Da Vinci’s lost masterpieces
The Renaissance man was as much a scientist as an artist. On the 500th anniversary of his death, Cath Pound explores how Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings reveal his genius. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190501-leonardo-da-vincis-lost-masterpieces

A new academic field is trying to pinpoint what makes things cute – and why we can’t resist them https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/19/kumamon-the-new-science-of-cute

An Ohio woman attempted to get out of a drink driving charge by claiming that the Taco Bell nachos she had were making her drive erratically. https://www.cleveland.com/community/2019/05/drunk-single-mom-nearly-hits-police-car-while-taking-a-bite-of-nachos-north-royalton-police-blotter.html

#MaytheFourth be with you. Let’s explore strange worlds in our galaxy that resemble Tatooine, Endor and the other #StarWars planets: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1398/are-star-wars-like-planets-really-out-there/

Tensegrity principles are used across various levels of size and structural complexity within living cells. https://www.bfi.org/dymaxion-forum/2019/01/architecture-life-described-computer-modeling

Stanley Kubrick’s painstaking perfectionism
His attention to detail made the worlds he created utterly believable https://www.1843magazine.com/culture/look-closer/stanley-kubrick-had-an-eye-for-design

"It was called Usenet, which was kind of like Reddit today—it was a bulletin-board type of system."

I feel old. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/05/moms-who-were-extremely-online-1993/588562/

The history of vanilla https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2014/10/23/plain-vanilla/

Folk singer, songwriter and activist Pete Seeger would've been 100 years old on May 3. To celebrate, Smithsonian Folkways is set to release an expansive collection, featuring 20 previously unreleased tracks. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/01/718814390/pete-seegers-legacy-gets-immortalized-with-smithsonian-folkways-collection

Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

Password expiration policies do more harm than good. #CoSoSec https://betanews.com/2019/04/25/windows-10-password-expiration-policy/

People from all over France came to the hospital to receive ‘wine treatments’, which were exactly what they sound like: up to two bottles a day of wine to treat various ailments.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190501-frances-fascinating-wine-treatment

How Do You Spell Ms.? An oral history of Ms. Magazine and the feminists who changed history. https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/gloria-steinem-ms-magazine-history.html

Overheard: "I spent yesterday watching AG BARR look like he was a divorcee in an arbitration."

Scrabble OK’ed “OK.” The new edition of Collins Official Scrabble Words risks the wrath of purists by designating it a permitted two-letter word. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/02/scrabble-change-of-mindset-allows-use-of-ok

How air guitar became a serious sport https://theconversation.com/how-air-guitar-became-a-serious-sport-113154

Cartoon Network: websites in 16 countries/regions have been hacked and made to show videos of Arabic memes and a male stripper. #cososec https://www.zdnet.com/article/cartoon-network-websites-hacked-to-show-arabic-memes-and-brazilian-male-stripper/

In Hollywood she helped to found the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, and, in 1952, during the McCarthy era, found herself under formal investigation by the FBI. Her attitude was characteristic: “Listen, I can’t even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?” https://lithub.com/dorothy-parker-political-activist-melancholic-bootleg-scotch-drinker/

A Garage Sale Find of Rare Beatles Photos Took a Collector on a Magical Mystery Tour https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/garage-sale-find-of-rare-beatles-photos

In addition to being one of the most in-demand graphic artists of the late nineteenth century, the Franco-Swiss decorative artist Eugène Grasset was also a teacher and theorist. Lovely arts&crafts designs here! https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/plants-and-their-application-to-ornament-1896/