News

Nazca Lines Being Destroyed

Nazca Lines © Paul Williams An unauthorized limestone quarrying operation in Peru has destroyed a small section of the ancient Nazca Lines geoglyphs and damaged other portions of the famous drawings which are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Serious and irreparable damage has been done to several of the geoglyphs by the limestone [...]

Rampant Pickpockets Shut Down Louvre

There are pickpockets in Paris. This is not news. The problem has reached such an extent that the Louvre had to close yesterday after its employees, frustrated by having to deal with organized gangs, staged a wildcat strike. The Louvre is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, and on an average [...]

Sydney’s Rainbow Crossing Vanishes

Rainbow Crossing in Sydney, Australia © Steven Cateris Like the rainbows that appear in the sky, Sydney’s Rainbow Crossing proved equally elusive. The rainbow striped pedestrian crossing was installed in the Australian city’s gay district in February to kick off the popular gay and lesbian Mardi Gras and in commemoration of the event’s 35th anniversary. [...]

Circus Elephant Hit in Drive By Shooting

Circus elephants © Leslie Jones Drive-shootings are unfortunately a common enough occurrence that they are not always headline news. However investigators are puzzled by a shooting in Tupelo, Mississippi. The victim is a 39-year-old Asian elephant named Carol who works for the Ringling Bros. Circus. Carol was struck in the shoulder, but is expected to [...]

In China, Mom & Dad Can Now Sue Kids Who Don’t Visit

© Ruby Gold It can be a difficult toss up. You have a finite amount of precious money and time to spend on travel. Do you use it to take a rejuvenating holiday somewhere, or do you travel to visit family? For people in China, there’s a new law that could factor into this decision-making [...]

Samoa Air Defends Move To Charge Passengers By Weight

© Christoph I thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Apparently not. While equally ridiculous stories such as Virgin’s new glass-bottomed airplanes and the ability to take your livestock into the cabin with you on WestJet were obviously fictional, apparently the folks at Samoa Air weren’t kidding when they announced that they have changed their [...]

Philly Skyscraper to Become Video Gamer’s Dream

Playing Pong © Marc Biebusch Old school gamers will finally have a chance to play Pong on the big screen…the really big screen. In a tribute to the role that the classic Atari game played in popularizing video games, the facade of the 29-storey Cira Center will become the screen upon which Pong will be [...]

The Guidebook Lives On! Arthur Frommer Reacquires Rights to Frommers

Frommers guidebook © Jen Gallardo The travel community was disappointed and dismayed by Google’s recent decision to cease publishing Frommer’s guidebooks, the news that Frommers founder Arthur Frommer has reacquired the brand is likely to make many people happy once again. Google acquired the Frommers brand from publishing house Wiley & Sons in 2012. Arthur [...]

Longest Cycling Tunnel in Britain About to Open

© JMC Photos At 1,700 metres, a new cycling tunnel in Somerset, England will be the longest in Britain. Combe Down Tunnel will open on Saturday, April 6th, and is the latest addition to a network of old railway tunnels that have been reclaimed and repurposed as part of England’s growing cycling infrastructure. Combe Down [...]

City Pulls All Taxis Out of Service

© Joao Ferreira It’s not the best time to need to get somewhere in Manchester, New Hampshire. In a decisive move, the city pulled all of its taxis — all 18 of them — off the road. The drastic move was called for after several taxis failed mechanical inspection by police. The police then summoned [...]

Site of Wounded Knee Massacre to be Sold

Wounded Knee © Jimmy Emerson No one seems to know what should be done with the land in South Dakota where scores of Native Americans were massacred by American Soldiers at Wounded Knee in 1890. The land is currently in private hands, but the 74-year-old owner of the parcel has decided to sell it once [...]

Hotel Offers Job as Professional Sleeper

© Sarah Ross Helskini’s Hotel Finn has an unusual employment opportunity. The hotelier is seeking a “Professional Sleeper” to work for the newly renovated hotel. The job entails spending one night sleeping in each of the property’s 35 guest rooms to test them out. This job description may sound like the ticket for the chronically [...]

Nelson’s Uniform Crosses the Channel to France

Statue of Nelson in London’s Trafalgar Square © Fran Garcia Considered a sacred artifact of Britain’s greatest naval victory, the uniform Vice-Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was wearing when he was struck down by a sniper during the Battle of Trafalgar is going on display in France for the first time. The coat, which is marred [...]

Newly Discovered Mussolini Bunker To Become Tourism Attraction

Statue of Mussolini © Erich Ferdinand A World War II bunker that was discovered in 2011 by workers during the restoration of another landmark has been revealed to have been intended for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The bunker’s existence was kept under wraps until recently, when plans were unveiled to open it as a tourist [...]

Solicitation in France May Become Legal (Again)

For those of you who have been agonizing over how you’ll find “entertainment” the next time you’re in Paris, worry no longer! Soon the solicitation of “entertainment” may be legal again. Henri Toulouse Lautrec © lartnouveauenfrance While “entertainment” has always been legal in the City of Lights, there has been a ban in place for [...]

Flight Attendants May Now Wear Glasses and Pants

Asiana Airlines is notorious for scrupulousness when it comes to the grooming of their flight attendants. Everything is taken into consideration, even the number of hair-pins used in the signature bun adorning all the female attendants. Just recently however, South Korea’s Human Rights commission has urged the airline to review its strict dress code. You [...]

Get Ready for Wales’ Enormous New Zipline

Preparing to go on a zipline © Markheybo Thrill seekers have a new bucketlistable attraction on their hands and may soon be packing their bags for Wales. Snowdonia National Park now features the longest zipline in the northern hemisphere. The Big Zipper was constructed on the site of Penrhyn Quarry in Bethesda and is over [...]

Newseum Restores Kennedy Images Lost on 9/11 for New Exhibit

Contact sheets of photos of JFK during Senate race © Newseum Jack Lowe was John F. Kennedy’s personal photographer and the images he captured — from the start of JFK’s presidential campaign through the early years of his presidency — form a valuable record of the Kennedys’ lives. Lowe died in May 2001, and in [...]

Air Force Asked to Help Move Elephants

© Terry Dunn The Toronto Zoo has requested the aid of the Royal Canadian Air Force to transfer its three elephants to a sanctuary in California. The zoo needs to come up with a plan for a transcontinental airlift of the pachyderms and is eyeing the RCAF’s C-177 Globemaster III planes. All three of the [...]

Record-Setting Christo Sculpture on Display in Germany

Big Air Package by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Photo by Wolfgang Volz © Christo The Gasometer in Oberhausen, Germany is the site of the debut of a record-setting new work by the sculptor, Christo. At ninety metres tall and with no internal supports, Big Air Package is the world’s largest air-filled envelope and also claims to [...]

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