Ultraculture

Japanese officials have just admitted the grim truth that since the 2011 Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and meltdown, 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium have leaked into the Pacific Ocean, plus a huge amount of cesium, as well as strontium—which replaces calcium in bones ... [Read more...]

You’ve probably seen what appears to be a nightmarish Fukushima radiation map showing radiation flowing out of Japan and stretching towards the west coast of America, coming to irradiate and mutate the entire coast. You may have experienced deep feelings of nausea, discomfort, existential dread o... [Read more...]

Authors Phil Smith and Simon Persighetti (who go by “Crab Man” and “Signpost”) have offered us a new way to engage our cities (or villages, or even pig trails) in A Sardine Street Box of Tricks—this is a “mis-guided” book about how and why to funk up tours; it’s about how to be a tour guide-cum-m... [Read more...]

Penn State doctoral candidate John Beieler has created a time-lapse visualization of every protest on the planet since 1979. And it is jaw-dropping, and I mean that in a real way, not in a BS blogger-overhyping-this-incredible-amazing-thing way. [Read more...]

It’s a startling sight: a well-kandured gentleman pulls out a one-hitter dokha pipe on the balcony of a posh restaurant overlooking a canal lit with periwinkle LEDs. He takes a hit and slowly turns his gaze skyward. The smoke doesn’t smell much like tobacco to me. I thought that was illegal here.... [Read more...]

Hinduism is quite likely the oldest “religion” in the world—but to call it a religion wouldn’t really be accurate, because it’s more accurately a collection of beliefs. There are more “religions” in India than in the rest of the world combined—and more than 300 million gods. [Read more...]

In the worst Internet drug rumor since the dreaded jenkem—a rumor I can only hope is not real—US teenagers are allegedly getting high from “shamboiling,” or boiling shampoo and huffing the fumes. [Read more...]