The Ground is Smoking in Centralia, Pennsylvania

Centralia was incorporated as a borough in 1866 when coal was discovered in the area. Coal mining gave birth to the town and it would prosper for almost 100 years. When energy demands started to shift more toward petroleum, the coal mining industry saw a decline. The coal companies closed operations in Centralia in the 1960s, but bootleg mining of the abandoned mines would continue until 1982. For decades an undetected underground mine fire slowly burned through a major vein of a large coal deposit. By the mid-1980s the Pennsylvania state government finally realized the severity of the issue, and by 1992 it had ordered the forceful permanent evacuation of residents.

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The Anchors of Tavira Island at Algarve, Portugal

Sometimes Interesting

For centuries the tuna industry flourished in Algarve, Portugal. Over time fishermen flocked to the coast of Portugal, eventually decimating the tuna population. When it became no longer profitable to fish for tuna, the fishermen left. While the ships and the men of the sea are gone, the anchors used to catch tuna were left behind.

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Foxconn: Depressing Apple Factory

Sometimes Interesting

Previously Sometimes Interesting featured Guiyu, the Chinese town tasked with disposing most of the world’s electronics. What about the origins of the electronics we buy? It’s probably not a surprise to hear many are also made in China, and sadly the working conditions for those who build iPods isn’t much better than those who take them apart. Imagine a place where eight workers share a dorm room and televisions only exist in common areas. Imagine a suicide rate so high the employer installs netting on the side of buildings to prevent workers from jumping. Welcome to Shenzhen, China, home to China’s largest private employer Foxconn, and the site of where much of the world’s electronic components are created.

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Maritime Tech: A Lighthouse Guide

Sometimes Interesting

Lighthouses are a dying breed. Ships feared dark coastlines and relied on lighthouses to keep them safe from dangerous rocks. Today with GPS and other technologies, fewer ships need them so new lighthouse construction is extremely rare.

From candle-powered and manned lighthouses thousands of years ago to the modern, stand-alone LED lighthouses of today, it has been an interesting evolution for the coastline protectors of the world. What follows is a chronicle of important lighthouses in history.

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The United States’ oldest great civilization: Cahokia?

Sometimes Interesting

When we studied Native American history in school, we learned about many tribes. Chances are you don’t remember learning of Cahokia, a long-extinct civilization originally near what is now Collinsville, Illinois. First established around AD 600 and inhabited by a unique indigenous people, Cahokia was a civilization comprised of about 50 communities over 2,200 acres.

They built 120 earth mounds – some over ten stories tall – in the largest prehistoric earthen construction site north of Mexico. The Cahokians were advanced people who did not appear to be related to any major known Native American tribes. By 1250, Cahokia’s population rivaled Paris and London; at its peak in 1300, Cahokia numbered an estimated 40,000 people. It wasn’t until 1800 that a modern U.S. city would finally surpass that number.

After 1300, the population declined for unknown reasons and the city would lie vacant for another century.

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Real-life Zombieland set? Six Flags New Orleans

Sometimes Interesting

With so much that still needs to be rebuilt in New Orleans, the tragedy of Katrina is hard for some to put behind. A quick drive through some parts of the area and you’d think the hurricane hit last year, not 2005. Rebuilding a financially-strapped area is tough; understandably the last to receive aid and insurance claims would be the private recreation industry. Mired in legal battles with the insurance carriers and the city of New Orleans, Six Flags has indicated they don’t intend to rebuild the theme park. The cost to do so was prohibitive, as was the cost of demolition. While the park may never re-open, it does provide for an amazing photographic tour.

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Henry Ford’s Failed Town: Fordlândia

Sometimes Interesting

Henry Ford was a mastermind of efficiency. It wasn’t so much what he invented, it was how he made things better. His successes in streamlining auto production and the small foray into air travel gave him a well-deserved confidence. That confidence would prove to be his undoing in Brazil, where his company town start up – named Fordlândia – failed to yield the vast amounts of rubber he had expected. His cars needed tires, and in the interest of lowering costs Ford planned to build his own rubber production plant in the Amazon. Henry did little research into the area’s culture and instead relied on his inclinations to pick a location, hire a workforce, and establish rules for the town. Unfortunately Ford was not a Brazilian, geologist, nor a qualified mayor. Six years and 200 million dollars later, Ford finally closed the town with nothing to show for it. Fordlândia was such a flop it was arguably the most expensive mistake of Henry Ford’s career.

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Soviet Automotive Junkyard Museum

Sometimes Interesting

It is interesting how much culture can affect the desirability of classic cars. In the United States the transition from the late 40’s to the early 50’s brought us rock and roll, wild styling, bright colors and enthusiastic youth. World War II veterans came home and purchased cars with big fins and ‘hydramatic’ transmissions; it was a time of prosperity.

At the same time in the Soviet Union, the opposite was true: transportation was basic, sparse, and only for those with significant wealth. Is that why classic Russian cars fail to draw the same attention or desire?

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