Germany has arrested King Peter the First aka The Messiah

From The Atlantic: "Last week, Germany arrested Peter Fitzek, 59, an anti-government figure also known as King Peter I, the Son of Man, the Messiah. Historically, attempts to arrest messiahs have met with mixed results, so to stay on the safe side, the Interior Ministry not only rolled up Fitzek and three conspirators but also shut down his whole operation, known as the Kingdom of Germany. Subjects of King Peter deny the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany and, over the past 13 years, have built up a counter-state with its own institutions. A healer, a martial artist, and practitioner of dark arts, Peter has no royal lineage and instead takes his authority from the spiritual plane. The German government alleges that he has been running unregulated financial systems, including unofficial banks, and they banned his group outright. “I am lord of the spirits," King Peter told me. "I have an invisible army. I cannot be harmed.”

Disney uses a smell-emitting device nicknamed The Smellitzer to entice customers

From Now I Know: "Main Street U.S.A. – regardless of its actual location – features restaurants, costumed characters, and a few shops here and there. Some of the shops sell snacks like cookies or candy or other goodies, and for the shopkeepers (okay, for the Disney corporation), it's their goal for you, the tourist, to walk into their stores and buy yourself something to nibble on. They're very tempting, the snacks – you can almost smell them as you walk by the stores. It's not an accident, either. Disney uses something called a "Smellitzer" – think Howitzer, but for aromas – across their theme parks. Technically called "Scent-Emitting Systems" on the 1984 patent application (available here), the device literally blows odors of Disney's choosing toward park guests in strategic locations. There are a variety of reports from Disney fan sites detailing what the authors believe to be the use of the machines."

Saturn has 200 more moons than it used to thanks to this astronomer

From Scientific American: "A mere decade ago, astronomers knew of just 62 moons around Saturn. Today the ringed planet boasts a staggering 274 official satellites. That’s more than any other world in the solar system—and far too many for most people to keep track of. Astronomer Edward Ashton is no exception, even though he has helped to discover 192 of them—he thinks that’s the total, anyway, after pausing to do some mental math. Ashton is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. He fell into hunting for Saturn’s moons in 2018, when his then academic adviser suggested the project for his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. It has been a fruitful search. Most recently, in March, Ashton and his colleagues announced a batch of 128 newfound Saturnian satellites."

Hi everyone! Mathew Ingram here. I am able to continue writing this newsletter in part because of your financial help and support, which you can do either through my Patreon or by upgrading your subscription to a monthly contribution. I enjoy gathering all of these links and sharing them with you, but it does take time, and your support makes it possible for me to do that. I also write a weekly newsletter of technology analysis called The Torment Nexus.

The incredible rise and fall of the man they called the King of the Infomercial

From Men's Health: "Evel Knievel, the legendary daredevil, is gazing directly into the camera. It’s 1994, and the man best known for attempting to jump a motorcycle over a canyon is starring in an infomercial titled “Saying No to Pain.” Knievel is holding a syringe-shaped gadget—the Stimulator—which promises natural, safe, and effective pain relief by delivering a gentle electric current when applied to the flesh. The company selling the Stimulator claims that it can remedy almost any ache imaginable—arthritis, back pain, shoulder pain, muscle spasms, carpal tunnel syndrome, painful joints, even menstrual discomfort. The infomercial, but not the Stimulator itself, is the creation of a mercurial Ohio businessman named Paul M. Monea. Built like a cornerback, the 5'10" Monea is an empathetic listener and a persuasive talker. He owns the patent and teamed up with an Akron chiropractor, William S. Gandee."

A trove of Ice Age fossils in a Wyoming cave is changing our understanding of prehistory

From The Smithsonian: "The 22 members on this 2024 dig include seasoned scientists and students, undergraduate to postdoctoral, along with expert cave explorers who ensure the safety and smooth operation of delicate work at the bottom of a deadly pit. The cave’s name, Natural Trap, is literal: Over the past 150,000 years, countless animals have fallen into it. When approached from the relatively flat plain to the east, the pit appears suddenly beneath a small rise. You can see how tens of thousands of years ago, carnivores and the herbivores they chased could miss the black shadow until it was too late. By documenting subtle changes within animal species over time, the team seeks clues to extreme climate changes of the past. And Natural Trap Cave provides an astoundingly well-suited resource for the purpose, holding a largely unbroken record of mammal lineages going back tens of thousands of years."

This little piglet sticks his head out the window to enjoy his very first snowfall

Acknowledgements: I find a lot of these links myself, but I also get some from other newsletters that I rely on as "serendipity engines," such as The Morning News from Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Jodi Ettenberg's Curious About Everything, Dan Lewis's Now I Know, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton's The Browser, Clive Thompson's Linkfest, Noah Brier and Colin Nagy's Why Is This Interesting, Maria Popova's The Marginalian, Sheehan Quirke AKA The Cultural Tutor, the Smithsonian magazine, and JSTOR Daily. If you come across something interesting that you think should be included here, please feel free to email me at mathew @ mathewingram dot com