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A Forgotten Desk Drawer Hid a Poetic Pop Culture Gem

There was nothing remarkable about the faux colonial escritoire, or writing desk, made from pressed wood and veneer, that Patrick Lyon bought in 2002 during a furniture purge at the Four Seasons Hotel...

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Listen to the Strange and Wonderful Sound of One of Earth's Best Whistlers

Sometimes, when Molly Lewis tries to explain her work as a whistler, she calls herself a human theremin. The tone and sound of whistling, she thinks, are similar to the unearthly vibrations of the...

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Found: An Ancient Tick Preserved in Amber With Fossilized Mammal Blood

A specimen of amber, found in the mines of the Cordillera Septentrional, a mountain range that runs through the Dominican Republic, contains a very unusual specimen. Inside the amber is a tick, along...

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The French Government Is About to Destroy $106,000,000 Worth of Cigarettes

Over the past year, France has passed a number of new laws designed to make cigarettes less appealing. Last April, it was decreed that tobacco shops had to package their wares in plain, dark green...

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This Century-Long Photo Project Documents Montana's Shrinking Glaciers

There are lots of high-tech ways to document climate change, but at Glacier National Park in Montana, a simple tool has been put into play: a camera.It’s tough to comprehend the vastness of the...

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'Miami English' and the Linguistic Oddness of South Florida

Florida is weird.That much probably goes without saying; in its flora and fauna, its cultural history, its politics, its singularly bizarre criminal elements, and its natural ecosystems, there is...

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The Surprising Resilience of Failed Fast Food Chains

A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.While Kenny Rogers' “Islands in the Stream” partner Dolly Parton found success...

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Motorcyclist Meets Flying Mattress and Somehow Survives

For many highway drivers, seeing a truck hauling massive logs, or even a mattress precariously tied to the top of a car is enough to trigger a minor anxiety attack, lest the debris become unmoored and,...

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Jack Kerouac's Last Home to Be Sold

In 1964, when Jack Kerouac moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, he probably didn't know that he was going to spend the rest of his life there. The core member of the Beat Generation had relocated with his...

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The Most Interesting Camel in the World

On April 27, 1934—squeezed between items about liquor taxes and club baseball—readers of California's Madera Tribune were treated to an unusual obituary. "LAST AMERICAN CAMEL IS DEAD," mourned the...

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Missing March Madness? Try Small-Town Ice Betting

While their southerly neighbors are still hung up on March Madness, the good people of Hatfield Point, Canada have moved on to a far better game. Every year, residents of the small town, which sits...

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Found: An Invading Snail That Slings Slime at its Prey

In 2009, the USNS Vandenberg was sunk into the ocean not far from the Florida Keys. The ship was meant to be an artificial coral reef—a place where divers could explore without endangering the delicate...

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How Fiji’s Official Iguana Guardian Protects 12,000 Lizards

The first clue that you shouldn’t mess with Eroni Matatia when it comes to Fiji’s reptiles is found on his Facebook page. In his profile picture, Matatia is holding baby turtles, arms crossed out front...

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Listening to Icebergs' Loud and Mournful Breakup Songs

In March 2000, the iceberg B-15 broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. It was the largest iceberg ever documented, with a surface area of more than 4,200 square miles—more than twice the size...

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How the CIA's Psychics Described Albert Einstein

A version of this story originally appeared on Muckrock.com.In 1988, as part of the Agency’s ongoing research into weaponized ESP, CIA psychics were tasked with identifying a photo of a famous...

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Found: Some Old Boxes With Human Remains Inside

Recently, Joe Morgan, who owns property on Tiki Island, Texas, near Galveston, found three boxes that had washed up near his dock. On each box the words "Rest in Peace" were scrawled, along with a...

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Latin Graffiti Appears in Cambridge, England

Latin graffiti appears across new homes in Cambridge https://t.co/1nQBAYp8sopic.twitter.com/zmxrn7lEun— BBC Cambridgeshire (@BBCCambs) April 4, 2017Graffiti may not usually be a huge problem in...

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Records Reveal Hidden History Between Black Chicago Residents and Police

It’s no secret that the Chicago Police Department has a troubling past. In January, the Chicago Police Department’s questionable behavior, including a pattern of using excessive force, unlawful force...

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Found: Roman-Era Mosaics Dating Back to the First Century

Centuries ago, the town of Uzès, a community of about 8,200 people in the south of France, was known as Ucetia. In the first century B.C. Romans invaded and built a small settlement here: it’s...

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Norway Is Building a Huge Tunnel for Ships

The Stad peninsula, which juts out of the Northwestern part of Norway, has long made sailors' lives more difficult. Getting around it means wrangling with choppy seas, weird currents, and the highest...

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