Carnival in Paraguay! Don’t forget your snow spray and sunglasses

As is typically the way for the backpacker, there is no such thing as a plan and this is why maybe you should consider Paraguay as a more than worthy alternative Carnival destination. Not Just a Brazilian Thing. Perhaps it was just our ignorance but we thought that Carnival was just a ‘Brazilian thing’ and had no idea that the whole of the continent revels throughout late January and for the entire month of February so you are pretty much guaranteed a good party wherever you may be over a 6 week period.

For example we had already ‘opened’ Carnival season in Uruguay’s capital city Montevideo and then crossed the Rio Plata by ferry to experience what Argentina had to offer in Buenos Aires.

Setting out for Iguazu in the north east we decided to break the journey up by visiting the city of Posadas with the aim being to explore the ruins of the old Jesuit Missions along the northern border with Paraguay and so begins the fortunate discovery of Carnival in Encarnación.

-Go Nomad

Living like a Castaway on the San Blas Islands

Our boat awaited us on the other side of the jungle. We didn’t know it yet, but the 4am wake-up call, the roller coaster ride through the Guna mountains and a thrashing from the sea on a tiny boat would be all worth it to reach the San Blas Islands…

-Messy Nessy Chic

This futuristic 'vertical village' is like a jungle stretching 36 storeys into the sky

The organic, curvilinear designs of an Avatar universe may be closer than we think. Indian agroecologist Amlankusum and Paris-based Vincent Callebaut Architectures have released plans for a vertical 'eco-neighborhood' called the Jaypee Green Sports City.
The compound, which would theoretically be built outside of New Delhi, is named Hyperions and consists of a set of six 36-storey towers connected by common green spaces, walkways, and shared eco-conscious utilities.

-Science Alert

Are these the most magical settlements in the world?

Nestled in some of the most beautiful corners of the world, are tiny settlements of people who have adapted to live around nature.  

From villages under boulders in Portugal, to floating villages in Peru, these dwellings are hidden away from the rest of the world. 

The secluded settlements are often cut off from the surrounding areas, but are each set in their own natural paradises. 

-Daily Mail

How the Klan Got Its Hood

Members of the Ku Klux Klan did not wear their distinctive white uniform until Hollywood—and a mail-order catalog—intervened. 

-New Republic

The man who studies the spread of ignorance

How do people or companies with vested interests spread ignorance and obfuscate knowledge? Georgina Kenyon finds there is a term which defines this phenomenon.


 In 1979, a secret memo from the tobacco industry was revealed to the public. Called the Smoking and Health Proposal, and written a decade earlier by the Brown & Williamson tobacco company, it revealed many of the tactics employed by big tobacco to counter “anti-cigarette forces”.
In one of the paper’s most revealing sections, it looks at how to market cigarettes to the mass public: “Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.”

-BBC

A Used Car Vending Machine in Nashville

Online used car retailer Carvana, that has revolutionized how people buy cars, is back with another innovation — the world’s first coin operated car vending machine that can dispense cars in a fully automated process. The five-story glass tower, which can house as many as 20 used cars at a time, stands on Interstate 65 in the US city of Nashville, in Tennessee. Carvana said the move was to simplify the car delivery process, and at the same time make picking up the car an experience for the buyer.

-Amusing Planet

Welcome to Lucha Libre, El Salvador’s Battle Royale In San Salvador, Luchadore wrestling thrives in an underground arena

Attempting to encapsulate El Salvador as a country and culture is an exercise in semantic vanity; in a land where inauthenticity does not go unpunished, El Salvador personifies the very essence of “keeping it real”.
Lucha Libre- the theatrical wrestling showcase which takes place every Sunday evening in San Salvador- illuminates the unflinching veracity of Salvadoran culture, while challenging the very definition of “real”. For travelers with a penchant for the unadulterated local side of life, a front row ticket to Lucha Libre is as real as it gets.

-Go Nomad

We're Debuting 'Connected,' a Dystopian Short Film Starring Pamela Anderson

Everyone—you, me, the world's most famous sex symbol—eventually has to confront the fact that they're getting old. In 2016, we have to do it with a pack of Facebook profiles and Instagram followers staring back at us, while we worry about attracting new upvotes and likes. And it's only going to get more intense from here. That's the near-future world that Jackie, played by Pamela Anderson, is struggling to endure in Connected, a short film by Luke Gilford.

-Vice

Sexe, infidélité et dépression

Il s'en dit des choses sur les gens infidèles. Rarement dans la dentelle. Mais tous les infidèles ne sont pas chroniques, salauds, immoraux. Un psychologue américain porte un regard inusité sur le phénomène : et si, derrière l'adultère, se cachait parfois un mal de vivre profond ? Et si on trompait son partenaire pour chasser son blues ? Et si l'infidélité pouvait guérir notre dépression ? Tabou, vous dites ? Explications. Témoignages. Et critiques.

-La Presse

9 things you might not know about infidelity

Monogamy is a nice idea in theory, but in practice, humans are less adept at it than they might admit. I mean, let’s be real: As long as relationships exist, there will be infidelity, and if recent studies are to be believed, there will be more of it all the time. Because we’re animals, people. And sometimes animals think with their loins, not their vows.


We’re not championing infidelity, but we are saying it’s a reality, and aspects of it are fascinating. From who gets away with it (almost everyone, but women especially) to where the most American cheaters live (I’m looking at you, Austin, Texas), there are some really interesting facts about cheating and those who indulge in it. Here’s a list of nine of them.

-Salon

5 Ways to Quit Replaying Painful Memories

While self-reflection is helpful, rumination is harmful. Dwelling on your problems, magnifying your misfortune, and hosting your own pity party only increases your distress.

-Psychology Today

Devil Music: A History of the Occult in Rock & Roll

From The Beatles and the Stones to Led Zep, Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath, how the dark arts cast a spell on popular music.

 

-Medium

Dave Stewart: LSD, Annie Lennox, and Me

Dave Stewart talks about love, heartbreak, global fame, his near-death experiences, partying hard with Mick Jagger, and how Annie Lennox helped wean him off drugs.

-The Daily Beast

Massive Attack: ‘There was always someone out there ready to bash your head in’

In the 90s, they were paranoid about being beaten up while walking to the shop. Now Bristol’s trip-hop geniuses, working with Tricky again, are on a spectacular multimedia tour that warns about the dangers of ‘utopian tech companies’

-The Guardian