April 26, 2022

ESSENTIAL SPY TOOLS  The CIA-Issued Rectal Tool Kit  Among the espionage artifacts on display at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., is the rectal tool kit: a tightly sealed, pill-shaped container full of tools that could aid an escape from various sticky situations. This gadget was issued to CIA operatives during the height of the Cold War, according to museum curator and historian Vince Houghton. The tools inside the kit include drill bits, saws and knives. Watch the video now for an up-close look at the tool kit.  WATCH NOW → CONSERVATION CONVERSATIONS Bringing Caribou Herds Back For nine years, Carmen Richter, a biologist and citizen of the Saulteau First Nations in British Columbia, has been a part of an intensive caribou recovery effort. The collaboration is spearheaded by the Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations, neighboring communities that live across a lake from one another, a few miles north of Chetwynd, British Columbia. Caribou declines have been obvious since at least 1968, but this indigenous-led conservation movement is hoping to bring them back from the brink of extinction. READ MORE → OUTER HEBRIDES, SCOTLAND Gearrannan Blackhouse Village Huddled atop a hill overlooking the fierce Atlantic is a quaint cluster of stone cottages that was built in the late 1800s. They’re the traditional blackhouses that once dotted the Hebridean landscape, and this once-abandoned village both preserves a piece of the Outer Hebrides’ past and serves as a picturesque place for travelers to spend a night or two. READ MORE → SPONSORED BY YOUTUBE Into Brazil’s Lush Forests While several countries have laid claim to “God’s Finger” in one geological oddity or another, perhaps the most striking—and consequential—is found 50 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. Dedo de Deus, or “God’s Finger” is a thin, jagged appendage of granitic mountain pointing 5,500 feet into the warm, coastal air, much like the index finger of some enormous earthen deity. Dedo de Deus is also the birthplace of mountaineering in Brazil, a sport that would eventually grant scientists access to previously unexplored pockets of nature and pave the way for lasting conservation efforts. And it all started in a bar in 1912. LEARN MORE → TIME TRAVEL The Ice Age and the Midwest There are no woolly mammoths, but in tiny pockets of the Upper Midwest, the Ice Age persists. Plants and lichens that typically grow only far to the north, and insects and snails once thought extinct, are still hanging on in places like Iowa’s Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge. They’re able to survive thanks to microclimates created by a rare combination of geological quirks. Researchers and conservationists are racing to protect these unique sites from a variety of threats, including development and invasive species. But they acknowledge that their best efforts may not be enough in the face of climate change. READ MORE → MANITOU SPRINGS, COLORADO Rainbow Falls Running out of Fountain Creek in Manitou Springs, Colorado, Rainbow Falls is a lovely little waterfall tucked away beneath a modern highway overpass. However it is better known as “Graffiti Waterfall” thanks to the ever present coat of alluring, yet illegal art that is painted on and around it. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES The Evolution of Fengshui Dig into the history that birthed and shaped Fengshui, looking at it not only as a practice but also as a cultural tool to navigate a shifting and uncertain world. Taught by Dr. Xiaokun Song, this interactive online course will cover the two major schools of Fengshui: the Configuration School (xingshi zong) and the Compass School (liqi zong). SIGN UP NOW → SAUCY NEWS Is Ketchup Good, Actually? If you’re American, you’re probably thinking of Heinz ketchup. But elsewhere in the world, ketchup plays second fiddle to tomato sauce. Take Australia, for example. With much futility, Heinz has spent decades trying to sell the Australian public on ketchup—not tomato sauce, ketchup. Heinz owns its own tomato sauce line, Big Red, but it’s long been trying to make a serious case for the American stuff in the Australian market. Perhaps these resauces are best put elsewhere. READ MORE → CLOQUET, MINNESOTA Frank Lloyd Wright Gas Station In 1927, at the height of his career, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a gas station. Part of a utopian city plan that he championed throughout his professional life, this little piece of Wright’s utopia was intended for Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo station was never built, but 30 years later, the master architect got his gas station – this one in Cloquet, Minnesota – and it’s still in business today. READ MORE →