A list of curious facts
One: This summer, the residents of Helsinki are facing an unusual plague—goose poop! Hordes of barnacle geese roost by the shore every night—and waddle off in the morning “leaving small mountains of excrement” for beach-goers to enjoy. But it’s not just the seashore:
The plump birds are everywhere: They jaywalk across bike paths, swagger through crosswalks barefoot like the Beatles, preen in the parks and sometimes strut between office buildings and cultural landmarks in the city center. In parks, the problem can be even worse, with the droppings matting the grass and squishing into the treads of shoes.
Finns are in the midst of a ‘shit girl summer’. Since they are not allowed to slaughter their tormentors, the residents are working on developing a better ‘poopy scooper’—like the one below. (New York Times)
Bonus related fact: The barnacle goose gets its name from an old superstition—that these geese were born from a barnacle: “The shells, discarded from the rocks after a storm, were taken as a sure sign that a goose had hatched.” The lead image shows a barnacle tree—and geese hanging from their branches. The idea was they incubated in shells in the trees (kinda like caterpillars) until they grew feathers to fly. (British Library)
Two: Brace yourself—or rather your face. Kimmy K’s shapewear brand Skims has unveiled a corset for your face called the Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap. She’s basically taken a post-surgery compression wrap and turned it into a beauty hack—that you wear while asleep for a more “toned” jaw line and “sculpted” cheeks. But don’t blame Skims. The brand is just cashing in on a TikTok trend where people—swaddled in silicone masks and mouth tape—film their “morning shed.” Imagine wearing this thing below every effing night? Pass us the Botox! (BBC News)
Three: Apart from Mars, we are the only planet in our solar system that doesn’t have a ring or four. But this was not always true. A recent study shows we had a ‘halo’ over 466 million years ago—thanks to a close encounter with a “very large asteroid”: “The asteroid passed so close to Earth that its gravity caused it to disintegrate, leaving its debris to orbit the planet.” And it took tens of millions of years for these chunks to fall to the ground—leaving us ring-less. You can see what the skies may have looked like in the image below—though sadly there were only primitive fish, cephalopods and corals to appreciate the sight. (Gizmodo)
