News
NYC Has Its Own Ant, the “ManhattAnt”
I cannot resist a punny animal name. The whole premise of cities that are large enough to cut off pockets of animals to the point that they evolve into an entirely new species is fascinating and also a little unsettling....mostly fascinating, though (I say trying desperately to keep this a feel-good newsletter). SO. Manhattants. I did get curious and also start looking more into ants and learned that the biggest ant species is the Giant Amazonian Ant (aptly named) that can get to be 1.6 inches long. Freaking tropical/rainforest climates and their enormous bugs, man.
Physicsssssss
In honor of your dad being home today. He would probably be able to actually explain why this works the way it does, whereas I can only mumble something about surface tension? maybe? and resign myself to googling later to try to get the details lol.
Why There Are Only Two Escalators In All Of Wyoming
Plus a little bonus history of escalators! I actually find escalators slightly stressful given all the ways that things can go wrong, but I am also lazy and thus will often still take them over stairs 🙃 I know you have (valid) misgivings about elevators, does that extend to escalators as well? Added fun escalator trivia: the longest single escalator in the world is underground in the St. Petersburg metro (453 ft long, 226 ft high, there are technically three of them all with those dimensions), the shortest one is called the Puchicalator in Japan (only 5 steps and 83 cm tall), and the name escalator came from mashing together "elevator" and the Latin "scala" for steps. Modern elevators also existed for around 50 years before escalators were invented, which I would have expected to be flipped, but I guess good trivia is often good because it seems like it should be wrong.
Think your breakup was bad? Check out the Museum of Broken Relationships
Okay, hear me out: is the theme of the museum cheerful and uplifting? Maybe not. But it's such a neat niche idea, and even though the people who sent their items in were maybe not necessarily feeling happy things in relation to said items, it's kind of sweet to have a place where even the angst of relationships is memorialized? Maybe? Regardless, I know you appreciate a niche museum, so I'm including it on those grounds lol.
A Selection of Virginia Woolf’s Most Savage Insults
She. Is. VICIOUS. Do you keep a list of really creative insults for reference while writing? Is that a standard writer thing to do? Or just me? Honestly there could be a whole newsletter dedicated to some of the wildly creative insults out there that I would never in a million years be able to conjure in actual conversation/on the spot when needed, but that make me incredibly happy any time I see them nonetheless.
Aardvark and his pumpkin!
Did you know aardvarks and anteaters aren't the same thing???? Because I didn't. Like I knew there were some that were hairy and some that weren't, but I definitely wasn't processing that they are from two totally different continents. It probably doesn't help that aardvarks are sometimes colloquially called anteaters. Either way, both are cute, but because I originally went down this rabbit hole in search of aardvark trivia in honor of Arthur, here is a video of an aardvark sniffing a pumpkin treat with more enthusiasm than I knew it was possible to smell something.
How Prohibition Gave Birth to NASCAR
Since we were talking about NASCAR due to Logan Lucky, some fun trivia about the origins! I went on a mini-spree about stock cars vs. non-stock cars as well, but I don't think you actually probably care for that level of detail so I will spare you those rambles in favor of the more interesting prohibition piece 😂
Photographer captures rare white loon in Canada
To start your cabin weekend off :) May the white loon bless you with lots of loon visits (and maybe a bit of sunshine for good measure).