The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
HowStuffWorks clears a trail for world explorers and armchair travelers alike.
A Musician’s Guide to Nashville
by Kathryn Whitbourne | October 8, 2012
As we noted on our last podcast, Nashville has far more to offer than country music, and we’ve put together a list of places you might want to check out when you visit, courtesy of Sarah’s musician friend Matthew Perryman Jones.
Incredibly (to me) people still live on Robben Island as maintenance workers. Even some of the former prisoners live here. “Would you live here?” someone asked our guide, a former prisoner. “Never,” he said. “Too many bad memories.”
Canada’s Narrowest Street
by Kathryn Whitbourne | September 17, 2012
One of the quirky things we learned doing this podcast on Victoria was that Canada’s narrowest street is located there. That would be Fan Tan Alley, just .9 of a meter or 35 inches wide at its narrowest, originally part of a network of gambling and opium dens located in Victoria’s Chinatown.
An Insider’s Look at Curacao
by Kathryn Whitbourne | September 10, 2012
Our recent podcast on Curacao received a lot of help from my friend Dennis who has lived on the island all his life. I could not include all his suggestions in the time we here are the rest of his stellar recommendations for your Curacao visit:
Vermont is well-known for its fall foliage which peaks in the first two weeks of October. But you could get a jump on things, and make the trip this month. Some areas will already start experiencing fall in September and you can still take advantage of the other fun activities we mentioned in our podcast.
Cumberland Island Reeled Us In
by Kathryn Whitbourne | August 20, 2012
Cumberland has a way of reeling people in with its unspoilt beaches, its feral horses and its decaying mansions; it certainly reeled us in on this podcast.
St Michaels was not a place I was familiar with before doing this podcast but it was suggested by knowledgeable viewers as an ideal place for a summer vacation – full of charming shops and restaurants, boat cruises and great seafood. Especially crab cakes.
Yep, the moon can create a pretty bow of color, too — as long as conditions are right.
Here’s the recipe: One, the moon needs to be full and the sky completely clear and dark. Two, there must be good deal of water vapor in the air through which the moon’s light can be refracted — resulting in that lovely spectrum of color.
In 2005, a BBC article revealed that hedgehog numbers were falling in the U.K. because folks were keeping their gardens too tidy! The article advised readers to keep at least part of their gardens “a bit haphazard” — with leaves and twigs lying about — so the creatures would settle in, make nests and thrive.
And who wouldn’t want a hedgehog in their yard?
I mentioned in our podcast on Ghost Towns that I had a little bit of a fascination with the wild west. Men and women built and lived in mining towns, raising their families while gunfights and prostitutes were commonplace on the streets, and brothels and saloons were among the few places to go for “entertainment.”
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
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
- 18th-Century Mayonnaise
- Do women have neater handwriting than men?
- Is learning cursive handwriting good for kids’ brains?
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Slay Your Paper Tigers
- Space Religion: Cao Dai and the 72 Inhabited Exoplanets
- Blow the Mind: Objects of Love
Stuff You Should Know
- “In The Neighborhood” by Jon Stewart Mosman
- “Thanatos” by Christopher Vincola
- “Frame Story” by Adam Pracht
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Show Notes: Heart-stopping Last Laps of Racing
- Never say Never: Jaguar XJ220 Spotted in the Wild!
- What’s your pick for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 pace car?
How-to Stuff
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 152: Final Episodes
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 151: Mailbag!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 150: Barbie!
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon

