neapoliatano or avoid the noid

Though the pedigree and provenance might not be as directly royal as this bit of apocrypha relates, there’s no reason to doubt the deliciousness of pizza, which via Mental Floss legend holds was first delivered in 1889. The king Umberto Ranieri Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Fernando Eugenio di Savoia and the queen consort Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna of a newly united Italy were on a good-will mission, touring every region of their kingdom.
The couple who represented the continuation of the Savoy dynasty were on a hearts-and-minds stint in Naples, where he had survived an assassination attempt a decade prior, when the queen expressed a loss of appetite for their usually fancy French-influenced fare and longed for some authentic, local cuisine—which has some claim to the dish as a matter of national pride. The story goes that the most renowned local chef was commissioned to deliver to the royal residence a selection of what would appear on a peasant’s menu—for which three pizza-pies were prepared. The queen found the simple combination of white mozzarella, red tomatoes topped with green basil to be by far the most delicious—arranged purposefully with the colours of the banner of the united peninsula. The basic pizza, the margherita was supposedly named in her honour.

rock-a-bye

One automobile manufacturer is producing licensing a bassinet (not pictured) that ingeniously virtually reproduces the experience of a car ride that many new parents swear by. Unfortunately, this crib—which makes muffled engine noises and gently jostles its passenger and even will replicate a desired route’s pace and twists and turns—is for now only available in infant sizes because I can also attest that riding in the car can lull me to sleep. When an actual drive around the block is not feasible, however, I suspect that make-believe is still the better alternative.

6x6

littoral: the Inuit use these maps carved out of driftwood to navigate the coast

библиотека: a gallery of remarkable libraries of Eastern Europe

special sauce, lettuce, cheese: stratified recipe cards from Zing Zhang, via the always fabulous Nag on the Lake

shortlist, shoreditch: a selection of the finalists for a UK Brexit passport redesign

duchenne smile: earbuds that are controlled with facial expressions

crispr: octopi and their relatives can edit their own genes at will

no, i am spartacus

As Dear Leader is launching yet another disastrous and deadly public-relations stunt in order to deflect attention from his rank, unhinged incompetence, there comes news that his regime is moving to pressure his mouthpiece of choice to unmask the identities of the US civil servants behind anonymous social media accounts critical of his stewardship (or lack thereof). So far the social media network is resisting calls to reveal the names of administrators behind alt- and rogue agency web presences and has rebuffed repeated summonses but we’ve been treated multiple times to Dear Leader’s relentless bullying and hope the network has the stamina to not be browbeaten.