Black Geeks of Dragon Con shared this photo of a cosplayer at the most recent Dragon Con in Atlanta. Stevie Wonder Woman is as beautiful as Aphrodite, wiser than Athena, swifter than Mercury, and as smooth as Marvin Gaye.

The headstone you see above stands in Rushes Cemetery in Wellesley, Ontario. Underneath are buried Henrietta Bean and Susanna Bean, who were not sisters, but the first two wives of Samuel Bean. The women did not know each other, yet share a grave. But what is all that cryptic writing? The stone sat for more than 100 years while people tried to decipher the code. So many took rubbings that the stone became illegible and had to be replaced. Finally the code was cracked in the 1970s. You can read what it says at Atlas Obscura. 

But why did Dr. Bean bury two wives in the same grave? He married Henrietta in 1865, and she died that same year after seven months of marriage. No cause of death was recorded. The next year, Bean married Susanna, who died after only ten months of marriage. Again, no cause of death was recorded. Samuel Bean married a third time and had five children, but by then he'd given up practicing medicine and became a man of the cloth. A bit of historical digging shows that Dr. Bean may not have been a qualified physician at all, which raises more questions than it answers. -Thanks, WTM! 

(Image credit: Mac Armstrong) 

Nordic people are known for growing tall, but Jóhann Kristinn Pétursson was an outlier even in his native Iceland. Born in 1913, Pétursson was a normal child until puberty pulled a fast one. At 15, he started growing quickly, and in just a few years he had reached the height of 7 feet, 8 inches (2.34 meters). All his family, including eight siblings, were of average height. Pétursson had trouble finding a job where he would fit in, so he decided to make a living as an exhibition in 1934. In other words, he ran away to join the circus. 

Pétursson exhibited himself in various European countries until after World War II, when he was discovered by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. He moved to the US in 1948 and became known as The Viking Giant or sometimes The Icelandic Giant. Pétursson was not considered to have acromegaly, as his body was perfectly proportioned, just big. He weighed over 350 pounds, which made walking difficult. Read about the career of the Viking Giant and see lots of pictures at Vintage Everday.  -via Memo of the Air 

After many recent videos designed to scare the pants off viewers, Kurzgezagt finally gives us a lighthearted yet interesting video with a look at the sunfish. How dumb can this fish be, compared to other fish in the sea? It's a pretty low bar, so it really doesn't matter, but gives them a great excuse to use all the stupidity jokes they have without hurting someone's feelings. The story of the sunfish is really about the many ways it differs from other fish in its bizarre adaptations in filling a unique niche in the ecosystem. 

The sunfish took a left turn in the development of their biology. They do all the fish things -eat, reproduce, and avoid predators- the hard way. But somehow it works for them, which is why they've been around for so long. Who are we to argue with Mother Nature? This video is 8:45; the rest is advertising. -via Laughing Squid 

The Takeout shares photos, descriptions, and stories behind twelve foods that are commonly served at funerals and wakes or given to grieving people. These include corpse cakes, which actually rose on the bodies of the dead before burial, a Pennsylvania Dutch pie made of raisins, and kollyva, which is a Greek cake decorated symbolically.

Pictured above is a Texas funeral cake, which is a type of Texas sheet cake. It's made with buttermilk and covered with crumbled pecans. The icing is typically but not always baked on to present a glossy top. It's a straightforward recipe for people who cannot dedicate a lot of headspace to cooking.

Photo: Taste of the South

Metropolis is a major city in the US where Superman fights crime. The fictional city was always meant to be generic, formed from "metro," meaning city, and "polis," meaning city. But as children reading comic books, we always saw it as New York City. You might be surprised to learn that in the earliest Superman comic book, Clark Kent lived and worked in Cleveland. After relocating to the fictional Metropolis, clues in the comics pointed to it being New York, and it was explained that Metropolis was near Gotham City. Both cities later moved to different states. 

The 2013 movie Man of Steel seemed to place Metropolis in Chicago. But the 2025 Superman has numerous clues that Metropolis is now in Delaware. The map above, enlarged in this reddit post, appears briefly in the film. The city is situated by Delaware Bay. The streets are named after people who worked on the film or on other Superman movies. It is also stamped with "Greater Cleveland Partnership." Those who know recognize a lot of Cleveland in the film, because a lot of it was filmed there. So why Delaware? Read the history of the city that moves from place to place at Big Think. 

Humans as a whole tend to distrust anything new, or anything outside their communities' long-held traditions. Those in power felt particularly threatened by anything outside the norm, because people willing to think outside the box or try something new might just be a threat to them. And in many bygone societies, the punishment might be death. YouTuber Chill Dude Explains (previously at Neatorama) has eleven examples of things that are commonplace today, but were once a threat to civilization. Not all of them would necessarily lead to a death sentence, but they were pretty serious transgressions. Well, maybe not potatoes- the consequence of death was natural if you didn't know how to use them properly. Some of these activities could be overlooked on their own, but were used as additional evidence in a witchcraft trial, which led to death. There is a serious lack of dates connected to each story, and a location is rare, but I've posted about enough of these to know they are real.  

Many people consider fall the best of seasons because we get relief from the heat and see the kids go back to school where they belong. And of course there's Halloween. But when you think about it, the whole season is full of traditions, from bonfires to football to Black Friday shopping. Some are ancient while others were dreamed up fairly recently because anything that's fun tends to be repeated. Many came out of harvest festivals as a way to show off and indulge in a bountiful crop of one sort or another. Others needs some further explanation. For example, the US holds elections on the first Tuesday in November because that made it convenient for farmers to participate. Black Friday is said to be the day that business are finally "in the black" for the year and the rest is profit, but that's not the origin of the tradition or the term. Read about 25 autumn traditions and where they came from at Mental Floss. 

(Image credit: Caleb Zahnd) 

The Bard said:

In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility;

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger

When hard times are upon us, we may rely upon the stiffened sinews of The Vulgar Chef, a man whom we know only by his title, his manful deeds, in the kitchen. Lo! He has crafted chocolate cups filled with the richest mayonnaise. Let us rejoice.

Gabrielle Wall from New Zealand has become the fastest person to run 100 metres entirely over LEGO.

Her time was 24.75 seconds and had to do the attempt completely barefoot. pic.twitter.com/nSxPdyPR0d

— Guinness World Records (@GWR) September 2, 2025

Stepping on LEGO blocks is a staple of webcomics and parental humor. It is one of those universal experiences for people with young children around. Gabrielle Wall, though, does it competitively. Watch her clear 100 meters in under 26 seconds. Notice that she uses a wide running stance. She developed it specifically for this event so that she can keep traction over the loose bricks.

The movie Superman will always be referred to as James Gunn's Superman or Superman 2025 to distinguish it from the other movies, TV shows, games, and other media with the same simple title. All of them expected to be the definitive version when they came out. This one was only released about seven weeks ago, so you will be forgiven if you intend to see it but haven't yet. According to this Honest Trailer, it's a lot. The first Superman movie specifically designed for Generation Alpha, it is full of social media and fake news. Supes and Lex Luthor aren't carrying the picture alone, though- there's a whole new roster of characters with super powers to meet, both good guys and bad guys, plus monsters, and a dog who steals the show. Screen Junkies pokes fun at Superman, but you get the idea that they enjoyed watching it. It's available for digital download now, and will be on DVD and blu-ray later this month.  

The 25 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time, Ranked https://t.co/6Gd0vggsMj

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 21, 2025

The latest "list we can all argue about" gives us the 25 greatest sports movies of all time. There are a lot of truly great movies on the list, but they should have made it a list of 50, because everyone has a favorite that's not included. The movies that didn't make the list include Chariots of Fire, The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bend it Like Beckham, Happy Gilmore, The Mighty Ducks, Caddyshack, Cool Runnings, Major League, Miracle, Rudy, North Dallas Forty, The Karate Kid, and I, Tonya. Yes, there are a lot of sports movies. 

I'm sure you'll disagree about some of the rankings. You can quibble with the definition of "sports" for this list. Cheerleading, okay, but is pool really a sport? You can also quibble about the definition of "movie," since one entry was made in five parts to be shown on TV. Now that we've gotten those arguments out of the way, go see the list of the 25 greatest sports movies at The Hollywood Reporter and find something you'll want to watch or rewatch tonight. -via Metafilter 

As previously noted, the precise day in which World War II ended is nebulous. August 15 is normally celebrated as V-J Day, although it was on September 2 that Japanese officials boarded the USS Missouri to sign the instrument of surrender. Although some committed Japanese soldiers disputed it, we can reasonably say that World War II ended precisely 80 ago.

The US Naval Institute shares the above photo of a special card distributed to people who were on board the Missouri at the time of the surrender. Captain Stuart Murray, the commanding officer of that ship, burned the unused cards and threw the printing plates in the sea to ensure that no one could claim an honor that was not theirs.

Istanbul is famous for its many street cats, but Casablanca in Morocco also has thousands of technically homeless cats. And like Istanbul, they are fed and treated well so they are quite friendly to strangers. 

Dr. Meryem Imrani runs a veterinary clinic in Casablanca. A cat came to the clinic by himself when he wasn't feeling well. Maybe someone in the neighborhood steered him in the right direction, or maybe he just knew it was the right place. In any case, Imrani treated him for a viral infection and nursed him back to health, and Rico never left. Instead, he settled in as a clinic cat and started taking care of feline patients himself. Rico turned out to be very social and empathetic to clinic patients, at least the cats, calming their fears, grooming them, keeping them company overnight. He even donated his blood at one point. Rico has found his calling. 

You can see more of Rico and Imrani's patients at Instagram.

Here's a kind of internet post you might find on a holiday when no one feels like working, and Labor Day would be that holiday. Cracked found a reddit post asking for examples of badass heroes (or otherwise brave interesting people) of history that few people have heard of. Reading through the entries, I recognized some of these that have been featured right here at Neatorama. Unfortunately, the reddit post is seven years old and there's no link to it. The entries on the list are screenshots, so any links that were originally provided are not there. Well, it's a holiday and I have nothing better to do, so I looked up every one of them for you. Go read the short versions of the stories at Cracked, and if some name compels you to find out more, you can follow these links. 

29. Digby Tatham-Warter 
28. Subutai 
27. Roman von Ungern-Sternberg 
26. The Berserker of Stamford Bridge 
25. Mannerheim 
24. Michael I of Romania 
23. Zenobia 
22. Olga of Kiev 
21. Vera Atkins 
20. Carolus Rex  
19. Chiune Sugihara 
18. Julie d'Aubigny 
17. Phùng Thị Chính 
16. Wojtek 
15. Miyamoto  Musashi 
14. Bass Reeves 
13. Exekias 
12. Mary Elizabeth Bowser 
11. Yi Sun-Shin 
10. Tokugawa Ieyasu 
9. Vasil Levski 
8. Witold Pilecki 
7. Benkei 
6. Mariya Oktyabrskaya 
5. Mad Jack Churchill 
4. Lucrezia Tornabuoni 
3. Bertha Benz 
2. Ching Shih 
1. Ada Lovelace 

This should keep you busy for a while.