Clik here to view.
Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh, Scotland
With a dominant maritime culture and a treacherous, frigid coastline, lighthouses were crucial to the economy of modern Scotland. With the advent of computers that could tend these guiding lights,...
View ArticleA Small-Town 'Goldfinger' Is Gilding Fire Hydrants In Austria
Ich hab einen gefunden!A photo posted by Johann Fürnsinn (@johannfurnsinn) on Sep 14, 2016 at 7:39am PDTIn Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, the titular villain has a penchant for covering things in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Elefantenklo in Gießen, Germany
Considered a prime example of ill-conceived urban development, the Elefantenklo (German for "Elephant Toilet") is famous for being one of the ugliest structures built in post-war Germany. It has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Revolutionary Concept of Standard Sizes Only Dates to the 1920s
Eternit-Werk Heidelberg, by architect Ernst Neufert. (Photo: Eternit AG/CC BY-SA 3.0)Almost every kitchen counter in the United States is 36 inches tall. And 25 inches deep. Eighteen inches above the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Found: The World's Longest Lightning Strikes, In Both Length and Time
(Photo: colinedwards99/CC BY 2.0)Lightning happens in a flash, but that doesn’t mean they are always forgotten. In a recently released paper from the American Meteorological Society (h/t Science Alert)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cabaret Voltaire - Dada House in Zurich, Switzerland
In July 1916 German artist and poet Hugo Ball stood in the tiny performance space at Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire, and read the first Manifesto introducing the world to a new concept in thought and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Buenos Aires Radio Show Comes to You Live from a Psychiatric Hospital
A sign for Radio La Colifata. (All Photos: Alejandro Cynowicz)The weather is chilly, but the sun is shining. It’s Saturday, August 13, the tail end of winter in the southern hemisphere. A crowd is...
View ArticleListen to This Duo Elegantly Play the Harry Potter Theme Music on Glass Goblets
When you hear John Williams' enchanting score for the the Harry Potter films, you are immediately transported to J.K. Rowling’s fantastic world of wizards, witches, and magical creatures. The first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why You’ll Never Be Able to Block a Presidential Alert
A test screen from the Emergency Broadcast System, which was replaced in 1997. (Photo: YouTube)On Monday morning, a little over a day after Saturday's bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Suwarrow Atoll in Cook Islands
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there is a little atoll where one man spent almost two decades living alone.There's evidence Suwarrow was inhabited by Ancient Polynesians, but by the time the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gießkannenmuseum (Watering Can Museum) in Gießen, Germany
Over 1,000 watering cans in every imaginable style are on display in a free museum atop a German mall.The "Giesskannenmuseum" (Watering Can Museum) in Giessen celebrates the common watering can—be it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
US-Canada Border Slash in United States / Canada
The US-Canada border is the longest in the world. Stretching 5,525 miles from Maine to Alaska, traversing land, sea, and untouched wilderness, you’d assume that this colossal border would be left...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Canadian World in Ashibetsu, Japan
Walking around the outskirts of Ashibetsu, Hokkaido, you might be surprised to stumble upon a little Canadian village, complete with a green-gabled house and a Victorian church, only no people.Anne of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Incredible Cloud Forests of Mexico
Writer Erik Vance treks into the cloud forest near El Zapotal, Veracruz. (All Photos: Dominic Bracco II / Prime)A version of this story originally appeared on bioGraphic.com.Mexico is a land of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut in Plains, Georgia
In the 1976 presidential election, Jimmy Carter won his home state of Georgia in a landslide victory, with every county in the state voting in his favor. Some would attribute his victory to his local...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Screw Heads That Tried, But Failed, to Topple Phillips
A pile of Phillips head screws. (Photo: nukeaf/shutterstock.com) A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.The screw is the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Man Forges Boarding Passes, Lives in Airport Lounges for 18 Days
One of the lounges that Raejali is said to have infiltrated. (Photo: Matt@PEK/CC BY-SA 2.0)How did you spend late August? Probably on vacation, if you were lucky enough, and, maybe in an airport or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
La Gaitana Monument in Neiva, Colombia
Adjacent to the “Museo Prehistórico” of Neiva, Colombia lies a giant monument on a public plaza. Although not a single sign at the monument provides information about its meaning, a deeper look reveals...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You Can Follow a Hidden Stream Beneath Indianapolis—If You Know Where to Look
Looking out from the Pogue's Run tunnel. (Photo: Stuart Hyatt)There's a moment in Underground Airlines, Ben Winters' novel of an alternate history in which slavery in America was never abolished, when...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The 'Atlas Obscura' Book is Out Now!
You can now hold Atlas Obscura in your hand!Today, our first book, Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders, is released into the world. Inside this 480-page tome you'll find...
View Article