On March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket in Massachusetts. It was a small rocket that flew for a short time and crash-landed, but it reached a height of 184 feet. Forty-three years later, another rocket of its kind would take men to the moon.
Still, the American investment in rocket technology was slow. The Germans used V2 missiles in warfare during World War II, and the scientists who developed it came to the US after the war. Still, American investment was slow in the next years. But then, the USSR launched a satellite in 1957, and America was thrust into a competition for space. Millions of dollars were poured into the new agency called NASA with the goal of outdoing the Soviets. That battle was won when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. Since then, NASA's budget has waxed and waned, through joint operations with the Soviets and then the Russians, satellites, long-range unmanned probes, the space shuttle, and various space stations. Now that rocketry has fallen into the hands of private companies, it's time to look back at how far the technology has come in 100 years. Read a timeline of rocket history at the Conversation.
Michael Jackson is second on the list of the most successful recording artists in history, behind only The Beatles -whose music Jackson bought in 1985. That musical legacy was tarnished by the very weirdness of his personal life. Whether he was nefarious or just plain eccentric, he knew how to make headlines. But you might not know what came before. Yeah, that was the Jackson 5, which was the product of Joe Jackson.
While Joe chased fame all his life without success, it was always just outside his grasp. But Jackson's father saw his musically-talented young sons as a ticket to the big time, which must be cultivated by any means necessary. The cost was enormous for all his nine children, but especially for Michael. Michael spent his adult life rebuilding a fantasy childhood to make up for the normal one he never got. Weird History looks back in time to the Jackson family and their ascent to fame.
When a franchise has been running for 49 years, the kids who were fans from the start grow up, and some of them end up with enough clout to talk themselves into being in another movie. Casting a Star Wars film is a big job, but celebrity volunteers for the small roles and the extras just come out of the woodwork. It's as easy as "This is (someone already famous). Can I be in your movie?" Sure thing! Put a movie star into a stormtrooper helmet, and you don't have to give them screen credit. Some of these stars are such avid fans that you wouldn't even have to pay them, but that's probably against union rules. In some cases, you don't even have to be a movie star, if the crew already knows you.
Read up on 15 of the unlikely cameos and extras that celebrities talked Star Wars producers into at Cracked.
We've heard plenty of stories about offices, stores, and other work places that adopted a cat or a dog, but this tale is a bit more offbeat. A hen wandered into the Public Works department in Truman, Minnesota, about a year ago, and never left! Employees said she was pretty bedraggled, and they suspect she had been chased there by a dog. But no one in the area seems to have lost a chicken, or at least they didn't claim her. That's understandable. I asked a friend how many chickens she had, and she couldn't say because they won't stand still long enough to be counted.
Anyway, this chicken decided that the city facility was now her home, and they named her Noodles. She is well loved and fed. Noodles spends her days supervising the staff from a high perch and her nights laying eggs for the utility workers, and they couldn't be happier about it.
The common brushtail possum is native to Australia, but is an invasive species in New Zealand, where they threaten both agriculture and native bird species. Trapping or poisoning possums is a problem because some are too smart or too shy to approach traps. Wildlife biologist Graham Hickling needed an irresistible bait to lure possums to the traps. He discovered the Selena Gomez limited edition Oreo cookies, which have a layer of cinnamon between the chocolate wafers. Hickling found that Oreos are easy to use, because you can drill a hole in the middle and affix them with a nail, much better than Tim Tams.
"Oreos are quite a bit cheaper, and they actually stand up to the rain quite well too, which is a little disconcerting.”
Possums found the combination of cinnamon and chocolate irresistible. Traps without the Oreos caught one possum in nine days, while the "Selena Gomez regime" traps caught 15 possums in 20 days. Read how this success came about at the Spinoff. -via Nag on the Lake
When you can choose your own name for the internet, the temptation can be overwhelming. Many people learned their lesson years ago about the names they chose for an email address in the 9th grade when they later had to use those addresses to apply for jobs. But usernames for specific platforms are still fair game, and gamertags are part of the creative process in customizing your character. Who's going to care if you sign up as "Poopyfartybum69" to play your favorite online multiplayer fantasy adventure game? The poor NPC who has to introduce you, that's who.
In this video from Viva La Dirt League, the usernames get worse and worse as it goes along. Some are even too salacious for YouTube. You have to admire the stoicism of the actors, because this is just too close to a certain Monty Python routine that we are all familiar with. -via Geeks Are Sexy
At 42, with three young kids, I got a diagnosis that would have me dead in a year. That was, somehow, just the beginning. https://t.co/KWx2pdbiWo
— Slate (@Slate) March 13, 2026
Longtime Neatorama readers might remember Christopher Ingraham, who crunched the numbers to rank all the US counties by scenery and climate and found that Red Lake County in Minnesota was the worst of them. The reason you might remember that is because Red Lake County invited Ingraham to visit, and the people were so friendly and he liked it so much that he moved his family there in 2016.
What's happened since then? In 2022, Ingraham received a diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma, or cancer of the bile duct. This cancer has a survival rate of about 10%, with most patients dying within a year. He was only 42. The best treatment is get a liver transplant, if you are medically eligible. Ingraham has written about the ordeal of facing death at a young age with three young children for Slate. Here is an alternate link. There are two surprises at the end. -via Metafilter
You've probably noticed that the hair on your head grows a lot longer than the hair on, let's say, other parts of your body. Hair follicles each have their own terminal length, meaning how much time they spend on growing a hair, and how fast, before they give up and let the hair fall out. And then that follicle will start over again, or maybe not. The hair follicles on your body come in different types with different programming, and those on your head are the most productive, up to a point. Believe it or not, these follicles can be transplanted to a different body part!
But everyone's follicles are different. Some women never cut their hair, and they still have different lengths because their hair follicles are programmed differently. This TED-Ed lesson from Maksim Plikus explains what's going on inside those follicles to give you the hair you have. -via Damn Interesting
In 1777, a young woman named Jane McCrea was killed in Fort Edward, New York by Native Americans working for the British military. What exactly happened that day will never be truly known, because reports varied from the beginning. We don't know what McCrea thought of the war, and the loyalties of her family were divided. Her fiancé fought for the British, and the brother she lived with fought with the American colonists.
One account said the Native Americans were hired by McCrea's fiancé to escort her to safety, and others said they were marauding ahead of a British advance. Still others said that McCrea was killed by patriot fire by accident. McCrea was supposedly shot, and possibly scalped or raped in addition. The story of her murder was used to rally support for the American cause, drawing sympathy for the white woman killed by savages under the British. That narrative worked long after the Revolution to instill fear and hatred for Native Americans, and the details became muddier over time. McCrea's body has been exhumed numerous times to check for evidence. Read what we know and what we will never know about Jane McCrea at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: Library of Congress)
This looks a little like the kind of experiment you do in 6th grade, but it never works because your mother threw it out or it started stinking and your mother made you throw it out. Nestor of HabitatForge does a lot of work with natural aquariums, so he is the kind of person who could keep a jar of water alive for a month. For this jar, he collected mud and water from a temporary rain puddle, the kind that's here today and gone tomorrow. You know, the kind your dog drinks from.
That water was nevertheless full of life! After the mud settled, we get a closeup look at the variety of creatures that thrived in the tiny ecosystem, along with the algae that turned it green. He can't identify all the species confidently enough to tell us, yet I'm surprised at how many he knows. Lest you begin feeling sorry for all these living things taken from their natural habitat, they are still around while that puddle has completely dried up. Except for what your dog drank.
Much of early television history is lost to us because it was aired live and therefore never recorded or recordings were not preserved. Doctor Who, which first aired in 1963, has this challenge as tapes were recorded over after production. About 100 of the 892 episodes are gone.
Occasionally, recordings surface. BBC News reports that two such episodes from 1965 have been found. They feature actor William Hartnell, who served as the first incarnation of the Doctor. The two episodes, titled "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet," will air on Easter. They are part of the Daleks' Master Plan story arc, of which only half survives.
-via Gizmodo
Brad Barber is a master LEGO artist who creatively takes LEGO kits and makes them into completely different designs. For example, a gingerbread Star Wars AT-AT becomes the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.
Jo Cope is a conceptual artist in the UK who has become famous for her red shoes. These shoes are more sculptures than examples of functional footwear. They offer social commentary about conflict or cooperation within societies.
(Image credit: Skvader)
Today we are embarking on a strange four-day string of "holidays." The only one with a long history is St. Patrick's Day on the 17th. Before that, we have Friday the 13th today, a day associated with bad luck that comes around at least a couple of times every year. Saturday the 14th is Pi Day, because the date is 3/14. Sunday, March 15th is the Ides of March, remembered as the date that Julius Caesar was assassinated. And Monday, March 16th is Saint Urho's Day. What is Saint Urho's Day?
(Detail of top image)
Saint Urho of Finland was known for drinking sour milk and eating fish soup, which gave him an unusually loud voice. This talent made him a hero when he shouted and drove an infestation of grasshoppers (or possibly frogs) out of Finland, thereby saving the nation's grape crop. The statue of Saint Urho shown up top was erected in Menahga, Minnesota, to commemorate the deed. Saint Urho's day is celebrated in Minnesota and surrounding areas, where there are many Finnish descendants. The colors of the holiday are green (to represent the grasshoppers/frogs) and purple (to represent the grapes).
(Image credit: Lorie Shaull)
Except the story told is complete bunk. Saint Urho was created by Richard Mattson of Virginia, Minnesota, in 1956. He and Gene McCavic wrote a poem about Saint Urho and his deeds. Now there's a holiday of sorts in Minnesota on March 16th designed to extend the St. Patrick's Day parties for another day and give some attention to Finland. Read the hilarious account of Saint Urho's Day, its history, and its celebrations at Wikipedia. -via TYWKIWDBI
A new movie about aliens making contact with us? That happens all the time. It hits different when you say it's a new movie by Steven Spielberg about aliens making contact with us. Indeed, some of the images in this trailer for Disclosure Day will remind you of Close Encounters of the Third Kind from 1977 or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial from 1982. Just how much has Spielberg thought about alien contact in those 40+ years? After the Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones series, he has nothing he needs to prove, and after his personal passion projects Schindler's List and The Fabelmans, he is free to return to what he does best.
The new film Disclosure Day was written by Spielberg, based on an original idea by Spielberg, and is produced and directed by Spielberg. John Williams does the music. The trailer gives us little actual plot (good), and more of a feel for what we're in store for. Disclosure Day opens nationwide on June 12.
