Author: Ms. R.

Reprinted with permission from Populus: Living and Dying in Ancient Rome by Guy de la Bédoyère, published by the University of Chicago Press. © 2024 by Guy de la Bédoyère. All rights reserved. Certain Roman emperors led the field when it came to dining. Colorful anecdotes abounded of spectacular profligacy, all treated as contemptuous examples of degeneracy but viewed, it seems, with a certain amount of prurient jealousy. For writers of the time these stories made for excellent copy,……

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For the curious, intrepid explorer looking for a brief getaway from bustling George Town, head northwest, where a sprawling fruit paradise awaits you. Located in northwest Teluk Bahang, the Penang Tropical Fruit Farm is Southeast Asia’s largest collection of fruits. The farm sits at 800 feet above sea level, making it the perfect location for cultivating tropical and sub-tropical fruit trees. It’s a veritable fruit wonderland—with over 25 acres of land, the farm boasts over 200 species of edible……

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In the bylanes of Sadashiv Peth, an area in the historic part of Pune, lies this iconic ice cream parlor. First opened in 1947 by Manohar Waman Limaye, a former ammunition engineer, the shop specializes in hand-made pot ice cream. Limaye supposedly turned to his engineering skills when he took an old ice candy machine and reconfigured it to churn out ice cream as the demand increased. The old ice cream pot is no longer in use, but it is proudly……

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Last summer, Sabra, one of America’s leading producers of hummus, announced three new flavors: Barbecue, Buffalo (as in wings), and Southwest. Not to be outdone, Fresh Cravings, a contender for dominance in the retail hummus market, debuted two new flavors of its own later that year: Tajín Chili Lime and Dill Pickle. These new additions, Fresh Cravings president Nicole Parker said in a statement, represented her company’s “commitment to pushing the boundaries of hummus flavor innovation.” Yet some say……

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This dominant and unusual rocky formation of sandstone and siltstone was exposed during white clay mining for brickmaking at the nearby Yarralumla Brickworks for the building of Canberra in the 1940s and 1950s. It consists of two anticlines (upwards folds) with a syncline (downwards fold) between, dating from the late Middle Silurian period, approximately 400 million years ago. It is characteristic of the type of geological folding that occurred during the Silurian period in what is now the Australian……

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Find a summer evening adventure by visiting the Campbell Ave bridge over the Rillito river. Thousands of Mexican Free-Tailed bats take flight at sunset, filling the sky. You can stand above and watch them take flight or go on the Loop path and listen to them under the bridge. Tucson has bats under many bridges, but this one and the one at Pantano and Broadway bridge are marked with awesome bat art and informative signs. Great places to watch……

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Amidst the high-end Miami Design District, visitors can find an incongruous sight tucked away on a side street. A gas station billboard painted a dull gold lies tilted on its side, still flashing its advertisement for Sunoco gas. This structure isn’t a discarded product of the past, but a public artwork entitled Dollar a Gallon III, one of the final works of American polymath Virgil Abloh. Abloh’s career crossed many boundaries between the worlds of fashion, art, music, product……

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It’s unclear precisely how the head of a Paul Bunyan statue got to the top of a tree near the York river in York, Maine. “He’s always been there” is what locals have said. That’s just where he lives. When Seacoastonline looked into the mysterious head in 2021, they found that the head was likely placed on the tree by land owners David and Sharan Gross. Their daughter, Amanda Bouchard, said at the time that “the river is important to……

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Roman emperor Diocletian is perhaps the most notable resident of Split, Croatia‘s second most-populated city. What used to be his palace now constitutes almost the entirety of the modern city’s UNESCO-protected historic center. His life story in some ways reflects the twin cities found on this Croatian peninsula: Solin and Spalato. Diocletian was born in Salona, now known as Solin, and is considered a town within Split‘s metropolitan area. Yet it was Spalato (now Split proper) where he decided……

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Spanning an impressive 4,313 feet across Lake Weatherford, a small city located outside of Dallas, the floating boardwalk winds its way through the lake’s ecosystem. Guests can walk among lily pads in the middle of the lake, wander between trees in the salt marsh, or even cross the boardwalk in the dry season to see the lake as a mud flat.  The boardwalk was designed to float to account for the highly variable depth of Lake Weatherford, which can change……

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Bern, Switzerland, is a city of springs with beautifully decorated fountains offering free spring water all around town. Most of these are decorated with various statues, such as the famous Child Eater of Bern. However, this spring in Bern, known as the Mosesbrunnen (or Moses Fountain), depicts perhaps a much more interesting image of Moses showing an attempted compromise between two biblical interpretations. The spring and statue date back to 1544. It was later rebuilt in the 18th century…….

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