In 1822 French civil engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel (pronounced “Frey Nel”) invented a new type of lens that produced a much stronger beam of light. The Fresnel lens is still used today in active lighthouses around the world. https://spectrum.ieee.org/fresnel-lens-milestone

In 1994, on the occasion of June’s sixty-fifth birthday, Johnny Cash wrote her a letter. Nine years later, shortly after her death, Cash wrote another note.
https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/youre-the-object-of-my-desire-the

Something to cheer! LGBTQ fiction sales surge: U.S. print book sales of LGBTQ fiction reached nearly 5 million units in 2021, doubling 2020 sales https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/89622-lgbtq-fiction-sales-surge-in-the-u-s.html

It may well be that the earthworms you see on sidewalks and streets are those that need more oxygen. But many researchers doubt this is the entire explanation. https://blog.nature.org/science/2019/04/15/the-real-reason-you-see-earthworms-after-rain/

How did a UK trash can travel more than 1,900 kilometers to Ukraine? https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-hampshire-wheelie-bin-found-1200-miles-away-in-conflict-torn-country-12635091

Happy belated birthday to the one and only Brian Wilson, who turned 80 years old a few days ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ2RJwTwbzg

Selfies are by no means an exclusively modern phenomenon. https://medievalbooks.nl/2018/09/20/me-myself-and-i/

Pie graphs of dogs and their body proportions
https://johnrichtv.com/2022/06/14/pie-graphs-of-dogs

"Down on the mezzanine level of their giant warehouse building, OXO maintains a torture chamber for kitchenware." https://slate.com/business/2022/06/oxo-best-kitchen-gadgets-good-grips-history.html

"Before the biochemistry of fermentation was scientifically understood, the magical transformation of grape juice into wine was seen as the work of divinities." https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/evolution-wine/

A 25-year study of the monarch butterfly in North America, the largest and most comprehensive assessment of the breeding population to date, has overturned everyone’s worst fears and revealed that the species is actually doing all right, after an average annual increase of 1.36% per year. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16282

"Analysis of DNA pulled from a burial ground in modern-day Kyrgyzstan dates the plague's explosion to the year 1338." https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/ancient-teeth-offer-new-insight-black-death-emerged-spread-globally-rcna33329

The nature of big tech whistleblowing, the influence of gender, and the implications for technology's role in society https://phys.org/news/2022-06-big-tech-whistleblowers-women.html

Considering a move? In Warsaw, Missouri, a 20-cabin pioneer style settlement, including two original 1830’s cabins, is up for grabs at $295,000. So who’s up for a little DIY and a new life as a ghost town proprietor? https://www.messynessychic.com/2022/06/10/oh-the-fun-we-could-have-with-this-1960s-ghost-town-theme-park-for-sale/

This 1984 promotional video from Acorn Computers explains how Acorn was expanding to accommodate increasing sales. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2VfgtTt5So

The gender of 18th-century British doctor James Barry is still a topic of debate 150 years later. https://sciencehistory.org/distillations/how-history-keeps-ignoring-james-barry

I should create a snarky baseball blog just so I could name it "In Scorning Position."

Hybrid schedules are supposed to provide the best of both worlds: all the benefits of working from home, plus the benefit of in-person collaboration with colleagues. The problem is … much of the time, it isn’t happening that way.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/03/hybrid-workplace-office-in-person-work-collaboration-hassle.html

Be right back, I have to make my yard "relentlessly gay." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/06/19/an-anonymous-letter-called-her-yard-relentlessly-gay-she-raised-28000-to-be-even-more-relentless/