If it's as grey and rainy where you are as it is here, you'll need something to read instead of going out in it 
Happy invoicing!
- The Nazi of Oak Park - ”It was a stunning revelation: A respected high school custodian had been a concentration camp guard… The disclosure of a dark secret in the early ’80s divided a suburb.” Why hide in South America when you can hide in Chicago?
- The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight - ”Last year, an immense but brief outburst of seismic energy was soon followed by a long hum that made the world ring. Finding its cause took 68 scientists and an assist by the Danish military.” You've probably seen news stories about this, but we all know that mainstream media are often not very good at science, so here's a proper article about it
- Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience and pre-European contact with the Americas - Take that, Columbus: ”Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) is one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world… The ancient and present-day Rapanui carry similar proportions of Native American admixture (about 10%). Using a Bayesian approach integrating genetic and radiocarbon dates, we estimate that this admixture event occurred about 1250–1430 CE.”
- New research solves Crystal Palace mystery - How did they build Crystal Palace so quickly? ”The Crystal Palace was the first building known to have made use of a standard screw thread – something that’s now taken for granted in modern construction and engineering.”
- The Jackpot Generation - ”Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.” I'll be receiving most of my inheritance later this week when the sale of my prarnts' house completes, and I'll be able to pay off my mortgage. Though I'm the boomer in this case
- Weather in History 11,000BC to Present - Interesting resource compiling what we know of weather in the past, ranging from "a bit wetter for ~400 years" several thousand years ago to "Sam Pepys says there was a storm on 3rd February 1666" in more recent times. ”Much of the data shown was compiled by Martin Rowley although Weatherweb.net is now responsible for maintaining the database.”
- Scrambled Maps - A simple but infuriating puzzle: rearrange the map tiles into the correct order. (N.B. The first time I went to this it got stuck on 77% on its loading screen, but reloading fixed it.)
- Chocolate Milk Reviews - PJ has spent four years trying 1,791 kinds of chocolate milk from 52 different countries: ”I've loved chocolate milk ever since I can remember, and have become obsessed with finding the absolute best the world has to offer. And perhaps the worst. In order to do that, I would have to...well, try them ALL.”
- Gold Treasure Worth a Fortune Was Hidden in a Forest. Let the Hunt Begin - I said just last week that conspiracy theorists need something like Kit Williams' Masquerade to keep them harmlessly occupied, and here we are: ”For years, Jason Rohrer put out bizarre, beloved video games. Now, with Project Skydrop, he launches the real-world treasure hunt of his dreams.”
- The 27 Inch Dolls that Saved Fashion in Post-War Paris - How the haute couture industry got things moving after World War II: ”The industry couldn’t afford enough fabric to actually create new fashion. Scarcity of material and war rationing was still prevalent throughout the country and there wasn’t enough fabric for a full-on fashion show. And so the idea was born that the haute couture collections would be presented on dolls… Most of Europe hadn’t even purchased new clothes since 1939.” This outfit is by Hermès.
Happy invoicing!
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