on either side, a speaker who introduces the topic — phrased in the form of “This House believes” or “This House argues” — and then a series of speakers for each side of the debate, some from within the Union and some from outside it. Members vote by leaving through one of two doors, one labeled “Ayes” and one labeled “Noes,” and the vote is recorded for posterity. You can see photos of it here. The Union also has a series of very cool old buildings, including a library and a private club (naturally).

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Continue reading “What I would say to the Oxford Union about social media”

Target, just like many other retailers, has fallen victim to shoplifters, with almost a billion dollars in goods stolen from their stores in 2023. However, the numbers could have been much worse if it weren’t for their unique anti-shoplifting tactics. Target’s way of combating shoplifting was to establish a forensics lab in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that is more advanced and high-tech than many police departments’ forensics labs. The lab was developed in 2003 to give the company expertise when it came to analyzing surveillance footage from in and around the store. The lab hires specialists in analyzing video evidence from cameras and smartphone recordings to help identify shoplifters, frauds, and injuries inside Target stores, but it has also reportedly helped police forces solve murders, arsons, abductions, rapes, and mass robberies. In many cases, the Target lab has been able to solve cases that even the FBI can’t solve. (via The Horizon Sun)

For about 40 years this railroad crossing in Mississippi had the coolest warning sign ever

In the mid-1930s, a dangerous Illinois Central railroad crossing in Grenada, Mississippi, had claimed too many lives. Local inventor Alonzo Billups had seen enough, and his solution was gloriously excessive: a massive gantry spanning the highway, topped with a giant neon skull and crossbones that flashed “STOP – DEATH – STOP” in alternating blue and red whenever a train approached. The Billups Neon Crossing Signal was almost certainly the first gantry-style railroad crossing in America, predating the type now commonly used. But Billups wasn’t content with just dramatic signage. He added flashing neon arrows indicating the train’s direction and replaced the standard crossing bells with an air-raid siren. But World War II brought neon shortages, and the signal had a persistent problem: the siren would sometimes start wailing and refuse to stop until a maintenance crew arrived to shut it up. (via Boing Boing)

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Continue reading “Target has a forensic lab that is so good it does work for the FBI”

I grew up in a small town in Connecticut. I always knew I was adopted: my mum told me that, as well as her, I had my “tummy mummy”. I was adopted from the Dominican Republic. My mum there was called Julianna, and she and my dad gave me up for adoption because they were poor. Fast-forward to 2013, and I was 24 and working in a restaurant in New Haven. One day, one of my co‑ workers, Julia, noticed my Dominican Republic flag tattoo. She told me she was from there, too. I said I was adopted from there, and she said she was as well. Julia was 23 – we’re 17 months apart. We hit it off right away. People would always tell us we looked alike. We would joke and say: “That’s because we’re sisters.” We decided to compare our adoption paperwork, but our birth mother’s names were different, as was the place we were born. It was anticlimactic. After that, we let it go. We only worked together for about six months, but stayed in touch. In 2018, my mum got me a 23andMe kit for Christmas. (via The Guardian)

Three encrypted notes from the 1900s allegedly describe the location of hidden treasure

In 1885, an author named James B. Ward published a pamphlet telling of a long-lost treasure available to anyone clever enough to solve a puzzle. Ward reported that around 1817, a man named Thomas Jefferson Beale had been the leader of an expedition to the American Southwest primarily concerned with hunting buffalo and/or bears. Beale’s group had instead stumbled upon gold and silver deposits in what is now Colorado. Agreeing to keep it all a secret, Beale’s team had spent the better part of two years quietly mining, then had taken the metals to Virginia by wagon and buried them in a vault underground between 1819 and 1821. Beale had written three notes explaining where the treasure was and who had legal rights to shares in it, encrypting each of these using a different text. However, Beale had vanished after leaving the notes with a friend. Eventually, the second of the three texts was deciphered. It specified which county in Virginia the treasure was hidden in, and referred the reader to the first of the notes for details. But the first⁠⁠ — and the third ⁠⁠— notes remained stubbornly undeciphered. (via Damn Interesting)

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 “She found out that her friend was actually her long-lost sister”