Bonjour Sebastian!

Hope you've had a wonderful week!

A French hello this week, because this time next week the creative world decamps to the south of France for Cannes Lions. If you're heading down, remember your sun cream, go easy on the rosé on the Monday night, and the very best of luck to anyone with work up for a Lion.

In this edition we cover where football's red and yellow cards actually came from, just how much bigger a trillion is than a billion, the Dude's rug going under the hammer, and more.

So grab a cuppa and enjoy. And an early Happy Father's Day to all the dads reading, for Sunday.

As always, big love,

Chris and the 42courses team x

P.S. This month we celebrate 10 years of 42courses, so if you're thinking of getting a course or a membership, use the code 4224 at checkout for a lovely surprise.

Where Football's Red And Yellow Cards Came From · With the World Cup in full swing, here is Dave Trott on a referee, a set of traffic lights, and a small stroke of genius in communicating without words.

A Billion vs A Trillion, Visualised · With Elon Musk having just become the world's first trillionaire off the back of the SpaceX IPO, here is a mind-boggling reminder of quite how much bigger a trillion is than a billion. Prescient viewing.

Can The Mind Turn Back The Clock? · A famous Harvard study sat men in their late seventies inside a 1959 time capsule for a week, and their eyesight, posture and memory measurably improved. Ellen Langer on the quiet power of mindset.

The Dude's Rug Goes Under The Hammer · The actual rug that "really tied the room together" in The Big Lebowski is up for auction, alongside Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and the Wicked Witch's hat. Bidding opens at fifteen grand.

The Flaw That Built A $3.3 Billion Empire · One of ours. Pixar couldn't animate humans convincingly, so they leaned into the weakness and made toys the stars, and Toy Story went on to gross over $3.3 billion. The same trick gave Super Mario his moustache.

Tokyo's Tiny Station Jingles · Japanese stations play gentle seven-second melodies as trains depart, each one composed to soothe frazzled commuters and nudge them safely aboard. Sensory design at its finest.

The World's Slowest Experiment · A blob of pitch has been dripping through a funnel since 1927, and in nearly a century only nine drops have fallen. A glorious lesson in patience.

240 BC · In Egypt, the Greek scholar Eratosthenes works out the circumference of the Earth using little more than a stick, a shadow and a bit of geometry, and gets remarkably close 🌍

1623 · Blaise Pascal, who would go on to build one of the world's first mechanical calculators, is born in Clermont-Ferrand, France 🧮

1910 · The very first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington, dreamed up by a daughter who thought dads deserved a look-in too 👔

1931 · The world's first photoelectric "magic eye" automatic doors swing into action at a restaurant in West Haven, Connecticut 🚪

1941 · Cheerios are born, first sold as "CheeriOats" until a naming squabble trimmed them down to the rings we know today 🥣

1963 · Valentina Tereshkova returns to Earth after almost three days in orbit as the first woman in space 🚀

1978 · A famously lazy, lasagne-loving cat named Garfield makes his newspaper debut, landing in 41 papers on day one 🍝

2006 · A 16-year-old Taylor Swift releases her debut single "Tim McGraw", and a rather large career quietly begins 🎤