Author: Ms. R.

Only vines grown in the toughest soil conditions produce the best grapes; their roots have to fight for every last drop of water year after year. Likewise, the wine estate, now known as Casa Madero, has for over four centuries continually adapted, making it one of North America’s oldest vineyards. The story began in 1567 when the Spanish arrived in the Parras Valley looking for gold; instead, they found an abundance of wild vines and fresh springs. A couple……

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This neon beacon of light from the past is the only thing left of Club Hubba Hubba. Opened in the 1950s, the Honolulu club was the premier burlesque venue, notorious for its unique lineup of exotic dancers. It held its ground until the 90s when it was formally closed down in 1997. Though the building has been remodeled and now has office spaces instead of a club, the owners got permission to keep the sign up. It was designed by……

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The National Memorial to Fallen Educators is a sorrowful sidebar to the story told by the National Teachers Hall of Fame (NTHF), which built it. The hall of fame celebrates exceptional teachers, annually honoring five prekindergarten-grade 12 educators with at least 20 years of teaching experience. In tragic contrast, the memorial lists the names of public and private school teachers, administrators, and staff who lost their lives while working in the United States.  The black granite memorial was developed……

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Northern Canada is known for its blustery weather, dramatic landscape, and plentiful ice. But with an unprecedented thaw in Canada’s Mount Edziza Provincial Park the past few years, objects began emerging from the ice. Some of the manmade possessions are 7,000 years old, and they belonged to the Tahltan First Nations. Mount Edziza, a volcano located in northwestern British Columbia, has remained a significant hunting ground for the Tahltan nation for thousands of years. With this discovery, archaeologists are……

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In 1909, Sigmund Freud spoke at Clark University in a series of five lectures, part of an International Psychoanalysis Conference organized by G Stanley Hall, a pioneer in Psychoanalysis and Clark University’s first president. Speakers alongside him included Carl Jung and Emma Goldman. What makes it even more interesting, however, is that this was the only place Freud ever spoke in the United States, and these lectures were spoken in German with no translation. Despite the language barrier, the……

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Along a riverside road that connects Panaji to Old Goa, one passes across the town of Ribandar. Along this scenic road is a long stone wall along the road. At one point, there is a cross within an enclosed structure that faces the Mandovi River. The area behind the wall was once a gunpowder factory called Casa de Polvora. It was built by the then Viceroy Dom Francisco da Gama. According to historical sources, the factory was used to……

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Explore the enduring allure of one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, Gone with the Wind. In addition to small collection of original costumes and props, as well as reproductions of several of Scarlet O’Hara’s dresses, from the 1939 film, this modest museum dives into Civil War history of Jonesboro. While the film has a complicated legacy, the museum makes a point of celebrating the accomplishments of Butterfly McQueen and Hattie McDaniel, who paved the way for many other……

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Model trains have been popular ever since there were trains, ranging from children’s toys to the painstakingly detailed working models of dedicated enthusiasts. Such models remain popular today, with legions of devotees. And children’s train sets, of course, also remain ubiquitous. Nonetheless, the heyday of toy trains was probably in the mid-20th century, before the competition from video and computer games. The electric train set, simulated smoke pouring from its electrically powered “steam” locomotive, was a childhood icon in……

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While the Churches and Convents of Old Goa have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, among this vast complex there are a few lesser-known monuments as well. To the east, there is a small secluded hill. A road leads to the top of the hill where ancient ruins exist. This building was called the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites. According to experts, it was designed in 1619 by the Carmelites from Italy, who were looking to establish a……

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Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were Italian prosecuting magistrates who inflicted great harm on the Sicilian mafia and by way of revenge, an attempt to stop further harm and, probably, as an example to others, both were killed in separate explosions a few months apart in 1992. In Falcone’s case, the explosion was so great that it registered on the national earthquake monitoring system. Such was the public outrage at these assassinations a photograph of the two colleagues in……

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Armed with a walking stick, Priyadarsanan Rajan tackled a challenging 45-degree slope in the beautiful but rugged Siang Valley, within India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. He was several miles deep in the remote Mouling National Park, traversing steep terrain while enduring relentless rain, leeches, and blood-sucking flies. Halfway up the hill, under a rock, he found a strange creature: a long, rich brown, worm-like animal with no eyes, about two dozen pairs of legs, and long antennae. Unsure……

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