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Kathryn is the co-host of Coolest Stuff on the Planet podcast and editor of a wide array of articles at HowStuffWorks.com She loves to travel and can't get enough of it. Last trip was to South Africa, next one will hopefully be the Greek Isles. She has a Communications degree from Cornell University and was previously a magazine editor and an editorial supervisor at PR Newswire. She is most often asked, "Where is that accent from?" Answer: Jamaica, man!
Most Recent: Kathryn Whitbourne Postings
Hopefully you’ve finished your Christmas shopping by now. If not, you’ll have to get your hustle on. And maybe next year, plan ahead and visit one of the Christmas markets held traditionally in Germany but found all over the world, including Toronto, Paris, England, Chicago and Georgetown, Colorado. Fulfill all your holiday fantasies at one [...]
Do Panama hats have anything to do with Panama? Not on your life. They actually come from Ecuador and have been around since the 1600s. They got the name when workers on the Panama Canal (and President Theodore Roosevelt) wore them as stylish protection against the heat. That was one surprise we got when researching [...]
Coffee and Ice Cream in Vienna
by Kathryn Whitbourne | December 9, 2011
This podcast was partially inspired by Rachel and my love of coffee. And Vienna is world-famous for its coffee houses, where intellectuals gathered in the days before home central heating, to discuss the ideas of the day (and still do). While in the U.S., we tend to think of Viennese coffee as very specifically prepared [...]
Stereotypes — Canadian and Otherwise
by Kathryn Whitbourne | December 3, 2011
We have a viewer in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the Canadian prairies to thank for this week’s podcast. Laurie brought her quirky little town to our radar and we thought it deserved wider notice. Who knew that tunnel ran directly from Moose Jaw to Chicago during Prohibition? There are actually two tours of the tunnels: [...]
Music Video from Montserrat
by Kathryn Whitbourne | November 18, 2011
Hope you enjoyed our podcast on Montserrat in Spain. Escalonia de Montserrat has posted a nice video on Youtube showcasing the choir and some nice shots of the monastery. Enjoy:
My friend Vanessa is a proud Montserratian — who is often mistaken for a Jamaican, mainly because not a lot of people in the U.S., where she lives, have heard of Montserrat. Her island home in the Caribbean made for a perfect podcast episode — small enough to be covered in 5 or 6 minutes. [...]
Listener Anne Marie recommended this site and once Rachel and I got a look at a picture, we could see why. Located in northern Thailand, Wat Rong Khun is unlike any other Buddhist temple. You walk over a white bridge to the main building surrounded on either side by a massive sculpture of grasping hands. [...]
Doing this podcast on literary landmarks was a labor of love. I love to read and I love to travel so what could be better than combining the two? We had so many other writers that we had to leave out, that I thought I’d provide a list in case you’d like explore some other [...]
While doing this podcast, Rachel and I got lots of inside info from our site director Tracy Wilson who lived in Asheville for many years. So we thought it would be fun to list her favorite places to eat and visit here. To Eat Laughing Seed, a vegetarian restaurant that has been around since 1991. [...]
Marathon-lovers, here’s one for you: November 30, 2011 will be the running of the seventh annual Antarctica Ice Marathon. Temperature will be balmy -4 F (-20 C) for your 26 mile run. And here’s a cheery note from the organizer’s Web site: “Forget about penguins or crowds cheering you along the route — no penguins [...]
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Golden Fields of Canola
- The Park That Never Sleeps: Central Park
- Draw a Pretty Picture With Your Bike and Your Phone
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Nebula in a Box
- Blow Your Mind: Three Minutes Till Impact
- Touching the Void: Psychedelics and Death
Stuff You Should Know
- Stuff You Should Know at SXSW
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Listener Mail: What’s the world’s largest engine?
- Listener Mail: What makes a “classic car” classic?
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
How-to Stuff
- How to Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
- How to Travel the World in 4 Days
- How to Smell Like Someone at HowStuffWorks
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 68: Astrology: What’s PopStuff’s Sign?
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 67: Collecting: PopStuff’s Cabinet of Curiosities
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 66: Tracy and Holly’s Running Playlists
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
- Good News from the Oldest Mayan Calendar
- One Year Later: Colony Collapse Disorder
- Who Killed Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
