If you think it's difficult to master French pronunciation, you should try being a native French speaker attempting to learn English. These people were shown a typed version of an English word, and challenged to give the English pronunciation. Some did admirably well, especially that one guy who speaks enough English to order a BLT. -via reddit 

Mr. Mathias was a a respectable citizen of a small French town, married to a woman less than half his age. He knew that his wife had married him out of duty to her uncle, and after three years of marriage, became convinced that she actually hated him. In fact, Mr, Mathias suspected that his wife loved another. So he did what any man in such a position would do -he faked his own death. The funeral was a fine one, and eventually everyone left him alone in the cemetery.

Two hours after the ceremony, any one who might have been in the vault where the coffin rested would have certified to the truth of this statement. Two sharp clicks, like the snap of a spring-, resounded, and the coffin opened like a closet. Mr Mathias sat up, stretching his limbs just like a man waking up. Through a grating in the ceiling a little light entered. Mr Mathias stood up, slowly rubbing his slightly benumbed knees.

Taking all in all, he felt comfortable, quite comfortable. The dose of the narcotic, which he had carefully measured himself before taking, had had the effect he desired. People had supposed him dead and buried, so much the better.

Since a long while Mr Mathias had made his preparations. The vault had been fitted up with great care. In it were suitable clothing, food, and a few bottles of good wine. As nothing stimulates the appetite more than a funeral, even if it is one’s own, Mr Mathias seated himself comfortably on his coffin, broke his fast and drank good luck to the future.

Mr. Mathias had a plan to surprise his young wife, possibly with her lover. What could possibly go wrong? Find out what went wrong in this tale from French author Jules Lermina at The Victorian Book of the Dead.  -via Strange Company

This video from Half as Interesting explains the concept of "adverse possession," an arcane real estate law handed down from the Middle Ages. It might seem nonsensical, but if you read individual cases, some of them make plenty of sense -while others are downright egregious. -via Digg

Talk about a unique profession! Andrew Koller (redditor u/CocaKoller) spent last summer as a professional bird scarer in the oil sands of Canada. He explained in a series of comments that the tailings ponds are toxic to wildlife, therefore frightening the geese away is the way to save their lives. They got used to cannons and scarecrows, so he leveraged his biology degree to get the job of shooing them away by any means necessary. This video contained NSFW language, as if the geese cared.

There are legends of large, wild, ape-like creatures all over the world, from Sasquatch to the Yowie to the Yeti. In South America, these legends are called Maricoxi. British explorer Percy Fawcett walked through the rain forests of South America for years, and made notes of the stories he heard about the Maricoxi.

These creatures were apparently called Maricoxis by the Maxubis. They dwelt to their northeast. Due east there were said to be another group of short, black people, covered with hair, who were truly cannibalistic and hunted humans for food, cooking the bodies over a fire on a bamboo spit and tearing off the meat. These the Maxubis regarded as merely loathsome and lowly people. On a later trip, Colonel Fawcett was told of an “ape-people” who lived in holes in the ground, were also covered with dark hair, and were nocturnal, so that they were known in surrounding areas as the Morcegos or Bat-People. These types are called Cabelludos or “Hairy People” by the Spanish-speaking, and Tatus, or armadillos, by several Amerindian groups because they live in holes like those animals. Fawcett also records forest Amerinds as telling him that the Morcegos have an incredibly well-developed sense of smell which prompts even these acute hunters to suggest that they have some “sixth sense.”

After being steeped in such stories, it was inevitable that Fawcett would encounter such creatures. According to Fawcett's meticulous notes, his expedition was surrounded by hairy man-like beings, one who eventually drew a bow and arrow on Fawcett. Read that story at Mysterious Universe. -via Strange Company

When you become famous for inventing something that changed the world, you don't just rest on your laurels, because the drive that came up with one genius idea will also work toward others. In other words, innovators gotta innovate. Learn about some of the other inventions that didn't get quite so much press, or could even have been total flops, in the latest episode of the Mental Floss List Show. -via Tastefully Offensive

The Zishtova Fortress in Bulgaria dates back to the 14th century, maybe even the 13th century. It lies in ruin now, having been destroyed by the Russian military in 1810. But between those dates, the fort had some big adventures.  

An archaeological team led by Nikolay Ovcharov from the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofzia are currently conducting excavations at the site and the area around it. In mid-May, the team stumbled upon some cannonballs dating back to the mid-15th century—a time that coincides with a siege of the fortress, according to the website Archaeology in Bulgaria. This siege is notable in that it involved forces led by none other than Vlad III Dracula, aka Vlad the Impaler.

Dracula had three stints as the Voivode—an old Slavic term for the ruling military commander—of Wallachia, a late medieval principality situated between the Danube River and the Carpathian mountains. He was known for his unusual acts of cruelty, especially his excessive use of impalement to torture and kill his victims. Tales of Dracula’s brutality eventually reached Germany and Italy, inspiring a series of bestselling books. Bram Stoker may have taken inspiration from Dracula’s infamy, naming his vampire accordingly.

Ovcharov is also excited by the find because the cannonballs were ammunition for a rare early version of cannon, used for only one century. Read about the discovery and about Vlad's campaign against the Ottomans at Gizmodo.

(Image credit: Svishtov Municipality)

Mary and her dog Secret (previously at Neatorama) have a unique relationship, and Secret is a very smart dog. Here she plays Jenga with Mary, and she's a truly competitive player! -via Digg

When George Romero's movie Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968, it was criticized for its gory violence, and otherwise regarded as a cheap B-movie. But it was scary, and soon made back its production budget 250 times over. In the half-century since then, it's become a classic, and Romero, who also made plenty of other horror films, is regarded as a master of the genre. He single-handedly created the modern concept of the zombie.

Now film students can study the master and his works at the George A. Romero Horror Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. The university's library department is partnering with the George A Romero Foundation, and has acquired an archive of Romero's materials to be studied. Ben Rubin is the library's horror studies collection coordinator, and has only begun to sort through the collection.  

The collection runs the gamut from correspondence, contracts and legal agreements, and scripts—produced and unproduced— to photographs, DVDs, film and video footage, and promotional material from local theaters. Highlights include the original annotated script for Night of the Living Dead, an unproduced adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death, and a foam latex zombie head used as a prop.

Rubin hasn’t examined the full collection, but he’s intrigued by much of what he’s seen—particularly, he told LJ, drafts of scripts that show the evolution of the films he’s familiar with. “We came across an original version of Night of the Living Dead with his heavy annotations in it, immediately recognizable scenes but that were definitely different, characters that were not yet named—but from the scene I could tell exactly who they were.”

He was also impressed with the number of unfilmed scripts. “While Romero is beloved in the horror community, and had an untold amount of impact, he didn't release a whole lot of films,” explained Rubin. “But this archive is showing that he produced way, way more than was ever made in his life, which is exciting to see how much work he was actually doing all this time.... The adaptations that he has in there show that he was looking at everything from the universal classic horror films of Dracula and Frankenstein to more obscure horror genres, like splatterpunk from the '80s, that aren't as well known.”

Read about the acquisition and the new George A. Romero Horror Studies Center at Library Journal. -via Metafilter

A couple of years ago, my daughters complained they had no pockets that would hold their iPhones while jogging. I mentioned fanny packs, but they didn't know the term. Since they also had no idea of the disdain for fanny packs, we bought them and they've been using them ever since. I learned there is a big difference between an elderly American tourist using a fanny pack and a young jogger wearing earbuds wearing a fanny pack. The concept of wearing a purse around your waist goes back much further than you might think, but it only took off in the 1960s.

The 20th-century obsession with the fanny pack seemingly began on the ski slopes in Europe in the 1960s and '70s. Known as bauchtasche, or stomach bags, in Switzerland, skiers traveling away from the base lodge who wanted to keep certain items—food, money, a map, flares, and occasionally alcohol—within arm's reach wore them proudly. Photographers also found them useful when hiking or traveling outdoors and climbing through obstacles, as they reduced the risk of an expensive camera or lens being dropped or damaged.

Read about the rise, fall, and resurrection of the fanny pack at Mental Floss.     

(Image credit: Plot Spoiler)

pic.twitter.com/ItvaSofTj1

— nora (@noraaa_3) April 9, 2019

The internet is full of cute dog and cat pictures, but you know for every perfect portrait, there are ten discarded images. A Twitter thread from @baby_b0nes has gone viral, in which she challenged her followers to post the least flattering picture of their pet. The responses came in quickly, because everyone has at least one picture of their dog, cat, or whatever that didn't come out right.

(Image credit: @camicuffari)

(Image credit: Jacquelin de Leon)

You can see the entire thread here. Or check out the top-ranked pictures at Bored Panda.

The song "Smooth" from Santana and Rob Thomas was a massive hit in 1999. The song spent 12 weeks at #1, won three Grammys, and became Carlos Santana's biggest hit ever. "Smooth" had a lot of factors going for it: a great dance beat, the combination of a classic rock star and a successful current vocalist, and that soaring guitar. It worked well on pop, rock, Latin, and adult contemporary radio playlists. It was the perfect first single for Santana's comeback album Supernatural, as it was designed to be. But the road to that success was not exactly 'smooth.' Ticking off the requirements for a hit single, producers rejected songwriter Itaal Shur's lyrics and enlisted Rob Thomas to write new ones for Shur's tune. Thomas sang his lyrics on the demo before he was considered for the actual recording.   

Santana: When I listened to the lyrics and heard, “It’s a hot one,” those lyrics are outside of time and gravity. I thought we had entered a place of immortality. But with all respect to Rob, I said, “I’m having a little challenge believing you that what you’re singing is true.”

Matt Serletic (producer): At some point, Carlos wasn’t sure about Rob. He was on the fence. My first conversation with Carlos was about that, like, “Rob’s really a believable singer. He can bring it.” Carlos wanted to be assured, as any artist is with whatever doubts they have. He’s a spiritual guy, and I guess he got a good vibe from the conversation. He said, “I trust you. Let’s do this.”

Davis: Carlos says, “We have to have him. He has to do it. He’s perfect.” I said, “Well, easier said than done. The guy records for another record company.”

The twists and turns required to get "Smooth" recorded were worth all the trouble as the song became a radio staple over the next several years. Read the story of "Smooth" at Rolling Stone.  -via Metafilter

Also: There is an alternative oral history, which may be less accurate but more entertaining.

The first Buck Rogers film was made with apparently no budget at all and was released in 1934, but was not shown in theaters. Not in the usual way, anyway. It was shown in one special theater.

The first Buck Rogers film was shown to the public during the second year, 1934 edition, of the Chicago World's Fair. The Century of Progress International Exposition was held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. Its motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms" and its architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one end of the fair to the other. After a winter break, the 1934 Fair ran from May 26 through Oct. 31 and included a new Island Midway area that faced Lake Michigan. The "Buck Rogers Show," as it was called on admission tickets, was located on the Enchanted Island playground for children, at #125 on the left hand section of the 1934 Fair Map. It is unknown whether this film was the entire show, or if fans were treated to some live action event as well for their dime. It is certain that after watching the movie, visitors could purchase the very same toy spaceships and ray guns they had just seen. Pretty tricky, huh?

The film was lost for a long time, then rediscovered in 1983. Read the story of the first Buck Rogers film at Café Roxy.  -via Weird Universe

While divorce has been difficult to achieve throughout most of history, there was a peculiar period from the 14th through the 17th centuries where a woman could get a divorce on the grounds of failure to have sex, most likely due to impotence. Men could take advantage of the loophole in the laws, too, but few wanted to go that route. Thousands of such divorce trials took place, and the records survive for our edification. Although the stories can be salacious, what's most notable about the article is the bizarre lengths the author goes to in order to use every possible metaphor for sexual terms.  

Moving swiftly on, in other cases, a (male) doctor might be hired to stimulate the man’s noodle to see if it could be cooked al-dente. Understandably, even men capable of normally rising to the occasion struggled to do so under these circumstances.

For example, in one famous account of the Marquis de Gesvres, it is noted, in his case he was able to achieve a partial erection while being examined, but the examiners felt the, to quote, “tension, hardness, and duration” were inadequate for the required cloning via boning.

Lucky for the men, many of the males who were a part of the trial were sympathetic to this plight, and so failing to release the Kraken wasn’t usually immediately seen as a definitive sign that the man wasn’t capable of having his corn dog battered under more normal circumstances.

Further, some men even stated their inability to perform during the trial was because the wife had hired a sorcerer to bewitch his giggle stick, such as the case of one Jacques de Sales. In 1603, de Sales was subjected to such a trial and, when he couldn’t salute the jurors, stated his wife herself had cast a spell on his penis to keep it from saying hi.

Read more of the details of the impotence trials at Today I Found Out.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, the author of the Dr. Seuss books, spent years illustrating advertising copy and constructing political cartoons. He turned to children's books as a more pleasant project to alleviate burnout. Geisel wrote the first dozen between 1937 and 1956 to respectable sales, but Dr. Seuss was hardly a household name. Then he got caught in the battle over how to teach children to read. The sight reading vs. phonics battle was heating up as children of the Baby Boom were starting school, using the same Dick and Jane primers that had been in use for decades.    

It didn’t help that Dick and Jane belonged to what many have dubbed the dullest family on earth. The books were plotless, littered with mind-numbing, repetitious quasi-sentences. (“Look, Jane. Look, look. See Dick. See, see. Oh, see. See Dick.”) The illustrations were stodgy and bland. Flesch deemed the series “horrible, stupid, emasculated, pointless.” The author John Hersey, in an article on the literacy debate, for Life magazine, was not much kinder, calling the books “namby-pamby” and “insipid,” and the pictures “terribly literal.” Hersey wondered why primers couldn’t at least feature the talents of gifted children’s-book illustrators, and he listed Dr. Seuss among their ranks.

The head of Houghton Mifflin’s education division took note. He challenged Geisel to write a primer that emerging or reluctant readers would actually enjoy, pleading, “Write me a story that first graders can’t put down!” But for a wordsmith as playful and unconventional as Dr. Seuss—someone fond of phrases such as “howling mad hullaballoo,” who invented animals like the Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz—there was a big catch: to qualify as a first-grade primer, the text would have to be tightly restricted to a list of three hundred and fifty simple, pre-approved vocabulary words, supplied by the publisher, with a preferred limit of just two hundred and twenty-five words. Could Dr. Seuss deliver a page-turner that contained itself to no more than two hundred and twenty-five real, English, mostly monosyllabic words?

Geisel took on the challenge. Read how that transformed children's literature at the New Yorker. -via Damn Interesting