Author: Ms. R.

Among the campus buildings at Rice University in Houston, Texas, one curious structure stands out. The first feature you’ll probably notice is that it’s made of reeds; but these are not just any reeds. They arrived inside a 40-foot shipping container, harvested and partly assembled by master artisans in the marshlands of southern Iraq, where structures like this one have been made for centuries. It’s called a mudhif, and for Iraq’s Marsh Arab ethnic minority, it’s a traditional village……

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Longtime phở aficionados may know that the word “phở” not only refers to the composed noodle soup, but also the flat rice stick noodles—or bánh phở—that are used in the dish. These noodles, which are similar to those used in pad Thai, can be leveraged in numerous ways. For this beloved street vendor in Hanoi, they form the base of phở xào, or stir-fried phở. While there are many different versions of stir-fried phở, this eatery has been offering……

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In 1889, a Japanese serviceman Ninomiya Chūhachi invented the concept of hikōki, an unmanned model aircraft, after witnessing a gliding crow. He failed to earn support from military higher-ups, but continued to work on his idea and successfully created a functioning four-bladed propeller in 1891. Now determined to invent the world’s first manned aircraft, Chūhachi struggled to raise research funds after leaving the army to work at a pharmaceutical company. In 1908, he was sufficiently financed and about to start……

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Warrington is a relatively average, unspectacular industrial town in northwest England. While most of the buildings and sights within Warrington are relatively modest, the Golden Gates in front of Warrington Town Hall seem like a glittering anomaly in comparison to their surroundings. The ironwork structure, which is about 16.5 meters wide and 7.6 meters tall, consists of four pillars with a gate between the central two pillars and elaborate screens connecting the central and outer pillars. Each column is……

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The Tuesday after the first Monday in November became Election Day in the United States largely by default. When uniform day for presidential elections was set in the 19th century, the country was mostly a Christian, rural, agrarian society. Sunday was for worship, Wednesday was a market day, and because some people would have to travel long distances to the polls, Monday and Thursday were out, too. So, Tuesday it became—specifically a Tuesday that wouldn’t conflict with the farming……

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A continent the width of the U.S. has been missing for 155 million years. Scientists have long puzzled whether this chunk of northwest Australia has been either floating somewhere unseen, resting on the ocean floor, or slowly fusing to the underbelly of a larger landmass. Modern mapping largely ruled out the first two theories, but let’s say a 3,000-mile slab of terra firma did get lodged beneath another continent. Experts believe they would have at least been able to……

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A short and simple walk from the town of Mulina lies an abandoned mine that is in the midst of being taken over by nature. In what feels like a tropical rainforest, visitors will discover old mining equipment, stone buildings, and fresh-flowing water passes through the structures  The walk is simple and a little over a mile (three-kilometer) hike in total and is accessible for all family members. …

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In 1821, the British king visited Howth on his 59th birthday, and while he was visiting the town, he was approached by local stone mason Robert Campbell who recorded the king’s footprints to commemorate the visit. He was the son of King George III and visited Howth on August 17 a few weeks after his coronation on July 19, 1821. He was supposed to arrive in Dun Laoghaire but accidentally landed in Howth. Dun Laoghaire was then renamed Kingstown……

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Scranton, Pennsylvania is known as “The Electric City.” In 1880, Scranton became the first United States city to be lit by electricity and run a transit system made up of electric streetcars. Before the automotive industry decimated interurban trolley systems, they were prevalent throughout the northeastern and midwestern United States. Interurban electric trolleys provided a reliable form of transit. They were seen as modern and desirable during the late 19th and early 20th century, but by the 1950s few……

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