Today in 1987, the community of Gouverneur in northern New York placed on its town green, a giant roll of Pep-O-Mint Life Savers. It was a tribute to a local man, Edward John Noble, who ended up making Life Savers one of the best known candies in the world. Plus: a cat in Tokyo drops by a Buddhist temple garden, walks into the gravel patterns and takes a big old nap.

10 Things You Might Not Know about Life Savers (Mental Floss)

Unique Items— The Life Savers® (Gouverneur Museum)

Super Zen Cat Takes a Nap in the Middle of a Japanese Zen Garden (My Modern Met)

Our Patreon backers are sweeter than candy

Vox recently asked scientists what they thought Earth life might be like in a million years. And the answers are pretty wild. Plus: today's the first day of a City Climb at Edge, a program in New York City where thrillseekers can climb until they’re close to the top of a skyscraper, over 1,200 feet up.

The animals that may exist in a million years, imagined by biologists (Vox)

Now You Can Climb Outside a Skyscraper to the Top of New York City (Architectural Digest)

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Today in 1978, the New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers. But part of the game would be replayed the following March, and when it was, several of the players on each team had been traded to the other, and ended up playing in the game! Plus: two artists have built a "stairway to heaven" in Taiwan. Someone let Robert Plant know please. 

In 1978-79 season, deal like no other happened at NBA trade deadline (NBA.com)

Artists Build a ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Optical Illusion (Laughing Squid)

We would never trade our Patreon backers

Today in 1781, the first U.S. president, John Hanson, was elected. Of course, being a U.S. president in 1781 was very different from the job George Washington, the first president under the U.S. Constitution, would hold eight years later. Plus: the University of British Columbia has a robot named Robby to paint all the lines on its sports fields. 

Forget Washington; it's Hanson or Huntington (Baltimore Sun)

Robby, a line-painting robot, blazes trail on UBC sports fields (GlobalNews)

Our Patreon backers are first in our hearts

Today in 1879, a bar owner in Ohio received a patent for an invention that changed the way we buy and sell things: the cash register. He did it to thwart his bartenders, who he suspected of putting money meant for him in their own pockets. Plus: a professor in South Korea reveals one place from which you probably shouldn't give an online lecture. 

Nov. 4, 1879: Ka-Ching! The World's First Cash Register (WIRED)

Professor holds online class while in bathtub (Korea Times)

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Today in 1892 a phone system that made automated calls - no switchboard operator - began operating in Laporte, Indiana. The first automatic dial network happened, as the story goes, because of a business dispute between two undertakers. Plus: today in 1882, the birthday of John Baxter Taylor, Jr, the first Black American to win an Olympic gold medal.

Almon B. Strowger: The undertaker who revolutionized telephone technology (Spark Museum of Electrical Invention)

First African American Olympic gold medalist was a Penn grad (University of Pennsylvania) 

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Today in 2000 that a post appeared on an online forum for the Time Travel Institute from someone who claimed he was a time traveler from the year 2036. Here's the story of John Titor, whoever he actually was. Plus: Build the Earth is an effort to recreate every single spot on our planet, but in the Minecraft universe. 

The Oral History of John Titor, the Man Who Traveled Back in Time to Save the Internet (Thrillist)

Project to recreate entirety of planet Earth in Minecraft (Boing Boing)

Our Patreon backers are so cool they could probably travel through time

Today in 1816, the US military awarded to built a contract for a fort next to Lake Champlain, near the border with Canada. For years crews worked to make the fort strong, until one day when they realized there was a big problem. Plus: people on Tumblr say today is the 1000th birthday of a medieval monk's brother named Werner. 

Fort Blunder, America’s Most Embarrassing Gun Battery (New England Historical Society)

The chronicle of the monk Herbert of Reichenau (Elucubrare on Tumblr)

No blunders among our Patreon backers, they're great every day

This week in 2008, local officials in Swanzey tried to get English-to-Welsh translation for a road sign they wanted to put up. They got a Welsh sentence in response, but it wasn't what they thought. Plus: today in 1969, the first network message on ARPANET goes through, though without a few key letters. 

The man responsible for the most infamously bad Welsh road sign translation (Wales Online)

E-mail error ends up on road sign (BBC)

5 milestones that created the internet 50 years after the first network message (The World)

All signs point to our Patreon backers being amazing

Today in 1886, the U.S. dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York. It was hard times when Lady Liberty first arrived in the country, but eventually a 19th century-style crowdfunding efforts raised enough money to raise the statue onto a pedestal. Plus: the statue came from France, and if you head to Paris you'll see that city has a Lady Liberty too! 

How crowdfunding brought the Statue of Liberty to America (Christian Science Monitor)

Statue of Liberty, Pont de Grenelle (Atlas Obscura)

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