Weirdness

Just when my non-scientific brain had recovered from writing the recent LIGO post, my co-writer Noel kindly informed me that there are two similar gravitational observatories in Europe: GEO 600 in Germany and VIRGO in Italy. GEO 600 (Wikipedia, official…

These two huge L-shaped structures visible at a very low zoom level are the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) facilities in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington. Each arm of the structures is 4km in length, making them longer than the…

Roughly 1 out of every 5 countries in the world are completely surrounded by land, or landlocked. In a handful of cases a country can be completely surrounded by another single country. These landlocked enclaves are such a rare geographic…

In 1859 a wealthy man bought a piece of land overlooking the River Clyde, on which he built a mansion. When the mansion was expanded in 1892, an access road over the Overtoun Burn was required, and so the Overtoun…

In the Spanish town of Mejorada Del Campo, former monk Justo Gallego Martínez has devoted the past 50 years of his life to constructing a cathedral, all by himself. After contracting tuberculosis as as a young man, Don Justo promised…

Britain is renowned for historic pubs serving fine ales and mouthwatering food. While the reality may be that dozens of pubs are closing every week, or being taken over by large corporate chains, there are still plenty of inns that…