Author: Ms. R.

It’s close to midnight. You’re stepping out of a Broadway theater and into the neon hellscape of Times Square. You’re hungry, and too dignified (and/or sober) to wait two hours for a slice of Joe’s Pizza. The Olive Garden, Hard Rock Cafe, and Margaritaville don’t enthrall you, despite their ability to seduce out-of-town masses. The Rum House, a perpetually mobbed piano bar, will require you to beg and bribe your way in. What’s a patron of the Midtown-based arts……

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Thomas Edison is commonly credited as the inventor of the incandescent lightbulb, if somewhat controversially. Historians would agree that several scientists had invented working lightbulbs before Edison, and that the American inventor merely improved the functionality and reliability, getting his version patented. In school, Japanese children are often taught what a great figure he was, but they are seldom taught that the Japanese bamboo contributed greatly to the development of Edison’s electric lamp. In 1860, Joseph Swann invented an earlier……

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As a state famous for its lakes, Wisconsin is often considered an angler’s paradise. It’s no surprise, then, that the state is also famous for its oversized fiberglass fish. Giant fish are found throughout the state, but one of the most picturesque, Sunny the Sunfish, can be found on a bluff overlooking Lake Onalaska. Lake Onalaska itself is not one of Wisconsin’s many glacial lakes. Instead, it’s a man-made lake, formed in April 1937 with the completion of Lock……

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About two hours north of Montreal is a surprising village—one that’s quite different from the otherwise sleepy surroundings. Past the occasional Tim Hortons and just outside the town of Trois-Rivières, the road curves deep into the woods. Here, between the trees, visitors will find Tudor manors, Viking-style halls, and a jousting arena. This is Duché de Bicolline, or Duchy of Bicolline, the largest medieval-style settlement in North America—and one that’s still growing, both physically and philosophically. The Duchy, or……

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Oslo is a city teeming with public art, and one of its more unusual pieces can be found tucked away in a downtown passage. Since 2009, Myth (Sphinx)—Kate Moss, a 10-foot (three-meter) bronze sculpture of the British supermodel, painted in stark white and posed in a provocative yoga stance, has drawn considerable attention. In this sculpture, Moss—dressed only in a bikini—appears with her ankles contorted around her ears. Created by London-based artist Marc Quinn, the work is based on……

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Just 250 meters off the southern coast of Espiritu Santo lies a World War II wreck at a convenient depth for recreational diving. Not only that, the wreck is large, and almost completely intact, making it regarded as one of the best wreck dives in the world. This sunken ship is the SS President Coolidge, a cruise liner that was converted into a troop carrier during the war. But it didn’t sink due to an enemy attack. In October……

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The depths of rural Wisconsin might seem like an unlikely place for a Catholic holy site, but some claim that this shrine is on par with Lourdes in terms of its legacy of miraculous healing. In 1859, a Belgian-born woman by the name of Adele Brise claimed to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary on this site. In 2010, Bishop David L. Ricken officially recognized the vision, making this the first Marian apparition to be approved on American soil.  After……

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