Human Environment
Public and private places and buildings, including cities, monuments, parks and reservations
Sleep Like a Pauper, Eat Like a King
Between grocery stores, wine shops, artisan bakeries and farm stands, I regain each calorie I burn in style and taste
May 29, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
“I Was Looking Forward to a Quiet Old Age”
Instead, Etta Shiber, a widow and former Manhattan housewife, helped smuggle stranded Allied soldiers out of Nazi-occupied in Paris
May 25, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
Big Things Ahead… But Keep Your Shirt On
Americans in the 1940s had wondrous expectations about the post-war world. Meet one author who advised them to curb their enthusiasm
May 25, 2012 |
By Matt Novak
Where Did Jackson Pollock Get His Ideas?
A talented painter who died poor and forgotten may have inspired the influential American artist's work in ceramics
May 24, 2012 |
By Henry Adams
Tasting France’s Finest Wines
Sauternes is a cute little village near Bordeaux that would likely have been just another manure-splattered cow town if dumb luck, microclimatology and royal wineries had not showered the region in fortunes
May 24, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Resistance to Nazis in a Land Riddled with Caves
We wondered if the cave's tenants cooked inside or out, if they peered down at the valley and if they wrapped all glassware and metal in cloth to prevent reflective giveaways to the Nazis below
May 22, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
A Medieval Castle in the Making
The construction of a medieval fortress in France is answering important questions about 13th-century building techniques
May 21, 2012 |
By Susan Spano
Utahceratops Debut
There was a full artistic reconstruction in the 2010 paper that described the dinosaur, but it's another thing altogether to see the dinosaur's reconstructed skeleton
May 21, 2012 |
By Brian Switek
Free Beer in the Dordogne Valley: Come and Find It!
These beers should last for several hot summers and cold winters. Where exactly are they hidden? Here are the directions
May 18, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
There’s No Place Like Naples for Pizza
Forget Chicago deep-dish, Roman pizza bianca and Domino's. For the best, most authentic pizza, go to Napoli
May 18, 2012 |
By Susan Spano
For the Love of Film Blogathon III: The White Shadow and Streaming Restored Films Online
Catch Casablanca streaming live on Facebook tonight and read about the opportunity to view a recently restored version of one of Alfred Hitchcock's first films
May 16, 2012 |
By Daniel Eagan
What a Physics Student Can Teach Us About How Visitors Walk Through a Museum
By sketching the movements of people at the Cleveland Art Museum, Andrew Oriani laid the groundwork for some deep insights into how art is appreciated
May 16, 2012 |
By Henry Adams
Truffle Trouble in Europe: The Invader Without Flavor
If it looks like a black truffle, and if it cost you $1,500 a pound like a black truffle---it may actually be a worthless Chinese truffle
May 15, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Off the Road in the South of France
Ernest Hemingway popularized the cosmopolitan lifestyle of Paris, but he missed out every day he wasn't walking through the forested hills of Périgord
May 11, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Explore the Treasures of Kazakhstan in New York City
Ancient artifacts from the storied Central Asian nation, including saddles ornamented with gold foil and cinnabar, are on display for the first time in the United States
May 07, 2012 |
By Susan Spano
Grueling Travel through Beautiful Places: the Madness of Extreme Races
The Crocodile Trophy mountain biking race is off-road, meaning gravel, rocks, ruts, puddles (potentially containing crocodiles lying in ambush), dust and lots of crashing. If this sounds like a pleasant way to see the northeastern corner of Australia, then sign up
May 03, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
The Monument to Electricity That Never Was
In 1922, Hugo Gernsback envisioned a 1,000-foot tall concrete monument that "would be a lasting tribute to our race, and to the progress that is exemplified by Electricity"
May 03, 2012 |
By Matt Novak
Film vs. Digital: Archivists Speak Out
Pros and cons of "perforated plastic with photographic emulsion"
May 02, 2012 |
By Daniel Eagan
Document Deep Dive: How the Homestead Act Transformed America
Compare documents filed by the first and last homesteaders in the United States
May 2012 |
By T.A. Frail and Megan Gambino
A By-The-Numbers Look at American Real Estate
An index to houses great and small over the centuries
May 2012 |
By T.A. Frail
