15 Great Posts From All That Is Interesting You May Have Missed This Year

Published December 31, 2015
Updated December 18, 2015

The year’s best stuff you may have missed: hippie communes, the women fighting ISIS, bizarre foods around the world, and more.

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Nothing is off-limits for examination at ATI. As people generally and genuinely curious about the world, we cover not just what is shareable, but substantive. This year, our curiosity covered the globe, history and even the universe. Below are some of the articles we had the most fun writing this year, and that you may have missed along the way:

Life Inside 1970s Hippie Communes

Hippie Commune Bedtime Stories

This iconic photograph shows The Bray Family reading bedtime stories at the Mystic Arts commune reading bedtime stories in Sunny Valley, Oregon, in 1969. Image Source: John Olson

Escalating foreign and domestic conflicts in the late 1960s and 1970s led some in the United States to throw their hands up in the air, eschew modernity and attempt to eke out a different path for themselves. For some, this led to new visual art forms; for others, it brought about the desire to live in communes. We explore the latter in all of its hedonistic glory in photos.

33 Maps That Explain America Better Than Any History Book

Meth Labs By County

A map documenting meth use by county in the United States. Image Source: Wikipedia

There are many ways to convey meaning and reality, and the map is one of the most impacting — yet least utilized — of them all. With an emphasis on space and the “big picture,” maps can tell us a lot about everything from distributions of drug use to the handful of physical spaces which account for nearly half of the United States’ economic activity. We’ve hand chosen 33 maps that explain America just for you — we hope you’ll find them as interesting as we did.

Meet The Kurdish Women Fighting ISIS

Female Isis Fighters Saria Zilan

18 year-old YPJ fighter Saria Zilan from Amuda, Syria:
“I fought with ISIS in Serikani. I captured one of them and wanted to kill him, but my comrades did not let me. He kept staring at the ground and would not look at me, because he said it was forbidden by his religion to look at a woman.”
Image Source: Time

Following the Paris and Beirut attacks, much of the discourse surrounding international responses toward ISIS have centered on major Western powers. The reality is that many have already been responding to the militant group for years, and the most successful so far have been the Kurds. Many of these Kurdish fighters are women, and their stories, motivations and strategies are absolutely fascinating.

The Meanest (And Funniest) Insults In History

Famous Insults Mark Twain

The quintessential American wit is not short on biting remarks. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

L’espirit d’escalier is a French term for coming up with the perfect thing to say to someone…but moments too late. We highly doubt that the individuals who appear on our list of the most devastatingly hilarious insults in history ever experienced this sensation.

The Coolest Urban Treehouse In The World

Urban Treehouse Turin Italy

An urban treehouse in Turino, Italy. Image Source: This Is Colossal

And you thought treehouses were for kids. Perfect for the more urbane naturalist, this arboreal dwelling can be found in Turino, Italy, and its stunning features kind of make us wish that we could call an urban treehouse home.

author
All That's Interesting
author
Established in 2010, All That's Interesting brings together a dedicated staff of digital publishing veterans and subject-level experts in history, true crime, and science. From the lesser-known byways of human history to the uncharted corners of the world, we seek out stories that bring our past, present, and future to life. Privately-owned since its founding, All That's Interesting maintains a commitment to unbiased reporting while taking great care in fact-checking and research to ensure that we meet the highest standards of accuracy.
editor
Savannah Cox
editor
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.