Hello, you clever curator of curious things!

If you live in the UK, we hope you enjoyed the four-day week. But have you ever wondered why they're called bank holidays? (Dave Trott explains the reason below!) 

In this week's edition, you can also explore the most useless things you could buy, peek into the secret prompts that keep AI in check, and, for a nostalgic twist, dive into some 40-year-old Apple ads featuring none other than Bill Gates.

Intrigued? Let’s get stuck in 🤩

Big love,
Chris & the 42courses team

• Why they're called "Bank Holidays" in the UK: Dave Trott himself offers a fascinating look into the behavioural science behind framing these days off.
   
• The most useless things you could buy: Whether you need some bacon bandages or some utterly ridiculous ideas to fuel your creative process, do yourself a favour and visit this one.
   
• Secret prompts revealed for the first time! Anthropic has released its source prompts for Clause, which are safety protocols that make AI behave in a certain way.
   
• Does the language you speak change the way you think? Not so much, as it turns out. This video from Tom Scott on linguistics explains why.
   
• 40 year old Apple ads: Not the crazy ones, not 1984, but something you've probably never seen before. Surprisingly insightful, with a delightful promotion from....Bill Gates?

• 1146 - European leaders outlaw the use of the crossbow, intending to end war for all time. That worked out well. 🏹
   
• 1835 - The city of Melbourne, Australia, is founded. 🇦🇺
   
• 1885 - A spectacular meteor shower occurs, with 13,000 meteors seen in one hour near the Andromeda constellation. 🌠
   
• 1901 - English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth patents the powered vacuum cleaner. 🧹
   
• 1963 - The compact audio cassette is first introduced by Philips at the Radio Exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Sony took notice. 📼
   
• 1969 - The 3-day New Orleans Pop Festival opens with 25,000 attendees; performers include Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Chicago, Dr. John, and Santana. 🎸
   
• 1979 - The first recorded occurrence of a comet hitting the sun releases energy equal to one million hydrogen bombs. ☀️
   
• 2017 - Late author Terry Pratchett's unfinished works are destroyed by a steamroller as per his instructions. 📚
   
• 2021 - China restricts online gaming for under-18s to one hour on Fridays, weekends, and holidays, ordering companies to enforce this rule. 🎮