Sir Edmund Bedingfeld built a fine manor house with a moat around it in Norfolk, England, in 1482. Since then, Oxburgh Hall has been continuously occupied by Bedingfeld's descendants. As part of a roof restoration project, archaeologist Matt Champion was standing by to see what was underneath the attic floorboards, which had not been removed in all those centuries. What he found was more than he ever expected.   

The cache is one of the most remarkable “underfloor” archaeological finds ever made at a National Trust property, the British heritage organization says in a statement. Together, the objects offer a rich social history of the manor’s former residents.

Among the discoveries are the nests of two long-gone rats that built their homes out of scraps of Tudor and Georgian silks, wools, leather, velvet, satin and embroidered fabrics, reports Mark Bridge for the Times.

The critters also repurposed roughly 450-year-old fragments of handwritten music and parts of a book. A builder recently found the rest of the volume—a relatively intact 1568 copy of Catholic martyr John Fisher’s The Kynge’s Psalmes—in a hole in the attic.

There were other objects stashed in the 16th century, along with some interesting finds from World War II above the floorboards. The Bedingfelds were staunch Catholics, which was dangerous in the Elizabethan era, when Catholic priests were tortured and killed for performing Mass. Researchers believe some of the objects found were related to secret, illegal rites of the time. Read more about the treasures unearthed at Oxburgh Hall at Smithsonian. 

(Image credit: DeFacto)

Sumer Walser Williams tells the story of some late-night visitors to her front deck- which is 12 feet above ground! A bear cub climbed up and tried out the wading pool, but only managed to wreck it. When he heard a dog barking, he was  curious and looked in. Maybe he wanted a new friend to come out and play! Williams said,

Mom's reaction in my head played out as "Let's go, I have told you a hundred times not to bother people while we're raiding their house for goodies. We have to be silent. I've told you this. Why can't you seem to listen? I had to climb 12 feet up a pole to rescue your little butt. Get off their deck now."

The video ends with mama bear trying to figure out the best way to get her child back down to ground level. A good time was had by all. -via Bored Panda

Whenever you feel the need for a safety sign that is ANSI Z535-compliant, just use the Safety Sign Generator. Pick a level of warning with a signal word, select a pictogram or two, and write out any kind of notice you wish.

The examples here were generated by commenters at Metafilter. There are a ton of them if you need a laugh or some inspiration, although some are hilariously rude. Damon Burke, who designed the generator, also has one for Laboratory Door Safety Signs. Go wild with both of these!

Kakao-Regen im Oltner Industriequartier: Lüftungsanlage ist schuld daran https://t.co/O9Iorni5Iz pic.twitter.com/3LWZCsHeE0

— Olten (@olten) August 15, 2020

A defect in the ventilation system at the Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory in Olten, Switzerland resulted in a spray of "cocoa nibs" into the air, leaving a fine dust of chocolate around the factory and the nearby environment.

The company says one car was lightly coated, and that it has offered to pay for any cleaning needed — but hasn’t yet been taken up on the offer.

One would guess that the owner of the car would be tempted to clean it himself -with his tongue. Or as the Fark headline said, "That's what a Lindt brush is for." Tay Zonday could not be reached for comment.   

You might laugh, then feel bad about laughing, then you should know that this picture was staged by the folks at Bitterroot Bison Company in Missoula, Montana. The image has spawned some memes. However, it was based on a real story about a bison goring in South Dakota. The lesson here is: don't try to take a selfie with wild animals. -via reddit

Kelsey Hermanson's home is decorated in Disney. She has every room in the house decorated in the theme of a different Disney movie! Above, you see the Lilo and Stitch living room. The dining room is from Beauty and the Beast, the entry room is Rapunzel, the master bedroom is Cinderella, another bedroom is The Lion King, and the bathrooms are for Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin.  



They also have a Lady and the Tramp nursery, and a Ratatouille kitchen! Hermanson buys Disney art, but also makes a lot of the objects that create the style. Her husband Eric is also pretty handy at home decor. Read about their Disney house at Buzzfeed, and see more pictures at Instagram.

The National Weather Service recorded the hottest temperature in Death Valley since 1913, when the mercury hit 130°F (54.4C) on Sunday. The temperature has yet to be verified by experts. As you can see, the National Park Service visitor's center at Furnace Creek registered even warmer, although that thermometer is not "official." If it were, they would fix the glitch in that bottom LED.  

The current world record for the hottest temperature recorded on Earth was 134°F and was set by Death Valley back on July 10, 1913. A scorching 131°F was also observed in Kebili, Tunisia, on July 7, 1931. Because some meteorologists believe these two readings may not have been totally accurate, it’s possible the 129°F observed in Death Valley in 2013 and the 129°F recorded in both Kuwait in 2016 and Pakistan in 2017 could be the current highest temperatures. If so, and if the latest temperature can be verified, that would make it the new record holder by one degree.

It stands to reason that today's thermometers would be more accurate than those of the past, but how they will ever figure out whether those readings of decades ago were warmer or cooler is anyone's guess. The upshot is that you should not go into Death Valley in the summer without plenty of water.

Living in a lamp is so old school. Modern day genies live in their Uber cars! He can make your wishes come true, except in matters of love- that's not allowed, because it involves more than one person. But where there's a will, there's a way! -via reddit

What do you do when you have a very lucrative franchise, a new streaming service, a holiday season ahead, and then live-action production is shut down due to a goal pandemic? Disney came up with an answer. The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special will debut on Disney+ on November 17.  Like the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, it will revolve around the holiday Life Day, but most of the Star Wars characters will be played by animated LEGO minifigs. Executive producer Josh Rimes hinted that the story will feature action, comedy, and nostalgia.

The Lego holiday special, which Rimes teases will feature a few “Star Wars” movie actors reprising their roles, catches up with the cast after the events of last year’s saga-closing “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Rey and droid pal BB-8 head off on a quest to gain a deeper knowledge of the Force, but their visit to a mysterious Jedi Temple sends them careening through time and space. Rey interacts with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and other characters in some of the franchise’s most beloved moments, as they try to return in time for a Life Day feast with her friends on Chewbacca’s Wookiee home world of Kashyyyk.

The use of LEGO not only eased production in the age of social distancing, it also signals that the special is not competing with any of the other Star Wars productions, and is not to be taken as canon. Read more details about the upcoming stunt holiday special at USA Today. -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

How long have you been posting parts of your life on social media? Three years? Ten years? Thirteen years? You may cringe when you think of some of the things you posted when you were younger and braver ...or just dumber. You might think about deleting those posts, but finding them among the thousands of entries in reverse chronological order may be daunting. But there is help, in the form of instructions and apps that will help you clean up your history on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The ease of such a cleaning varies by platform, but some apps will even let you sort by keyword. Learn how to back up your memories on your private files and then clean up what's public at Gizmodo. 

(Image credit: Today Testing via Wikimedia Commons)

Scientists have long known of insects that can survive being frozen and come back to life when thawed. Strangely, other animals do this, too, including some species of snakes, turtles, lizards, and frogs. These are unique species that have adapted to changing conditions and therefore can live in wider range of climates.  

While a scientific understanding of freeze tolerance in insects was first achieved in the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1982 that scientists discovered it also exists in vertebrates—wood frogs in particular, a far-reaching North American species that can be found from the forests of Georgia to just within the Arctic Circle in Alaska.

“It was a huge breakthrough because until that time, it was assumed that vertebrate animals could not survive freezing,” says Jon Costanzo, professor emeritus at Miami University in Ohio, who got interested in cold-temperature adaptations after stumbling across a den of wintering snakes (known as a hibernaculum) while he was a graduate student in Wisconsin.

Wood frogs can survive temperatures as low as -4 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest temperature that any freeze-tolerant species is known to withstand, he says. (A Siberian salamander was reported decades ago to have survived -22 degrees, he adds, but the report is unconfirmed.)

Read about the weird methods animals have developed to protect themselves from the damage of freezing at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: W-van)

Patents are granted to protect a person who has an idea, not to render judgement on whether it's a good idea. Therefore, the patent files are full of strange and wonderful notions that will make you scratch your head. In 1930, Shelby Helene Adelaide was granted a patent for a system to interrogate crime suspects and compel a confession from the guilty.  

“The present invention relates to a new and useful apparatus for obtaining confessions from culprits, or those suspected of the commission of crimes, and photographically recording these confessions, in the form of sound waves, in conjunction with their pictures, depicting their every expression and emotion, to be preserved for later reproduction as evidence against them,” the inventor describes her invention.

The invention works somewhat like this: first, the suspect is isolated in a small, dark chamber. The examiner sits in a nearby chamber and asks their questions through a megaphone. But here’s a twist—the suspect isn’t able to see the questioner. Instead, they’re faced with “a figure in the form of a skeleton.”

Moreover, the eyes of the skeleton are glowing red “for the purpose of imparting to the eyes of the skeleton an unnatural ghastly glow”

While such a setup might be perfect for a haunted house attraction, its use in solving crimes might have only come down to separating hardened criminals from the hopelessly naive (and probably innocent), who would end up traumatized for life. At any rate, it seems no one built this contraption, much less used it in law enforcement. Read about Adelaide's patent and see more pictures at Bored Panda.

(Image source: Google Patents)

This guy in Australia has set the bar pretty high for devotion to his wife. Chantelle Doyle was surfing with a group at in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Saturday when she was bitten by a shark estimated at between two and three meters long.

Her husband jumped off his surfboard and onto the juvenile great white when it refused to release her.

“This fella paddled over and jumped off his board onto the shark and hit it to get it to release her and then assisted her back into the beach," Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said.

Bystanders and paramedics administered first aid, and Doyle was taken to a hospital with severe lacerations on her leg. She underwent surgery and is in stable condition. -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Elias Levy)

You wouldn't put up with glitches in your real life, so why put up with them on the internet? That's the premise of this delightful ad from New Zealand. If done right, it could also be recycled into the premise of a horror film. -via Digg

When a proper haircut costs too much or is not available, it's pretty easy to put a bowl over someone's head and cut off what sticks out from under it. But rarely does it look good. Still, it's such an obvious idea that it goes way back, long before it became Moe's signature look as he performed with the Three Stooges.

The origins of the bowl cut extend far beyond Moe Howard. The style was common among European men in the 12th through 15th centuries as well as Russian serfs in the 18th century. The appeal was simple: It was a style that could be achieved with no skill, no brushing, and at virtually no cost. It also straddled the line between the longer styles that went in and out of vogue in the Middle Ages and the shorter cuts favored by soldiers and religious leaders. Men of greater means often accessorized the cut with elaborate hats.

So the bowl cut had its up and downs, so to speak, which you can read about at Mental Floss. It includes the story of how Moe first came to wear the bowl cut.