This family's genetic disorder causes fatal insomnia

From CNN: "Sonia Vallabh was in her second year at Harvard Law School in 2010 when her mother got sick. Just months before, her mother had been healthy and vibrant, planning Vallabh’s wedding. Then she began having trouble with her eyesight, and her strange symptoms progressed to the point where she couldn’t recognize her daughter. Her muscles would jerk and spasm. She spoke in tongues. By fall 2010, she was on life support, with needles, tubes and wires coming out of her. Her mother died in December 2010 at age 52. Shortly thereafter, Vallabh’s father, a doctor, pulled her aside during a visit home and told her the disease was genetic. In 1986, it was given a name: fatal familial insomnia, or FFI. Much of what doctors first learned about the disease comes from a family in Venice, Italy, who have suffered from it for over 200 years."

Contrary to popular depictions Napoleon Bonaparte was about average height

From MissedHistory: "You've probably heard jokes and references to Napoleon being extremely short. This enduring misconception has shaped popular culture's view of the French emperor, but the truth about his physical stature reveals a fascinating story of how historical propaganda can distort reality for generations to come. Gillray's caricatures portrayed Napoleon as a diminutive, childish figure, mocking both his physical appearance and his expansionist ambitions. The widespread circulation of these images throughout Britain had a lasting impact on public perception. But Napoleon was actually about 5 feet 7 inches tall, which was average height for a man during his time period. His height was given as 5'2", but in French units of the time, this equated to roughly 168-170 centimeters or about 5'6" in modern measurements."

This watch recreates the computer system used by the Apollo moon mission astronauts

From Designboom: "Apollo Instruments has created the DSKY Moonwatch, which recreates the original computer interfaces used by astronauts during the space mission. The small screen on the right is the display for the time, date, timezone, stopwatch, alarm, and GPS navigation in a seven-segment display font and electroluminescent lighting. The screen beside it reproduces several of the operational routines and guidance computer interface, presenting them in their original display. Below these two, there’s a keypad, and the core software of the timepiece is programmable. The DSKY served as the primary computer interface between the astronauts and the spacecraft’s guidance, navigation, and control computer. The system allowed the astronauts to input commands, receive real-time flight data, and monitor the spacecraft’s systems."

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.

Toasting your friends once involved the use of actual pieces of toast

From Atlas Obscura: "People have been drinking to each other’s health since time immemorial. The origins of the term “toast” for a drinking ritual is perhaps related to these boozy blessings. A theory that’s gained credence among food historians is that the term originates from the surprisingly frequent practice of mixing toast and alcohol. For a time, proposing a toast called for wine or beer, garnished with a slice of bread. For the privileged in medieval Europe, no day was complete without a bowl of warm wine and “sop,” sodden, toasted bread. Even Joan of Arc was known to enjoy it. For everyone else, warm, ale-soaked bread was an inexpensive, calorie-filled meal. But sops were added to soup and milk as well. Toasted bread was a potent symbol of plenty. The English even covered apple trees in cider-dipped toast, as part of an ancient ritual for a good harvest."

Scientists say that the Earth's core is actually younger than its surface

From ScienceAlert: "If it sounds impossible to you that the surface of our planet is actually older than its inner core, prepare to have your mind blown, because according to new calculations, the inside of Earth is actually 2.5 years younger than the outside. How is that even possible? Well, it all comes down to the effects of gravity on our planet, as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which states that our position in a gravitational field regulates the rate at which time passes for us, and in the 4.5 billion years since Earth first formed, time has been moving more slowly in the core than on the surface. It's something theoretical physicist Richard Feynman predicted back in the 1960s, stating in a series of lectures that the curvature of space-time should, in theory, put an age gap between Earth's centre and surface of a day or two."

Watch a man repair a high-voltage power line from a helicopter

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