Author: Ms. R.

The S.S. Relief is a floating restroom that was installed in 1991 for $50,000 by Casitas Municipal Water district to provide relief to sailors on the lake. Sailors got tired of having to dock every time in order to relieve themselves. This unconventional toilet was installed so that they could drop anchor and use the facilities at their convenience. Currently, it’s one of more than 260 such lavatories set up in California since the 1970s, more than 100 of……

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The newsboy statue and fountains were a gift to the town of Great Barrington by Col. William L. Brown, a former teacher, politician, summer resident, and past part-owner of the first New York Daily News. Dedicated on October 10, 1895, this statue was the first of its kind and has kept vigil for well over a century. The base of the statue has four water fountains for cats, dogs, horses, and humans. Two of the bronze heads were stolen,……

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It was the spring of 1938, and a woman sailing on the Bay of Bengal was dreaming of snow. Maybe it was the burn blisters on her skin or the escape from the Indian Imperial Police that had made the adventurer Aina Cederblom sentimental. After two and a half years of sailing solo through Asia, she was ready to head home to Sweden—at least that was the 39-year-old’s plan. Fate had other ideas. During the early 20th century, Aina……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we’re joined by The Sporkful senior producer Andres O’Hara to see what happens when invasive creatures make their way—slow and slimy—to the United States. And then refuse to leave. If you like this episodes and are looking for more surprising and fascinating food stories, check out The Sporkful, which just released a new series called “Deep Dish” that……

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The sun hadn’t been seen above the horizon in months and wouldn’t return for another few weeks. Griffith Taylor, a geologist on Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, had little to do. He scanned a years-old issue of a magazine from back home in England, his bored eye catching on a ladies’ fashion column detailing the new styles of the day. After a moment, he looked up to see his bunkmate, fellow geologist Frank Debenham, working on his rock……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE MARCH 2, 2024, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. Here at Gastro Obscura, we really like playing with fire. There was the time that editor Sam O’Brien made feuerzangenbowle, a flaming German rum punch with roots in the rowdy student culture of the 1700s. Then there was the night I risked my fingers and eyebrows with the Victorian party game known as Snapdragon, where players compete to……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we go inside one of the busiest airports on Earth with help from a podcast friend, Andres O’Hara of The Sporkful, to discover the fate of all the food confiscated by customs. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t get eaten. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you……

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Atlas Obscura’s weekly crossword comes to us from Natan Last, a writer who also helps develop policy and digital products for refugees and asylum seekers. His work can be found in The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Yorker, and other publications, and he’s currently working on a nonfiction book about crosswords. You can solve the puzzle below, or download it in .pdf or .puz. Note that the links in the clues will take you to Atlas……

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