This map shows a scam

It's Free for All Friday!

It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.

Nothing political or election-related this week. We’ve had enough and we’ll get enough going forward. (I wrote that sentence before I knew who won the election, by the way!)

Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

Ken Burns On What We Get Wrong About Leonardo da Vinci

Despite his international renown, we know terribly little about Leonardo da Vinci. Aside from a couple of Florentine court records about a dropped sodomy accusation, and — of course — his own notebooks, his name survives primarily through his work, his idiosyncratic drawings, paintings, and blueprints.

Idiosyncratic, for while da Vinci apprenticed with established masters, like sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio, and was, like many a Renaissance man, well-acquainted with the writings of Greek and Roman philosophers, most of his artistic and scientific insights came to him through direct observation of the natural world rather than craftsmanship or scholarship.

This, coincidentally, is one of the main messages hammered home in Leonardo da Vinci, a new documentary by Ken Burns. Set to air on PBS in November, it aims to clear up some common misconceptions about Da Vinci’s life and legacy that centuries of romanticization — from academically dubious biographies to Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code — have led us to confuse for fact. (Big Think)

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The Car Camping Guide For Beginners

With warm, sunny days and cool, crisp nights, all set against a vivid backdrop of beautifully changing foliage, autumn offers the perfect time to get outside and explore.

If you're new to the world of sleeping under the stars, car camping is a great introduction, requiring minimal gear and less exposure to the elements than you'd find in a tent. To help you get started, we talked to content creator Kristen May, an advocate for approachable access to the outdoors who's been car camping since 2014. Here are our top tips for beginners. (Pop Sugar)

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The Silent Expedition into My Anxious Brain

It was the seventh day of silence that nearly broke me. I was sitting in the “cell” I had been assigned to earlier that morning. Think a human-sized cupboard, windowless and about the length of an average guy’s wingspan. Not great if you’re scared of dark, small spaces or—as I was at that moment—your own thoughts. I had been alone with mine for about 148 hours.

Now my thoughts were as dark as the cell I found myself in.

This was one thing I’d feared when I signed up for this retreat: that instead of healing and calming me, ten days of deep breathing might completely unmoor me, dredging the lake of daily distractions and leaving behind the barnacled, unresolved fears I’d sunk to the bottom of my psyche. Seven days in, I was learning just how damn loud silence can be. (Men’s Health)

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They Bought a French Castle. Then Came the Royal Pains.

Moving into a 14,000-square-foot château was a dream come true for this American family. But when they arrived, reality set in.

Growing up in San Diego, Julia Leach was like so many other little girls: obsessed with fairy tales, watching Sleeping Beauty on repeat, fantasizing about living in a castle herself one day.

Unlike other little girls, she never really let it go.

The realities of adult life eventually took over. Leach, 33, and her partner, Caroline Ibarra, 37, were working 14-hour days as camera assistants on film and TV sets in New York City. They were exhausted, questioning their career choices, when one day, reading a job-hunting self-help book in the couple’s Brooklyn rental apartment, Julia followed her childhood dream down an internet rabbit hole.

“I just decided to google ‘Who lives in castles in France?’ ” Was it just aristocrats, museum administrators? Or could two millennial creatives in Crown Heights fit the bill?

Of course, almost everything habitable in the “castle” category was priced high for the couple, who were each earning around $100,000 per year. Then, in the early months of Covid, Caroline and Julia found themselves living under the same roof as Julia’s parents and 29-year-old sister, Penelope, in San Diego’s seaside La Jolla neighborhood—and the five adults all seemed to enjoy being together. Why go their separate ways? They could all go in together on a French castle. It didn’t matter that most of them barely spoke French—they would learn when they got there. (WSJ)

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Walking Pneumonia is Spiking, Especially in Kids. Here's What to Know

If you or your kid has a cough that’s been lingering, keep reading. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cases of mycoplasma pneumonia are surging across the U.S., especially among young kids.

Preeti Sharma is a pediatric pulmonologist who has seen the rise up close. She’s an associate professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and Children’s Health in Dallas and a mom of two. At the end of May, her 12-year-old daughter came home from school with what looked like a typical summer cold.

“She had a runny nose, some sneezing, a little bit of sore throat, and a little bit of kind of feeling fatigued, lower appetite,” Sharma says.

And then the cough started. “We just kind of watched it progress until she had this very lingering, deep, disruptive cough,” she says.

That cough is what tipped Sharma off that her daughter had mycoplasma pneumonia. It’s caused by an infection with the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The CDC says cases began rising across the U.S. in the spring and summer, and that surge has continued into fall. Sharma says in Dallas, they saw a big spike after kids went back to school.

“Kids are spreading it to one another in schools and they are likely bringing it home to their parents and families as well,” Sharma says. (NPR)

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This Map Shows a Fictional Country Created by a Con Man

In the 19th century, Scottish scammer Gregor MacGregor made a fortune selling land in “Poyais.”

A LITTLE OVER A YEAR ago, Daniel Crouch, one of the foremost dealers of rare books, maps, and atlases in the world, came into possession of a 19th-century map. It had been drawn by a man named Gregor MacGregor. “The first thing you need to know about Gregor MacGregor, from the Clan Gregor, is he’s improbably named,” says Crouch. “The second is that his story is so improbable, but, trust me, everything I’m about to tell you is true.”

The map depicts the Central American monarchy of Poyais, an oasis of around 8 million acres sandwiched between present-day Nicaragua and Honduras on the Mosquito Coast. Much of the small, tropical country runs right along the Caribbean. MacGregor’s map faithfully draws in the major port towns of St. Joseph, Lempira, and, of course, MacGregor, all abutting turquoise waters with lush forests behind them.

There’s just one catch: Poyais never existed.

MacGregor’s map was part of one of the most successful con jobs in human history. By the time it was over, this rakish Scottish swindler would trick hundreds of poor souls into investing in the fictional Scottish colony. In 1822 alone, MacGregor sold a £200,000 in Poyaisian government bonds, supposedly with 6 percent return. What’s more, from 1822 to 1823, he convinced seven ships worth of aspiring settlers to purchase land in the nation and uproot their lives. (Atlas Obscura)

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What’s the Secret to Healthy Aging? Scientists Believe Rhese ‘Superagers’ May Hold the Answer

When 97-year-old Charlotte Goode is asked about her age, she throws up her hands and laughs.

“This is ridiculous,” said the Albany resident, who grew up during the Great Depression, married right after World War II and has outlived all three of her siblings. “Aging really is not something I thought very much about. I really don’t know why I’m still here.”

Scientists, though, are very interested in how Goode has been able to reach such an advanced age in good health. And they think the answer may lie in her genes.

Goode and about 500 other so-called superagers — those 95 and older who are generally healthy — are part of a continuing nationwide study seeking to better understand the role of genetics in healthy aging.

The research could help drugmakers identify targets for treatments and therapies to help those who don’t inherit longevity genes to live longer, healthier lives. (SF Chronicle)