1. I did a breakfast podcast with the Earful Tower
And I’m now known, according to the brilliant Oliver Gee, as the woman selling the Seine River.
You can listen to the episode of our chat directly in the article.
2. The Secret Language of Stamp Placement
It’s funny that I mentioned in the Earful Tower podcast that stamps don’t particularly interest me, because today I came across this and it fascinated me! (Sucker for secret languages)…
Popularized by young couples in the Victorian period, stamps were once used to symbolize a number of romantic messages. From a heartfelt “I am always thinking of you” to a wishful “When are you coming to see me?”, many secret conversations were had thanks to stamps.
Read more about the secret language here or check out this fun video from NatGeo:
3. A Butt load is (was) an actual unit of measurement
A butt approximately equated to 108 imperial gallons (130 US gallons). Found on Wikipedia.
4. A famous 1969 literary book written as a hoax to prove that a poorly written book with lots of sex in it will still sell
Naked Came the Stranger is a 1969 novel written as a literary hoax poking fun at the American literary culture of its time. Though credited to “Penelope Ashe”, it was in fact written by a group of twenty-four journalists led by Newsday columnist Mike McGrady.
Found on Wikipedia.
5. The French Werewolf Endemic
.. A 67-page academic paper on the history of killer lycanthropes or some sort of man-eating wolf exists. The French Werewolf Epidemic (1520-1630) was France’s version of Europe’s witch trials and executions, but with werewolves. For 110 years, 30 thousand people were accused of being werewolves, tortured in exchange for their confessions, or lack of admission of guilt and died at the stake. Of the many examples of accused werewolfery is of Jacques Rollet, dubbed the Werewolf of Chazes. Rollet lured a fifteen-year-old boy to the woods where he murdered and ate his body. When he was tried for his crime, he confessed to having done the same to other locals, specifically employees of the court system such as lawyers and attorneys. Rollet got the death sentence (like pretty much everyone else back then) but ended up in an insane asylum…
The country’s history with wolf-related mythology is long and rich with stories such as the La Bête du Gévaudan, or The Beast of Gévaudan, which for three years terrorized the area. The first attack occurred in April of 1764, and the victim, a young woman tending her flock of sheep, described her assailant as looking “like a wolf, yet not a wolf.” She survived when her sheep went into action, defending the teenage girl from the Beast…. This would be the start of more than 100 documented fatal attacks in Gévaudan in which most of the victims were partially eaten.
Read the full story on Dangerous Minds.
6. A high tech hunt for the Loch Ness Monster
A Boston inventor attempts to find the most famous—and most elusive—aquatic beast in the world. An article found on The New Yorker.
7. Suddenly, I want a Beach Hut…
Found on Tumblr.
8. A forgotten “beach” in Manhattan
In the summer of 1977, New Yorkers turned the surrounding area around the Twin Towers into a makeshift beach using dirt excavated for the construction of the original World Trade Center.
Found here.
9. I’d quite like to have this poster on my wall
Found it on Etsy.
10. Rachel Spelling uses old, and new, paint charts as her canvas, fills them with tiny, colour appropriate works of art
Studio Spelling, found via Present & Correct.
11. This Art Nouveau Marble Staircase
Inside Maxim Gorky’s home in Moscow, one of the Soviet era’s most important authors. He was rewarded with this stunning house, which has been preserved as a museum. Found via Pinterest.
12. Inside a 19th Century Paris Reservoir
Photo story via Le Monde. For more information about visiting the reservoir in English, I’ve got an article for that.
13. Practice Your French While Time Travelling through 1980s Paris
A stroll through the patchwork of Parisian village life from the hill of Montmartre hill to the 13th arrondissement and the Village de Charonne in the 20th arrondissement with small houses, gardens and paved courtyards. We meet several residents including traders, the writer Clément Lépidis in Belleville, the storyteller Pierre Gripari in a bar and some pétanque players (1985).
