A Hitchhiker's Guide to Traveling Alone as a Woman

 

I have hitchhiked for almost fifteen years, in over 60 countries and on four continents. During those years I have lived many adventures, and I have had the time of my life, as simple as that. Yet, people you meet randomly often assume hitchhiking is a deathwish. Hitchhikers of both genders are usually aware that hitchhiking carries a potentially serious risk.

-Go Nomad

Guided Busways

Between Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire, runs a special bus service over a special route that consist of two narrow concrete rails instead of a regular asphalt road. The buses travel with each set of wheels over the parallel rails, just like a train.

-Amusing Planet

Telex to the White House from Leonard Nimoy, 1962.

Little girl spends her childhood among wild animals

The childhood of a French girl Tippi Degre sounds more like a newer version of Mowgli, rather than something real. A white child, she was born in Namibia to French wildlife photographer parents, and grew up in Africa. Tippi spent her whole childhood playing with wild animals including lion cubs, a mongoose, a snake, a cheetah, baby zebra, giraffes and crocodiles.

-Leenks

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

 

Siberian summers do not last long. The snows linger into May, and the cold weather returns again during September, freezing the taiga into a still life awesome in its desolation: endless miles of straggly pine and birch forests scattered with sleeping bears and hungry wolves; steep-sided mountains; white-water rivers that pour in torrents through the valleys; a hundred thousand icy bogs. This forest is the last and greatest of Earth’s wildernesses.

 

-Smithsonian

Zen and the Art of Dying Well

What is the “right” way to die? We’re experiencing a zeitgeist moment about that. “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by Atul Gawande, is a best-selling book. Videos by Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old who wanted to die in a way of her own choosing, went viral last year. And in more than 20 countries, thousands of people have dined and discussed dying through a project called “Death Over Dinner.”

-NY Times

Email from a Married, Female Ashley Madison User

Ever since I wrote on Thursday about the Ashley Madison hack and resulting reactions and consequences, I’ve heard from dozens of people who used the site. They offer a remarkably wide range of reasons for having done so. I’m posting below one email I received that I find particularly illuminating, which I very lightly edited to correct a few obvious typographical errors:

-The Intercept

The Science Of Love In The 21st Century

Once upon a time, in the Pony Expresso cafe in Seattle, a man and a woman began to experience the long-mysterious but increasingly scientifically investigated thing we call love. The first stage is called "limerence." This is the spine-tingling, heart-twisting, can't-stop-staring feeling, when it seems as though the world stops whirling and time itself bows down and pauses before the force of your longing.

-Huff Post

Empathy Is Actually a Choice

ONE death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic. You’ve probably heard this saying before. It is thought to capture an unfortunate truth about empathy: While a single crying child or injured puppy tugs at our heartstrings, large numbers of suffering people, as in epidemics, earthquakes and genocides, do not inspire a comparable reaction.

-NY Times

A Guide to Chinese Intelligence Operations

From government hacks to industrial theft, Chinese intelligence operations are making more headlines now than ever before.

-War on the Rocks

The United States Of Chinese Food

Wander into any town in the US, no matter how small and remote, and you’re likely to find at least one Chinese restaurant. In fact, there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, KFC and Burger King combined. And the food they serve is completely unlike anything you'll find in China. In this episode of Gastropod, we ask one crucial question: why?

-digg

The Wildest Hamptons Bondage Party

What was meant to be an exclusive, fun night of S&M in 1980 turned into something much uglier and more notorious. ‘Melonie Haller’s Lost Weekend,’ a piece I wrote for New York magazine in the summer of 1980, centered on a party in a Southampton beach house.

-The Daily Beast

Greeting From Mid-Century America: 34 Sensational Postcards Of The Ordinary And Weird

34 Sensational Postcards Of The Ordinary And Weird.

-Flashbak

Where Children Around the World Sleep

Have you thought about this? Have you thought about where poor children sleep? Do they have their own room, toys and soft bed? If this didn’t come to your mind, these photos will make you question humanity and where are the organizations that should take care of these kids.


-Leenks

Watch What Happens to Your Luggage at the Airport

From the time the airline attendant wraps a white tag around the handle of a bag to the time your hearts swells with relief as it drops onto the carousel at your final destination, your luggage goes on quite the journey of its own.

-mental_floss

Chevaucher le fleuve par sa houle

C’est son petit rituel et son évasion. Quatre fois par semaine, Laurence Côté enfourche son vélo pour se rendre au bord du fleuve. À ses côtés, sur un support fixé à sa bicyclette, l’accompagne son compagnon de prédilection : sa planche de surf. Car derrière le complexe Habitat 67, une vague du fleuve roule sa houle éternelle, site de prédilection pour le surf de rivière, au même titre que ceux de l’Eisbach à Munich, de la Bóbr dans le sud de la Pologne et de la Boise River Park en Idaho.

-Le Devoir

Les problèmes de notre société dénoncés en 16 illustrations trash et satiriques

Beaucoup de choses dans notre monde devraient être différentes; surconsommation, dépendance aux technologies, argent, exploitation, l'illustrateur anglais nous livre un regard acerbe sur les dérives de notre triste monde moderne et de nos sociétés de consommation dans des illustrations trash et satiriques. Le dessin comme catalyseur du changement.

-Buzzly

Camper comme en 2025 à Amsterdam

Le camping du futur pourrait sérieusement ressembler à l’Urban Campsite d’Amsterdam. L’initiative vient d’une économiste et d’une styliste hollandaises, supportée par la municipalité. Toutes deux diligentent pour la seconde fois un summer camp (de trois mois) dans lequel elles invitent artistes, architectes et urbanistes à penser des habitations «mobiles» grand public, mais pas encore tout à fait réalistes.

-Libération

A Tribute To The Majestic Animals Of This World

 

Some of them are big, some of them are small, some of them are friendly and some of them are downright scary. But if there's one thing that all these animals have in common, it's that each and every one is majestic.

-Leenks