A cabinet of lovable weirdos
Tiny true stories,
lovingly odd.
Weird science, forgotten history, and human quirks — each one true, each under a minute, each a little stranger than you’d expect.
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Grandma Moses
Ribbons for the Jam
At the Cambridge Country Fair, Anna Mary Robertson Moses entered her paintings alongside her preserves, and won ribbons for the jam.
At seventy-six, arthritis ended her embroidery, so she took up painting — house paint on Masonite, glitter for snow. She entered canvases beside her preserves at the county fair and won ribbons for the jam. Her name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses.
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The Man Who Kept the Schedule
What do you find when you open a grave that belonged to a man who never stopped walking?
The Giggling Mycologist
What kind of person gets laughed out of the British scientific establishment and leaves giggling?
The Chair
What kind of performer turns down every replacement for a seat that no longer has a seat?
The Man Who Left Nothing Behind
If a man dripping in diamonds dies owning only razors, combs, and a pair of sunglasses, where did the diamonds go?
The Longest Lesson
What if every geometry proof you ever learned was actually a woman's homework assignment that outlasted most civilizations?
The Man Who Collected the World by the Ton
What happens when a man's collection outgrows every method of counting except weight?
The Thrupenny Fix
What happens when the Air Ministry is years from a fix, pilots are dying in stalls, and a five-foot carburetor researcher has a home workshop and a motorcycle?
The Princess of Parallelograms
What happens when you raise a poet's daughter on pure mathematics and ban every verse from the house?
Matsuo Bashō
What does a man who spent four years managing pipes hear when a frog hits a pond?
Sir Thomas Phillipps Wanted Every Book in the World
What happens when a man who sleeps on a sofa because his bedroom is full of manuscripts finally has to move houses?
The Man Who Played You Back
If he memorized 7,000 pieces but only 100 words, what exactly was he listening for?
Sei Shōnagon Had Opinions
What kind of person files pear blossoms under "most vulgar thing in the world" and then puts functional tweezers on the same list as the impossibility of lasting love?