Author: Ms. R.

On the back roads of southwestern Oklahoma is the town of Granite, the latest home of the Comecos Cemetery a collection of fake headstones (made of real stone) with epitaphs that range from the silly to the goofy to the groan-inducing.   “I told you I was sick.”“If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” “Here lies John Yeast / Pardon me for not rising.” The funny cemetery was originally created by a veterinarian and his wife, Dan……

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The Chained Oak is an old tree wrapped in chains to prevent its branches from falling. This is due to an alleged curse put upon the tree when, in 1821, the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury refused a woman’s pleas for money. It is said she then put a curse upon the nearby oak: For every branch that falls from the tree a member of the Earl’s family would die. Later that night, one of the Earl’s relatives died suddenly……

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Walking into the montane cloud forests with a small group of coffee collectors, ducking under mossy, low-hanging branches, ropey lianas, and slender wild coffee trees broken by baboons trying to reach their sweet fruit, is like returning to a time when rivers ran unimpeded and great forests ruled the land. Hazy sunlight pierces the dense canopy. Black-and-white colobus monkeys sit quietly observing from above, heavy silvery-cheeked hornbills lift off from treetops with the deep whooshing of wingbeats, and electric-green……

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During the Middle Ages, many monks manually copied ancient books so they could be passed on to future generations. The invention of the printing press made this work largely obsolete, but thousands of old books remained stored in monasteries. You can find many of those volumes in the library of the Praglia Abbey, an almost 1,000-year-old monastery located among the Euganean Hills. Founded in 1080, the structure was largely restored or rebuilt multiple times, including in the 1800s, when……

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About 10 miles east of the town of Genzano di Lucania, in northern Basilicata, a small castle on a hill stands out in the middle of the sparsely populated countryside. The origins of this fortress, known as Castello di Monteserico (Monteserico Castle), are unknown, but it was probably built at the end of the 10th century. In 1041 it was the site of a large battle between the Normans, who were in the process of conquering southern Italy, and……

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Mizoram, a state in Northeast India, shares a border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, and is renowned for its dense forest cover and the diverse tribal origins of its population. The Mizo people are an ethnic group native to Mizoram and its surrounding areas, which includes parts of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Rih Dil is a heart-shaped lake (word Dil means Heart) deeply rooted in Mizo history, culture, and folklores. According to the Mizo customs, newlywed couples visit the lake to seek……

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In the 1860s, a project to control the flow of the Rhine was completed. It included flood-proof dams that allowed for the construction of bridges over the river. (Previously, river crossings relied on ferries.) From 1867 to 1879, 13 covered wooden bridges were built in the Rhine Valley—today, the only one that remains is the Alte Rheinbrücke (Old Rhine Bridge), which links the municipalities of Vaduz in Liechtenstein and Sevelen in Switzerland. Over time, the rest have been destroyed by……

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