He made a Fortune in the 1920’s Transplanting Monkey Testicle Tissue into the Ballsacks of Millionaires

The poet E.E Cummings once wrote of a “famous doctor who inserts monkey glands in millionaires” and in a pre-code Hollywood musical starring the Marx Brothers, they sang the line, “If you’re too old for dancing / Get yourself a monkey gland” performing a number entitled “Monkey-Doodle-Doo”. There was a famous Chicago surgeon who wrote…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLX)

1. The real urban jungle: how ancient societies reimagined what cities could be They may be vine-smothered ruins today, but the lost cities of the ancient tropics still have a lot to teach us about how to live alongside nature. Not only did societies such as the Classic Maya and the Khmer empire of Cambodia…

When Big Brands were Getting High in the Seventies

In the late 1960s and 70s, America’s big corporations could see the psychedelic writing on the wall and they knew they had to do something. A wave of psychedelia was taking over pop culture and the LSD-infused hippie aesthetic was huge. The influence of drug culture on some of the most iconic brands saw everyone…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLIX)

1. Cano’s Castle “After first building an underground potato cellar on the site, the castle began in 1980 when Cano built a steam room above the cellar, and took improvised shape as found materials presented themselves over about twenty years.” Born in 1948, ‘Dominic “Cano” Espinoza’s enlisted in the US army in 1968 and, upon…

Berlin’s Curious 1920s Polar Bear Craze

Once upon a meme, Germany had its own precursor to the internet’s LOLcat – in the form of a life-sized fake polar bear. As the story goes, some time in the early 1920s, two (actual) polar bears arrived at the Berlin Zoo and became the talk of the town. Families came from all over the…

Ask Me Anything: An Internet Q&A with the Guy who was Swallowed by a Whale

You might have caught the story about a lobster diver from Provincetown who was swallowed by a humpback whale off Cape Cod last week – and lived to tell the tale. The idea of swirling around inside the jaws of the ocean’s most legendary creature conjures up all sorts of aquatic childhood fables, from Moby…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLVIII)

1. You can now Sleep at the Palace of Versailles Set within the gates of Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle was built in 1681 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Louis XIV’s favourite architect and an icon of French classicism. The grandiose building once played host to Europe’s political and cultural elite, from ambassadors and artists, to musicians, writers…

I Have This Thing with Swedish Stoves

Ask someone to describe Swedish interior design and they’ll probably give you a one word answer: IKEA. But here’s another word: kakelugn. No, it’s not the name for another ready-to-assemble IKEA product line, but rather, the exquisite and unique tiled stoves found in homes throughout Sweden since the 18th century. Looking like giant elaborate chess…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLVII)

1. Diaolou — multi-storey defensive watchtowers of China Found in rural Guangdong, generally made of reinforced concrete, diaolou structures are one of the most spectacular and eclectic examples of fusion between Chinese and Western architecture. Found on Urban Foxxxx via This isn’t Happiness. 2. A Secret garden of mini Italian buildings to be conserved Off…

The Endlessly Inspiring DIY World of Maude Smith

I’ve just found another kindred spirit. Someone who understands my deep-rooted Capricorn need to find new uses for old or unwanted things. Maude Smith is the kind of person that will cover her entire kitchen in wine corks, shells and pieces of broken crockery. Rather than re-tiling her bathroom, she’ll meticulously paint every single tile…