Introducing Stalinworld-- Lithuania's Communist Theme Park

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The park playground intermingled with rusting artillery become indiscriminate playthings for the younger visitors. The strange assortment of animals in the small zoo includes no less than a dozen species of pigeon, and three black bears in a pen the size of your old dorm room. A child bounces on Lenin’s head. This is the scene at Grūtas Parkas-- Lithuania’s bizarre communist theme park.

 

Dark tourism is a phenomenon where tourists visit places associated with suffering, and it’s growing in popularity. Each year over 1.4 million people visit Auschwitz the 9/11 memorial sees over 5 million, and Bran Castle home of Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula sees 300,000

 

So it should be no surprise that someone has found a way to profit off the nostalgia and scars of the Soviet Union. Viliumas Malinauskas, a Lithuanian mushroom tycoon, has done just that with Grūtas Parkas creating a strange theme park unofficially nicknamed-- Stalinworld. From it’s opening the park ignited controversy with locals arguing that it profited from authorities suffered by a Soviet occupation.

The statue park is filled with hundreds of Soviet statues, he rents from the Lithuanian government who might otherwise dispose of them or sell to collectors abroad. Grūtas has gained the unlikely comparison to a Communist Disneyland.

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Landscaped in the style of a gulag with Russian dialogue coming out of hidden speakers from its realistic guard towers with uniformed mannequins looming over the visitors. Every detail has been executed; even the ice cream vendor wears a pressed communist era workers uniform. Grūtas Parkas is as much a sculpture park as a psychological experiment. People watching, shows a generational divide in the ways its visitors interact with the statues. The younger the visitor the more likely they are to take Stalin selfies.

 

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8 Reasons Virginia Will Make You Fall In Love With Fall

When it comes to fall, there are some states that offer its residents the very best of the season, like foliage, apples, pumpkins and cider. And then there are some states that have so much autumnal goodness that it will make you fall head over heels. Virginia is one of those states. 

Besides the typical fall activities, Virginia offers visitors the opportunity to get their pants scared off at a haunted forest (yes, forest!) in Dumfries, and lost in a massive corn maze in Leesburg. Travelers can also spend their days wine tasting, brewery hopping or attending a cozy fall festival with tons of local eats. 

It's about time you take one of many adventures through one of the original thirteen colonies. Take a look at the activities you should indulge in below! 

 
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Southwest Airlines Is Offering $49 Flights In A 3-Day Flash Sale

How do you recover from a major customer service disaster? Give away flights for cheap, of course!

On the heels of a computer glitch fiasco that caused hundreds of flight delays over the weekend, Southwest Airlines is offering flights as low as $49 in a three-day flash sale that ends on Oct. 15. 

The deals include Southwest destinations nationwide; Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta are especially plentiful in well-priced flights. Some of our favorite one-way finds include an $83 flight from New York to Nashville, a $99 flight from Chicago to Austin and $49 flights from pretty much anywhere in California to Las Vegas.

The sale is for travel from Dec. 2 to Dec. 15 and from Jan. 5 to Feb. 10. It excludes flights on Fridays and Sundays (ugh), but if you're looking for a getaway, don't hesitate to go for it! Even if you only use the Southwest sale to fly one-way, airfare is generally cheap overall right now, so you can always book the other leg with another airline if need be. 

Oh, and while you're at it, might wanna sign up for that rewards program: 

 
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Introducing Stalinworld-- Lithuania's Communist Theme Park

<asset-code id="561d30331400002b003c8182" type="image"></asset-code>

The park playground intermingled with rusting artillery become indiscriminate playthings for the younger visitors. The strange assortment of animals in the small zoo includes no less than a dozen species of pigeon, and three black bears in a pen the size of your old dorm room. A child bounces on Lenin’s head. This is the scene at Grūtas Parkas-- Lithuania’s bizarre communist theme park.

 

Dark tourism is a phenomenon where tourists visit places associated with suffering, and it’s growing in popularity. Each year over 1.4 million people visit Auschwitz the 9/11 memorial sees over 5 million, and Bran Castle home of Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula sees 300,000

 

So it should be no surprise that someone has found a way to profit off the nostalgia and scars of the Soviet Union. Viliumas Malinauskas, a Lithuanian mushroom tycoon, has done just that with Grūtas Parkas creating a strange theme park unofficially nicknamed-- Stalinworld. From it’s opening the park ignited controversy with locals arguing that it profited from authorities suffered by a Soviet occupation.

The statue park is filled with hundreds of Soviet statues, he rents from the Lithuanian government who might otherwise dispose of them or sell to collectors abroad. Grūtas has gained the unlikely comparison to a Communist Disneyland.

<asset-code id="561d30a712000026007e4f8c" type="image"></asset-code> 

Landscaped in the style of a gulag with Russian dialogue coming out of hidden speakers from its realistic guard towers with uniformed mannequins looming over the visitors. Every detail has been executed; even the ice cream vendor wears a pressed communist era workers uniform. Grūtas Parkas is as much a sculpture park as a psychological experiment. People watching, shows a generational divide in the ways its visitors interact with the statues. The younger the visitor the more likely they are to take Stalin selfies.

 

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8 Reasons Virginia Will Make You Fall In Love With Fall

When it comes to fall, there are some states that offer its residents the very best of the season, like foliage, apples, pumpkins and cider. And then there are some states that have so much autumnal goodness that it will make you fall head over heels. Virginia is one of those states. 

Besides the typical fall activities, Virginia offers visitors the opportunity to get their pants scared off at a haunted forest (yes, forest!) in Dumfries, and lost in a massive corn maze in Leesburg. Travelers can also spend their days wine tasting, brewery hopping or attending a cozy fall festival with tons of local eats. 

It's about time you take one of many adventures through one of the original thirteen colonies. Take a look at the activities you should indulge in below! 

 
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Southwest Airlines Is Offering $49 Flights In A 3-Day Flash Sale

How do you recover from a major customer service disaster? Give away flights for cheap, of course!

On the heels of a computer glitch fiasco that caused hundreds of flight delays over the weekend, Southwest Airlines is offering flights as low as $49 in a three-day flash sale that ends on Oct. 15. 

The deals include Southwest destinations nationwide; Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta are especially plentiful in well-priced flights. Some of our favorite one-way finds include an $83 flight from New York to Nashville, a $99 flight from Chicago to Austin and $49 flights from pretty much anywhere in California to Las Vegas.

The sale is for travel from Dec. 2 to Dec. 15 and from Jan. 5 to Feb. 10. It excludes flights on Fridays and Sundays (ugh), but if you're looking for a getaway, don't hesitate to go for it! Even if you only use the Southwest sale to fly one-way, airfare is generally cheap overall right now, so you can always book the other leg with another airline if need be. 

Oh, and while you're at it, might wanna sign up for that rewards program: 

 
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The States Where Students Make Up The Highest Amount Of The Population

A new analysis shows which states count college students as the highest percentage of the population.

The market research firm Fractl used 12-month enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics data center, as of 2013, the latest information available, for the analysis. It was prepared for WithMyDegree.org, an advice website.

Washington, D.C. actually takes the top slot, but Iowa is the state with the highest percentage of students as part of the population. Following the Hawkeye state is Arizona, Utah and Rhode Island. 

Close to 1-in-10 citizens of D.C. are college students, while Iowa has a rate of about 7.3 percent. Iowa has around 60 colleges and universities, depending on how you count campuses for schools with multiple branches. D.C. has close to two dozen schools. 

But the rate for Iowa and Arizona are partially inflated by the large number of online students tied to schools based in those states -- mainly the University of Phoenix and Ashford University. The national rate is 4.1 percent. 

The analysis also examined how enrollment changed from year to year, and how it dropped following the Great Recession. It notes that research from Stanford University shows college enrollment increases during recessions.

Students stay in school "rather than face an uncertain job market where finding, keeping, and advancing in a career prove difficult," the analysis says. "But after the rise comes the inevitable fall. As the economy began to rebound, fewer students enrolled in college between 2011 and 2013. This cycle comes as no surprise: For some people, college is simply a backup plan after a stalled career search -- and a newly thriving job market brings enticing money-making opportunities."

The graphic below shows what it looks like as the enrollment changes from year to year from 2005 to 2013.

 
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Southwest Airlines Fixes Glitch That Delayed Thousands Nationwide

This morning, Southwest Airlines has fixed a computer glitch that delayed approximately 500 flights on Sunday. 

Technical systems should be working normally for Monday's flights, though some delayed passengers still need to be placed on flights or reunited with their luggage, said to airline representative Michelle Agnew. The glitch in the airline's check-in system caused tens of thousands of passengers to face delays on Sunday.

"Teams worked throughout the night... to ensure the smoothest operation of our originating and later flights," Agnew told HuffPost in an email. "We have some additional work to do to get bags delivered and some delayed or displaced customers into open seats today. We have teams working as quickly as possible to accomplish that."

The glitch delayed flights at airports across the country, and it was originally projected to impact flights today. During the incident, passengers were able to to check in for flights online, on the Southwest mobile app and at airport kiosks, but not at the airport check-in desk.

Southwest urged passengers to print their boarding passes at home and arrive at the airport at least two hours early to ease delays. That might have helped some, but those lines looked pretty horrendous regardless:

Traveling today? Keep an eye on Southwest's Twitter for updates. 

If traveling today, see advisory regarding today's technical issues and arrive at least 2 hrs prior to departure: http://t.co/zFEcEwUziX

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 11, 2015

 
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Amy Schumer Faces A Flight Attendant's Worst Nightmare on 'SNL'

If cheesy safety sing-alongs weren't scary enough, just imagine falling out of the airplane's emergency exit door. 

Amy Schumer and Vanessa Bayer both take a tumble into the atmosphere in a "Saturday Night Live" skit that pokes fun at economy-class flights. Schumer's character, a flight attendant with some pretty solid Spice Girls skills, can barely hold on after she stumbles into the clouds: 

Thankfully, this isn't something that wouldn't actually happen in an economy cabin, though one KLM passenger did mistake the exit door for a restroom last month. 

But silly airline safety songs? We've seen plenty of those.

 
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Driver In Sweden Mistakes Group Of Bearded Men For ISIS, Calls Police

On Saturday, about 30 bearded men met up at the historic Brahehus Castle outside Granna, Sweden. All were members of Bearded Villains, an international organization for beard aficionados, and they were posing for a group photo.  

About an hour later, the police showed up.

They had received a call from a passing driver who reported having seen a group of terrorists carrying the Islamic State's flag, Andreas Fransson, a Bearded Villains group member, told The WorldPost on Monday in a Facebook message.

The Bearded Villains' flag, as can be seen in the photo below, features the group's name in white text and the image of two swords:

Apart from its monochrome color scheme, the Bearded Villains' flag hardly resembles that of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. An upside-down version of the flag can be seen below:

"I thought that they were joking at first," group member John Ekeblad told Sweden's Sveriges Television on Monday. "We had parked one of our cars on a pedestrian trail, and thought that that was the problem." 

"At first we thought that we might be in the way for tourists or that they were there on a routine check," Fransson said. "They laughed, we laughed and we had a chat about it."

Although the run-in was a laughable affair for both the police and the group at the time, the underlying, worrying message didn't go unnoticed.

"Being mistaken for ISIS is depressing, because it means that people are so quick in their judging, they see a flag, black with [white] text, and bearded men, and instantly assume we are ISIS," Fransson said.

Bearded Villains, which was founded last year, is an organization of beard enthusiasts with chapters across the world, from Miami to Germany to Kuwait. Its website and social media accounts highlight funny aphorisms about beards, share grooming tips and sell Bearded Villains merchandise. 

The Swedish chapter is also a charitable group, having previously raised money for the Swedish Prostate Cancer Foundation and for organizations addressing homelessness in the United States. Its mission is to "make the world a better place for everyone, we stand up against oppression, bullying, homophobia and more," Fransson said.

"The idea that we, a charitable organization[,] would be mistaken for ISIS was so profound," he added.

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11 Creep-tastic Images From Halloween Around The World

Whether you're traveling abroad or staying domestic this Halloween, you may think you can escape the spookiness of the holiday.

But as it turns out, you can run, but you definitely cannot hide.

HuffPost teamed up with the photographer community at EyeEm to ask for images of Halloween festivities around the world. The results -- from zombie revelers in California to skeletons in Germany -- are frightening evidence that no matter where you spend it, Halloween is just plain spooky.

BOO!

If you need a little inspiration on where to travel this Halloween, might want to check out Kansas City's mind-blowingly massive haunted house...

 
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The Best Local Coffee Shops In America

You love it. You need it. And you can't deny that coffee is king. 

So when you take a lovely long weekend to one of the many great cities in the U.S., you want (nay, need) to know the very best spots to get your fix.

Thanks to coffee company Krups, which released its 5th annual Best Brew Awards, the best coffee shops you haven't yet been to are well within your grasp. The company polled its Facebook fans and surfaced some favorite local spots in 13 U.S. cities. The list will take you to Joe's East in Atlanta, Jane's in San Francisco and so many more.

Rest assured the local shops that made the list were voted as some of the best spots in the country by people who take their coffee as seriously as you do.

 
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