Rituals and Traditions
Established practices around weddings, funerals and celebrations
Adorable, Critically Endangered Baby Sumatran Rhino Born
As the planet bids goodbye to Lonesome George, the last of a subspecies of Galapagos tortoises, the world welcomes a new conservation-hope poster child. After a 15-month pregnancy, Ratu, a captive endangered Sumatran rhino, gave birth to a healthy male calf late Sunday night in Sumatra, Indonesia. Fewer than 275 of the critically endangered animals [...]
June 26, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
We Are Already Living in Hollywood’s Dystopian Future
Not sure about you, but I wouldn’t want to live in a world where genetically engineered replicant robots prowled the dank, steel-and-microchip urban jungles a la Blade Runner. Likewise for the Minority Report future in which creepy pale kids call people out for murders they had not yet committed. It’s been 30 years since Blade Runner [...]
June 22, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Spain: Of Sun, Siestas — and Salmon?
About a dozen Spanish streams support native runs of Atlantic salmon, but anglers are deeply divided about how to fish for them
June 21, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Six Ways to Celebrate the Summer Solstice Around the World
From Eagle Summit in Alaska's White Mountains, watch as the sun dips, dips, dips---but remains just above the horizon
June 19, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Today We Celebrate the Time Canada Burned Down the White House
Two hundred years ago today, a 36-year old America declared war, for the second time, against Great Britain. The plan was to conquer Canada and wrest North America for the United States once and for all. But, by pretty much all measures, the war was a total mess… It began in confusion, with the United [...]
June 18, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Andorra: The Ugliest Country in Europe?
They had green mountains, trout streams and wildflowers; cliffs, meadows and waterfalls, but Andorrans made their country the least charming in all of Europe
June 14, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Can Brown Bears Survive in the Pyrenees?
The keepers of sheep and cows helped eliminate the Pyrenean brown bear in the first place, and shepherds are not thrilled to see France's largest predator return
June 12, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
On the Cheese Trail in the Pyrenees
Make a fuss in the road and stomp your feet, and someone will appear. Spit out some gibberish about “fromage a vendre,” and that should do it. You'll get your cheese
June 07, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
The Family that Never Quits Pedaling
I thought cycling with a sack of lentils, a laptop and a bottle of wine was hard. Then I met a pair of Dutch cyclists on tour with a grown dog, a puppy---and a baby
June 05, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
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
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
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
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
Danger and Romance from HBO’s “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
A new made-for-television movie airing May 28 recounts the stormy love affair between the writer and the war correspondent
May 09, 2012 |
By Susan Spano
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
Paul Theroux’s Quest to Define Hawaii
For this renowned travel writer, no place has proved harder to decipher than his home for the past 22 years
May 2012 |
By Paul Theroux
Hand-fishing for Swamp Monsters
"It's the most exhilarating thing I've ever done," says filmmaker Bradley Beesley, whose documentaries have popularized the ancient art of noodling
April 19, 2012 |
By Alastair Bland
Five Men Who Hated (or Loved) the Number 13
On this Friday the 13th, read about these famous people from history who had a close connection to the supposedly unlucky number
April 13, 2012 |
By K. Annabelle Smith
