From CBC News: “We may soon learn more about what happened when dozens of crew members from the movie “Titanic” were fed soup laced with a hallucinogenic drug while filming in Nova Scotia. A new report from the province’s privacy commissioner told Halifax Regional Police to disclose more details about the August 1996 incident, which sent around 80 “Titanic” crew members to hospital in Dartmouth, N.S., including director James Cameron. Initially fearing food poisoning, all had in fact unknowingly eaten lobster chowder spiked with the drug phencyclidine, which is also known as PCP and angel dust. Speaking about the infamous incident, crew members have described a long and strange night of chaos and confusion that even involved a hospital conga line.”
Eugene Fodor’s famous travel guide was written in part by CIA spies
From Why Is This Interesting: “Much is written in the press about the link between the Central Intelligence Agency and Hollywood, but what’s less well-known is the U.S. government’s influence on the travel industry. Eugene Fodor, publisher of one of the most successful guide book series of all time, was an officer for the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor to the CIA) during WWII. He specialized in psychological warfare, interrogated prisoners, and wrote propaganda leaflets that were airdropped into the Neapolitan territories. After the war he founded his eponymous company where he employed not only traditional stringers to write copy but also, at the behest of the CIA, spies—“travel writer” being a good cover for an agent sent into enemy territory.”
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Andrew Johnson was drunk when he made his inaugural address in 1865
From Wikipedia: “Andrew Johnson was drunk when he made his inaugural address as Vice President of the United States on March 4, 1865. Multiple sources suggest Johnson had been drunk for at least a week prior, he drank heavily the night before the inauguration, and he consumed either three glasses of whisky or one glass of French brandy the morning of the ceremony. Witnesses variously described Johnson’s speech as incoherent, inane, self-aggrandizing, repetitive, hostile, sloppy, and overly long. He was too drunk to administer the oath of office to incoming senators. He became president 42 days later, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.”
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NASA has been asked to create a time zone for the moon. Here’s how that might work
From NPR: “As the world prepares for a new space race, the Biden Administration is calling on NASA to create a moon-based time standard. That’s because time ticks by faster on the moon relative to Earth. The difference is very small, but space flight needs extreme precision. And when lunar spacecraft and satellites operate on an Earth-based time standard, that difference could create problems, according to a memo issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy this month. The new lunar time zone, Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), is all about ensuring the success of future, multinational missions to the moon, said Michelle Hanlon, the executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi.”
They got their son a pet octopus and then suddenly there were 50 more
From the Washington Post: “Cameron Clifford had finally given in to his son’s pleas and bought him a pet octopus. After several weeks, he was getting the hang of caring for their new tentacled pet and then he discovered what looked liked dozens of “puffed-up, clear Tic Tacs” inside its den. Terrance was not a male octopus, as they had first thought. Her new tank in Cal Clifford’s bedroom was filled with dozens of eggs. One night in February, when Cameron picked up one of the eggs — which he had long assumed weren’t fertilized — he accidentally popped it. What he thought was a blob of some strange liquid came out and fell back into the tank. Seconds later, that blob started swimming.”
Lost in the Arctic: What happened after the crew of the Snowdrop hit an iceberg
From Singular Discoveries: “Captain or anyone who receives this message shall receive remains of the Dundee whaler Snowdrop, collided with an iceberg. No hope. 14th November, 1908. Sinking fast.” The message in a bottle washed ashore on a rocky beach in Scotland, on the morning of March 11, 1909.Far across the North Atlantic, on a frozen peninsula in the Arctic Archipelago, the men of the Snowdrop were still alive. But they had lost their ship and supplies and were struggling against plummeting temperatures with inadequate food and shelter. To survive, they would need to rely on the skills and generosity of native Inuit families, and the determination and bravery of a young seaman who would set off on an epic journey to escape the Arctic and find help.”
This motorcycle rider crashes and his bike completely disintegrates
Acknowledgements: I find a lot of these links myself, but I also get some from other newsletters that I rely on as “serendipity engines,” such as The Morning News from Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Jodi Ettenberg’s Curious About Everything, Dan Lewis’s Now I Know, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton’s The Browser, Clive Thompson’s Linkfest, Noah Brier and Colin Nagy’s Why Is This Interesting, Maria Popova’s The Marginalian, Sheehan Quirke AKA The Cultural Tutor, the Smithsonian magazine, and JSTOR Daily. If you come across something interesting that you think should be included here, please feel free to email me.