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Fleeting Wonders: A Belgian Peninsula Goes Dutch
The shore-jumping peninsula Belgium is happy to get rid of. (Google Maps)In this season of outrageous geopolitical gifts (Norway wants to give a volcano to Finland!) the ever-pragmatic Netherlands and...
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Pyrotechnics Guild International Convention in Boon, Michigan
Every year since 1972, amateur and professional fireworks enthusiasts of all ages gather in August in Muskegon, Michigan, for the Pyrotechnic Guild International (PGI) annual convention. With an...
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Lewes Bonfire in Lewes, England
Each November 5th (or 4th if the 5th is a Sunday), the small town of Lewes in East Sussex sees the arrival of the Lewes Bonfire, the craziest celebration of Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot in all of...
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One Times Square in New York, New York
Marooned on a triangular intersection at the heart of New York City's busiest neighborhood sits One Times Square, the iconic setting for the annual New Year's Eve ball dropping ceremony, broadcasted...
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Busójárás in Mohács, Hungary
During February in the small Hungarian town of Mohács, the townspeople dress as horned monsters, wander the town swilling spiced wine and homemade pálinka, and make as much noise as humanly...
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Les Fêtes de Gayant in Douai, France
Every July the streets of Douai in Northern France are taken over by a whole family of giant figures during the Les Fêtes de Gayant, a celebration that has continued for hundreds of years despite being...
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Carnival of Binche in Binche, Belgium
Tracing its roots back beyond writing to a long tradition based in oral folklore, the city of Binche does Carnival like nowhere else on the planet. For nearly two months leading up to the famous...
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An NYC Concert So Experimental, Only Dogs Can Hear It
Dog music has gotten way better since they invented subwoofers. (Image: Francis Barraud/WikiCommons Public Domain)Are you one of the many New Yorkers who resolved to expose their dogs to more...
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Need a Chill Pill? Here's a Recipe from the 19th Century
A literal interpretation of "Chill Pill". (Photo: Mega Pixel/shutterstock.com)In the 1980s and early 1990s, if you were acting uncool, your sassy friend might have told you to “take a chill pill”–that...
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These Travelers Insist That the Best Way to See the World is on a Horse
Filipe Masetti Leite rides through New Mexico. (Photo: Filipe Masetti Leite)The biggest problem was the weather.“It was super hot, no shade on the road,” says Filipe Leite. “I thought I was going to...
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When Americans Embraced the Bob, This New England Town Had To Make Something...
Pink plastic lawn flamingos, which were invented in Leominster. (Photo: Andy Atzert/flickr)Every object has a birthplace. Even the most dispossessed, the most despised, the most godforsaken piece of...
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The Twisted Things People Have Done For A Klondike Bar
An original Klondike Bar. (Photo: Keith Homan/shutterstock.com)A version of this post originally appeared on the Tedium newsletter. The iconic commercials from the 1980s suggested that people would...
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FOUND: 4 New And Very Unstable Elements
These elements are so elusive, they're almost impossible to observe (Image: Pixabay)At the tail end of 2015, the periodic table gained four new members—elements 113, 115, 117, and 118.But blink and...
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The 19th-Century Law Behind the Oregon Standoff
A California homesteader receives the deed to her land. (Photo: Charles C. Pierce/USC Libraries Public Domain)For many people, public land is an untrammeled good. Places like the Malheur National...
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Ilha Fiscal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This island and its fairytale-like palace, which once housed the offices of the Guarda Fiscal in Rio de Janeiro, serve as a reminder of a time when the city was the capital of the Brazilian...
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Huaxi Village in Guiyang Shi, China
If they are to be believed, Huaxi Village is China's richest village, where everyone has more than $100,000 in their bank and works seven days per week.Founded in 1961 by Wu Renbao, Huaxi touts itself...
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Did Native Americans Bend These Trees to Mark Trails?
Downes with a tree in Texas indicating a stream (Photo: Courtesy of Dennis Downes)As a kid, Dennis Downes was the type who played in the woods. The forests where he frolicked were near Lake Michigan,...
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The Most Viewed File in the FBI's Vault Has Nothing to Do With Roswell
An early X-File? (Photo: NASA/Wikipedia)Beginning January 24, we are going to be treated to another six episodes of The X-Files, one of the most enduring television series of all time.In the world of...
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Object of Intrigue: The Roses of Heliogabalus
The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. (Image: Wikipedia/Public domain)The Bachelor is back, which means the rose ceremony has returned. Every episode, an increasingly smaller group...
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FOUND: One Species of Worm With Five Different Mouth Shapes
One worm species, many mouth shapes (Image: MPI f. Entwicklungsbiologie)On Réunion, a small island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, there are tiny roundworms that live in wild figs. Before the...
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