Author: Ms. R.

When the Japanese took control of Taiwan in 1895 and began logging the forests in the island’s interior, they discovered this 3,000-year-old cypress tree. They immediately set it apart as a sacred tree due to its size and age and preserved it, even as they logged most of the surrounding old-growth trees. Though the Japanese transferred control of the island to the Republic of China in 1945, the tree’s sacredness was respected by the island’s new leaders. In 1956,……

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Built in 1934 and named after the man who was president of the country at the time, the Abelardo L. Rodríguez Market was intended to represent a new ideal for a city market. It was designed by architect Antonio Muñoz, and features details of several architectural styles that were in vogue at the time, from Art Deco to Art Nouveau and Baroque. The market would become the city’s largest, part of the avant-garde ideals it strived for. Its stalls……

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The route from Cimarron to Eagle Nest, New Mexico, has long been known for its beauty. The western half of the route is preserved as Cimarron Canyon State Park, and the crown jewel of the park is the Palisades Sill.  The canyon was created by the Cimarron River, and this particular section of it is an intrusive area known as a sill. In particular, the rock seen here is monzonite, a form of igneous dacite rock created 40 million……

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Close to the A169 near Pickering in North Yorkshire, England, is a deep hole in the ground rumored to have been the work of a legendary giant named Wade. The Hole of Horcum is a geological feature formed by spring-sapping, in which upwelling water eats away at the ground, creating valleys. This 400-foot-deep natural cauldron, which measures about three-quarters of a mile across, has evolved over thousands of years since the last ice age. The widening of a narrow……

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In 1962, a local woman discovered a deposit of fossilized deer bones in a small cave in the town of Yamashita, located south of Mount Ōno in Naha. She informed the Ryukyu government, and, upon closer examination, traces of human tools were found on some of the bones. Immediately, an archaeological dig was conducted, discovering pottery from the Pleistocene strata estimated to be about 32,000 years old. During another dig in 1968, the fossilized remains of an eight-year-old human……

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The fourth Meow Wolf installation, the Real Unreal, has layers. On the surface, it is a colorful but unrevealing storefront in the Grapevine Mills shopping mall that invites shoppers to “come find yourselfs” . Its next lower stratum is a gift shop and café with an extremely peculiar floor plan and strange beverages like Gender Fluid for sale. And the next layer below that is a beautiful summer evening at a quiet suburban home… one slowly leaching into an……

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Tucked away at the southern end of Amsterdam’s central canal ring, just a stone’s throw from the Rijksmuseum and bustling Leidseplein, this Neo-Gothic building will draw your attention if not by its architecture, then by the size of the queue at the entrance that forms here almost every evening. Built in the late 19th century as a meeting place for a religious organization known as the Free Congregation, this place radically changed its purpose in the 1960s. First simply……

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On the Moon, there is no normal. There is no wind, no rain, no erosion. Nothing flies overhead, and nothing green strains toward the sky. There are no daily rhythms like those we experience on Earth—no chirping of crickets, no sunset breeze. Time itself seems to stop, or at least proceed differently. Even shadows shift on a far different timeline. A lunar day and a lunar night each last two Earth weeks. What’s more, seconds tick by slightly faster……

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If you are into boats, this is a deep dive into Paraíba’s power for surreal experiences. In the city of Cabedelo, you will encounter something the locals call a lancha, which translates to speedboat. The friendly locals can help you find the spot: a wooden pier suspended over the river, adorned with rusty bikes attached to both sides. This is your opportunity to ride a floating 1980s bus that has been ingeniously transformed into a ferry boat, luckily even with the……

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Western movies always tell tales of landlords with vast tracts of mountains and ranges. Few of these fictional characters can compare with the real-life holding of Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell, who once owned more than 2 million acres of land in northeast New Mexico.  Maxwell came from humble beginnings in Illinois, growing up in a fur trading family and eventually making his way west. He married the daughter of rancher Charles Beaubien and soon bought all of the land owned……

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The necropolis of Saqqara is home to the Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest pyramid in the world. Interestingly, its identification is said to have been helped by tourist graffiti left in the complex over 3,000 years ago. The graffiti can be found inside the Pavilion of the South, an unassuming structure drawing few visitors. It’s a dummy building that contains nothing but a narrow passage inside, built purely as a symbol of the pharaoh’s authority, perhaps modeled after a……

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When 34-year-old Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex and ill-fated leader of a failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I, laid his head on the executioner’s block in 1601, the prospect of inspiring a hit ballad was likely the furthest thing from his mind. Yet his grisly demise sparked one of the most enduring songs of the 17th century. Titled “A lamentable Dittie composed upon the death of Robert Lord Devereux late Earle of Essex, who was beheaded in……

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