Here is a list without context. Can you figure out what these things have in common? In other words, what is this a list of?

    the formula for the making of Wrigley's chewing gum
    the recipe for Purina Dog Chow
    the city records of Chicago and Los Angeles
    most of the Walt Disney films, including all of the original prints from the Mickey Mouse Club
    109,000 old MGM movies
    the wedding dress of a lady from Wichita
    fur pelts
    a collection of antique newspapers dating back to 1659
    copies of Bibles in 1700 languages and dialects
    a couple of jars of pickled frogs

After the first two items, you think "corporate secrets!" But no, Bibles and fur pelts wouldn't work. Things that have been lost? If the city records of Chicago and L.A. has been lost, we would have heard about it. No matter what I came up with, the fur pelts and the frogs kept stumping me. The answer is revealed at Weird Universe, along with some extra information on the subject. -via Nag on the Lake

The annual Crufts dog show was held last weekend in Birmingham, UK. While the show was full of very good dogs, the most viral of all the performances was that of a tiny chihuahua named Joya who performed the Swan Lake ballet with handler Karin Baumann in the Heelwork To Music competition. Who knew chihuahuas could be ballerinas? This little dog memorized thousands of moves for a three-minute performance.

Baumann and Joya's actual performance at Crufts is in this video, which was taken from quite some distance. The video above is of the same routine at a show from last fall, because it is much easier to see. Joya didn't win the ribbon at Crufts, but she won our hearts -and the internet- with her perfect yet hilarious dance. That's a good dog. -via reddit

See the winner of that competition and more Crufts results at Supa Fluffy.

History repeats itself, almost exactly a year later. You might recall that in March of 2021, the Evergreen container ship Ever Given became stuck in the Suez Canal for a week and backed up shipping traffic from everywhere on earth.

Now another container ship owned by Evergreen Marine has run aground in Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. The ship named Ever Forward was departing when it became stuck on Sunday night.

2/ Looking at charts, #EVERFORWARD may have slightly deviated from dredged navigation channel into shallower waters after departing Baltimore.

And got stuck.

She's apparently not blocking the navigation channel, but is quite close to it. pic.twitter.com/K6obJIzXr0

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 15, 2022

High tide was earlier this evening, but it doesn't rise enough in that area to float a stuck ship. If this kind of thing keeps up, someone will eventually need to look into Evergreen's pilot training program. You can keep up with the Ever Forward's predicament and current location at Marine Traffic. -via Fark  

(Image credit: US Coast Guard)

In the early 19th century, hieroglyphics inscribed on the walls of the Temple of Karnak near Luxor, Egypt, were translated and found to be a peace treaty between Pharaoh Ramesses II and the "Great King of Khatti," later identified as Hattušiliš III. Another copy of the same treaty is inscribed on the temple of Ramesses II in Thebes. The treaty was ratified in 1258 BC, making it the world's oldest treaty discovered so far. It's become known as the Treaty of Kadesh.

Archaeologists determined that Khatti meant the Hittites, from modern-day Turkey. The treaty was quite an accomplishment, as the Egyptians had been battling the Hittites over the lands of the eastern Mediterranean for two centuries. In 1906, excavations in the Hittite capital of Hattusa revealed 10,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing. Three of those tablets contained the exact wording of the treaty with Egypt, in the Akkadian language. This was a profound discovery of an ancient document between two nations in two written languages that agreed with each other in the most  important details.     

The treaties laid out the points of agreement from each kingdom to stop fighting, return political refugees and criminals to their home country, and assist each other in suppressing rebellions. Furthermore they pledged to support each other militarily in case of attack from other nations going forward. The treaty ends with a curse upon anyone breaking the treaty. Read about the war between Egypt and the Hittites and the amazing treaty that ended it at Amusing Planet. -via Strange Company 

(Image credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg))

March 13 was the beginning of Daylight Saving Time (as you well know by now), and March 15 is the Ides of March. In between, we celebrate Pi Day! March the 14th is celebrated as such because the American way of writing the date is 3/14, which is as close as we'll get to 3.14159265359...∞ as a date notation. The British method doesn't work because there aren't enough months. Pi Day is a day to appreciate the mathematical constant that defines a circle. Coincidentally, it's also Albert Einstein's birthday. But most people will only celebrate by enjoying some pie.

The key lime pie above was posted at reddit specifically for Pi Day, as you can see from the price and the sell-by date. I am sure someone bought it by Sunday. Who am I kidding- the person who took the picture bought the pie!

Don't forget to wear your Pi Day shirt from the NeatoShop today. If you don't already have one, what better time to order one for next year, because they are 20% off for a limited time!

For your traditional Pi Day feast, get a pizza pie and rearrange the toppings into the π symbol. Follow that with a sweet dessert pie, as long as it's round. If you make your own, you can use the π symbol on the crust, but if you buy one, you may find them on sale today. Here's a list of Pi Day pizza and pie bargains and discounts. Most are only good today, so hurry and get yours! But be assured that Pi Day will come "round" again next year.

At the turn of the 20th century, most Americans didn't eat fish if it could be avoided. Eating meat was a symbol of prosperity, and fish (seafood, too) was food for poor people. In 1909, the average American ate 150 pounds of meat per year, and only 10 pounds of seafood. Then World War I began, and the government encouraged people to cut back on meat consumption in order to feed the troops. It wasn't enough to ask for sacrifice, they needed to make fish popular.

In 1915, the United States Bureau of Fisheries (which later became the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) hired a restaurant owner named Evelene Spencer and gave her the title of Fish Cookery Expert. Spencer took the job to heart, and participated in the government's push to promote fish in every way possible. She appeared on posters, in cooking demonstrations, in film, in newspapers, and became the celebrity chef of her time. Spencer wrote a book with the ungainly title Fish Cookery: six hundred recipes for the preparation of fish, shellfish and other aquatic animals, including fish soups, salads and entrees, with accompanying sauces, seasonings, dressings and forcemeats.

Housewives were eager to receive Spencer's advice, because eating fish was not only deemed patriotic at the time, but it was a lot cheaper than serving meat. Her book helped those who had never prepared fish to clean, cook, and preserve fish and seafood and make it more palatable than ever before. Spencer was America's Fish Cookery Expert until 1922, but her influence lasted much longer. Read about the Fish Evangelist and how she changed the American diet at Atlas Obscura.

(Image source: National Archives)

A video that starts out talking about set dressing on TV sitcoms turns out to be a deep dive into the work of French painter Jean-François Millet. Millet didn't have much success in his career, and quite a few setbacks and tragedies. His works were never appreciated in his lifetime, but bring millions today. That was because Millet painted everyday people, mostly farmers, who were considered a lower class. But even as Millet's story is quite interesting, that's not really what this video is about, either. The painting that adorned the wall of Sheriff Andy Taylor's home is not what we see on the canvas, but has a secret detail that gives the painting a whole new meaning. -via Kottke

Futility Closet introduces us to the story of a wild hoax which I have verified through authoritative information sources. It begins with Jean Shepherd, a radio host for WOR-AM in New York City. Shepherd was a published author who was frustrated with the misleading way that bestseller lists were created. So, in 1956, he repeatedly told his listeners about the classic erotic novel I, Libertine by Frederick R. Ewing. Shepherd extolled the virtues merits of this saucy tale and urged his listeners to visit bookstores to request it.

I, Libertine did not exist. But there was, suddenly, massive demand for it to exist.

Shepherd sketched a plot outline for the novel. Publisher Ian Ballantine sent it to science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, asking him to ghostwrite the novel very quickly. Sturgeon fell asleep before finishing the text, which was completed by the publisher's wife, Betty Ballantine.

The book included a biography of the fictional Frederick R. Ewing, who was an Oxford graduate, a scholar of the history of erotica, and a retired Royal Navy officer. Ewing's book sold very well for several weeks and was on bestseller lists before journalists exposed the hoax.

Sources:

Bisbort, Alan. Media Scandals, ABC-CLIO, 2008.

Delany, Samuel R. Starboard Wine : More Notes on the Language of Science Fiction, Wesleyan University Press, 2012.

Italie, Hillel. “Betty Ballantine, Who Helped Invent the Modern Paperback, Dies at 99.” Los Angeles Times, Feb 14, 2019.

Photo: University of Tulsa

Now, this is a good find!

A medieval gold brooch was found by a metal detectorist in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. The item has a series of Latin and Hebrew inscriptions, believed to be protection against illness or supernatural events. The accessory is estimated to have been created between A.D. 1150 and 1400.

The Latin inscriptions translate to "hail Mary full of grace the Lord/ is with thee/ blessed art thou amongst women/ and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Amen," while the Hebrew initials on the jewelry represent words that meant "thou art mighty forever, O Lord."

Image credit: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

If you think that the beautiful photos from space only need one click of the cameras in space instruments, think again. Obtaining images of different celestial objects requires time, effort, and a lot of technological power. Take the James Webb Space Telescope’s project of capturing a star that it looked at as an example.

 This single star was rendered 18 times into a hexagonal shape, which will be aligned into a single, sharp focus image of the heavenly object. The current result from the interim stage looks like a space snowflake. The star’s images are placed in this pattern so that they have the same relative locations as the telescope’s mirrors. Read more about it here!

Image credit: NASA/STScI/J. DePasquale

The “Finders Keepers” project was started in 1999 by a local artist who wanted to use glass floats to celebrate the new millennium. The Lincoln City, Oregon, government agreed to this project and has been running it for more than 20 years now. The project encourages artists and enthusiasts to visit the beaches in the area to search for artisan glass floats. An estimated number of over 3,000 floats are hidden in the city’s beaches year-round. Learn more about the project here.

Image credit: Peggy Cleaveland

The Military Diet is a fad diet popularized on social media that was designed to be a quick weight loss program. It is not associated with the dietary patterns of those who serve in the army. The diet is used to lose a significant amount of weight rapidly– up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in one week. This kind of dieting raises concerns about its safety. 

The meal plan consists of high-protein meals. It is low in total calories, fat, and complex carbohydrates. Losing weight through this method means that the amount you manage to stave off is actually just a loss of water from consuming less salt, sugar, alcohol, processed food, and overall food mass. It’s not a true fat loss diet at all!

Image credit: Romina BM

On the legendary U.S. Route 66 lies one of the longest operating motels on the road. The Blue Swallow, which was built in 1939, is a small 12-unit, L-shaped property in New Mexico that is on the list of the National Register of Historic Places.

Photographer Rick Sammon captured the location in bright and cool tones, which make the hotel look old and vintage– which it actually is. Sammon used HDR photography to snap the image in a 7-stop exposure sequence to also capture the rising sun. According to the photographer, he wanted the viewer of the photo to see into the building and notice the sun. 

Image credit: Rick Sammon 

In 1928, microbiologist Alexander Fleming noticed that "mold juice" tended to kill off staphylococcal bacteria. That was the discovery of penicillin, but it was only the beginning of the research into it. It took another decade to extract and purify the mold juice, and then tests on mice began, which showed promise in killing bacterial infections. Would it work in humans? Who wanted to the be the first test case?

Albert Alexander of Oxford, England, was suffering from sepsis, a virulent blood infection caused by his infected facial scratches, and was near death when doctors decided there was no hope for recovery with standard treatment. Fletcher knew he would be the perfect candidate for the experimental penicillin serum. Alexander received his first dose of penicillin on Feb. 12, 1941. And over the course of a ten-day treatment, the infection improved! Sadly, there was not enough prepared penicillin to save Alexander's life in the long run. But the treatment was proven to be safe and effective for human use.

However, the story illustrates how awful infections were before the age of antibiotics. It is horrifying to think that a man who had been scratched on his face by the rose bushes in his garden could suffer and die that way. The way Albert Alexander's story is told in microbiology classes is designed to elicit that reaction, but it isn't quite so. Read the real reason behind his painful injury and death at the Conversation. -via Damn Interesting

In a list of the strangest animals on earth, the sarcastic fringehead swims in its own lane. The species is Neoclinus blanchardi, named after Dr. S. B. Blanchard, who collected the first described specimen, but you really want to know how it got its common name. So do I. The "fringehead" most likely came from the fish's enormous and flexible mouth, which it uses in fights. Watch two sarcastic fringeheads do battle in this video. Swallow whatever it is you're drinking first. 



They are not really trying to kiss each other to death; it's more of a measuring contest. The fish that has the largest mouth always "wins." If they were talking, we can imagine they would be saying something sarcastic. Still, the name seems like a stretch. If I were coining its common name, I would call it hairtrigger bigmouth. Read more about the sarcastic fringehead and 16 other of the world's most bizarre animals in a list at Science Focus. -via Digg

(Image credit: Evan Baldonado)