Charles Oldrieve dreamed of one day walking across the English Channel—and perhaps even the Atlantic Ocean. https://t.co/lxePFj5cnV

— Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) October 30, 2025

The early 20th century was full of strange entertainment acts like pole sitters, escape artists, and wing walkers. Charles Oldrieve was a water walker, or an "aquatic pedestrian" if you're fancy. Oldrieve started out as a tightrope walker, but found that novelty acts drew better crowds. He fashioned large wooden shows that resembled canoes so that he could walk across lakes and rivers. He kept setting distance records for walking on water, and dreamed of walking across the English Channel. 

But the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers offered a much longer route, and in early 1907 Oldrieve set off from Cincinnati and walked on water all the way to New Orleans! His wooden shoes were specially designed to gain traction in water, and he only walked during daylight. Still, it was a grueling journey through dangerous currents. By the end, he said, "I wouldn’t walk that river again for five times the money I won.” Oldrieve supposedly began the stunt to win a $5,000 bet. Read about Oldrieve's ridiculous but spectacular journey at Smithsonian. 

Redditor /u/amp123 made this beautiful handbag that's shaped like an isopod. Given its size, it closely resembles the giant marine isopods that are so popular in Taiwanese cuisine.

She comments that it's functional as a small purse, but will not take large items. She also suspects that it will be an effective deterrent against pickpockets.

When you name a product, you want that name to be simple, memorable, and pleasant. It would be nice if that name were descriptive of the product, but that can be hard in a world where there are so many products already named. It's also crucial that the product name not be something offensive in another language, but that isn't addressed in this video. Coca-Cola is an example of a perfectly-named product, because it rolls off the tongue so easily, yet it was simply named for its ingredients. 

Dr. Erica Brozovsky (previously at Neatorama) gives us some tips on using certain letters and sounds to name your product so that people feel a certain way about it. Then when you come up with the perfect name, you'll find that someone else has already trademarked it. And remember, the perfect product name won't mean anything unless it'a something people need or want. The video is only around nine minutes; the rest is promotional. 

It's not easy being queen, especially if you're a honeybee. Sure, you don't have to work and you have a staff of workers to tend to your every need, but you are in this position for one purpose- to produce hundreds or even thousands of eggs every day. The queen keeps her minions loyal by secreting a bee pheromone. 

But is a queen were to become ill, from, say, a common bee virus, that pheromone production drops, and so does her egg-laying. The workers become aware that the queen isn't upholding her end of the deal, and they can expel her from the hive! It's brutal, but probably best for the overall health of the hive in the long run. Worker bees have other queens in waiting, but until one matures enough to take over egg-laying duties, the hive is vulnerable to failure. Read how this happens, and what it means to the honey industry, at Popular Science. -via Damn Interesting 

Luke Pickman is a composer and multi-instrument musician. And by multi-instrument, let's emphasize the modifier multi. He's an avid collector of instruments from around the world. As his collection grows, he adds their use to his repertoire.

In the past, we've seen him perform the 7-note piece known as "The Lick" on 92 instruments (including mayonnaise) and a longer original piece on 111 instruments. For this video, Pickman performed the C major scale on his expanded collection. The instruments now include a double ocarina, a toy piano, a double bawu, a piccolo trombone (which apparently exists), and an Aztec death whistle.

-via Born in Space

The TV special It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown debuted in 1966. It was the third Peanuts TV special, after A Charlie Brown Christmas and the baseball-themed Charlie Brown's All Stars! I had just turned eight years old, and was a Peanuts fan, both from the comics page in the newspaper and from the earlier Christmas special. In those days, everyone at school had watched the same TV shows the night before (we only had two channels), so we spent the next day discussing the show. It gave us the catchphrases "I got a rock" and "Dog germs!" Relive those memories with a list of trivial facts about It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!.

Yes, I noticed that the video clips here borrow heavily from later Peanuts specials. The Halloween special had no Franklin, no Peppermint Patty or Marcie, and Snoopy didn't do aerobics in 1966. If you want to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown this year, you'll have to buy a disc or pay for Apple TV+ (or check the comments). -via Laughing Squid 

Christi VanSyckle of Car & Driver magazine learned about and then entered the Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship. Dan Leber founded this annual contest in recollection of watching his mother expertly slip the family car into parallel parking spots.

The contest rules are precisely calibrated to handicap cars by length, although all must slide into a standard 20-foot long space bounded by two of Leber's own cars. Scores are a combination of speed and precision. Each contestant maneuvers until shouting "Done!" to mark completion.

The winner this year was Ephorm, who is pictured above. VanSyckle placed 25th among 183 contestants, which isn't bad for a first timer.

-via Instapundit | Photo: Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship

Sometimes you'll see a horror film with opening credits that say "Based on a true story." By the time the film is over, you're horrified and wonder what kind of true story it was. Then there are films that say "Inspired by a true story," which could mean anything, since it implies that a story has been greatly altered. Or it could say "Based on a real account" which means little to nothing, because it could be inspired by a hoax, or a story someone else came up with.   

That being said, there are a lot of terrifying horror films that were inspired by stories that made the news somewhere at some time. A lot of slasher films drew inspiration from real murders, some you've heard of. Purely supernatural stories about haunted houses are less credible, but movies can be based on what people said happened. And wherever the story came from, they are usually changed enough to make the movie pure fiction. Read about the news stories that led to twenty of our most horrifying movies ever at Bored Panda. 

The Dodo usually brings us feel-good stories about rescued animals who find a loving home. This is different, because Halloween is right around the corner. You may want to turn the lights on before you watch this. You've been warned!

Amanda is being terrorized in her own home by a malicious entity called The Dark Lord. He watches her from a distance, or he is hidden frightfully nearby, ready to pounce without notice. He stalks her at all times. He thwarts her every purpose, from enjoying a cup of tea to baking cookies. He sits on top of the refrigerator like a gargoyle, following her with his creepy glowing eyes. You might catch those eyes from a hidden place when you least expect them. What horrible fate awaits Amanda from The Dark Lord who rules over his peasant with an iron fist, er, paw? 

If you enjoyed this eerie tale, there's plenty more like it at The Dark Lord's Instagram account. 

 

Fit to Survive is a YouTuber and maker of custom survival gear for everyday carry. Years ago, he restored a few Swiss Army knives and realized that he could improve upon their designs. He modified them in practical and sometimes fanciful ways.

I'm not sure which category this particular knife fits. A crossbow is not a standard tool that folds out of a knife case. But this tool is so precisely engineered and machined that it's functional as a weapon under unusual circumstances. With a carbon fiber bolt, it's able to puncture a soda can.

I wonder if it would be possible to add a ghost ring sight to improve accuracy of fire.

-via The Awesomer

Emily Beer produces all kinds of art, including lovely embroidered works. Her series called Jaime le Cinema (I Love Movies) recreates familiar movie posters in embroidery, with some patchwork and crochet involved as well. Click to the right to see some of the finer details of The Wizard of Oz above, or Singing in the Rain below.    



Beer's taste in movies is not limited to classic musicals, though. She has stitched posters for The Shining, King Kong, Jaws, and E.T.: the Extraterrestrial, along with other movies, including French films that you might not be as familiar with. While the details are somewhat limited by the medium, the themes are well illustrated by her design decisions, like the ethereal chiffon skirt on her poster of The Seven-Year Itch, or the semi-detached lower jaw on the shark in the Jaws poster. See more of Beer's embroidered movie posters in this gallery and at Instagram. -via Messy Nessy Chic 

Dr. Emily Zarka knows a thing or two about monsters, their history, and their meaning. Sure, we know that we love scary monster stories because we get a rush out of kickstarting our emotions, even when they are supposed to be unpleasant emotions like fear. It's an adrenaline rush. But the reason they stick around is more complicated than that. Get ready for seven theses of monster theory! No, Zarka isn't going to go through all of them, but she does give us a good overview of what purpose these scary tales serve, and how those purposes differ through the rise and fall of cultural norms. They illustrate the importance of good vs. evil, and what happens when we don't stay on the good side. They warn us against danger, whether it's from real animals or people we don't know. They can be propaganda to rile up the populace against a perceived enemy. And they can help us examine what it means to be human.  

This video is only ten minutes long; the rest is promotional. -via Laughing Squid 

Caesarean sections have been around for thousands of years, but until fairly recently, they were only performed on pregnant women who had died or were very close to death, in order to give the baby a last-ditch chance. Beginning in the late 19th century, new techniques such as antiseptics, uterine sutures, and anesthetics began to make C-sections survivable. But who was the first mother to survive a caesarean section?

It has been said that Julius Caesar was born by caesarian section, hence the name. But there's no evidence of that at all, and the story may have arisen because of the name. There was a case in the early 1500s of Jacob Nufer, a Swiss veterinarian who cut his wife open after days of labor, and she survived to have more children. However, the earliest account of that case came eighty years afterward, and we don't know how true it is. A better documented account was even earlier in 1337, when Beatrice of Bourbon produced a child who would become Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, known to us as "good king Wenceslaus." We have contemporary accounts of that birth, including letters from Beatrice herself, although they are somewhat enigmatic for political reasons. Read about those early accounts of surviving a caesarian section at Amusing Planet. 

(Image credit: Wellcome Collection) 

My daughter once bought a fresh and expensive duck at the grocery while staying with me. I asked her when she was going to cook it, and she looked at me like I had two heads. She hadn't planned to cook it; she expected me to do it. I told her I didn't know how to cook a duck because I don't even like duck. She ended up freezing it and then taking it with her. I never heard about it again. 

You might expect a channel called HowToBasic to give clear and useful instructions for whatever it is they are doing. This recipe for a whole roast duck is clear, but clearly unhinged. Useful? I don't know about that. I spotted a problem as soon as a I saw them set the oven to 400°. Then instead of adjusting the temperature, they adjusted the cooking time. And I kept thinking how expensive fresh whole duck is. I guess the investment is worth it if the algorithm is good to your video. -via Boing Boing 

Over a week ago, an impressive team of thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris and stole approximately $100 million worth of jewelry belonging to either the House of Bourbon or the House of Napoleon depending upon your preferred candidate for the French throne. Two of the alleged thieves have been captured.

Despite this outcome, it was an impressive caper. The team used a German-built Böcker Agilo ladder truck. Böcker is making good use of this free publicity to advertise its now most famous product. The company now shares ads in English and German promoting the truck's speed and the low volume of its motor.

As the 292nd Rule of Acquisition says, "Only a fool passes up a business opportunity."

-via Super Punch