They missed their cruise ship but that was just the beginning

From Curbed: "As the Coast Guard sped toward the cruise ship, Pam was still on the phone with the Norwegian employee in Miami, begging her to tell the ship to wait. As they approached the looming 14 white decks, she got an update: The captain was refusing their request. They would not be allowed to board. They were able to watch as the ship that held their clothes, their medication, their luggage, and their phone chargers started her mighty engines and sailed away. Cruisers of all stripes are familiar with the concept of force majeure, an arcane clause in maritime law. Force majeure, an “act of God” — it’s the acknowledgment that on the high seas, a ship is vulnerable to significant events beyond its control. Cruise ships are not responsible for acts of God. In fact, as the passengers were about to learn, they are not responsible for much of anything."

Google Street View captured a man loading a body into the trunk of a car

From the New York Times: "It was a routine image picked up by Google Street View: a man loading a white bag into the trunk of a car. But that unexceptional picture, the authorities in Spain said on Wednesday, was among the clues that helped lead them to two people whom they recently arrested in the case of a man who disappeared last year. In a news release, the National Police said that officers had detained a woman described as the partner of the man who disappeared in the province of Soria, in the country’s north, along with a man who they said was also the woman’s partner. The two were detained last month at two locations in Soria, which is about 100 miles north of Madrid, police said. Investigators later located human remains that they believe could belong to the missing man. The police did not identify the people who had been detained or the victim."

The occult society Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn invented four-person chess

From Wikipedia: "Enochian chess is a four-player chess variant, similar to chaturaji, associated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The name comes from the Enochian system of magic of Dr. John Dee (the magus and court astrologer to Elizabeth I), which was later adapted by Victorian members of the Golden Dawn into "a complete system of training and initiation". Enochian chess was created by William Wynn Westcott, one of the three founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but the rules of the game were probably not completed by him. The game was finished by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, who put its rules into final form. The game was four-handed because each set of pieces corresponded to one of the four classical elements and their several watchtowers, and the game was used for divination as well as competition."

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. And I appreciate it, believe me!

After she became famous Beatrix Potter became a crusader for the environment

From Humanities: "On top of managing the farms and animals already in her possession, in her final decades, Potter set about acquiring as many buildings and lands as she could, believing that this was the best means of contributing to nascent Lake District preservation efforts. The region was a favorite destination of southern tourists, and by the twentieth century, the traditional architecture and agriculture of the region were under threat of extinction. Sensing their vulnerability, Potter leveraged her wealth to conserve local history and nature by partnering with the National Trust, an organization founded in 1895 to care for heritage sites across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. At the end of her life, she bequeathed the Trust a staggering collection of 14 farms and four thousand acres of land. It remains the largest single donation to the Trust."

Goodyear invented illuminated tires but they didn't catch on

From Hagerty: "More than five decades ago, in what the Ohio tire manufacturer called “one of the most dramatic tire developments in the history of the industry,” Goodyear unveiled a custom car accessory unlike no other: illuminated tires. “Once the tires reach the market—and that could happen in a few years—auto stylists may use them to carry out a car’s color scheme, perhaps matching the tires with the upholstery,” Goodyear predicted in a 1961 press release. “And it’s not at all unlikely that milady will want tires that enhance her wardrobe, her hair, or even her eyes. Imagine, if you will, one girl telling another: ‘But, my dear, green tires just don’t do a thing for your complexion.’ When that day comes, it will mean a whole new frontier for the tire designer.”

Photographer captures a breaking wave the size of an office building

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