Before reading this story, you should picture the movie Casablanca, and the desperation of the many refugees who just wanted to go somewhere safe. The following true story about desperate World War II refugees actually plays into the movie eventually.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a diplomat at the Portuguese consulate in Bordeaux, France, when Hitler's army invaded France in 1940. Refugees from Paris and all over the country headed south, hoping to cross into a safe country. Portugal was officially neutral regarding Hitler's march across Europe, and seemed a likely destination. But Portugal was ruled by the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, who had forbidden Portuguese consulates to issue visas for refugees. Salazar wanted to keep the war at arm's length. Sousa Mendes had already gotten into trouble with his superiors for issuing a few visas here and there. Then he met a Polish rabbi named Chaim Kruger (pictured above with Sousa Mendes) who had fled from Belgium with his family ahead of the Nazis. Sousa Mendes told the rabbi that no visas could be arranged.    

Quietly, however, Sousa Mendes did request permission from Lisbon to issue the visas, and on June 13 the Foreign Ministry responded: “Recusados vistos.” Visas denied. Flouting his superior, Sousa Mendes offered Kruger the papers anyway. Kruger declined them. “It is not just me who needs help,” he told Sousa Mendes, “but all my fellow Jews who are in danger of their lives.”

Suddenly, Sousa Mendes’ selfless effort to help a new friend, to aid a single Jewish family, was revealed for what it truly was: A choice between saving himself and saving thousands, between obeying his government and obeying his conscience. The dilemma was so destabilizing that Sousa Mendes stumbled into his bedroom “as though he had been struck down by a violent disease,” his son recalled.

He finally emerged three days later. “I am going to issue a visa to anyone who asks for it,” he announced. “Even if I am discharged, I can only act as a Christian, as my conscience tells me.”

And so he did. Sousa Mendes issued thousands of visas in the next couple of weeks in Bordeaux, then moved to other French cities where refugees had gathered to sign more, to anyone who wanted to escape. Some of those refugees were people you've read about here at Neatorama. He even went to the Spanish border, where word had been sent not to honor Sousa Mendes' visas, and he managed to personally escort refugees across the border. But in Portugal, Salazar made sure Sousa Mendes paid for his actions. Read the story of the diplomat who followed his conscience at Smithsonian. 

(Image source: sousamendes.org)

See also: Holocaust Hero Chiune Sugihara

The latest video from Screen Junkies is less an Honest Trailer and more of a tribute to the greatest James Bond ever, the original played by Sean Connery. His Bond was the ultimate role model for 1960s men: skilled, handsome, brave, sophisticated, clever, cool, and very lucky. He was also attractive to the women who could buy into the misogyny and objectification of the time. These movies offered action, intrigue, sex, comedy, and the good guy always won in the end. It was a standard formula, but one that worked. The Connery Bond movies were far from perfect, but they were enjoyable in a simple way.

Excavations in the ancient city of Jericho in 1953 yielded eight skulls that shared a peculiar commonality: they were covered in plaster. This was a unique funerary custom that baffled scientists, who dated the skulls to between 9,000 and 6,000 BC. Were they plastered as a form of portraiture to make them look like they did in life? Were they really loved ones, or skulls taken as trophies from warfare? Did they remove the flesh or wait until it naturally decomposed?

One of the skulls that came to be known as the Jericho Skull was from a man who died 9,500 years ago. The plaster was embedded with seashells where the eyes had been. Scientists in the 1950s couldn't find out much about him, but technology has come a long way since then. In 2009, the Jericho Skull underwent a Micro-CT scan, revealing the shape of the skull underneath. In 2016, the scan was used to make a 3D print of the skull, after which a forensic reconstruction of the man's face was made. Read how that turned out at The British Museum Blog.

Covering skulls in plaster is just one of 5 Of The Most Badass Ways Cultures Used To Treat Their Dead, which you can read at Cracked.    

(Image credit: Zunkir)

Pictured above it the late actor Nigel Terry, who portrayed King Arthur in the greatest movie ever made. At the end of that story, the fallen once and future king was carried off to the mystical island of Avalon to await the day when he would take up the sword of power and be king again.

Similarly, the Nigels have left us. The United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics reports that not a single baby born last year was named Nigel. Although once a very common British baby name, it is now extinct.

On the upside, journalist Harry Wallop reports that there 189 Kylos, 86 Aadams (yes, I spelled that correctly), and 64 Cais.

But no Nigels, “for it is the doom of men that they forget.”

-via Marginal Revolution | Image: Orion Pictures

The headline is a translation. In New Zealand, the standard emergency number is 111. The concept is the same as the American emergency number of 911.

The Associated Press reports that a 4-year old boy dialed 111 on a phone while he was at home in the city of Invercargill. There was no emergency. He just had some awesome toys and wanted to show them off to someone. Could a police officer come and check them out?

The dispatcher put out a call to available units. An officer was, fortunately, available to examine the toys, which he confirmed were indeed “cool”.

It’s adorable, and shoutout to the owner for having a lot of toys for their beloved pupper-- because that’s love right there! 

Meet Mojito, a one-year-old therapy dog that has a very unique night routine. Before she goes to bed, Mojito goes through her pile of toys to choose a toy to accompany her in her sleep. If you’re worried that the dog does not have enough toys for variation, worry not because Mojito gets new toys every month in a new BarkBox. 

According to Kim Downie, her mom, “she is very specific about what she chooses to take to bed. She will search the house and empty her toy boxes until she finds whatever one she is looking for. If we move them back downstairs, she will carry them right back up.”

Image credit: Mojito Rose Soldan via Instagram

While all animals deserve love and a good home, old animals rarely get adopted by new people. This boy defies all the usual expectations for children, and raises hope that more people will pay attention and realize that older animals deserve love too! 

Easton, a young boy from Canada, picked a 10-year-old cat named Tiny from a long list of animals at the Exploits Valley SPCA Adoptables Facebook page. Tiny is a ginger cat that is “weight-challenged” as well as “shy.” However, that did not stop Easton from taking the big chonk home. 

Source: Facebook/Exploits Valley SPCA Adoptables

The quokka has chosen thee! 

While on a bike ride on Rottnest Island in Western Australia, Campbell Jones and his girlfriend met a quokka on the bike trail. Upon spotting the creature, Jones got off his cycle and snapped some selfies with the curious animal. The quokka, known as  “the happiest animal on Earth,” posed for the pictures with a smile. What a sport! 

A surprising development in this story is that the quokka actually chased after the two bikers when they were done taking photos.  “As I walked back to my bike, the quokka chased after me,” he told Western Australia's newspaper, Perth Now. “I put down the GoPro and it jumped at me as if to say come ‘come back.’”

Image credit: Campbell Jones via My Modern Met 

Two stray dogs wandering the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, went viral for hugging each other. The photos of the two puppers providing safety and comfort to each other from the harsh streets were loved by the Internet. Don’t worry, as these two dogs are now safe and sound in a Buddhist temple, as Buddhist nuns took them there to provide shelter. 

Image via live88post.com 

A grave of a wealthy medieval man in Bavaria, Germany, was discovered by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection (BLfD). The man, estimated to have been around 40 to 50 years old when he died, was buried with weapons, a horse, and a set of luxurious toiletries-- such as an intricately carved ivory comb that may have been used to style his hair and beard. Experts believe that he may have been a fierce warrior who also cared deeply about his personal appearance. 

Image credit: BLfD

Halloween is almost here, and so here's a cute post over at Supa Fluffy to whet your appetite: Meet a guinea pig named Lord Cesario, a "highly-opinionated four-legged potato," who loves ❤️ to review Halloween costumes.

🕺 This is mesmerizing: watch the captivating dance routine for the Paralympians as choreographed by Sadeck Waff.

🦿 This prosthetic leg doubles as a fold-out skateboard.

🪑 Pokemon-inspired furniture line for grownups. Gotta catch 'em all (especially the Snorlax rug!)

🎨 Arist Naci Caba creates impressionism-style Star Wars paintings

🎈 Viral TikTok video of siblings playing "Don't Let the Balloon Touch the Ground" Inspired an International Tournament with $11,000 in Prize Money.

🎤 ... and lastly, woman interviews rescue animals with a tiny mic.

We bring your more neat posts over at our new network of sites: Supa Fluffy, Pictojam, Homes & Hues, Pop Culturista - please check 'em out!

Image: Bernadette Banner/YouTube

Hadrian (r. 117-138) lived to the ripe old age of 62 before he died of natural causes. He was an outlier on that count. Only 25% of Roman Emperors died of peacefully. That's if you count from Augustus all the way to Constantine XI Palaeologus, who died during the fall of Constantinope in 1453. That is a total of 175 emperors. Data scientists in Brazil examined statisical trends in the lifespans of these rulers and published their findings with the Royal Society.

The researchers that found that the likelihood that an emperor would be killed early in his reign was very high. Consider the infamously named Year of the Four Emperors. But once an emperor was able to establish himself and get past these early trials, he tended to live for the next 13 years. Thereafter, his reign became unstable again and the likelihood of assassination increased.

This 13 year rule, the scholars note, confirms a study of 106 modern dictators who ruled between 1875 and 2004. Their power, once they survived initial turbulences, tended to become unstable after 12.3 years.

-via Instapundit | Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin

Orchestras vary from place to place, but they all have a basic organization. Who decided this? Why are certain instruments included and others not? British composer David Bruce brings us a history of the orchestra, in a style inspired by Bill Wurtz, but with a lot of solid historical information.

I was a bit surprised to learns there really weren't any orchestras until the 1600s. They early ones were somewhat experimental, but success breeds standardization, and competition breeds excess, but composers needed to know what instruments to write for. While the orchestral form is still quite standardized, it continues to evolve in new ways. Altogether, this video is way more interesting than you'd expect. -via Laughing Squid

Redditor uncle_stink shows us a water bill he received this summer. What in the world could have caused him to run up a $47,542 bill? He was accused of installing a water park in his backyard, but that's not it. There has to be an error here. Can you figure out what it is?

First, notice the dates. He was billed from July to April, which made the number of days negative. We don't think there is any time travel involved here, so either there was a typo or else someone entered the data in the wrong field. The machinery saw the dates were reversed and therefore reversed the meter readings. This didn't help, as now the present reading is less than the previous reading. When that happens, the system assumes that the meter rolled over, so a million units were automatically added.

It doesn't help that the right side of the bill should be read from the top down chronologically, while the left side should be read up chronologically. This is counterintuitive. The dates and the meter numbers as they were read on those dates should be lined up on a well-designed bill.

Let's hope that the bean counters at the water department can see that it's an error. In so many of these cases, they first offer to help set up a payment plan for you.

At the Brünnlisau shooting range in Switzerland, the shooters are on this side of the road, and the targets are on the other side. Meanwhile, traffic is passing along in between. What could possibly go wrong? What might surprise you is that this shooting range has been in operation for twenty years with no incidents involving the vehicles passing by!

The explanation lies in the design of the shooting range and the rules that govern it. These rules are bolstered by the gun culture of Switzerland, in which shooters are numerous, but also highly trained and regulated. Also noted: this range has some very cool technology for scoring your shots.   

Europeans who saw this video tell us that Brünnlisau is far from the only shooting range in Switzerland that ranges across a road like this. They also had a laugh at Tom mentioning that it's about two hours from Zurich. The response was that every place in Switzerland is about two hours from Zurich, including parts of Zurich during rush hour.