The Happiest Country on Earth is…

by Adrienne Wilson on

For those of you unfamiliar with the reality TV series Survivor or have better things to do with your time than watch average folk battle it our for prizes and such by competing in gladiator type competitions, you may not be familiar Vanuatu. Perhaps, you’re fortunate enough to know about the group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean without the help of television and if you are you may also like to know that Vanuatu has ranked tops as the world’s happiest country. According to this Yahoo News piece, a study measuring people’s wellbeing and their impact on the environment has ranked Vanuatu at the top with Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama trailing close behind to complete the world’s top 5 happiest places to reside. Not really surprising if you ask me. Islands always come off as cheerful places to me and having been to Costa Rica myself, I could certainly see myself living there. As far as Vanuatu is concerned – I’d love to go there as much as I’d love to go to Somalia. Happiness is what you make it.

The Happy Planet Index is complied by the British New Economics Foundation (NEF) and also combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint to rank countries. Hopefully the results won’t drive herds of shutter-bug tourists to happy little Vanuatu or away from Zimbabwe, an African country my friend finds as one of the best, but ranks 178 on the list. The U.S. comes in at 150, Canada (111), France (129), Germany (81), Japan (95) and Russia (172).

What do you think? Agree or disagree? What do you consider the happiest place on Earth?

Paris Tunnels and Catacombs

by Neil Woodburn on

Yesterday, Erik directed us to a great site for Urban Explorers called infiltration.org. If you love climbing around abandoned buildings, exploring city tunnels, or otherwise creeping around in places you shouldn’t be, you should spend a couple hours getting lost on infiltration.org.

After doing so myself, I wanted to point you towards one page in particular that really caught my attention. Yesterday, we also posted a Photo of the Day featuring a clandestine venture into the catacombs below Paris. As you might suspect, there is an entire article on infiltration.org that details a mesmerizing journey through the many, many kilometers of tunnels buried under the capital of France. From sewer, to bunkers, to burial chambers and everything in-between, this article sucked me right in with a fascinating account that ranks right up there with classic adventure novels of the past.

Ah, Paris. It’s not just for lovers anymore.

Photo of the Day (7/14/06)

by Neil Woodburn on

With all the press that the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie is getting these days, I just couldn’t resist this very pirate-inspired photo from the catacombs below Paris. This is one of the least known yet most fascinating attractions in the French capital. I was blown away when I ventured below to check it out a few years ago and highly recommend it for the non-squeamish out there. There are no tour guides; you just get to wander around on your own.

It looks like AlphaTangoBravo, who snapped this great shot, must have strayed from the “tourist” tunnels, however, because ordinarily you can’t get this close to the skulls (at least not without receiving some type of curse).

Tolkien Visits Hell

by Neil Woodburn on

Locations abroad often inspire great reams of literature from those writers who visit.  Sometimes when that location is the site of a horrific battle, the inspiration is even more feverish–especially if the writer took part in the battle.

A fascinating article on the BBC traces the army-booted footsteps of a young JRR Tolkien, who, fresh out of Oxford, finds himself thrust deep into the Battle of the Somme.  Journalist Lisa Jardine argues that it was this experience of “futile and indiscriminate slaughter” in one of the more horrific battles of World War I that served as the foundation for so many of Tolkien’s battle scenes in The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien’s journey to northern France in 1916 wasn’t a journey to Middle Earth, but one to Hell.  Sadly, the world of literature is better off for it. 

Photo of the Day (7/2/2006)

by Erik Olsen on


Cinematographers never tire of using the spiral staircase in film. And photographers use them a helluva lot as well. But usually they are shot in a stark black and white, with an artsy kind of feel suggesting confusion or torment. Not here. Of course, I imagine this was shot with less artistic intent than the kind of photos I’m talking about, but the color here, the orangey light and the guy in the mid-foreground. Very cool. The shot comes from Kouiskas who says it is a picture of his friend at his flat in Marseille.