Fun Facts
I actually got the LEGO Plum Blossom set this past Christmas, but I finally pulled the trigger on the build two weeks ago. I was so excited to get into it, and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since, looking cheerful in all its plastic glory.
But as I was looking at those red petals, I realized I've been eyeing the new LEGO Icons Ford Model T set that launched earlier this week. It's a 1,060-piece tribute to the car that changed the world in 1913. It took me back to my teenage years when I used to collect antique Hot Wheels models. I still have them, and there's something about holding a miniature version of a 100-year-old machine that makes history feel tangible.
Okay, Mars just got more interesting. A new study flipped the script — ancient Mars wasn’t a frozen wasteland. It was warm, rainy, and potentially habitable for millions of years.
Perseverance found clay pebbles in Jezero Crater that tell a wild story. Researchers in Nature Geoscience say they
“likely represent some of the wettest intervals and possibly most habitable portions of Mars’ history.”
Rain. On Mars. For millions of years. 🚀
Photo: Illustration of the Perseverance rover on the floor of Jezero Crater. Credit: NASA
Before Dracula, there was Carmilla—literature’s first major vampire, and she was a lesbian. Published in 1872, Le Fanu’s novella features Laura’s tortured attraction to the mysterious Carmilla.
“I experienced a strange tumultuous excitement that was pleasurable, ever and anon, mingled with a vague sense of fear and disgust.”
Carmilla whispers,
“You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.”
The novella predated Dracula by 25 years and established the lesbian vampire archetype. Though Dracula (born 1400s) is older in his story than Carmilla (1698) in hers.
I came across this fascinating study abt how the Chincha Kingdom in Peru fertilized their way to success w/ seabird poop! They used guano to grow surplus maize, which they traded w/ the Inca for ceremonial beer. They even celebrated this in their art, showing seabirds & sprouting corn together!
Today I learned pine cones are little weather predictors! Fascinating, isn’t it? Their scales close up when they sense humidity rising (rain’s coming), protecting the seeds inside. When it’s dry, they open back up to release seeds. Nature’s got some clever tricks.
