Janelle Nanos: April 2009 Archives

We don't just talk the talk when it comes to being green here at the National Geographic Society. We're constantly working on reducing our impact on the environment, from using compost bins in our cafeteria, to switching all desk lamps to energy-efficient CFL bulbs, to purchasing wind power instead of getting our electricity from coal-fired plants. But even we were impressed when we heard about our colleague Fabio Amador's sporty new ride. Called the Go-One, it's a three-wheeled "trike" with a removable top -- making it a convertible of sorts. Weighing in at about 50 pounds, it pedals like any other recumbent bike. Fabio (whom we can't help but think is aptly named, given his sleek, racing car-styled vehicle) received a special parking place in the NG garage and uses the trike to commute the two miles between his home and the office.

"I figured this was a great way to show personal initiative in an organization that cares about conservation," he says. "No gas, no insurance and no permits. And I wanted to make an effort to leave no carbon footprint."

We asked him to tell us a bit more about his ride.

So what does it feel like to get around in that thing?

Moving through a suburban and urban cityscape, you're very low to the ground and you're moving between cars at a high speed. You can seem invisible, though the vehicle itself gets noticed quite fast once people do see it.

What's kind of response do you get?

Mostly amazement, laughter. I've been a shy person all my life, but this is not the way to continue living anonymously. But I see it as a way for a person to motivate others to do something, whether it's fighting against diabetes or not leaving a carbon footprint. One person can change the world.

Getting the Shot: Every time I travel for work I carry my camera, and on this particular trip I was hoping to capture some evening shots of the Santa Monica pier and the ferris wheel. It reminded me of the Navy pier in my hometown of Chicago.

The Details: While I was waiting for the sunset and the pier lights to come on, I noticed a group of people swinging on these exercise rings, just like Tarzan. The sun was setting behind them, so I had to squat down on the sand to get the right angle. I later learned that ring-swinging is a huge phenomenon on the pier and some of these superb athletes are known as the "lords of the rings."
 
The Camera: The photo was taken using a D200 in March of 2009. I exposed for the bright sun to capture total silhouette.

We like: The strange silhouette of the gymnast suspended in the air. Think you've got a Global Eye? Add your photos to our Flickr pool.  

• Stressed? Move to Hawaii or Iowa! A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has surveyed the mood of Americans and compiled the results into a mood map (pictured above).

• Advocating for Public Restrooms: The Greater Greater Washington blog breaks down public restroom use in major cities, and gives tips on where to "go" in D.C.

• Muggles Welcome! Always wanted to go to Hogwarts? The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has a new exhibit opening this week with creatures, vignettes, and props from the six Harry Potter movies--based on the novels by J.K. Rowling.

• Want to know how to order ramen in Toyko? TokyoTopia offers a step-by-step video. Yum.
  

Map courtesy American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Moriarty et al 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its 2009 list of the most endangered historic sites in the America yesterday, and it's a delicate mix of architectural and historical treasures. Some sites have been damaged by hurricanes, others are threatened by developers who seek to tear them down. But all of them have a role in the American experience, from a building which first served as a schoolhouse for freed slaves, to the hangar for the Enola Gay, to Lana'i City, the Dole company town in Hawaii with it's fruit-hued plantation homes. Check out National Geographic News for a slideshow of the sites and read through the complete list, as released by the Trust, after the jump.

Have you visited these sites? Do you think they should be perserved? Let us know in the comments.

The allure of discount airfare, coupled with a reunion with high school friends, means I'm heading out this weekend on a jaunt to Puerto Rico, and I'm of course ready and willing to hear your tips. I'm looking forward to visiting the UNESCO site of Old San Juan, but am sure that you have suggestions for great restaurants, beaches, drives, and sites. I'm taking suggestions, and tour guides are always welcome. As always, I'm looking forward to hearing your advice!

Read More: Readers tell the editors where to go in past Plan My Trip! entries.

Photo: Jose Kevo via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

We here at Traveler love a well-made craft (we've got an authentic shopping guide to prove it), which is why I was taken with this video made by the folks over at Cool Hunting. They visited the Grafica Fildalga printing facility in São Paulo, Brazil, and interviewed the adorable gentlemen who painstakingly lay out the characters for posters on a 1929 German letterpress. Watching the machine in action is mesmerizing.

What's even more interesting is that this shop has managed to stay in business even after São Paulo instituted it's "clean city" campaign back in 2007. At the time, the local government's decision to eliminate all public advertising -- everything from billboards to bus stop ads -- was an extension of their aim to combat pollution. The "visual pollution" of such signage completely overwhelmed the city, to the point where one local journalist reported that prior to the cleanup, some fevelas had been practically invisible to the public because billboards had been covering them. The reduction of pollution was seen as a tremendous life-enhancement to city residents (it had a 70 percent approval rating), and now São Paulo is slowly starting to designate areas where advertising can be permitted -- in moderation. Grafica Fildalga has been kept afloat in part by the efforts of Choque Cultural, art gallery whose uses these posters to promote their shows. It's a great bridge between the old and new.

[Via Craft and Cool Hunting]

Q: I am a faithful subscriber to Traveler and need some direction. We will be attending some performances in Tanglewood in July 2009. We're looking for accommodation "with heart" at $200-300 per night, near sights and restaurants. Sincere thanks. -- Joy

A: Thanks for your support. Hoping that Traveler has steered you to some world-class experiences. Lucky you: The Berkshires is one of my favorite places on Earth! Gorgeous scenery, great folks, intriguing shops and cafés, plus seriously memorable culture. If you are a fan of the dance, look into the offerings at Jacob's Pillow.

I am going to recommend two widely different places to stay--both on Traveler's 2008 STAY LIST of hotels. I suggest that you depend on their tremendous hotel staffs to steer you to see/do/eat options.

For a trendy mix of old and new try The Porches Inn in North Adams, MA (www.porches.com). Or for pure New England quaint opt for the Red Lion Inn, in Stockbridge, MA (www.redlioninn.com).

Wishing you happy trails,

Sheila Buckmaster
Senior Editor, National Geographic Traveler

Have a question for Traveler? Feel free to Ask IT. 

Photo: The Tavern at the Red Lion Inn, by Kristian Septimius Krogh

Photographer: Ayaz A. Asif  from Lebanon, NH

Getting the Shot: The shot was taken on a drive back from a remote farming village in the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

The Details: This is a restaurant called the BBC Hotel in Dabayjee, (the word hotel is often used to refer to restaurants in Pakistan). The BBC Hotel is located off the National Highway which runs north from the port city of Karachi. I stopped at the restaurant for dinner and was pointed to the one table and chair they had there. Patrons normally sit on bed-like platforms on which the food is served. Familiar with the custom to sit on the floor and eat, I had not heard of or seen this variation, and I was intrigued by how the water was served in large ceramic pots. I liked how the color scheme of the beds matched the colors on the walls and ceiling.

The restaurant was very dimly lit, so I put on my fastest lens and tried to be as discreet as I could be about the photo. I didn't want the subjects to be self-conscious about having a camera pointed at them. I took several shots, the one I ended up picking had the subject in the foreground with an appealing expression in his eyes.

The Camera: Canon 5D Mark II with 85mm f/1.8 Lens; settings: f/1.8 @ 1/50 ISO 3200.

We like: How this captures a quiet moment and an interesting custom in Pakistan. Think you have a Global Eye? Add your photos to our Flickr pool.

Our current issue has a fantastic story about trekking "The High Road to Machu Picchu" by Scott Wallace, and I'm already tired just looking at photographer Aaron Huey's shots of the craggy Peruvian mountains. But I'm just smitten with this gallery of Peruvian faces we just put up on our site. So many smiling faces, and the gorgeous colors of their fabrics remind me of our friend Lolly's knitting quest. Check out the entire set here.

Photo: Aaron Huey

Nat Geo Music is currently airing their Earth Day Concert LIVE from the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. Ben Harper is playing now! Check it out here. After the show, tune in HERE for the online premiere of an all-new Geo Session featuring Ben Harper & Relentless7.

It's been 39 years since the first Earth Day, and National Geographic news has a great slideshow of photographs and stories from it's not-so-humble beginnings. But what's interesting is how the day has changed over time. Elizabeth Kolbert reports in the New Yorker this week that the first Earth Day was a "raucously exuberant affair..."

In New York, Fifth Avenue was closed to traffic. People picnicked on the sidewalk; dead fish were dragged through midtown; and Governor Nelson Rockefeller rode a bicycle across Prospect Park. Students in Richmond, Virginia, handed out bags of dirt (to represent the "good earth"); demonstrators in Washington poured oil onto the sidewalk in front of the Interior Department (to protest recent oil spills); and in Bloomington, Indiana, women dressed as witches threw birth-control pills into the crowd (no one was quite sure why). All told, some twenty million Americans took part..."

Today Earth Day seems a bit tame in comparison. Yes, there are concerts and other events, but in many ways the day seems akin to Arbor Day in our minds - a nice thing to recognize - but unless you're physically planting a tree it's more a manifestation of good feelings than a call to action. And indeed, there are numbers to prove that effect: In a recent Gallup poll asking Americans whether "protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth," only forty-two percent said yes. And in a poll from the Pew Research Center that  asked Americans about their priorities for Congress and the new president, "dealing with global warming" ranked at the bottom of the list.

So what can you do to raise awareness and share information about protecting our environment? We've got some suggestions here at NG. We're currently running a contest called GreenEffect, which will award $20,000 to the five people or groups whose green ideas will help bring about change. Our Green Guide offers tips for everyday trimming of your consumption and energy use. Our mission is "to inspire people to care about the planet" and we're working every day to achieve that end. So read, donate, or share what we're doing here with others, and you can help make a difference.

Photograph from AP 

Boston Marathon 2009 at the halfway point coming up to the intersection of Route 16 and 128, by Paul Keleher

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it: Today is the best day of the year to be in Boston. Patriots' Day, aka Marathon Monday, is an official state holiday, a day when citizens crowd along the streets to watch some of the most elite runners in the world sprint by (and some of the no-so-elite as well - I ran the race myself back in 2001). This year was the 113th running of the race, and it was won by Ethiopia's Deriba Merga, and Kenya's Salina Kosegi. But it's by no means over for the thousands of people still running as I type.

One thing that may keep them going this year is the knowledge that among the many, many footprints that will cross the finish line - many of them will be accounted for, carbon-wise, by the race organizers, who have purchased offsets for the many buses used to transport runners to the starting line. They've also swapped out the motorcycles used to follow the elite runners with new electric scooters, and have installed a "green team" to ensure that all discarded cups, bottles, and blankets make their way into the barrels posted along the route. It's the first step, so-to-speak, that the race has taken to become more sustainable.

Hi there city-lovers! Today we're bringing you the Southern charms of Charleston, South Carolina with the help of Currie McCollough.

Want to see your city on IT? Copy and paste our list of fill-in-the-blank questions into an e-mail, fill in your answers, and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org. And if you're still waiting for us to feature yours, fear not! We're going to keep posting as long as we keep getting them (please include photos and links!).

Charleston, South Carolina is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is the Battery, also known as White Point Gardens. You can see Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

When I crave oysters I always go to Bowen's Island.

To escape the heat I head to the Charleston Aquarium.

If I want to look at old houses I go up Highway 61 to Drayton Hall, one of the finest examples of Georgian-Palladian architecture in the United States.

For complete quiet, I can hide away in the Unitarian Church graveyard.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken with an American Revolutionary War soldier on the steps of the Old Exchange Building.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from Hominy Grill it has to be the buttercream pie.

Sugar is my one-stop shop for great baked goods.

It's rainy and bleak here in D.C. today, so my "I Want to Go to There" (IWTGTT) locale of the day is the sustainable mountainside co-op, Vamos, in Crete. Featured in this weekend's Guardian Travel section, the little town located in the White Mountains has a collection of 19th century sandstone guesthouses available for rent, with on-site cooking classes, nearby beaches, and hiking trails through the snow-capped mountains. Here, author Jane Foster explains its history:

It started in 1995, when five local couples clubbed together and began renovating three old stone family cottages for use as guesthouses. Worried by the village's gradual depopulation and economic stagnation, they planned to revive the rural community through sustainable tourism, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the Cretan interior while providing locals with a new livelihood.

The Guardian has a roundup of other smaller cottages that will let you escape the bustle of the seaside resorts of Crete. All I know is, I want to go to there.

Photo: Vamos

You've been waiting all week, we know. But we're pleased to announce the winner of our Peeps in Places Photo Challenge! Congratulations to Charlotte Johnson of North Hollywood, California, whose iconic peep pic might just have outdone the Hollywood sign itself. To check out the entire gallery of winners, click here.

Thanks to all those of you who participated, and be sure to pack your Peeps with you as you travel this year, as our contest will be back in 2010.

Photo: Charlotte Johnson

Those of you who were fans of Hunter's story yesterday about Costa Rican turtle preserves, or recall our great Q&A with Wallace J. Nichols, a conservationist whose turtle-tracking project thrilled children around the world, we offer you some more turtle topics, only this time these turtles are traveling themselves.

National Geographic is partnering with Conservation International and the Canadian Sea Turtle Network to sponsor the Great Turtle Race, and yesterday, the contestants (all of whom are leatherback sea turtles) started on their two-week journey from the frigid Newfoundland costline down to the Carribbean. The turtles are tagged with state-of-the-art satellite tracking devices that enable the rest of us to follow their incredible 3,700-mile (6,000-kilometer) journey, which you can track yourself here on NG's interactive race map. So far, it seems as though Nueva Esperanza is winning, though Cali is on her tail. You can sign up with Conservation International to get updates on the the racers, and get their play-by-play of race on their blog.

For more on turtles, check out the story by Tim Appenzeller about Leatherback Sea Turtles in this month's National Geographic. And watch the video of photographer Brian Skerry as he talks about using natural moonlight and a long exposure to create this ghostly image of the vanishing species.

Hunter Braithwaite finds more that great surf along the Costa Rican coastline.

Costa Rican roads are a cruel joke played on Americans, I thought, teary-eyed, as I clutched my forehead, which had just bounced off the windshield of our rented SUV. Why did this happen? What did we swerve to miss? Oh, the usual - a parade of stray dogs, barefoot children on dirt bikes, a rooster lazily strutting like a Caribbean dictator. I suppose parade implies motion, and dead pigs don't move, but the parade also featured a dead pig. Considering the pain, it's not remarkable that this is my chief memory from a week in Costa Rica.

A few days prior, I met a group of high school friends in Nosara for one last week of surfing before the anchors of career confined each to our own harbor of adulthood. The days that followed consisted of little more than fish tacos and sunburns. After almost a week of this, I convinced the group that there is a beautiful and varied country beyond Playa Guiones, and it would be regrettable to spend the rest of the vacation surfing. (Full disclosure: I hate surfing, it's boring and too hard.) So we did.  

Around noon we bought some sandwiches and rented a Toyota Prado for the day ($96 and a valid passport). With little more than a rough approximation of where we wanted to go (south) we took the 116 to Samara. Samara is the type of place where the locals only talk to you if attempting to sell you pot. They'll saunter up, chat about the waves or about Obama, and just when you think you've made a new friend, whisper into your ear: "You want the weed?" Here we ate empanadas and smoothies at a rancid-smelling soda shop. Despite the maddening heat, it was one of the best meals of the trip. In Costa Rican tourist towns, there is a negative correlation between cleanliness and food quality.    

The road south from Samara turns quickly from bad to worse. Drivers are required to ford several rivers. Luckily, this was the peak of the dry season, so a river is nothing more than a bone-dry ditch. If we had come three months later, the Prado would never have made it. It barely did as is. In front of an audience of old Costa Rican women and cows, we spent 10 minutes trying to get out of a sandpit. You could hear it rustling from the palm trees, "muy estúpido."  

Camaronal is a black beach. As we drove up to it, the sun was setting and the wind was kicking up a lot of sand. It looked like smoke as it hung in the air. Very intense. Down by the water a single person stood watching baby turtles walking into the sea.

We discussed it late last year, but now it's actually happened: President Obama has taken the first step in loosening the travel restrictions to Cuba.

The new policy is three-pronged. It will allow unlimited access for Cuban-Americans returning to the country to visit family, will enable more satellite and cellular communication services to be used on the island, and will also allow for people in the States to send as much money as they like to family members in Cuba (so long as they are not members of the Communist party) and will no longer limit the gift package restrictions. 

According to the AP, travel agents have already been swarmed with calls from people looking to visit:

Miami travel agent Tesie Aral said her phone has been ringing nonstop in anticipation of the announcement, with a tenfold increase last Friday alone.

"People were already planning to travel more based on their ability to go every 12 months," said Aral, owner of ABC Charters. "Whether they can travel more frequently than that depends on the economy."

[via Huffington Post, Washington Post, New York Times]

Photo: ChrisGoldNY via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

I'm a fan of both Tina Fey and travel, and as such, I find myself using her oft-used remark from 30 Rock, "I Want to Go to There," more and more lately. Most often uttered when Fey's character, Liz Lemon, is in a dreamlike, gut-response mode, "IWTGTT" is the feeling I get when I see or read something that makes me want to leave my desk immediately and jump on the next plane. So I figured that alone should make for a good feature for the blog. (Also, the line was a sentence her young daughter strung together, Fey fessed up at the SAG awards, making it that much more awesome.)

So what's my IWTGTT moment of the day? The Heuriger Hirt in Vienna, alluringly presented by the good folks at Spotted By Locals. Heurigen are essentially Austrian biergartens, only they serve wine instead of beer, along with locally-sourced cheeses and other savory snacks under the open sky. The word heuriger translatets to "new wine," which means that the spots typically serve whatever is the most recent blend. Because they're seasonal joints commonly located on the edge of vineyards, a bunch of pine twigs known as a Buschenschank is hung outside the door, alerting the passing traveler that the establishment is open and the wine is flowing. The Virtual Vienna site describes a delectable afternoon at a Heurigen:

A typical visit to a Heurigen goes something like this: it is late afternoon on a summer's day; evening is approaching, but it is still light out; you and your party find agreeable benches and a table, and are served white wine and mineral water, both in carafes, by a waitress (frequently wearing a country dress, like a Dirndl). Anyone serving as a "designated driver" can opt for a delicious "Kracherl," a sweet carbonated fruit-flavored beverage. Neither beer nor coffee is ever served at a Heurigen - if that is what you desire, you are in the wrong place! With your first few rounds of wine, you might begin the evening's consumption of food with some bread and butter or, more customarily, some pretzel-sticks (Soletti) and savory Liptauer cheese-spread. Later, as your appetite grows, you make a trip to the compact but wide-ranging buffet, with many varieties of meats, salads, vegetables, and other delights. The flow of white wine ceases around midnight, at which point you catch the last streetcar or hail a taxi, which returns you to your permanent or temporary abode.

Spotted's suggestion of the Heuiger Hirt comes with an added bonus beyond wine and homemade snacks - it also offers a fantastic view of the Vienna skyline and nearby Kahlenbergerdorf. I want to go to there.

Photo: Via Spotted by Locals, by Doris Neubauern

With the new visitor center opening at Monticello this week, now is the perfect time to plan a visit to Charlottesville, Virginia. IT Editor Janelle Nanos shares some of the highlights from her recent trip.

I'm no country bumpkin, but I do admit that I tend to feel a bit confined if I don't get out of the city from time to time. So a few weeks ago, when I was looking for a weekend away, my boyfriend and I decided to check out the rumors about Virginia wine country and packed up our car for the three-hour drive down to Charlottesville.

Home to both the University of Virginia and Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's quirky estate (did you know that both are World Heritage sites?), Charlottesville is a easy escape. Tucked in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, downtown C'ville, as it's known to locals, is a hip mix of independent storefronts, a local theater and ice-skating rink, and a funky outdoor pavilion with free live performances every Friday during warmer months. Huge chalkboards along one stretch of the main thoroughfare encourage free speech - and the vibe is distinctly warm and friendly, even in February when I visited.

Pulling up to downtown C'ville and a bit hungry after the trip, we stumbled upon one of the best finds of the weekend: The delectable dumplings from Marco & Lucas. Cheap and hot, with a line of hungry college kids spilling out the door, this spot is located along the downtown pedestrian-only West Main Street, and they're the best dumplings I've found in the (relative) D.C. area. When fried, they were like little crunchy pockets of heaven, and honestly, I've been craving them ever since. Unbeknownst to us, these dumplings would kick off the weekend's theme: food and drink, as many of the adorable clothing shops closed early over the weekend. But that turned out to be just fine.

We were hoping to stay in a bed and breakfast, as there are dozens in the area, and were fortunate to find at room (on short notice) at the High Meadows Vineyard Inn in nearby Scottsville. Immediately taken with the periwinkle home with chartreuse shutters, I was even more smitten with our host, Nancy, who was incredibly warm and generous with her suggestions about where to visit in the area. Plus, she and her daughter make a mean breakfast - if you haven't tried their broiled grapefruit drizzled with honey and cinnamon, book your reservation now (plus, they offer great mid-week deals).

In his latest column, our book critic Don George reviews the new title, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, by Geoff Dyer, about a British art journalist sent to cover the Venice Biennale. In it, George writes, the main character Jeff Atman's exploits are both dizzying and quintessentially Venetian:

[His] Bellini-fueled adventures offer artful angles from which to appreciate anew Venice's enduring attractions: the canals, palazzos, gondoliers, and vaporetti; the crumbling pastels, illusory waterways, and century-spanning bells. Through Atman, Dyer touches the elusive soul of Venice, the unexpected beauties of glass and grave, the way you can get lost at any minute and then, after wandering for an hour, suddenly appear at the doorway to your hotel, miles from where it was supposed to be.

Read the rest of George's review here, plus more book picks from Mexico, Australia, and Pakistan. And learn more about Venice from our Places of a Lifetime series. 

Photo: Jimmy Leo 

For some it's the last place on earth, the seventh check mark on their continent list. But the growing influx of tourists to Antarctica has U.S. leaders thinking about the consequences, and on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting about the need to limit visitors to the region.

"The changes underway in the Arctic will have long-term impacts on our economic future, our energy future, and indeed, again, the future of our planet," she said. "So it is crucial that we work together." In her statement, she proposed new international standards that would limit the number of tourist vessel landings and cited the need to have cooperation in restricting potentially hazardous discharges from ships. She also focused on setting safety standards for tour operations; citing some of the recent cruise ship accidents, she made a recommendation for new requirements for lifeboats on tourist ships "to make sure they can keep passengers alive until rescue comes."

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has reported that over 46,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the 2007-2008 tour season -- which is about four times the number of visitors as during the 2000-2001 season. What do you think? What standards would you like to see in place to protect the Arctic?

Read More: In the April National Geographic magazine, Bruce Barcott wrote a feature article about Svalbard, Norway's pristine Arctic archipelago, with photos by Paul Nicklen.

[CNN, DotEarth]
Photo: Dave Walsh via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

If you haven't yet submitted your own photos, now's your chance. Take a photo of one or more Peeps in any travel destination, add your photos to our Flickr pool, and then tag them "NGTpeeps." Please limit your entries to three per person. We'll select photos and feature them on our website and the lucky "peeps" will be featured in an online gallery next week. Check out the photos of the prizes after the jump. 

Photo: hushsweetsharlit via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

I'm a sucker for street art (see here), and this adorable video makes for a fun Friday afternoon distraction. Made by the husband-and-wife animation team at London Squared, it highlights the often overlooked "voices" in New York City. Enjoy and happy weekend!

[Rocketboom via Vvynyl]

There are a some things that you "must" do in any city. Kiss the Blarney Stone. Walk the Golden Gate Bridge. Get the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. But few of those musts are as contemplative as visiting Jerusalem and placing a prayer in a crack of the Western Wall.

We arrived in the city late on a Friday afternoon, and had just enough time to stroll through the cacophony of the marketplace before heading over to the wall. Known as the most holy site in the Jewish faith, its significance lies in the fact that it is the last remnant of the original retaining wall which surrounded the Second Temple, which was built over 2,000 years ago. After the temple was destroyed in AD 70, the Jews were exiled from the city, and it became a place of pilgrimage where they would return to lament their loss (it was long known as the Wailing Wall for that reason). Now it is essentially an open-air synagogue, with divided sections for men and women to pray independently.

National Geographic is excited to announce the publication of its newest title, National Geographic: The Best of the Breasts. Here's a snippet from the press release: "Finally, a compendium of all of our stellar breast photography has been culled from our 126-year history. It's a celebration of the female body in its most honest form."

It's been a long time coming, but frankly, none of us here at NG are that surprised, as the first thing most people tell us when we introduce ourselves as Society employees is their original acquaintance with the mammary glands came via our magazines. And we can't help but think it will be a big seller this Mother's Day. The book will be hitting stores this spring.

Photo: Maynard Owen Williams/NGS IMAGE COLLECTION

It's the eternal question: What do you get for the beer-loving travel junkie that has everything? Turns out, a vehicle exists for exactly that target demographic - the motorized bar stool. Who needs to look for a seat at the bar when you arrive on your own guzzle-ready chariot?

But this otherwise brilliant invention gained notoriety yesterday when the AP reported that an Ohio man was picked up by the cops earlier this month for driving under the influence on his contraption. (We wish that was a joke, but we can't help but think that was kind of the point?) Apparently, it can move up to 38 mph.

Photo: AP