Next time you’re in Japan, specifically Tokyo, why not check out the Ruriden Mausoleum? This isn’t any old mausoleum, it uses high-powered LED lights to illuminate over 2,000 Buddha statues, which are made of glass called “ruriki” that emit different colors of light to create a dreamlike atmosphere for visiting...
It’s probably already tomorrow in China, but that’s not going to stop me from telling you about the June 4th Museum. It is the world’s first permanent memorial museum for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which occurred exactly 25 years ago. The exhibit is just 800 square feet and...
A set of sixty miniature heads for the use of phrenology; Manchester, England; ca. 1831. Science Museum, London Phrenology is a pseudoscience that originated with German physician Franz Joseph Gall and his colleague, Johann Kaspar Spurzheim. Phrenologists believed that the shape and size of various areas of the brain and...
Since I started this blog over four years ago I always try to highlight some Christmas-worthy museums and attractions during the month of December. Maybe one day you’ll be able to visit the Museum of Vintage Cartoon Memorabilia and Commercial Archaeology, which usually has a special exhibit of lit holiday...
I’ve decided to bring back an old post because 1.) I’m lazy. 2.) You’re lazy and I know many new readers are not going to read shit from 2 years ago. 3.) It’s Halloween so it’s time to focus on the scary, creepy stuff. 4.) Why the hell not? With...
Although John Adams wanted Independence Day to be celebrated on July 2 because that’s when Congress approved independence from Britain and the majority of delegates signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, today is America’s birthday…or something. The dates are all screwed up, but everything’s fine as long as...
On this date in 1886 Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of man-made aluminum. And not even a hundred years later this material would be put to good use in the swamplands of central Florida. In the seventies it was common for men to wear their pants too tight...
On this date in 1882 the Knights of Columbus came into being. I bet sometimes you stay up late at night wondering what the heck is a Knight of Columbus. Well, it is the world’s largest Roman Catholic fraternal service organization with 1.8 million members in 15,000 councils. And of...
I’ve only visited Las Vegas once, which was enough…trust me!!! I could go on and on about the “$20 sandwich trick” that got us a room upgrade (a corner 2 bedroom suite on the 32nd floor) on top of the discount we already had due to knowing a professional poker...
If you’re looking for street art that your grandmother or college professor will love and support, then I suggest you take them to the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. In 1992 the ‘Poems and Walls’ project, an initiative curated by the Tegen-Beeld Foundation, set out to hand-paint over one-hundred...
The term “bigwig” dates from the the 18th century when powerful people tended to wear large, impressive wigs. The bigger, the better. To create these towering hair monstrosities, people used padding or hair pieces (sometimes made of horse hair) with sticky paste that was usually concealed with scented coloured-powder. Then...
This girl’s got a thing for old Victorian architecture, especially out-of-use, industrial buildings. Beautiful brickwork, oddly shaped rooms and the occasional skylight with ivy growing through it; what’s not to love? The Ekotechnické Museum (Old Sewage Cleaning Station) displays the old sewage works that formed Prague’s former sewer system. It...
