Author: Ms. R.

October 25, 2022 has been called Britain’s “Obama Moment”: On that day, Rishi Sunak became the country’s first ever non-white Prime Minister. But Britain’s current head of government represents an even bigger change. As a practicing Hindu, Sunak also is Britain’s first non-Christian PM. And although Sunak won his post via an internal poll among Conservative Party Members of Parliament rather than a general election, on that last point at least his tenure is timely and symbolic. Because, as……

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A reminder of Kansas’s early pioneer days and the waves of immigration that defined American expansion, the Old Dutch Mill in Smith Center, Kansas is a link between Old World Europe, American farm life, and the rise of historic preservation in the 20th century. The mill’s story begins far from Kansas. Charles G. Schwarz was born in Grauenhagen, Germany, in 1840, and moved to Kansas in pursuit of work in 1873. Although promised a job, he and his family……

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In a family house beside a loch in Argyll, Scotland, just northwest of Glasglow, Andreina Cordani holds up the hard copy of her latest novel, The 12 Days of Murder. The cover looks like it’s wrapped as a Christmas present, with red and gold baubles framing the title, and the ‘M’ of Murder dripping down the page. The novel centers around a university reunion in a Scottish glen where seven members of the school’s murder mystery society come together……

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Just off the lakeside square dedicated to the statue of Emperor Lý Thái Tổ stands a worn-out monument colloquially known as the Frog Garden Fountain. It’s a rectangular stone pillar standing on a pool decorated with sculptures of frogs and dragons, unassuming but somewhat whimsical. It appears to be of no particular note at a glance, but it hides a little secret from the French Colonial era. Installed in 1901, the fountain is the oldest surviving one in the city. It……

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By most standards, at 53 feet, Minnehaha Falls is a small waterfall. But what it lacks in height it makes up for in its fantastic setting, its natural beauty, and its accessibility. It has been a popular tourist destination since the 1800s when riverboat tours of the upper Mississippi became fashionable. Made famous in Longfellow’s epic poem (he never actually visited) the falls are the main feature of the Minnehaha Park, which is run by the Minneapolis Park and……

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In May of 2023, Natasha Contardi of Montreal, Canada, found a decades-old scrap of paper among her grandmother’s belongings with a handwritten Italian recipe on it. Her grandmother, suffering from dementia, no longer recognized the recipe, so Contardi posted photos on Reddit asking for help with the translation. Not only did the online community translate the recipe, they revealed the food mystery behind it. Originally written down by a great-aunt of Contardi’s, the recipe was for serpentone, a traditional……

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Travel back a century or so, to a chilly winter night. Christmas has come and gone, and New Year’s Eve is on the horizon when a group of carolers approach your door. They’re dressed as figures from the Nativity. Elated, you welcome them. Then you notice a terrifying stranger among them: a tall creature with musky-smelling hair, silver bull horns, and a snapping jaw pierced with nails. He dances and jumps to the music, sometimes pouncing on children. Meet……

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Funiculars, sometimes called the missing link between trains and elevators, are a popular form of transportation in mountainous areas as they can scale areas of high inclination. This is achieved by attaching carts to cables that are pulled from the end station by enormous engines. Usually, these engines are hidden away from sight, but in the Bergbahn Machinenraum, visitors get a rare glimpse of the inner workings. The second part of the Heidelberger Bergbahn is a historical 1907 funicular that……

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