Once, as a child, I visited the Louvre in Paris. There was a crowd around the Mona Lisa--a surprisingly small painting--but not around other works.

It's the most famous painting in the Louvre, so it attracts a lot of attention. Writer David Friedman wondered: what do other museums regard at their most famous items on display? He found 17 museums that officials had specifically identified works of art as their own Mona Lisa.

In the case of the middle work above, it's a silkscreen by Andy Warhol of Marilyn Monroe in the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Friedman also includes museums of history and paleontology.

In the frozen northern lands comprising Canada, automotive brake parts are the natural prey of the North American Porcupine. Visitors in Valhalla Provincial Park in British Columbia have taken to protecting their vehicles by wrapping the bottoms of the cars with improvised fences made of chicken wire. Sometimes wooden stakes separating the wire from the vehicles provide an additional barrier to keep the hungry porcupines at bay.

Why do porcupines like to eat brake parts? I'm not sure. I've never tasted them before. But I'm inclined toward culinary adventures, so it's time to give them a chance.

-via Massimo

Much of early television history is lost to us because it was aired live and therefore never recorded or recordings were not preserved. Doctor Who, which first aired in 1963, has this challenge as tapes were recorded over after production. About 100 of the 892 episodes are gone.

Occasionally, recordings surface. BBC News reports that two such episodes from 1965 have been found. They feature actor William Hartnell, who served as the first incarnation of the Doctor. The two episodes, titled "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet," will air on Easter. They are part of the Daleks' Master Plan story arc, of which only half survives.

-via Gizmodo

Brad Barber is a master LEGO artist who creatively takes LEGO kits and makes them into completely different designs. For example, a gingerbread Star Wars AT-AT becomes the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.

Jo Cope is a conceptual artist in the UK who has become famous for her red shoes. These shoes are more sculptures than examples of functional footwear. They offer social commentary about conflict or cooperation within societies.

An essential part of the process of turning cream into butter is continous, vigorous motion. That's similar to the up and down motion of long distance running. Runner's World reports that some runners are multitasking effectively by strapping on packs of milk.

In a demonstration video, runner Libby Cope and her boyfriend ran five and a half miles with a mixture of cream and sea salt. After removing the excess water at the end, she had usable and tasty butter.

Berne, the capital city of Switzerland, has an eye-catching coat of arms. According to the legend, the duke who founded the city in the Thirteenth Century caught a bear while the land was being cleared. This bear became the symbol of the city.

The heraldic bear is black with red claws, tongue, and penis. It is this last detail that recently attracted scrutiny.

According to Swiss Info, local politician Thomas Brönnimann proposed that the cantonal government remove the penis from the coat of arms in order to better represent the local population. The government, citing that the penis has been visible for at least 600 years, rejected this proposal.

-via TYWKIWDBI

https://t.co/lpMXnhXomb pic.twitter.com/57hS3Svlr8

— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) March 9, 2026

Chris Kempczinski, the CEO of McDonald's, produced a viral video when he taste-tested a "product" (his term) on camera while apparently trying to ingest as little of it as possible. That video sparked a trend of other fast food CEOs eating their burgers on camera. It's become a media trend.

The public library system of Columbus, Ohio got into the game when its social media manager said that their CEO would eat a hardcover book if the tweet got at least 10,000 likes. Lauren Hagen, the CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, was a good sport about it.

This story takes a bit of explaining.

Wintzell's Oyster House in downtown Mobile, Alabama is a local icon of fine Gulf coast cuisine. It has long had a sign offering free oysters to any man who is 80 years old if that man is accompanied by his father.

Fox 10 News reports that Jimmy Rush, 80, became the first person to secure this prized dinner when he walked into the restaurant with his father, Jim Rush, who is 99 years old.

Father and son began eating at this restaurant in 1972. They decided that, one day, they would dine for free when the son was old enough.

On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the Great War with a very small army and limited equipment. How would the Yank endure and ultimately prevail over the challenges of Twentieth Century warfare?

Helmets were in common use among the soldiers of the different nations. Different designs were considered, including the Model Number 8, pictured above. This was built by the Ford Motor Company and designed by Bashford Dean.

Dean's career began in zoology, but his interest eventually focused on historical armor. At the time that the US entered the war, he was the Curator of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dean accepted a commission as a major in the Army and set about designing, from his historical knowledge, helmets for American soldiers. They included this model inspired by Fifteenth Century Italian armor.

It did not see widespread use.

-via Jalopnik

Etsy seller GremlynRugs (content warning: artistic nudity) makes tufted rugs that you could walk on or hang decoratively. But please don't actually eat them! This piece looks like a grilled cheese sandwich cut and then stretched apart with cheesy goodness overflowing the edges. But it's all fabric.

-via The Awesomer

Would you like to login to this online interface? We'll just need for you to download an app, create a new account with a highly complex password, submit a DNA sample, and participate in a retinal scan.

Actor and comedian Russell Parry illustrates the ordeals of passing online scrutiny to verify our identities.

Content warning: foul language.

Funniest thing happened at Comic Con today. I was walking around as Deadpool (per usual) and a Foggy Nelson cosplayer with a She-Hulk tap me on the shoulder to serve me these papers.

I love it LOL pic.twitter.com/vCj5Z3TAuD

— Pids (@justpids) March 8, 2026

The Emerald City Comic Con is currently underway in Seattle. X user @justpids is cosplaying as Deadpool. He's now facing consequences for his crimes with the assistance of Jennifer Walters--the main character from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law--in her professional capacity. Wade has been summoned to appear before a US District Court to answer for first-degree murder and breaking the fourth wall.

This is a very good thought experiment. Who are the five authors that most 20th c writers have read but most 21st c writers have not?

What about 19th c writers? https://t.co/s2ttoUJBrN

— T. Greer (@Scholars_Stage) March 7, 2026

Some works of literature are considered essential reading or even classics in the past, but cease to be popular or highly regarded and thus fade from the Burkean parlor of inter-generational discussion.

For example, as we noted in the past, Herman Wouk's 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny was lauded as great literature at the time of its release and was required reading for many colleges, but is no longer a book that one could assume that most people have read.

X user T. Greer poses an interesting question: which Nineteenth Century works were essential foci of public discourse, but have since faded away from it?

My immediate answer is Lays of Ancient Rome by Thomas Babington Macaulay, which was among the most widely read works of Victorian literature (as a child, Winston Churchill memorized it). But contemporary critics, including Matthew Arnold, disparaged it as trash. Arnold's perspective is apparently confirmed by its absence from literary discussion in subsequent times.

How do you woo a woman? My advice: find a pretty stone that suits the tastes of your preferred companion, place the stone in your mouth, then deliver it to her nest.

Trust me, bros. It works.

This is how male gentoo penguins at the Edinburgh Zoo impress female penguins. About a hundred of these creatures live there and the mating season is upon us. To assist the penguins in their romantic ambitions, children painted stones and presented them to the males, who picked through the pile in search of the perfect rocks that will win the hearts of their beloved companions.