In 2010, New Mexico's Forrest Fenn buried a treasure chest, containing a million dollars worth of gold and jewelry, and launched a nationwide treasure hunt. Thousands of people tried to decipher the clues and find the box. In June of 2020, Fenn announced that someone had found and retrieved the treasure, but wished to remain anonymous. After all, lots of people had spent years on the quest, several had died, and there were lawsuits pending. Forrest Fenn himself had endured harassment and threats over the treasure hunt. Fenn confirmed the find with photographs, and then died in September. Writer Daniel Barbarisi was one of those who tried to solve the clues and find the treasure. After the announcement, he switched gears and tried to find the winner. He did, and began a correspondence.

So despite exchanging dozens of emails with the finder, and discussing the details of the chest and what locating it meant to him, I never pressed him about who he was, and he never volunteered.

Last week, he told me the situation had changed. Fenn had been targeted by lawsuits both before and after the chest was found, by hunters claiming that the treasure was rightfully theirs. One of the lawsuits, filed immediately after Fenn announced the hunt was over, also targets the unknown finder as a defendant, claiming that he had stolen the plaintiff’s solve and used it to find the chest. That litigation had advanced to a procedural stage during which the finder expected his name would likely come out in court. So while he remained guarded about his solve and the location where he discovered the treasure, he now didn’t mind telling me who he really was.

Strangely, the finder is someone you may have heard of. Read about the Forrest Fenn treasure, the guy who found it, and what's happened since then at Outside Online. -via Damn Interesting

Ready for another Norse myth? Everyone loved Baldaur, except Loki, who was jealous. That leads to deadly mischief. This TED-Ed story comes from Iseult Gillespie, with lovely animation. -via Geeks Are Sexy

This photo shows a white cougar, caught on a trail camera at Serra dos Órgãos National Park in Brazil. It was snapped in 2013, and the cat was never seen afterward. The photos from that time are the only evidence of a cougar with leucism in the wild. Ever.

“That shows you how extremely unusual it is,” says Luke Hunter, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Big Cats Program and author of the book Wild Cats of the World. “It’s a striking set of photos.”

Genetic color aberrations, such as albinism and leucism, are relatively common among wild cats, but for unknown reasons, they’re almost unheard of in cougars, a successful predator whose habitat stretches from Canada to Chile, the biggest north-south range of any wild cat.

Read about the mutation that can make a white cougar and other color aberrations in cats at National Geographic. -via Damn Interesting

Jim Behymer knows sandwiches. He runs a site called Sandwich Tribunal and he makes his own bologna. Behymer saw a meme referencing pumpkin spice bologna, which does not exist -or it didn't until he made some.

First I want to say this: pumpkin spice bologna is delicious. It works way better than you think it should, way better than our calcified tastes want it to. It’s fatty meat, cured and spiced, and what’s so wrong about that?

Also let us firmly state the obvious: that pumpkin spice bologna is a stupid idea, it should not exist, and I was an idiot to make it, must less make this video about it.

To acknowledge that both these things are true, simultaneously, is to acknowledge the absurdity of our existence. Or at least the absurdity of my existence.

Watching Behymer grind the spices and meat and make pumpkin spice bologna is quite pleasant -and I would imagine certainly more pleasant than watching a commercial meat processor do it. He makes a sandwich with pumpkin spice bologna and another with his homemade pumpkin spice mortadella. Even if you would never be inclined to eat such a thing (my only objection is the use of white bread), you'll enjoy seeing it because of Behymer's attention to detail and his obvious appreciation of a well-made sandwich. Get his recipe for pumpkin spice bologna here. -via Metafilter

“I make no secret: I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Santa Claus is an elderly, traditional character. However, he loves his job, and if the pandemic means he cannot see good little boys and girls in person, then he is willing to go the extra mile to meet them on Zoom, in chat rooms, and through Facetime. That’s been quite a challenge, but well worth it to spread the love. Santa started with Zoom for Dummies and progressed to purchasing all kinds of IT supplies. Try not to get all verklempt when you watch this “On the Road” segment from CBS News.  

Think of Cap'n Crunch, and you most likely think of scratching the inside of your mouth when eating the cereal. However, the mascot himself has a fascinating story. He's even older than the cereal he promotes! But there's a dark side to the Cap'n: a controversy over his actual rank.

As for the Cap’n, one might assume that a great deal of research went into designing the saccharine sailor’s uniform, but they would be incorrect. The U.S. Navy follows a strict code defining how uniforms are to reflect rank. The most readily apparent way for the general public to identify a captain would be the number of stripes displayed on an individual’s sleeve. Per regulation, captains wear four stripes, commanders three, lieutenants two, and ensigns one, with additional thinner stripes for grades between. This is where the question of Mr. Crunch’s proper rank becomes uncertain. Over the years, he has variously appeared with anywhere from one to three stripes. Even when apparently serving as Ensign Crunch, however, he has continued to erroneously make use of the title Cap’n.

There were so many questions about the Cap’n's rank that the U.S. Navy even got involved. But there's more, like the roundabout way that Cap'n Crunch led to the founding of Apple Computers, all of which you can read about at Today I Found Out.

(Image credit: Flickr user israelavila)

YouTuber pwnisher staged a contest for digital animators, in which they each took a simple prompt and created unique environments around it. The winners are named at the YouTube page. Here are the entries strung together. The only thing they have in common is the rear view of a character walking toward a mountain in the background. Everything else is new and different, constructed from imagination and rendered with the contestant's choice of software. Watching this is like taking a tour of all possible fantasy dimensions in a hurry, yet because of the music and the pace of walking, it's also soothing. I would recommend enjoying this in full-screen mode. -via Nag on the Lake

Gangster movies have always been popular, because they present a lifestyle full of risk, violence, riches, and disdain for lawful authority, which audiences enjoy vicariously without having to actually deal with such dangerous people. You can relive the thrills of gangster movies in a chronological list starting in 1931. The selections may evoke your disagreement, but it presents a lot of films you may not have already seen, and it doesn't limit itself to the theme of organized crime in America. There are gangsters, real and cinematic, all over the world. Read up on twenty of those movies at Mental Floss.

The rise of shopping malls and department stores as we know them began in Paris. Once upon a time, it was illegal for a shop to sell more than one kind of product. French vendors got around this by congregating different stores in one location to make purchases easier for the public, creating a prototype for the shopping mall. Eventually, it became possible for one entity to sell a variety of items, which led to the concept of the department store.     

The first on the market–and in the world–was Au Bon Marché. Founded in 1838, it survived the competition of the other novelty magazines by shrewd display tactics and remained the leader in innovations. The genius behind modern shopping science was Au Bon Marché’s next owner, Aristide Boucicaut who took over the magazine in 1852. He had many tricks up his sleeve, including placing related merchandise at the opposite ends of the store. You bought fabric in one corner, and to get a sewing thread to put the fabric together, you had to cross the store passing seductive displays of fashion accessories that would enhance the new dress. Nearly all the shopping strategies, including the orgiastic sales that influence us today, were invented by Boucicaut and his clever followers in these early days of mass shopping.

(Note the word “magazine” in this context means a retail store.) Being first had its rewards. When Boucicaut died 1887, Au Bon Marché was the biggest retail business in the world. Read about the development of mass shopping concepts at Victorian Paris. -via Strange Company

The elusive Canada lynx usually does its best to avoid humans, but this one in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, was up for an astonishing close encounter. In fact, it climbed up on some heavy equipment to get a better look at Dean Erickson, who was recording.

"I am a logger from Alberta, Canada. I was stopped on the road with my skidder and looked back and to my great surprise, there was a Lynx standing by the tire on my machine. I quickly climbed on the roof and started videoing. He then jumped up on the tire, looked at me, and then jumped again on the arch of my skidder. Only a few feet from me now, he sat and curiously watched me. After a few minutes, he jumped back down on my tire and then with one great big leap, jumped off the tire back on the ground and slowly walked back into the forest never to be seen again."

The lynx didn’t seem to be scared, nor was it particularly threatening, just curious. But look at those magnificent feet! -via Boing Boing

Once upon a time, Christmas trees were illuminated by burning candles. You can imagine how difficult it was to get candles to stand up on a tree branch, and how much supervision was necessary keep the house from burning down. So it was a real Christmas miracle when electric Christmas lights were introduced. The first Christmas tree with electric light bulbs was displayed in 1882 by Edward Hibberd Johnson in New York City. His tree caused such a sensation that the New York Times wrote about it.   

“The tree was lighted by electricity and children never beheld a brighter tree or one more highly colored than the children of Mr. Johnson when the current was turned and the tree began to revolve.

“It stood about six feet high, in an upper room, and dazzled persons entering the room. There were 120 lights on the tree, with globes of different colors, while the light tinsel work and unusual adornment of Christmas trees appeared to their best advantage in illuminating the tree.

“The set of lights were turned off and on at regular intervals as the tree turned around.  The first combination was of pure white light then as the revolving tree tree severed the connection of the current that supplied it and made connection with the second set, red and white lights appeared. Then came yellow and white and other colors.”

That may seem overly elaborate to you and me. After all, the electric lights alone would warrant a newspaper article. But it wasn’t just a family Christmas tree; it was a promotion. Johnson was a vice-president at the Edison Electric Company. They subsequently sold Christmas lights for a price that was equivalent to a week’s wages, but in 1882, the electric Christmas tree was to promote the idea of electric light bulbs as a concept that would spread far and wide. Read about those early electric Christmas tree lights at The Bowery Boys. Or listen to the podcast if you prefer. -via Strange Company

You might not recognize all of the themes in this overture, hey, you might not recognize any of them (though you should), but you certainly know the fanfare style of the tune that opens the show. This medley was conducted and arranged by Alan Williams and performed by musicians from London's West End. -Thanks, Tim Spellman!

(Image source: wrud4d)

When you take your child to a photographer's studio, they spend the time necessary to get pictures you're happy with. On picture day at school, a photographer sets up and may have 500 kids to photograph before the day is over. There will be children who don't know how to smile on command, or don't feel like doing so. There will be children who are used to mugging for selfies. And there will be children who wear the same color as the green screen behind them. But you have to have a sense of humor about it. The parents of the boy pictured above still have the photo framed and on display twenty years later. In the images below, a little girl puts out her very best effort, but doesn't quite have it down.

See 40 priceless school pictures that didn't come out as expected at Bored Panda.

As someone who knows something about interruptions, we asked #BBCdad @Robert_E_Kelly to help us talk about Twitter’s conversation settings, which give brands more control over the conversations they start. https://t.co/i5eC2qEyRf pic.twitter.com/RSvqqpIyjT

— Twitter Marketing UK (@TwitterMktgUK) November 17, 2020

It's been almost four years since Robert Kelly was interrupted at his home office while on live TV. While such interruptions have become common in 2020 with so many people working from home, Kelly remains the undisputed pioneer and still champion. That's why Twitter UK recruited Kelly (and his family) to star in an ad for their new "conversations" setting. The kids have grown quite a bit since 2017! -via Metafilter

Imagine you are in your car, trying to get somewhere in an area you've never been. You pull up a map, spot a shortcut, and decide to take it, since it appears that you'll save a lot of time. Then eventually you notice a lack of gas stations or any facilities, then your cell service fades out, and the pavement turns to gravel. That's bad enough, but imagine you were taking your family and all your worldly possessions to a new place you couldn't even imagine, with no roads, fuel, or communication at all.   

In the summer of 1846, a party of 89 emigrants was making its way westward along the 2,170-mile-long Oregon Trail. Tired, hungry, and trailing behind schedule, they decided at Fort Bridger, Wyoming to travel to their final destination of California by shortcut. The “Hastings Cutoff” they chose was an alternative route that its namesake, Lansford Hastings, claimed would shave at least 300 miles off the journey. The party believed this detour could save more than a month’s time. They were wrong.

Hastings Cutoff turned out to be a waterless, wide-open stretch of the Great Salt Lake Desert, bordered by sagebrush wilderness, that began with having to forge their own wagon route through Emigration Canyon in the Wasatch mountains. By the time the party finally reached the Sierra Nevada mountains, the shortcut had cost them weeks. Snow fell, trapping the Donner-Reed party. This is when the most infamous (and deadly) part of their tale began. When members of the party began starving to death, survivors ate their remains to stay alive.

Find out why Hastings promoted the cutoff when he never even traveled it himself, and read stories of other horrible shortcuts on the Oregon Trail at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Albert Bierstadt)