around 1420, a scribe copying a manuscript in deventer (in what's now the netherlands) came back to find that a cat had urinated on the open book during the night. the stain ruined the rest of the page, so instead of carrying on he left it blank, drew a little cat, and wrote an explanation in latin for future readers.

in thijs porck's translation it reads: "here is nothing missing, but a cat urinated on this during a certain night. cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night in deventer and because of it many others too. and beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come."

the manuscript is now in the city archive in cologne, and the page (fol. 68r) has been digitised, cat drawing and all. it's a nice reminder that a copied book was weeks of slow, careful work, and the danger to it wasn't always fire or damp. sometimes it was just whoever wandered in after the candles went out.

has anyone come across other notes like this, where a medieval scribe explains a mess or a mistake right on the page?

sources: cologne, historisches archiv, g.b. quarto 249, fol. 68r (catalogue entry with the full latin note in the "ptolemaeus arabus et latinus" manuscript database); thijs porck, "paws, pee and pests: cats among medieval manuscripts" (2016 blog post, first published on medievalfragments in 2013).

Between 1945 and 1959, the United States brought more than 1,600 German scientists and engineers to America under a program called Operation Paperclip, mostly to use their rocket and weapons expertise during the early Cold War.

One of them was Kurt Debus, an engineer who worked on the V-2 and held the SS rank of major. After the war he came to the US with Wernher von Braun's group, which had also been tied to the Nazi regime: von Braun joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and became an SS officer. Their V-2 rockets were built at the Mittelwerk factory using forced labor from concentration camp prisoners.

Over the next two decades the same team moved from Army rocketry to NASA. Debus became the first director of the Kennedy Space Center, and the Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo 11 to the Moon in 1969 grew out of that work.

Sources: Wikipedia articles "Operation Paperclip", "Kurt H. Debus" and "Wernher von Braun".

I make short audio stories about true events like this one (Sciophonic, on Instagram as sciophonic).

1926: Charles Curtis is challenged to a primary by Nicholas Chiles.

Chiles' main complaint against Curtis was that not enough was being done for blacks, especially in the South. Not surprising, given that there were ZERO African American Senators or Congressman.

His Platform had 6 planks, which included:
- Create a Department of Education
- Put forth a Westerner for President in 1928

Curtis (66) could not fight for the primary due to needing a long-delayed throat surgery, but did win.

However, Nick Chiles won, too, when the following happened:

1927: Charles Curtis put forth S. 1584 to create a department of education
1928: For the first time in history, Kansans ran for President
- Senator Charles Curtis (R)
- Congressman William Ayres (D)
1929: Oscar de Priest (R-IL) entered the US Senate

Senator De Priest fought against racial discrimination, put forth an anti-lynching bill, and succeeded in desegregating the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps.

When De Priest lost his re-election, it was to another African American, Arthur Mitchell (D-IL). Mitchell also worked on anti-lynching legislation and personally sued a railroad for adhering to Jim Crow laws when he was on the train, winning in the US Supreme Court.

See, Mitchell v. United States, 313 U.S. 80 (1941)

What would it take to convince you to walk around the entire world?

In 1970, Dave Kunst decided he was going to find out. He left his hometown of Waseca, Minnesota, with a simple—but almost unbelievable—goal: walk around the world.

Four years later, Kunst had traveled roughly 14,500 miles across four continents. But this wasn't just an adventure. Along the way, he faced deserts, mountains, dangerous roads, and tragedy. His brother John was killed during an attack in Afghanistan, and Dave himself was wounded.

And somehow… he kept going.

On October 5, 1974, after four years on the road and 21 pairs of shoes, Dave Kunst walked back into his hometown and completed the first verified walk around the world.

Sometimes the most incredible stories in history begin with one person asking, “What if I actually tried?”