Even the inhabitants of Socotra might think some of their island is beautiful but a bit outré.... Alien landscapes on Earth.
posted on Sep 12, 2008 - View this thread

1200 kilometers southwest of Acapulco lies the only atoll in the eastern Pacific: one of France's most isolated overseas possessions. First named for an English pirate/buccaneer/privateer, written about here by one John Harris in 1744, the island has changed hands numerous times: claimed by France as part of Tahiti, claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The island remained uninhabited until 1906, when a British and Mexican mission began mining guano (still in demand today, though sources can now be found a little closer to home). The atoll was thought to have been polished off entirely by an earthquake rumored to have sunk the islands outright in August of 1909.
posted on Jun 23, 2008 - View this thread

Homeless people are just too lazy to work, aren't they? Besides, they panhandle to get by, so what's the big deal? What does it mean to be homeless [previously] anyway? How do people find themselves in these sorts of situations, and why can't they get out of them? How do they feel about it? And are there any alternatives that we can supply them with?
posted on Mar 23, 2008 - View this thread

Cleveland is dying, and it is beautiful. A collection of stark photographs of Cleveland as it is dying before our very eyes.
posted on Feb 7, 2008 - View this thread

Russians are planning a trip to Mars, but first they want to better understand the psychological and practical issues involved with long, isolated human travel. So the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems will be locking volunteers into a small, closed system for ~500 days. The ESA is collaborating on the so-called Mars500 project. There is a current call out for volunteers which is open until the end of this month.
posted on Sep 6, 2007 - View this thread

Are we getting lonelier?
posted on Jun 23, 2006 - View this thread

Scrutiny on the Bounty. After investigating a single rape charge, a British prosecutor assigned to Pitcairn Island, the refuge of the Bounty mutineers, began interviewing young girls. Now 20 Pitcairn men may be charged; the island's entire population is just 44. (Most Pitcairners were removed to Norfolk Island, near Australia, in the 19th century; despite the precarious existence, some descendants returned to Pitcairn and have insisted on remaining.) The primary defense is that the island was following Polynesian customs with an age of consent as young as 12; but many Pitcairners are indistinguishable from European expats, and many spend much of their lives in New Zealand or Australia for school or work. Until recently the island's inhabitants {official site} mainly worried about underpopulation and economic isolation despite touting a communal, agrarian lifestyle. "It's like a small English town," said a teacher who spent two years there. "But you can't get away."
posted on Jul 17, 2002 - View this thread

Read this. No, really. It's worth your time.
posted on Apr 2, 2001 - View this thread