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

1. A House Fit for Winnie the Pooh in the Original Hundred Acre Wood The Bearbnb is situated in Ashdown Forest just south of London, made available to book on Airbnb as part of Disney’s 95th Anniversary celebrations of the loveable children’s character. 2. A Catalogue of Ready-to-Build “Classical French Mansions” by a Vietnamese Architectural Firm These 3D…

How to Bury an Entire Museum

When German forces took Athens in April 1941, they expected to find thousands of centuries-old artifacts in the National Archaeological Museum, Greece’s largest museum. Instead, the neo-classical building was totally empty, besides the archaeologists and guardians still on duty. Officers asked them where the relics were hidden and “they answered enigmatically that antiquities are where everybody…

Who was Agent 355? The Mystery of America’s First Female Spy

You probably heard about Mata Hari, the infamous courtesan and female spy who beguiled the men around her into allegedly betraying national secrets to Germany during WWI. She became an icon of feminine seduction, Greta Garbo played her on the silver screen in 1931, and her story has inspired countless tales of romance and espionage.…

The Misunderstood Nomadic Women who Danced Their Way to Liberation

Centuries before Betty Friedan and the sexual revolution challenged social mores in the West, the women of the Ouled Nail in Algeria enjoyed the freedom to earn their own fortunes, choose lovers and engage in sexual relationships outside of marriage in a society that placed no shame on these choices – and indeed valued these…

Postcards from the Old Miramar Hotel, a Crumbling Relic of Venezuela’s Ritzy Riviera

The Miramar Hotel is falling down. Its voluptuous domes and towering spires have crashed to the ground, its red roof tiles have been slipping and the classically-moulded plaster on its walls reduced to dust. This once awe-inspiring piece of architecture lies prostrate, with its dismembered limbs on display in the breeze of the balmy seaside…

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

1. Elevator Girls, by Miwa Yanagi, 1994–8 For Japanese artist Miwa Yanagi, “elevator girls” (the hostesses employed to greet shoppers in department stores) have proved a potent means of exploring the role of women in Japanese society. Her first solo show featured various uniformed models standing beside fake elevators, performing ritualised actions. Yanagi expanded upon…

A Brief Compendium of Vintage Cocktail Recipe Books

Sometimes, you just strike internet gold – ya know, those obscure little corners of the internet where you can fall blissfully down the rabbit hole. Today’s find is a free online library of unearthed and collected bartender books; rare volumes dating from the 1820s through the 1940s, faithfully digitised – every last page – by…

Hunting Icebergs for a Drink 10,000 Years In The Making

“Iceberg, Right Ahead!” It’s hard not to think of the iconic line from the film Titanic as the boat we’re sailing in plows forward through the freezing North Atlantic Ocean, heading directly for a vast iceberg. But whilst most vessels try to avoid these frozen giants, our captain is not only seeking them out, but…

Ultimate Basement Find: A City

Have you ever cleared out your basement or attic only to discover a box of childhood memorabilia or an awkward middle school yearbook you wish you could have forgotten for slightly longer? Well, there is one guy in Turkey who has us all beat. He discovered an entire ancient underground city behind a wall in…

The Factory Girl who Became an Art Deco Ceramics Sensation

When English ceramic artist Clarice Cliff first started designing pottery in the 1920s, her work was so out there, the styled garnered the name “Bizarre.” But the curious and colourful decorative pieces with abstract shapes and pastoral scenes soon gathered an impressive following. Ahead of her time, Cliff’s rise to fame during the mid 20th…