Las Médulas is a place of profound beauty with a surprising past. Source: Flickr

The Romans marched into Iberia in the second century BCE. The ruins of their architectural achievements are still scattered around the country, in Segovia, Mérida, Tarragona, Zaragoza, and many other places.

Las Médulas also bears a quiet testimony to the power of the empire. The mining site is located in the northwest of Spain, near where the region of Castilla y León meets the border of Galicia. The landscape here rises and falls in low, green mountains with slashes of orange cutting across them. These orange slashes are the scars of the Roman mining operations.

Las Médulas is where the Romans searched for gold. And they found it by tearing through the mountains of this verdant corner of Spain. According to ancient estimates, the Romans removed around 20,000 libra of gold from Spain each year, which converts to about 6,600 kilograms or 14,500 pounds. At current prices, this amount of gold is worth more than $27 million.

Source: Flickr

To get to the veins of gold inside, the Romans would split these mountains apart. Gaius Plinius Secundus, more commonly known as Pliny the Elder, served as a Roman procurator in Spain in the 1st century, and in his encyclopedic Natural History, he describes two methods for breaking mountains to bits, both of which would have been used in Spain.

Source: Wikimedia

In the first, workmen dug large gallery rooms deep into the mountains: think of an enormous underground parking garage held up only by wooden arches. According to Pliny, the men worked in these galleries of ore “for many months” without seeing the light of the sun. They harvested as much gold and metal as they could and then, when it seemed the resources had been depleted, they evacuated. A sentinel would then give an order to pull out the wooden beams beneath the arches that supported the weight of the mountain. Pliny describes what happened next:

The mountain, rent to pieces, is cleft asunder, hurling its debris to a distance with a crash which it is impossible for the human imagination to conceive; and from the midst of a cloud of dust, of a density quite incredible, the victorious miners gaze upon this downfall of Nature.

The post Las Médulas: Splitting Mountains In Search Of Spanish Gold appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Maria in front of the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

The word “witch” often conjures images of warts and pointy noises; broomsticks and cauldrons, and a woman whose ways should not just be avoided but punished. For a time, photographer Katarzyna Majak had precisely this same vision of what constitutes a witch.

Majak grew up in the primarily Catholic country of Poland, and wanted to explore the lives of those who failed to identify just as Catholic, but instead chose to live their lives as witches, druids and non-traditional healers. “I had realized there was something amiss around,” Majak explaines. “I intuitively felt what the mainstream offers to women does not satisfy their deeper search.”

And so Majak set out to create an alternate vision of the “Polish Mother,” a woman who gives up her own growth and freedom in order to dedicate her entire life to caring for her family. “When I started working on the project I felt some kind of attraction or ‘calling,’ to get deeper and stay open,” Majak explained. “This must have been the witch calling me, and I followed my instinct.”

Majak’s exploration culminated with a photo series entitled “Women of Power,” which features photographs of and interviews with the diverse group of women that have chosen to forge their own futures.

The majority of Majak’s photographs are taken against a simple gray screen, allowing the vibrancy of the women’s wardrobes as well as any implements and talismans to stand out in full detail. Says Majak of her work, “I show women who live examples of empowerment, women who live their own lives and follow their own paths, and are courageous enough to show their faces, with the hope that this will empower others. These are women who know who they are: they are their own queens.”

The book begins with an introduction by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. Says Tokarczuk of the models, “the women speak of their efforts to take back that which they have lost: the power of matriarchal cults, access to the sources of power, their sexuality, and also their right to natural birth, dignity, strength, female art, contact with nature and finally many female traditions that were mostly forgotten and suppressed.”

The witch, then, is no longer an outsider. Rather, she is someone who believes in herself and her right to determine her own future. And maybe she always has been, and maybe we’ve always been a bit afraid of that. But perhaps it is time to change our minds. Majak’s photo series is definitely a good start.

You can find more on the project at Porter Contemporary. In the meantime, check out more of the “witches” below:

: Justyna practices the MA-URI healing arts. Source: Porter Contemporary

Maria, a visionary and healer. Source: Porter Contemporary

Joanna, Leader of women’s circles and ceremonies. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Natalia LL, an artist, from the “Women of Power” series. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Katarzyna, an herbal healer. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Elwinga, a druid, from “Women of Power” series. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Kasia Emilia, “The One who Is.” Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Paraskiewa, a whisperer, from “Women of Power” series. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Bea, “The One who Listens to the Woods.” Source: Porter Contemporary

Anna, Babka, a whisperer. Image: Katarzyna Majak Source: Huffington Post

Witches and healers often do not find themselves bound by society’s need for clothing. Source: Porter Contemporary

A hooded figure from “Women of Power.” Source: Culture

The post Modern-Day Witches: Fewer Brooms, More Self-Determination appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Glenn Murtha and his brother jump from a second-story window in Newcastle, England, 1979. Source: Tish Murtha/AmberSide Collection

Glenn Murtha tells the story of this photo in an interview with The Guardian, extracted below for your reading pleasure:

he derelict houses in our neighbourhood were our playground. We’d jump from the second-floor window on to a pile of mattresses. Sometimes we’d get a bit hurt, but we didn’t have any fear in those days. Mrs Thatcher had just come to power and it was a time of austerity. My dad had his own scrap business, so he got a bit of trouble from the council for having vans and scrap in the yard, but he made a living from it, so they left him alone.

We didn’t just use the houses for fun. When a house was demolished, we’d climb in and take scrap and bits of antique doors and frames, and sell them in the scrapyard or keep them. We’d also find timber to make fires. Our family is Irish Catholic. I was 17, the second youngest of 10 children – the lad behind me in the window is my youngest brother – and every room in our house had a fireplace, so we needed a lot of timber.

The boy with the ventriloquist’s dummy is also my brother, and the lad climbing the wall is Tommy. I used to go drinking with him, but he hanged himself a couple of years after this photo was taken.

My sister Tish took this photo when she was 26. She also took a lot of others, and her work is still famous, particularly in the north-east. I’ve seen her pictures in school textbooks, illustrating stories about racism in Britain. She did a lot of projects like photographing juvenile jazz bands, Soho by night; this picture is for her series on youth unemployment. She never told us to pose; she’d just come along and capture a moment. She was nine years older than me. I would stand in the darkroom that she made up in the cupboard and watch her get the paper into the liquid, and all of a sudden a photograph would appear. I thought that was amazing. She died a couple of years ago of an aneurysm, aged 57, God rest her soul. I still can’t believe she died like that.

Tish had the interest in photography – she was the lucky one. The boys didn’t get that chance, because we all went straight out working. I was put on a government scheme that we called “ET” – because we’d earn an Extra Tenner a week – in Northumberland, in a lead mine in Allenheads. I had to travel 50 miles a day to get there and back. One morning, they asked me to have a go at the cement mixer. I put the handle in to wind it up, turned it round and it whacked me in the leg, damaging my ligament. I had to sit there all day and wait for everyone to finish work. It wasn’t until 4.30pm that they took me to hospital, 50 miles away.

It was a hard time, but we always had an adventure. I went to London to work on building sites because there was no work in Newcastle, but I’m back now, living in a flat on the seventh floor. I never got married – I’m still single and I prefer to be that way these days. I’ve had good fortunes and bad; I’m not working at the moment, because I’ve got a blockage in my leg from diabetes, and worn-down vertebrae from all my work digging the roads when I was younger. I’m going on 54, and I’d still love to jump out of a window on to some mattresses. I couldn’t now, unless I had a parachute.”

The post Fun In Thatcher’s England: Newcastle, 1979 appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Source: The Guardian

Americans were at the forefront of inventing and making widespread use of television. We were also at the forefront of using it as a teaching tool for uplifting people all over the world. Unfortunately, we were also the first to toss that noble vision right out the window and run cigarette ads thinly disguised as news programs and hundreds of episodes of The Gong Show.

But, despite our own imbecility, Americans are consistently amazed at the surreal TV sometimes produced overseas. Every culture that has adopted TV has approached the medium in its own unique way, from North Korea’s all-propaganda, all the time format, to Japanese game shows that cross the conceptual boundary between lowbrow entertainment and actionable war crimes. It’s as if TV was our kid, who we sent to college overseas, only to have her come back as a Mao-quoting anarchist who runs a scat play blog on Tumblr.

Sometimes, mass media, ratings desperation, and striking cultural differences collide—and the results are then broadcast for the world (and a few aliens, probably) to see. Fortunately, some thoughtful people have done the public service of uploading the weirdest moments of surreal TV from overseas to the Internet for posterity.

Turkish News Anchor Actually Does What Sean Hannity Has Only Dreamed Of

Right, Barack Obama. Left, surreal TV incarnate. Source: Ekstra Bladet

A standard template plays out whenever an American public figure does something facefuckingly racist. First, the offender issues a passive-voice public apology to “anyone who might have been offended.” After that, they usually have a sit-down with Al Sharpton or Oprah Winfrey to apologize again, talk about their recent donation to the UNCF, and explain that they wrote “Obama = White Slaver” on a watermelon and threw it off a building as satire. The ritual completed, the public—sometimes—forgives and moves on.

In the above clip–perhaps the most surreal TV you’ll ever see–which aired on Turkish television in April 2009, we see an anchorman donning blackface and going into a split-screen with footage of President Obama—you know, just in case the viewer forgot who the segment was about. The anchor’s words were:

“Welcome, Mr. Obama. You took our hearts with your hospitality. We appreciate your kindness. We will do whatever America asks of us, as friends. Now, we ask the same of you.”

If this had been American TV, it’s possible this guy wouldn’t have made it all the way home that night, but in this case, it seems to have been a genuine combination of satire and cultural norms lost in translation. In traditional Turkish culture, when one person asks another for a favor, the former’s face is said to be darkened with shame. During the broadcast, the anchor was rhetorically asking several favors of Obama on behalf of Turkey, hence the face paint.

Still, holy shit.

Surreal TV, Communist Style

Source: Propaganda Simon Says

Communism didn’t offer much to its subjects, but you’d think a lack of obviously dishonest commercials would be one benefit of a system where the profit motive was often outlawed. After all, if there’s only one store, which sells only one type of washing machine, and both the store and the product are owned by the government, which might shoot you for trying to import foreign products, why bother advertising?

You’d be wrong, however. Lies serve a definite purpose in democratic countries. After all, if Dick Cheney had told the truth about Iraq, would we have invaded? If Barack Obama had shared his honest opinion about gay marriage in 2008, would he have been elected? Lies are an understandable, if regrettable, consequence of the need to gin up popular support in American politics. Communist dictatorships, on the other hand, don’t run by popular consent, thus they have no need to lie to garner support. But they absolutely do not let that stop them from slathering the airwaves with happy-talk propaganda about how awesome everything is under the regime’s benevolent rule.

This video ran on East German TV around Christmas 1958. On the surface, it’s a perfectly boring sequence about tractors and holiday shopping. What makes this jump-the-shark surreal, however, is that everybody who watched it knew it was pure lies. Officially, it’s a summary of the government’s economic gains over the year (they were awesome, thanks), and then a loving portrait of a typical German couple window shopping at the government store, Konsum.

Except Konsum often didn’t even have goods for sale. Sure, there was neat stuff (by communist standards) in the windows, but the shelves were often totally empty, and every citizen of East Germany knew it. There’s no evidence this short film was intended for overseas distribution; it was aimed at East Germans. Why? What’s the point (other than unintentionally creating some surreal TV)? Were people in Dresden supposed to rush down to Konsum to get the mediocre tote bags and cameras that weren’t actually for sale? (That last one seems like an exceptionally cruel joke; photography was tightly restricted by the authorities and punished with hard labor). What was the desired outcome, other than a spike in the suicide rate?

The Internet Finally Explodes; Fragments Rain Down on Russian TV Station

Source: Mashable

There’s no real explanation for this. Like all great art, either it explains itself, or it fails:

Literally every second of that video is more insane than the one that preceded it. Note to TV producers: when you open with a ventriloquist, move on to a generically Middle-Eastern…road worker? and wrap it up with Darth Vader and low-budget t.A.T.u. impersonators, all set to a live version of the Trololo song, sung by Eduard Khil himself, you’re trying too hard for an Emmy.

The post Three Unbelievably Surreal TV Moments From Overseas appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Get ready: you’re about to be struck with some serious wanderlust. From secluded towns tucked among looming mountains to frequently-visited, technicolor villages with more canals than concrete, we’ve selected a handful of destinations which prove that cities don’t hold a monopoly on culture:

Annecy, France

Source:

Travelers looking for a break from the sights–and smells–of Paris, delight: Annecy is here for you. Boasting all the French charm you could want and fabulous views of the southeastern French town is not to be missed. Whether it’s swimming in the aqua lake of Lac d’Annecy (one of the purest lakes in all of Europe), biking, or just walking about the old town area (Vieille Ville), Annecy begs to be explored. The provincial charm is further highlighted by the Château d’Annecy, a restored castle that was once home to the Counts of Geneva.

The post Who Needs The City? 9 Beautiful Towns You Have To Visit appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Source: Education For Sustainability

In 1332, a Franciscan monk from Ireland visited the island of Crete. While there, he wrote this description of what he called “the descendants of Cain,” whom he met outside the town of Heraklion:

“They rarely, or ever remain in one place more than thirty days; but ever, as though bearing God’s curse with them, after the thirtieth day, go like vagabonds and fugitives from one locality to another, in the manner of the Arabs, with small, oblong, black, low tents, and run from cavern to cavern, because the place where they establish themselves becomes in that space of time so full of vermin and filth that it is no longer habitable.”

This was the first written account in Western Europe of the people who would come to be known as Gypsies, or Romani. Over the next four centuries, these people, who began their journey in northern India a thousand years prior, would cross every kingdom and principality in Europe. By the 18th century, they had traveled to America, and today they live all over the world.

Some Romani still live in the traditional manner–migrating from place to place, always staying outside of cities–while others have joined the larger society around them. In every place they’ve ever lived, the Romani have taken up local languages and religions, married into the local population, and somehow retained their distinct identity.

This has been both a blessing and a curse, as the Gypsies’ place in society has oscillated from “tolerated” to “actively persecuted.” Nevertheless, it seems 16 centuries of history are difficult to completely erase, and the ancient lifestyle survives to this day:

Enjoy this? For more of the “People without a Country” series, check out our stories on the Sawhrawi people.

The post People Without a Country: The Gypsies appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

A child holds a self-made placard reading “SOS help me” outside the railways station in Budapest, Hungary. Image Source: Reuters

With over 2,000 migrants gathered outside of Budapest’s Keleti train station last night, tension grew between refugees and Hungary’s riot police force.

Many migrants began angrily chanting the word “freedom” in an attempt to remind Hungarian officials of the severity of their situation. Within the past week, Hungary has lifted and then re-instated the ban on migrants taking the train to Austria and Germany, leaving many migrants stranded in the station.

European governments vary in sentiments and responses regarding the migrant crisis. Some nations, like Germany, have recently decided to welcome Syrians and accept asylum applications. Others, including Austria and Slovakia, express skepticism and have toughened border controls to prevent further refugee arrivals.

For its part, Hungary has built a much-criticized razor wire fence along its border with Serbia. Said Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs regarding the fence, “We have to reinstate law and order at the borders of the European Union, including the border with Serbia. Without re-establishing law and order, it will be impossible to handle the influx of migrants.”

Hungary has received over 150,000 migrants in the past year, according to ABC News. Many feel stuck in the nation, and demand that they be allowed to travel west to Germany.

As the standoff between refugees and Hungarian authorities continues, thousands set off from the capital hoping for a better life elsewhere.

Learn more about the Syrian civil war in our gallery.

The post Photo Of The Day: Child Refugee Pleads For Help In Budapest Train Station appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Image Source: Teresa Cantero

We already know that Spain is filled with superlatives: it’s home to the best restaurant in the world, the best parties – check out San Fermines or Las Fallas – and possibly the best word of all, siesta. But what we might not know is that this southern European country also hosts a small piece of heaven: the Cíes Islands.

In the northwest region of Galicia, a land of Celtic heritage and incredible seafood, await the Islas Cíes, or Cíes Islands, a stunning archipelago only reachable by boat and home to one of the biggest seagull colonies in Europe. Composed of crystalline waters and white sand, in 2007 The Guardian deemed Rodas Beach – which connects Cíes’ two largest islands – the best beach in the world.

What’s behind Cíes Islands’ national – and increasingly international – recognition? We explore that question and provide some answers below:

They are visually stunning

Three islands, none larger than 3km in length (about the width of Manhattan at its widest), and a few small islets overlook the bay of Vigo and the Atlantic Ocean, with deep cliffs, stunning sunsets and incomparable beaches. The longest beach, Playa de Rodas, connects the two biggest islands – Faro and Monteagudo – via a sandy isthmus.

Image Source: Teresa Cantero

Their sand beaches are to die for

On the eastern side of the islands you can find two stunning sand beaches: Figueras and Rodas, with very clear – and very cold – water, white sand, and all the warmth of the sun. Besides those two, there are seven other sand beaches all over the islands and islets, even a nudist one. The longest beach, Rodas, has a length of 1,200 meters, or around three quarters of a mile, making it prime beach walking territory.

Rodas Beach. Image Source: Teresa Cantero

Added benefit: it almost never rains here.

They feature generous hiking routes

Image Source: Teresa Cantero

The Cíes Islands have four different hiking routes. Three of them take visitors to a lighthouse – yes, that’s right, there are three beautiful lighthouses in Cíes – and the other leads travelers to a sensational spot for sunset watching, Alto do Príncipe. Better yet, these one to two mile-long hiking trails offer several bird observatories along the way, which are perfect for getting to know the islands’ avian denizens.

The post The World’s Best Beach Isn’t In Bali – It’s In Spain appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Image Source: Universitetet i Bergen

Many Americans, especially liberals who don’t get out much, tend to imagine Europe as a kind of fabled kingdom full of generous welfare benefits and strong labor unions. To these types, Europe is the kind of place where you can spend the summer living in a communal squat, dropping by the local hash dispensary, and just generally have a much better life than you would in the United States.

It’s true that European countries consistently hover toward the top of global human development rankings, and that the 35-hour workweek starts sounding pretty good around noon on Fridays, but there are downsides to living under European law. Ironically, the very feature of European politics that has led to the rise of successful social democracies – a willingness to be flexible when the law is at odds with common sense – has also opened up a lot of weird, potentially troubling legal spaces:

Inquisitorial Courts: Actually Worse Than They Sound

Image Source: The Lingua File

The British and American legal systems operate as follows: the prosecutor, played by George C. Scott, says you’re guilty. Your lawyer, played by Spencer Tracy, asks to see the evidence and calls the prosecutor out on any perceived violations of your rights. The whole thing happens in public, and an impartial jury determines your guilt – at least theoretically.

The boss of the court is the judge, who may or may not be played by Raymond Burr, and is required to avoid even the appearance of unfairness. The idea is that you and your lawyer are on even footing with your accusers, and that the truth will come out in your confrontation while the court remains impartial.

All that goes out the window with inquisitorial courts, which are surprisingly common across Europe. In an inquisitorial system, it’s the judge who opens the investigation, examines witnesses, decides to proceed to a trial, and finally determines guilt or innocence. Lawyers generally don’t have a right to cross-examine hostile witnesses, and the court is under no obligation to disclose evidence that it deems irrelevant.

It can be a real shock for a vacationing American to discover that the judge who’s hearing evidence in his drug possession case is also the prosecutor who brought the charges in the first place.

Beware of angry judges. Image Source: WABE 90.1 FM | Atlanta’s NPR Station

Defenders of the inquisitorial system argue that it’s more likely than an adversarial system to expose mistakes and misunderstandings early in the process, when the magistrate is still directing the investigation. Critics can’t help but notice that in this system, it’s likely that the defendant is presumed to be guilty by the judge/prosecutor/principal accuser, otherwise the trial wouldn’t have been called in the first place.

Another consequence of the inquisitorial system is that, since both the defense and the prosecution may appeal verdicts, a defendant who has been acquitted might find himself back in court when the prosecutor takes the case to a higher level. France also has a unique “double-trial” system, in which the criminal courts and administrative courts can both prosecute some defendants.

In practice, this means that even an innocent defendant can be tied up in court, possibly while sitting in jail, for years without being convicted, as the case slowly wends its way up the judicial chain of command. At the top of that chain, by the way, is not a supreme court, but a minister of justice, who is part of the cabinet and theoretically motivated by political considerations. Good luck.

The post Sorry, Lefties: Europe Isn’t Political Paradise appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

The classic dress such as lederhosen, over the knee leather pants, and traditional head wear are all on full display during the costume parade. Source: AP Photo/Matthias Schrader

As temperatures begin to cool and daylight hours start to dwindle, there is little better way to send summer off than by sipping a cold beer with family and friends. But what if we told you that what we recognize as Oktoberfest, the German festival which does just that and then some, was not exactly meant to last more than one week?

A Brief History Of Oktoberfest

What would become Oktoberfest is portrayed on this early German postcard. Source: Mein-Bayern

The annual festival, which this year takes place from September 20 through October 5th, was actually borne out of a party — and a royal one, at that. On October 12, 1810, to celebrate the nuptials of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, the citizens of Munich were invited to partake by essentially partying in the fields.

Townspeople called the party grounds Theresienwiese, or Theresa’s meadow, and they reveled there for six days. By the time the horse races were held on October 17th, the event had hosted close to 40,000 observers, all of whom tasted many beers and wines at Theresienwiese (later shortened to Wiesn, as it remains today). When the horse races were held again the following year, the annual tradition of Oktoberfest had officially been born.

Barrels of beer being delivered for the 1908 Munich Oktoberfest. Source: Photos of War

Three friends enjoying a beer on a hillside during an early 1900s Oktoberfest celebration. Source: Oktoberfest

Throughout the 19th century, wars and cholera outbreaks would occasionally force the Bavarian brew fest to take a breather, but since its 1810 inception, Oktoberfest festivities grew to include everything from bowling alleys to swings to dance floors.

By the time World War One hit in the early 20th century, Oktoberfest had expanded to domains outside of Germany. In the United States, Ohio became another Oktoberfest hub, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise given its ample German heritage.

The Germania Society of Cincinnati has been holding Oktoberfest festivals in Ohio since 1971. Source: OTR Matters

As more Germans entered the United States, they brought their Oktoberfest traditions with them. Over the years and around the world, Oktoberfest has become associated with autumn. Source: OTR Matters

As the century wore on, the festival’s status and the rules governing it served as somewhat useful indicators of what was going on within the German state: in 1923 and 24, the festival was canceled due to soaring inflation; in the early 1930s, the festival was used as a form of Nazi propaganda, and eventually in 1933, Jews were forbidden to work on Wiesn. As Hitler consolidated power, Oktoberfest became a symbol of nationalistic pride and strength. When that deadly nationalism led to world war, from 1939 to 1945 not a single Oktoberfest took place.

By 1950, the festival was back to “normal” save for the horse races, which ended that year — presumably because at that point the Kentucky Derby had already cornered the binge drinking-horse betting market.

The vibe in pre-World War II Munich was far more mellow than that of present day. Times change, but Oktoberfest has been a reason to eat, drink and be merry for more than 200 years. Source: Oktoberfest

The popularity of the celebration still continues to grow, with an estimated 6 million people attending the events in Munich each year. Source: Culinary Globetrotter

What You’re Getting Wrong About Oktoberfest

Though it’s an undeniably large draw, Oktoberfest is not solely about beer and food. Many individual celebrations have their own traditions; Munich, in particular, holds a huge carnival at the fairgrounds, complete with rides and games. Source: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

A lesser known fact about the Munich festival (and many other traditional events throughout Germany) is that, unlike in the United States, if you want to drink, you have to be seated at a table — and those tables are really hard to land. When tents open in the morning (usually between 9 and 10 a.m.), it is a true stampede of bodies rushing to secure a table.

One of the things most people associate with Oktoberfest today are the beer girls. Dressed in classic Bavarian costumes, the beer girls are responsible for seating and serving of those in attendance. A helpful tip to the tourists – treat them very well. In many ways they control whether or not you will have a good time. Source: Wikipedia

Beyond being realistic about seating, if you want to enjoy your Oktoberfest experience, it is extra important that you be friendly with your beer girl, who also handles seating. You’re already going to be paying around twice per stein than you normally would, but if you’re kind to your server, she may be able to find you an elusive and coveted spot in a seemingly full tent.

The beer girls are known for serving large groups at the same time, often toting ten or more liter beer steins at once – without the use of a tray or even spilling a single drop. Source: Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Likewise, if you want to get the most out of Oktoberfest, you should get there when the festival itself starts. The official Oktoberfest costume parade is held on the first Sunday of the event, and includes nearly 10,000 participants. The parade consists not only of authentic German fashion, but also classic Bavarian customs, music, and folk dancing. Should you enjoy yourself a little too much, the Bavarian branch of the German Red Cross operates an aid facility and provides for emergency medical care on the festival grounds. But try not to become a statistic: in 2014, over 600 visitors had alcohol poisoning at the Munich festival.

Bratwursts and sauerkraut are both very popular and prevalent Oktoberfest dishes, but roast chicken is also a very common choice. Source: Alexandra Beier/Getty Images

The Oktoberfest parties are often wild affairs – in Germany and around the world. Source: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

Even thought there is an entire parade to show off costumes, there is never a shortage of women showing off all styles of traditional dress. Displaying a fashionable flair is a large part of the Oktoberfest experience. Source: TNT Magazine

The post Here’s What You Need To Know About Oktoberfest appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Image Source: The Mirror

High fashion and the migrant crisis have collided in Hungarian photographer Norbert Baksa’s “migrant chic” new photo shoot. In the photos, viewers can see a “migrant” model being dragged away by authorities, or checking her Chanel-branded phone. A razor-wire fence reminiscent of the Hungary-Serbia border looms in the background of both. The model, Monika Jablonczky, is in various states of undress throughout the shoot, presenting a stark contrast to the conservative style of women’s dress in the Middle East.

Baksa is calling the photo shoot “Der Migrant,” and his photos drew criticism from all across the Internet within hours of posting them to social media on Monday. Responses ranged from offended to outraged.

Europe is struggling to cope with the more than 500,000 people who have already fled to the continent this year, many of them Syrian refugees escaping civil war. Hungary has taken heavy handed measures to prevent these people from entering the country, including conducting mass arrests of migrants and constructing a 109-mile long razor wire fence between its border with Serbia.

Baksa posted a note on his website defending his motives and his photographs. He states they were “not intended to glamourize (sic) this clearly bad situation,” rather they were created to “draw the attention to the problem and make people think about it.” He also posted on Twitter that the pictures were reproductions of media reports in Hungary, representing the duality of some refugees being shown fleeing for their life and others shown as terrorists.

“Regarding the reactions,” Baksa wrote on his website, “I hoped people would realize that the situation is very complex and see that they are taking stands based on partial or biased information. I do not understand how people can take a clear stand (pro or con) while we are flooded with contradictory information through the media, so no one has extensive knowledge of the situation as a whole. This is exactly what we wanted to picture: you see a suffering woman, who is also beautiful and despite her situation, has some high quality pieces of outfit and a smartphone.”

Baksa has since removed the photographs.

The post Photo Of The Day: European Refugee Crisis Given High Fashion Treatment In Hungary appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

A plane made an emergency landing in Cork after a man bit another man and had to be restrained. Image Source: Daily Mail

There’s a newspaper industry saying that goes, “‘Dog Bites Man’ isn’t news, but ‘Man Bites Dog’ is.” So what about when “man bites man?”

Aer Lingus Flight El 485 was en route to Dublin from Lisbon on Sunday night when a 24-year-old passenger “ran amok” and bit another passenger, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing and send the remaining passengers on their way to the Irish capital by bus, officials said.

After biting another passenger, reports claim that the biting man was restrained and later became unwell — to the point that he entered a state of unconsciousness and died on the flight, the Irish Mirror wrote.

The flight crew broadcasted the emergency message “Pan Pan” three times, alerting air traffic controllers of an in-flight situation. The pilot requested clearance to land the plane at the airport in Cork, around 160 miles from Dublin, and labeled the incident a mid-flight emergency.

A doctor on-board tried to help the hungry passenger, but to no avail. As they neared the Cork airport, the flight crew told air traffic control that the man didn’t have a pulse. He was pronounced dead on the scene when the plane landed at around 5:40 p.m.

The remaining 168 passengers and flight crew were escorted off of the plane, questioned by Irish police and had their luggage searched. A yet-to-be-identified substance was found in a Portuguese woman’s bag and she was detained under the Irish Republic’s Drug Trafficking Act for further questioning.

Three hours after the emergency landing in Cork, the passengers, minus the biting man, the man who was bitten and the woman suspected of drug trafficking, were released and continued on their way to Dublin.

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The Lenin statue before and after its transformation. Image Source: SFGate

The Dark Side has established itself in Odessa, Ukraine.

A statue of Vladimir Lenin, brutal leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and key figure in the creation of the Soviet Union, was converted into a statue of Darth Vader in response to a law requiring local governments to remove communist and Nazi symbols and names. Alexander Milov, a Ukrainian sculptor who made his mark in the art world at the Burning Man festival this year, was behind the statue’s transformation.

“I wanted to make a symbol of American pop culture which appears to be more durable than the Soviet ideal,” Milov told the BBC. Milov also mentioned that he would rather move all of the communist statues to a place like Disneyland where they could be observed than destroy the history of the area.

The statue would have been torn down in compliance with the law, but instead Milov fitted a titanium alloy cape and a WiFi-wired helmet onto the Sith Lord. The original bronze Lenin statue was left inside, “so that the grateful or not–so–grateful descendants could exhume him, if needed,” Milov told Ukraine Today.

This isn’t Odessa residents’ first brush with Darth Vader references. The Star Wars villain is also listed as the main candidate of the Internet Party of Ukraine in the city’s Oct. 25 mayoral elections.

The post Photo Of The Day: Artist Turns Vladimir Lenin Statue Into Darth Vader appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Mr. Vít Jedlička with the flag of Liberland. Image Source: Liberland Press Office

Vít Jedlička wasn’t happy with his home country, the Czech Republic, so he decided to start his own. He searched the world high and low for the perfect spot, and found it in a small piece of terra-nullius (no-man’s land) between Croatia and Serbia. He called his scant, 2.7-square mile (7 sq. km) kingdom Liberland. On April 13th of this year, Jedlička arrived in Liberland with his girlfriend and a childhood friend, put down a flag and claimed the territory.

The euro-skeptic, who still presides over the libertarian-leaning Free Citizens Party in the Czech Republic, spoke exclusively with ATI on the six-month anniversary of Liberland’s founding. A demilitarized zone with “outsourced prisons” where everybody can carry a gun and marry whomever they want, but where the microstate will not offer any type of public education or health, Liberland has just launched its new coin – called the merit – and the leadership professes admiration for the United States’ Tea Party movement.

How did all this get started?
From a very early age I was trying to push for more freedom around me. I spent a lot of time fighting for that in my country, the Czech Republic, but that was not fruitful. The old system was very complicated and it seemed too hard to change anything, so I thought it would be much easier to create a new country than to reform an old one.

You founded Liberland on April 13th, the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the United States. Are you planning to keep this date as the national day of Liberland?
Yes, definitely. It will be our national day, and we are planning a festival as well.

Which other things from the American system would you like to implement in Liberland?
The general ideas of the American Revolution and the Tea Party are quite similar to what we are doing now in Liberland. We are very much inspired from the old American system, as it was working, and we would like to learn from what has been done in the US.

You have received around 400,000 citizenship applications. Are you going to accept every petition, or will only the best candidates who fulfill the requirements get it?
We are planning to use the British system, where the country sells citizenship for one million pounds. We will accept any form of energy, where people can help us with their time or connections and get points for that, or otherwise they can just donate to Liberland and receive our money for it.

Is there a minimum amount of donation established for citizenship?
10,000 merits. It equals 10,000 dollars. The minimum donation for citizenship will rise with every single acceptance by one merit. After a thousand people get the citizenship, the price will jump to 100,000 merits for citizenship.

Have you started accepting any applications already?
Yes, the system is four days old so we just very recently started the merit system.
Note: This conversation happened on the 12th of October, 2015.

In order to get citizenship, is it mandatory to move to Liberland?
Not really, but if you want to receive the citizenship you need to at least make a visit to the state.

How many citizens do you plan to have in, for example, the first five years of existence?
Maybe 50,000.

The post Meet The President Of Liberland, A Tea Party Paradise In Eastern Europe appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

After visiting Spain for the commemoration of the nation’s 60-year membership with the United Nations on October 30^th, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon took a private tour of the city of Segovia. Located in central Spain, the small, walled city makes for a wonderful trip for history lovers, with its medieval castles and the best-preserved Roman aqueduct in the world. One of its villages, La Granja de San Ildefonso, is home to a fantastic Royal Palace that was used as the king’s summer residence for 200 years. The leaves of the sprawling royal gardens are now changing, and the Secretary General and his wife did not want to miss it. After visiting ourselves, we can see why:

All images come courtesy of Teresa Cantero. Use by permission. All rights reserved.

The post PHOTOS: This Is What Spain’s “Versailles” Looks Like In Fall appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Source: Ali Express

In the High Middle Ages, people could more or less say what they thought of you, your government, and even your personal attributes, and there wasn’t anything you could do to stop them. Worse, if you were King Æthelred the Unready, your subjects could coin a derisive nickname and send it down with you through a thousand years of history.

As it happens, “Unready” is a clumsy translation of Æthelred’s Anglish moniker: “unraed.” A better translation might be “unwise,” or “ill-advised.” If Æthelred’s subjects meant the latter, never has a more appropriate nickname been coined for a monarch.

Early Life

Source: Blogspot

Æthelred was born the son of King Edgar, in around 968, and was the younger brother of Edward the Martyr. When your brother’s nickname is “the Martyr,” you know you’re in for a rough childhood. Edward died in 978, when his brother (and next in line for the throne) was only 10 years old.

Nobody seems to have blamed Æthelred (who was 10, remember) for the murder, though it was done in his house, by his advisors, and the body was left in his yard, so a few noble eyebrows did arch when Æthelred was crowned king (at 10, please remember) shortly after the gruesome homicide.

Making things worse, England under the adolescent king was going through an awkward phase of its own. Fractious nobles spent most of their time shoving each other around and building fortified houses to stage raids out of. Meanwhile, the Danes were attacking from the sea. 10th-century Denmark wasn’t the cheese-and-social-democracy society we know today; it was a Viking kingdom. Word that the Danes were raiding the coast back then was like a modern leader having to deal with an invasion by Klingons.

Paying the Danegeld

Source: Blogspot

To his credit, Æthelred really tried to get a grip on things. Realizing that the kingdom must put up a united front to have any chance at all against the Danes, the king tried to make peace between the various lords of his realm.

One especially valuable alliance was with Byrthnoth, the Earldorman of Essex, who commanded a (relatively) huge army of retainers, and whose land was a special target for Danish attacks. Æthelred made an awful lot of compromises to bring Byrthnoth onto his side, which is why the battle of Maldon, fought in 991 when Æthelred was 24 years old, was such a huge disaster.

The battle of Maldon, in its way, sums up everything that was wrong with England at the time. It began when the Danish pirates made a horrible blunder: they landed on a small spit of land that was connected to the mainland by such a narrow causeway that they could be held off by only three men standing abreast. In fact, the whole causeway was submerged at high tide, so Byrthnoth knew the time and the place of the fight, and he showed up with virtually his whole force.

At first, things went swimmingly. The Danes didn’t have a hope in hell of forcing the causeway, and they had to quit the field altogether when the tide rolled in. Realizing their awful position, the Danish raiders shouted across the water that it would be more honorable to fight on open land, and that all the cool earldormen were doing it. Byrthnoth, showing a shocking gullibility, agreed to let the Danes pass unhindered to fight on the nearby plain, fair and square. The Danes rewarded such chivalry by slaughtering the whole force and cutting off Byrthnoth’s head.

The causeway still exists. Byrthnoth, not so much. Source: WordPress

With friends like Byrthnoth, Æthelred decided it might be a good idea to start paying tribute, or “Danegeld” to the raiders who were cutting through his kingdom like honey badgers in a chicken coop. With the help of the pope, England and Denmark signed a treaty in 991. In 992, the Danes started attacking again because, treaty or no treaty, there was still a lot to steal in England.

The post Better Know A Despot: Æthelred The Unready appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Image Source: National Geographic

“My client is not in a hurry.”

Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s words couldn’t ring more true as his marvelous masterwork Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, commonly known as La Sagrada Família, finally enters its final phase of construction.

The soaring Roman Catholic basilica has been under construction in Barcelona since 1883, when Gaudí became the chief architect. He worked on the church for 43 years, transforming the then-modest Gothic church into a breathtaking structure, until his life was tragically taken in a fatal tram accident, in 1926. At the time, just a quarter of his project had been completed.

The most-visited monument in Spain rises hundreds of feet above downtown Barcelona and attracts some 3 million visitors a year. After Gaudí’s death, it was widely believed the Sagrada Família would never be completed, with some even believing it should remain unfinished.

But after 133 years, the current chief architect, Jordi Faulí, has finally announced a completion date sometime in 2026, on the centennial of Gaudí’s death. With more than 70% of the structure completed, the tallest religious building in Europe will tower at 564 feet tall and have 18 towers by the time it is, at long last, complete.

The post Photo Of The Day: The Magnificent Spanish Cathedral 133 Years In The Making appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

U-118, a WWI German U-boat, washed ashore in Britain one year after it was built. Image Source: Rare Historical Photos

German U-boats were among the most feared weapons of World War I. And when one (U-118) washed ashore in Britain like a beached whale, people from all around flocked to take a look.

U-118 was launched on Feb. 23, 1918, surrendered exactly one year later, and then landed–unassisted–in Hastings a few months later after the tow line taking it to France broke. The French ship towing U-118 tried to shoot it to pieces after it drifted ashore, but it remained generally intact and the submarine’s proximity to the Queens hotel stymied further shots. And it stayed generally intact for months on the beach of Hastings.

The submarine was an instant hit. Thousands of people swarmed the seafront. The enterprising town clerk started charging people a fee to be allowed on board, the proceeds of which went toward a parade for returning soldiers the following year. Despite it’s popularity as a tourist attraction, it was still a death machine that had left many families without fathers. Children slammed the sub with rocks throughout the night, which led residents to demand that it be broken up. Slowly, over a period of two months, U-118 was broken up and taken away piece by piece until the reminder of the horrors of The Great War was removed from the beach.

The post Photo Of The Day: WW1 German U-Boat Washes Ashore In Britain appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

In many American elementary schools, kids are taught that Thanksgiving is a day to commemorate the moment when Native Americans and pilgrims came together to celebrate a bountiful, life-saving harvest. While this narrative generally neglects to mention the violent fates that awaited these natives, it’s still true that around the world, people unite—and eat a ton of great food—around harvest time. Here’s how people celebrate their equivalent to Thanksgiving in other countries:

The post Moon Cakes, Graveyards & Cranberry Sauce: How The Rest Of The World Celebrates Thanksgiving appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

This church is weird, rugged and totally Iceland.

Image Source: Flickr

Iceland is known for its rugged landscapes, and apparently the same can be said for its churches. Visible for over twelve miles, the tower of Hallgrímskirkja rises out of the center of the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík like a concrete geyser. Even before construction concluded in 1986, this Lutheran church had become the city’s most iconic building, an austere and otherworldly example of modern religious art.

Lutherans are known for preferring plain to pomp, but this church throws that ethos out the window. Though Architectural Digest recently listed Hallgrímskirkja (pronounced hatl-krims-kirk-ya) as one of the world’s most beautiful religious buildings, many have called the church an eyesore since its nearly 250 foot tall tower was first raised in the 1940s and 1950s. Some have connected this Reykjavík church to the Brutalist movement of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, but architect Guðjón Samúelsson submitted his design for the church in 1937 before the rise of Brutalism.

Samúelsson was the State Architect of Iceland in the early 20th century, and he saw this project as an opportunity to develop an inherently Icelandic aesthetic. To Samúelsson, the hexagonal concrete columns that seem to resemble an organ’s pipes were meant to evoke the cascading form of cooling lava.

Image Source: Flickr

Unfortunately, the architect who conceived of this grandiose chapel died before it was completed. Hallgrímskirkja, which is named after famous Icelandic pastor and poet Hallgrímur Pétursson, took 41 years to complete.

Hallgrímskirkja’s organ, the only bright jewel in the church’s bleak interior, was installed six years later in 1992. This incredible instrument built by the German artisan Johannes Klais is nearly 50 feet tall, weighs around 25 tons, and has more than 5,000 bellowing pipes. The church holds weekly services where devout and casual visitors can hear the organ being played, and each summer the church hosts an international festival of organ music.

Source: Flickr.com

Source: Flickr.com

Visitors can also take the elevator to the top of the bell-tower and look out over the capital from the country’s second-tallest building. The three bells there represent Reverend Hallgrímur Pétursson, for whom the building is named, as well as his wife and daughter. Ironically, the large clock on the tower, the most visible timepiece in town, often gives the wrong time, as gusts of Icelandic wind frequently knock the hands out of step.

The church’s front courtyard boasts a statue of Leif Erikson, the Norse voyager. Erikson was likely the first European explorer to land in North America, beating Columbus to the “new world” by nearly 500 years. In the statue in front of Hallgrímskirkja, Erikson strides confidently forward, axe in hand, a metallic cape fluttering behind him. The statue was a gift from the United States in 1930 to honor the thousand-year history of the Icelandic parliament.

Source: Flickr.com

Even in its austerity, Hallgrímskirkja is one of the world’s most dramatic houses of worship. Iceland is famous for its rugged natural landscapes, and this strange church echoes the harsh environment that surrounds it. It is, just as Guðjón Samúelsson wanted, a truly Icelandic edifice.

The post Inside Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland’s Absolutely Bizarre Church appeared first on All That Is Interesting.