A letter posted to "my dear Katie" in 1916 has just arrived in Crystal Palace.Stephen Oxford, editor of the Norwood Review, said Oswald Marsh was a highly regarded stamp dealer. Written by family friend Christabel Mennell, daughter of a wealthy local tea merchant Henry Mennell. pic.twitter.com/rmWSPZ2Tm0

— The Norwood Society (@NorwoodSociety) February 16, 2023

The Royal Mail delivered a letter to the home of Finlay Glen in London. The postmark says "2 Feb 16." Was this letter from 2016 and thus a rather late delivery? No, it was much, much older. The letter dated from World War I!

The BBC reports that the letter was written by Christabel Mennell to her friend, Katie Marsh. A local history magazine titled Norwood Review tracked down information about these two women and their families.

Strictly speaking, Glen broke the law by opening a letter not addressed to him. But he's not overly concerned about criminal prosecution and has offered to give the letter to any descendants of the correspondents.

-via Instapundit

The narwhal is considered to be one of the world’s most bizarre marine mammals. For starters, it has this one tusk sticking out from the top of its skull. Some scientists compare the tusk to a jousting knight’s lance, as it can extend from six to nine feet straight from its head. 

Scientists have their own theories as to how and why these mammals developed their unicorn-like horns, but no one is sure how it evolved. Only male narwhals grow a single tusk, which can suggest that it has a function in reproduction. A possible theory is that females judge their mates by the size of their tusks, but this has not been proven. 

This unique feature has intrigued experts for so long. This is because no other animal has anything like it. According to the curator of marine mammals at the Smithsonian, Michael McGowen, the tusk is a giant tooth. “The tusk grows out the front of the narwhal’s head, protruding horizontally through the animal’s upper lip. They have no other erupted teeth except for this single tusk,” he explained.

image via wikimedia commons

Researchers from the University of Queensland discovered a type of mushroom that can magically regrow new brain cells. In new research done by Frederic Meunier and his team, they’ve found out that the edible “lion’s mane” mushrooms (Hericium erinaceus) were highly effective in helping to forge new connections within the human brain. 

These fungi have been used in traditional medicine in Asia for millennia, and their efficacy goes beyond– as proven by the lab testing done by Meunier and his team. “We wanted to scientifically determine their potential effect on brain cells,” the scientist explained. His team initially did the test to determine if the hype around the fungi were real or just folklore. 

The initial phase of their research found them on a more positive side in regards to the mushroom’s efficacy. “Pre-clinical testing found the lion’s mane mushroom had a significant impact on the growth of brain cells and improving memory,” Meunier stated. Further testing will be done to fully determine just how beneficial these mushrooms would be on the human body. 

Regardless, the scientists behind the new study believe that these lion mushrooms hold promise for treating brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and other brain conditions. 

Image credit: wikimedia commons

Okay, we know how this sounds. It’s kind of stupid. But, it also sort of makes sense. Especially if you’re the type of person to easily forget something, especially if you get easily distracted or overwhelmed while traveling. 

A flight attendant and TikTok creator shared her simple hack that allows people to not forget their essentials while traveling (especially if they’re in a rush). In a video, @esthersturrus suggests using the hotel’s safe as a place to put your essentials in. To not forget what’s inside, she puts one of her shoes in the safe. “Worried about forgetting something from your locker?” Esther wrote in the caption of the viral video. “Put your heel/shoes in it and you won’t forget it!” 

It makes sense, doesn’t it? Since we won’t forget the other pair of our shoes, by extension, we also won’t leave other items stored along it. We’re not sure however if there are any suggestions on what to do if your shoes are too dirty to be stored in a safe. Our recommendation would be to always keep a checklist of your belongings before leaving your hotel room!

Image credit: wikimedia commons 

It’s not all secretive as it seems to be, unfortunately. 

We all use the browsing mode if we want our history to be untracked, not recorded on our computers. The incognito mode functions essentially like a new computer– no cookies to help your browser, no recorded logins, and passwords. You will have to input all of your details all over again. When you exit the mode and open it again, it won’t save any of your past sessions at all. 

In your computer, there’s no recorded trace of all the open tabs and activities in your incognito browser. However, if you ask the question of whether you’re not tracked in this mode, well… not exactly. See, your computer has to connect to the Internet. For it to do so, it has to go through your router— which monitors all web addresses you visit. 

Additionally, your digital footprints will still be all over the Web when you’re using incognito. This is because the website you’ve visited will be able to identify you, and your activities will be tracked. Even if you’re not logging into any site while in this mode, you are still tracked via your computer’s IP address. 

If you want to hide your tracks, the best way so far is to use a virtual private network (VPN). This is because it will encrypt your connection and hide your IP address. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Check this piece on Science Focus to learn how to have a more private browsing session on the Internet!

Image credit: Nothing Ahead/Pexels 

It looks like Florida’s raking in the positions on this list. In a travel survey done nationwide, people have put their bets in the deadliest bodies of water in America. Out of all the ten entries, seven of them can be found in Florida. 

These include New Smyrna Beach (ranked 1st), Cocoa Beach (ranked 2nd), Ormond Beach (ranked 3rd), Panama City Beach (ranked 4th), Melbourne Beach (ranked 6th), Jacksonville Beach (ranked 7th), and Fort Lauderdale (ranked 10th). 

As to why these places made it in the rankings, the survey took note of shark attacks, surf fatalities, and hurricanes. For example, Fort Lauderdale actually had three instances of surf fatalities, and two shark attacks. It also got hit by 120 hurricanes from 1851 to 2020. Learn more about the survey here. 

Image credit: Gagan Kaur 

Laura Spaulding was a cop processing a murder scene when a family member of the victim asked, “Who is going to clean this up?” The police don't do that. Spaulding found no company that specialized in this kind of work, so she founded Spaulding Decon. It's not an altogether pleasant job, but it fills a need, and Spaulding gets satisfaction from helping traumatized and grieving families avoid the horror of cleanup and return to a normal home. Her staff is trained in biological decontamination, interior restoration, and even grief counseling.

Their work involves more than murder. They also respond to suicides, accidents, and even natural deaths that require cleanup. And sometimes they even uncover evidence that the police may have overlooked before they released a crime scene. Buzzfeed News interviewed Spaulding and a few other cleanup professionals about the nature of their work and some of the more bizarre cases they have encountered.

Users of the early version of GPS were haunted by the word "recalculating," which instantly told us we screwed up and didn't follow the directions properly. That voice belongs to Karen Jacobsen, an Australian singer and voiceover artist who became the voice of the Global Positioning System navigational application in 2002. The minute Jacobsen says that word in this video, the memories come flooding back. It's just a word, delivered oh-so neutrally, but over time it seemed to take on a judgmental tone, even though it wasn't my fault I didn't have time to get into the proper lane! Jacobsen had to say the word "approximately" 168 times, but drivers have heard "recalculating" exponentially more. Still, after all this time, it's nice to be able to put a face with that voice, thanks to Great Big Story. They said,

Thank you Karen, we'd be lost without you!

The Great Big Story folks have been silent for three years, and we are glad to see they are back! -via Laughing Squid 

The Canadian menace upon innocent America's northern border has only grown. We know that Canada has massed 90% of its entire population within 100 miles of the American border. Now we Americans face an even greater threat north of the 49th parallel: the "super pig".

The Guardian reports that a highly evolved* feral pig species originating in Canada is penetrating the US interior. Pigs, which Europeans introduced to the Americas in the Sixteenth Century, have become bigger, stronger, and perhaps more cunning. They can weigh 250 pounds (that's 113 kilograms in Canadian-speak). In Canada, some pigs have reached over 600 pounds and can survive the full strength of the northern land's brutal arctic winters.

Ryan Brook, a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, boasts of his nation's super pigs, "They've definitely moved in, and they're here to stay."

-via Dave Barry

*Evolved or, I ask you, genetically engineered as a war machine? I don't know, but I am asking questions.

That's right. This train is not powered by a steam or diesel engine, but by the wind. It's called a sail bogey. This was a Nineteenth Century form of transportation in windy areas, especially those close to the sea. It often took the form of a boat that was mounted on a railway chassis.

You can see a photo and a description of another one in northeastern England here. Such sailing bogeys were, I gather, more recreational than practical.

I suspect but am not certain that the sail bogey photographed above is from the historical Ffestiniog Railway in northwestern Wales.

-via Wrath of Gnon | Photo: Michael Chapman

While most of America only recognizes Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, celebrations of Carnival have been going on since Epiphany (January 6) in many parts of the world. That includes the traditional king cake, once called three kings cake for the Magi that visited baby Jesus on Epiphany. The cake itself was repurposed from a Roman Saturnalia tradition. The most common (and easiest) way to make a king cake in America is to make cinnamon rolls, but instead of cutting the roll, you twist it into a ring and bake it, then cover with purple, green, and gold sugar or icing. You might also put a small plastic baby inside the dough. But other countries have different traditional recipes.

France has cakes called galette and gâteau des rois, Portugal enjoys bolo-rei, Mexico has rosca de reyes, and Germany indulges in dreikönigskuchen, among other versions of king cake. They use different recipes, but they all have some things in common- they are either circular or decorated to represent a crown, and most of them have a surprise hidden inside. Read about the traditional king cakes of the world at Atlas Obscura.

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, is known today as Ada Lovelace. She wrote the world's first computer program in 1842, for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, a theoretical computer that was never built, but would have worked with Lovelace's programming.

Lovelace was gifted, both genetically and financially, as the daughter of Lord Byron. But her education differed from that of a privileged son born at the time. She was tutored at home in math, science, and logic, which was unusual for girls, but also in art, needlework, music, and languages, as would be expected. This combination of studies in widespread fields contributed to Lovelace's analytical thinking. For example, she saw that the punch cards used in weaving patterns for fabric would be a logical framework for mathematical commands, and that numbers could be converted into musical notes. Read how Lovelace distilled what she learned in disparate fields and how they contributed to her development of computer programming at Gizmodo. While reading, writing, and math are fundamental basics, there's always value in adding the humanities and other subjects.

(Image credit: Antoine Claudet)

We love watching Japanese zoos conduct their emergency drills with dangerous animals portrayed by an zookeeper in an animal costume. The latest is from Hitachi City Kamine Zoo, where the practice scenario is a bear that escapes when an earthquake breaks the glass in the display enclosure. It made no difference that this bear was an adorable teddy bear in a fairly good mascot costume, unlike some of the more ridiculous getups from previous drills. This drill involved not only zoo employees, but the local police, fire department, and the city's "pest damage prevention team." (Now if only US towns had such an agency...) The bear was first blocked in place by vehicles and nets, and then was shot with a tranquilizer dart, which we assume was as fake as the bear.

The drill ended in success, and we can imagine that it was followed by bear hugs all around.  -via Boing Boing

If playing Wordle once a day isn't enough for you, you need to try Clickword. It's sort of like a Scrabble game that you can play by yourself. You'll start with a grid that has a few letters on it (orange), and three letters you can place anywhere (blue) -and you have to place them all before you get new letters. When three or more letters form a word vertically or horizontally, they disappear! The game is over when you've placed 60 letters. Like Scrabble, points are based on the letter value. You might be going for a long word, but as soon as three letters that make a word from their dictionary show up, it's gone. On the other hand, there is value in clearing spaces for new words.  

I don't know why the actual game that compares you to other players is limited to once a day; but you can play practice games, which will give you a score. Careful, if you like word games, this could become addictive. -via Metafilter

Nature and fluid dynamics have their own way of doing things, and that's why rivers and streams left to their own devices will change over time. But those changes interfere with human settlements and commerce, so various aspects of the Mississippi River have been engineered one way or another ever since the US was established. This video from Half as Interesting tells us about the time riverboat captain Henry Miller Shreve arranged for a channel to be cut through a particularly difficult bend in the river to make navigation easier. But that cut changed the river's eventual direction so much that authorities added the Old River Control Structure to keep Old Man River from dumping all its water into the Atchafalaya River. The video is only 4:18; the rest is an ad.

However, several Louisiana commenters tell us that the tendency of the Mississippi to spill into the  Atchafalaya was actually due to the clearing of the Great Raft, a 150-mile logjam in the Atchafalaya and Red River that had been there for a few thousand years and was responsible for the bayous. Who cleared that logjam? Why, it was Henry Miller Shreve, who just couldn't keep his hands off the waterways. Yes, Shreveport was named after him, since removing the raft made the Red River navigable. The Great Raft story would make a fascinating video. -via Digg