• Emperor Commodus enjoyed killing lions, tigers, panthers, ostriches, and even a camelopardalis, or giraffe, in the Roman amphitheater. But how to wrangle these wild animals on their way to slaughter? Based on ancient descriptions, a model elevator and trap-door system has been reconstructed at the Coliseum, one of 28 such elevators that were used in the amphitheater to lift animals to the floor of the arena. (The New York Times)

• Sit-ups, pull-ups, pushups—anyone who went to middle school hears the words “Presidential Fitness Test” and groans. But how much did John F. Kennedy have to do with the test’s creation, and how useful is it to kids in 2015? (This Land)

• “We do not think of Tolstoy as a comic writer, but his genius permits him to write farce when it suits him.” The inimitable Janet Malcolm on the equally inimitable genius of Leo Tolstoy. (New York Review of Books)

• George Washington was known for his regal bearing, remarkable height, and immaculate hair—a wig perhaps? It turns out our president preferred the natural look. Here is a step-by-step guide to dressing your hair the Washington way. (National Geographic)

• Who can divine the mysteries of the sky, predict the rain, or anticipate a tornado? Even now weather prediction can baffle scientific experts, but at the beginning of the nineteenth century William C. Redfield and James Pollard Espy fought bitterly to claim the title of most skilled meteorologist of the age. (Nautilus)

• “Per Petterson is the solid, always dependable Ringo; Dag Solstad is John, the experimentalist, the ideas man; Karl Ove Knausgaard is Paul, the cute one; and Fosse is George, the quiet one, mystical, spiritual, probably the best craftsman of them all.” Damion Searles lays out the only ranking of Norwegian writers you’ll ever need. (Paris Review Daily)

• Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie are the hosts of a remarkable podcast exploring the entire history of slavery in the Americas. The second episode focuses on the story of Olaudah Equiano, author of what is widely believed to be the first narrative of slavery published in America. (Slate)

• “I didn’t even know what was on the film until my dad died and I took it home and watched it…It just always sat it in a plain box on a shelf in his office, and on the outside it said, ‘Amelia Earhart, Burbank Airport, 1937.’” Rare film footage of Amelia Earhart surfaces, and historians suspect it could have been shot just days before her final flight around the world (Jezebel)