Sometimes you learn things about history that tear apart all your old assumptions. For example: the Twitter account @History_Pics tweeted out this amazing photo, with the caption “The battleship Missouri second before being struck by a kamikaze in 1945.”

You might wonder why they didn’t react quicker. That’s because they are toys.

I had no idea we drafted plastic toys to fight in WW2. As it turns out, though, we didn’t. Wikipedia:

On 11 April, a low-flying kamikaze, although fired on, crashed on Missouri ' s starboard side, just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the plane was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at Gun Mount No. 3. The battleship suffered only superficial damage, and the fire was brought quickly under control.[5The remains of the pilot were recovered on board the ship just aft of one of the 40 mm gun tubs. Captain Callaghan decided that the young Japanese pilot had done his job to the best of his ability, and with honor, so he should be given a military funeral. The following day he was buried at sea with military honors.

The entry has the following picture:

THIS Here’s another hot social network you’re not on because you’re not cool enough. This.cm. You can post one link a day. That’s it. NYT:

Currently, the platform is available only to those who receive an invitation from one of the nearly 4,500 users. As more journalists and media insiders become aware of it, they are jockeying for the exclusive invitations. “Someone get me an invite to @THISdotcm already,” tweeted Jessica Reed, the features editor at Guardian US, who punctuated her message with four cigarette emojis to signify her impatience, as she later explained it.

It’s a fine idea; the next thing should be THAT, which points people to the worst thing on the web that day, then THE OTHER THING, which consists of one link to the most irrelevant thing. The three sites will eventually form PronounMedia, which will raise $350 million in its first round, hire a bunch of people to grow the brand, spend $65 million on an app, get bought by yo.com, which then shutters THAT and THE OTHER THING in order to “concentrate on core strengths.”

Speaking of which, remember ello? Everyone wanted to be on it because only a few people could be on it. Then they let more people in, and the people who wanted to be in had forgotten about it. I got my invite last week, and shrugged: oh, right, that. Go to the home page. They have a nifty effect. And by “nifty” I mean it’s quite possible you will feel your stomach turn. It’s the most polarizing thing I’ve ever seen; everyone to whom I’ve shown the effect rears back a bit, as if they’ve just seen someone cheerfully bend his forearm or pull his earlobe down four inches like a Command adhesive tab.

SPQR Rome’s Flavian Amphitheater is being cleaned and repaired, and they’re finding interesting details:

Traces of red painted numbers have been found on the arches of Rome’s Colosseum during the ongoing $33 million restoration work aimed at repairing damage suffered by the 2,000-year-old monument since the Middle Ages.

More here. The numbers were used for sections, aisles, and seats, just like today. But did they drink Gatorade? No:

Roman gladiators drank an energy drink of vinegar and ash, according to an anthropological investigation of arena fighter bones.”

Maybe the Vikes should give it a try.