Cambridge scientists have now sequenced the genome of the facial herpes virus, including samples taken from several ancient human remains, and traced it back 5,000 years. https://newatlas.com/science/cold-sore-herpes-virus-genetic-study-5000-years

Andernach, with a population of around 30,000 people, is known as an "edible city." That means many of its public green spaces are used to grow food that anyone can harvest free of charge. https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-pioneer-edible-city-on-the-rhine/a-61928579

My mom talked about squishing the yellow dye into margarine... which apparently stopped around 1950. (I grew up with FAR more margarine than butter.) https://www.sciencehistory.org/collections-blog/stomping-the-margarine

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." --Oscar Wilde

The ashes of Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek, will get sent into deep space on a rocket that memorializes her and several other Star Trek veterans. https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/28/23325680/nichelle-nichols-star-trek-ashes-space-vulcan-centaur-celestis

TIL Not even death can exempt you from TSA screening.
https://www.theverge.com/c/23311333/tsa-history-airport-security-theater-homeland

The Monkees' last surviving member Micky Dolenz wants the FBI to release information it may have on the band and its members. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-monkees-micky-dolenz-fbi-1234584299/

Tolkien himself was dismissive of the notion, famously writing to his publisher: "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases." https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220824-the-ancient-roots-of-the-lord-of-the-rings

Woo hoo, my old home in the news!
“One doesn’t have to be sensitive to feel the strangeness of Deer Isle,” Steinbeck writes, noting that the place “is like Avalon; it must disappear when you are not there.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/31/john-steinbeck-maine-deerisle/

'Oddly, none of these translations appear to include “I will chew off your leg if you do not feed me this instant.”' https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/science/cats-pets-ommunication-artificial-intelligence.html

A profile of Bob Dylan at the age of 23. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1964/10/24/the-crackin-shakin-breakin-sounds

The Royal Astronomical Society has rediscovered that oldest surviving eclipse footage, restoring the 120-year-old film and putting it online for the first time. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/oldest-film-solar-eclipse-restored-and-online-180972325/

"Instead of experiencing just one life, the book-lover can experience hundreds or even thousands of lives. He can live any kind of adventure in the world. Books are his time machine into the past and also into the future."--Gene Roddenberry https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/i-consider-reading-the-greatest-bargain

“There was no such thing as emptiness in the world,” one Lakota remembered from his childhood. “Even in the sky there were no vacant places. Everywhere there was life.” https://lithub.com/the-early-life-of-the-renowned-leader-of-the-lakotas-sitting-bull/

If you're interested in buying a solar generator -- or just curious about what it'd be like to own one -- this should help you. https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/reviews/best-solar-generators

"It is a commentary on how social media can transform places into must-see destinations – an influencer’s Instagram post can open the floodgates" https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/aug/20/how-beauty-spots-would-look-if-tourists-all-visited-at-once-in-pictures

TIL Florence Nightingale was a data-viz visionary. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-florence-nightingale-changed-data-visualization-forever/

A non-profit group, RIP Medical Debts, has relieved 3.6 million low-income patients in the United States of their healthcare debts. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/08/15/1093769295/this-groups-wiped-out-6-7-billion-in-medical-debt-and-its-just-getting-started

Stillgram assumes that the person you focus on is the subject, and all moving people in the background would ruin your shot — so it uses AI to replace them with details from the background. https://stillgram.io/

HOW DID I MISS THIS EVENT?!

"That’s right, a whole sport dedicated to ‘VLOOKUP’, ‘COUNTIF’, and ‘SUMIF’. We’ve officially peaked as a society."

https://www.ladbible.com/sport/world-excel-championship-that-is-getting-national-tv-coverage-20220809