Where they make the Machines from Jules Verne’s Dreams

Behind the walls of an old shipyard’s warehouse in Nantes, a French troupe of artisans has been welding and hammering and carving away at something unprecedented for twenty years, building a strange mechanical universe you thought only existed in the pages of a Jules Verne novel, or in the sketchbooks of Leonard Da Vinci. Celebrating…

When Americans Lived in Tree Stumps

There are trees, and then there are trees out west. “Ancient sequoias,” “Mammoths,” or “Big Trees,” as John Muir liked to say – the nicknames varied, but the trees’ contribution the grandeur of the storied West Coast remained the same. Pioneers worked, breathed, and seriously lived in the darn things. Improbable today, but common in…

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

1. A rain forest. Inside a volcano. With a lake at the very bottom. Location: Terceira Island, Azores Archipelago, Portugal. Found on the instagram account of Nate Dodge. 2. The Sweet Nostalgia of Opening Day at Disneyland, 1955 Full photostory on The Atlantic. 3. Acceptable and unacceptable hair styles for men from The Disney Look (1977) Found on…

The Tour de France is a Beautiful Mess and Maybe that’s How it Should Be

For a long time, I didn’t really “get” the appeal of the Tour de France. A bunch of men in spandex torturing themselves on two wheels, each producing enough sweat to flush a toilet 39 times? (That was one of the more unusual statistics I found floating around out there). And how does anyone take…

Lessons in Historical Male Peacocking, from Lord Gaga to the King of Afrofuturism

They’re performers. Dandies. Men with a streak of the mad poet. Writers, dancers, and professional party boys. Though these eccentrics span across generations, all share a brazen commitment to being themselves that’s made for some of the most memorable menswear moments in the 19th and 20th centuries. Long before fashion was giving the middle finger…

Drink and Dive into Europe’s Underwater Wine cellars

Nearly a decade ago, south of the Aland archipelago, between Sweden and Finland, a 200 year-old shipwreck was discovered to be holding 168 sealed bottles of Veuve Cliquot produced between 1839 and 1841 at the bottom of the sea. Divers had the first taste, and found that the wine was not only drinkable, but good; dare…

So a Glamazon, a Snake Charmer, and a Calypso Queen Walk into a Bar

It took more than a pretty face to make it big in burlesque – it took fearlessness and a strong dose of je ne sais quoi to make America take notice during the golden age of showgirl entertainment. Five women in particular have caught our attention more than a century later, so put up your…

If He likes the Way You Think, You Can Borrow his Private Island for Free

This time next summer, how would you feel about escaping to your own private island? Having the space to think, work on a few ideas … ya know, generally soak up all the inspiration that can be soaked from living on your own goddamn island for an entire week. Such an opportunity exists, friend, and…

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

1. A vintage trailer, complete with a 1955 BMW Isetta micro-car The BMW Isetta became the world’s first mass-production car to achieve a fuel consumption of 3 L/100 km. It was the top-selling single-cylinder car in the world, with 161,728 units sold. Found on Vintage Camping. 2. The Man with the Golden Airline Ticket You might…

Celebrate 50 Years Since the Moon Landing with a Cheat Sheet of Mind-Blowing Moon Trivia

There’s a lot of interest in the Moon again lately and not just because this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969. Only 12 people have walked on the moon, and no one has been back since 1972, over four decades ago. If all goes well, Nasa has plans to return to…