Culture

Mused.com is like a Google Street View x Google Earth for place GSV and GE don't go. It describes itself as

Bringing Immersive Cultural Heritage Experiences to Gaming, Classrooms, and Libraries around the World.

Once you sign up for a free membership, you can do things like:

• Go Inside the Great Pyramid of Giza
• Explore the Maya Temples at Copán Ruinas
• Confront The Great Sphinx of Giza

Note that I had difficulty making this work with Google Chrome but it worked with every other browser I tried. My default is Arc.

While in the South Pacific, I tried Kava, a legal drink made from the Kava plant and which has mild effects on the nervous system.

Instantly, upon drinking it, my lips began to tingle and then feel numb and a warm calm came over me. The taste is dreadful, sort of like muddy water, and it doesn't help that you drink from a dirty coconut shell that is shared by others.

You get Kava at Kava Bars, which usually open when the sun goes down. They advertise themselves with a single, dim roadside colored lightbulb, usually green or red. Here's a Kava bar in daylight in Vanuatu:

A woman I befriended on the island Efate had a husband who died of liver failure due to his addiction to Kava.

I was reminded of the drink today after reading about Betel Nuts, which I'd never heard of before: This addictive nut is driving record rates of cancer – yet millions continue to chew it. Fascinating.

Here's Drew Binksy on it:

Absolutely floored by Ashley Suszczynski's work exploring "ancient traditions in the modern day."

From Suszczynski's site, which is correctly named Really Good Pictures:

Ashley Suszczynski is an award-winning travel photographer based in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, focused on capturing ancient traditions in the modern day. She aims to tell the story of how lesser known cultures, relics, rites, and rituals have withstood time and evolved in our ever-changing world. Through visual storytelling, she hopes to share knowledge and understanding of these age-old customs in order to continue their preservation and social approval.

Stunning work. More on the site.