Googie Architecture An Art Form Worth Saving

While architects have largely abandoned Googie Architecture, its optimism toward the future is a vision well worth saving. Source: Flickr It was almost utopian: an architectural form with a vocabulary all its own, including its moniker—Googie. Named after the Los Angeles coffee shop Googies and designed by architect John Lautner in the late 1940s, the Googie architecture style expressed society’s burgeoning fascination with space flight as well as its recent understanding of the Atomic Age and its power....

January 17, 2023 · 4 min · 703 words · Donald Hernandez

Historical Moments Photographed Just After The Big Event

You’ve seen iconic moments as they’ve happened, but rarely do you see what life’s like just after history’s been made. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Rarely Seen Color Photos Of World War II That Truly Bring History To Life 31 Historical Photos Taken Just Before The Iconic Moment 55 American History Photos And The Incredible True Stories Behind Them...

January 17, 2023 · 40 min · 8519 words · Robert Moore

Ice Bars A Growing And Incredibly Cool Trend

In tourist hot spots, take some time to cool off in one of these trendy ice bars. Source: Energi Smart A fast-growing movement in the competitive world of nightlife entertainment is providing people with a unique and cool experience—quite literally. Entrepreneurs in many countries are raking in customers—and profits—with the expanding popularity of novelty drinking establishments fashioned completely out of ice; walls and all. Source: Mashable Often found in hotels or resorts, ice bars have become a popular tourist destination, especially for those who find themselves vacationing in the middle of a hot climate....

January 17, 2023 · 2 min · 332 words · Sherry Slosek

Inside Anthony Bourdain S Death And His Tragic Final Moments

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was found dead at age 61 at Le Chambard Hotel in France on June 8, 2018. Tragically, his death was ruled a suicide by hanging. Paulo Fridman/Corbis/Getty ImagesWhen Anthony Bourdain died in 2018, he left a gaping hole in the culinary world. From exposing the seedy underbelly of the restaurant industry to dining with President Obama in Vietnam, it’s no wonder why Anthony Bourdain was called the “original rock star” of the culinary world....

January 17, 2023 · 9 min · 1756 words · Louis Corbridge

Inside Canada S Starlight Tours And The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths

Since at least 1976, police have picked up Indigenous men, women, and boys, then left them miles outside the city on sub-zero winter nights, leading to what’s known as the Saskatoon freezing deaths. Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceIn 1990, Construction workers found the body of teenager Neil Stonechild frozen in a field outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. For decades, the Saskatoon Police Service engaged in a practice known as “starlight tours.” After picking up Indigenous people on charges ranging from drunkenness to vagrancy, officers would drive them outside the city limits and leave them there, often in sub-freezing temperatures....

January 17, 2023 · 7 min · 1298 words · Beth Reyna

Intricate Tibetan Sand Paintings Dismantled After Completion

If you’ve already powered through the third season of House of Cards, you’ll probably remember the monks who spent weeks creating an awesome sand painting in the middle of the White House. In reality, Tibetan Buddhist monks have been creating sand mandalas (mandala means “circle” in Sanskrit) for more than 2,500 years. The process remains one of the religion’s most distinctive and beautiful traditions. Every sand mandala contains a center point surrounded by a circle, and a symmetrical design with deep, symbolic meaning....

January 17, 2023 · 1 min · 205 words · Michael Murphy

Koala Conservation Efforts Intensify As The Species Rapidly Declines

A suite of complex issues has spelled potentially fatal trouble for Australia’s iconic animal – and experts are unsure of how exactly to grapple with it. ROMEO GACAD/AFP/GettyImagesA koala is handled by wildlife personnel at Martin Place public square in Sydney’s central district. The sleepy, dung-flinging koala we all know and love is fast becoming a vulnerable species. Here’s why, and what’s being done to keep them around: The Threats Experts say that urban development and climate change stand at the roots of koala numbers’ drop to 43,000 in the wild (and “effective extinction” in certain parts of the country)....

January 17, 2023 · 3 min · 472 words · Caleb Hornback

North Korea Bans Sarcasm

North Korea, very likely the only country on Earth that could do the following and not have it seem out of character, has just officially banned sarcasm. In mass meetings organized throughout the country last month, reports Radio Free Asia, government officials warned all citizens that they are strictly forbidden from making any sarcastic comments or indirect criticisms of any kind about the country’s leadership. “One state security official personally organized a meeting to alert local residents to potential ‘hostile actions’ by internal rebellious elements,” a source in Jagang province told RFA....

January 17, 2023 · 2 min · 318 words · Helen Beckman

Nursing Home Staffers Arrested For Running Dementia Patient Fight Club

Asked by police why they sat and filmed two dementia patients beat each other up instead of intervening, a staffer said that one of the patients was a “pain in the butt.” FacebookDanby House promptly terminated the three staffers’ contracts. A North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services report from July revealed how cruel and negligent some of the staff had been. Shocking reports of abuse and patient neglect at a North Carolina assisted-living facility have led the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) to bar it from admitting any new patients....

January 17, 2023 · 4 min · 719 words · Susan Brown

Teruo Nakamura The Last World War Ii Soldier To Surrender

The “last of the last” of the World War II holdouts, Teruo Nakamura refused to believe the war had ended and lived in a tiny hut on Indonesia’s Morotai Island until he was discovered in 1974. Many know the story of Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who refused to believe World War II had ended and didn’t surrender until February 1974. While he is frequently referred to as the last World War II holdout, there is another lesser-known soldier who wasn’t discovered until ten months after Onoda....

January 17, 2023 · 7 min · 1440 words · Dorothy Baird

The 7 Most Shocking Election Upsets In Presidential History

With caucusing and voting about to begin in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, it is worth looking back at seven of the biggest upsets and surprises in the country’s history. If these historical chapters teach us anything, it is that all the experts can be wrong and that anything can happen: 1. Truman Defeats Dewey In one of the most famous photos in the history of U.S. politics, re-elected President Truman holds up a newspaper that had wrongly declared his demise....

January 17, 2023 · 3 min · 459 words · Robert Conway

This Bonsai Has Survived 392 Years And Not Even Hiroshima Could Kill It

When this tree was planted in 1625, the United States was still 150 years away from even becoming a nation. Wikimedia CommonsThis white pine tree survived the nuclear blast that devastated Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945. Little Boy, the 9,000-pound nuclear bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945 had the power of 15,000 tons of TNT and killed 80,000 people in a flash while destroying 69 percent of the city’s buildings....

January 17, 2023 · 4 min · 721 words · James Jamerson

This Week In History News Oct 25 31

Medieval burial of “six-headed chief” probed in Scotland, ancient geoglyph uncovered in Peru, dinosaur uncovered by 12-year-old in Canada. Experts Go Inside The Medieval Mystery Of The “Six-Headed Chief” Unearthed In Scotland Adrian Evans/University of BradfordTow of the skulls found at the burial site of the “six-headed chief,” whose own skull is shown on the right. As the Romans tried to conquer ancient Scotland, they were thwarted again and again by the mysterious warriors known as the Picts....

January 17, 2023 · 2 min · 371 words · James Daudelin

This Week In History News Oct 30 Nov 5

Trophy heads from human sacrifices found in Peru, face of 19th-century “vampire” reconstructed, 85-year-old explorers’ cameras recovered in the Yukon. Ancient Human Sacrifice Victims Uncovered Alongside Trophy Heads And Psychedelic Drugs In Peru D. SochaOne child sacrifice victim was drugged with the San Pedro cactus, a psychedelic plant named for Saint Peter, because he is the one who holds the keys to heaven, and also known as Huachuma, which roughly translates to “removing the head....

January 17, 2023 · 2 min · 418 words · Teresa Jones

Woman Discovered In 6 500 Year Old All Male Burial Ground In France

Because the lone female was buried alongside four arrowheads previously believed to be only for men, archaeologists speculate that she was a person of power. PNAS / LAURENT JUHELHow the graves in Fleury-sur-Orne may have looked when they were first dug by Cerny society some 6,500 years ago. While analyzing the DNA of bodies buried in a Neolithic cemetery once thought to be only for men in Normandy, France, scientists made a shocking discovery: of the 14 remains they analyzed, just 13 were male....

January 17, 2023 · 4 min · 715 words · Charles Devore

World War 2 In Color 44 Eye Opening Photographs

Rediscover the tragedy and heroism of D-Day, the Holocaust, and more with this arresting look at World War 2 in color. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 32 Colorized World War I Photos That Bring The Tragedy Of The ‘War To End All Wars’ To Life Rarely Seen Photos Taken Just After History Was Made...

January 17, 2023 · 34 min · 7049 words · Susan Mortell

2 500 Year Old Burial Mound Discovered In Siberia S Valley Of The Kings

The mound discovered in Touran-Uyuk held a number of exquisite gold funerary objects and was constructed by the nomadic Scythian people in the 6th century B.C.E. Igor PieńkosA woman and young child were among the five bodies found in Siberia. Amid the sprawling green vista of the Touran-Uyuk valley in Siberia, a team of Polish and Russian archeologists has made a stunning discovery. There, within the so-called “Valley of the Kings,” they’ve uncovered a 6th-century B....

January 16, 2023 · 4 min · 740 words · Leopoldo Martin

Anna May Wong And Her Struggle Against Old Hollywood S Racism

After leaving the film industry twice due to bigotry, Anna May Wong became an advocate for the rights of Chinese American citizens. Anna May Wong was Old Hollywood’s go-to Asian American actress. She was the first Chinese American lead in an America television series and appeared in 50 films both domestically and abroad, including the industry’s first all-color, full-length feature. But despite her impressive resume, the industry’s rampant racism stunted her career....

January 16, 2023 · 8 min · 1677 words · Sally Reynolds

Carmine Persico The Mob Boss Who Ruled Behind Bars Since 1987

Known as “Immortal,” octogenarian Carmine Persico ruled the Colombo crime family from prison for 30 years. The infamous “snake” has now died in prison at the age of 85. Yvonne Hemsey/Getty ImagesCarmine Persico poses for a portrait at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. 1986. Mafia scholars have long argued over who was the greatest family, who was the greatest boss, who built the greatest criminal empire. Names like Joe Gallo and Lucky Luciano come to mind, but their terms were relatively short-lived....

January 16, 2023 · 8 min · 1687 words · Wendy Drake

Gas From King Penguin Poop Is Making Scientists Completely Cuckoo

King penguins’ nitrogen-rich diet of fish and krill makes their poop a potent source of nitrous oxide. PixabayScientists are finding it difficult to study the penguins because of the laughing gas produced by their feces. A new study by Danish researchers on the effects of the gases released from penguin feces turned out an unexpected finding: it’s making researchers go “cuckoo.” According to Science Alert, feces or guano produced by the king penguin species in Antarctica emits so much nitrous oxide that it is affecting the mental state of researchers who spend too much time around them....

January 16, 2023 · 4 min · 735 words · Alexander Tollerud