Tuesday, August 25, 2026 — National Banana Split Day

A newspaper once convinced readers the Moon was home to bat-people and bipedal beavers.

Today we explore the Great Moon Hoax of 1835, revisit the improbable founding of New Orleans in a Mississippi swamp, and discover the day the National Park Service was created.

Along the way, we celebrate the birthday of Sean Connery, the working-class Edinburgh kid who reinvented himself as the first cinematic James Bond.

Sometimes the places we invent—and the ones we decide to protect—say as much about us as the ground beneath our feet.