Author: Ms. R.

With its electroreceptor-spotted bill, horned pads where you might expect teeth, and status as one of only five species of mammals that lay eggs, the platypus was already one of the most unique creatures on Earth. And now researchers in the U.S. and Australia have found the animal exhibits another curious characteristic: fluorescence. This intrigued Kenny Travouillon, the curator of mammalogy at the Western Australian Museum, and his colleagues, including research associate Linette Umbrello. “It was the first Australian……

Read More

While the Devil is occasionally used in church art to convey moral lessons and reinforce the consequences of sin, it’s unusual to find a combination of satanic imagery alongside local folklore within the context of sacred space. Though, one such exception can be observed on the exterior of Raus Church in southern Sweden, where a small stone face, believed to depict the devil, was strategically embedded above the main entrance to ward off trolls and malevolent beings. Legend has……

Read More

This was the first dolmen identified as such in the Iberian Peninsula, in 1831 Numerous interventions since then have changed its original appearance. Structurally, it comprises a polygonal chamber formed by large, interlinked slabs with a covered passageway around six meters long (of which nothing now remains) and a large barrow that was partly removed in 1965 so that the dolmen was visible from the road. Human remains have been found all over the site (in the chamber, the……

Read More

Built 60 meters underground into a bed of limestone, this declassified (NATO Cosmic Top Secret) nuclear bunker from the Cold War was meant to house the Danish monarch and government as a last bastion of democracy in the event of a nuclear apocalypse. The bunker is hidden deep in the Rold Forest in northern Jutland, hundreds of miles from Copenhagen. Its existence was kept a secret for many decades, and only revealed to the public in 2012. It opened as……

Read More

James David Vaughn is credited with starting Southern Gospel Music and inventing the professional male gospel quartet.  He was an American music teacher, composer, songbook publisher, who founded the Vaughn Conservatory of Music and the James D. Vaughn Publishing Company. He is responsible for one of the first radio stations in Tennessee, WOAN, and the first record company based in the South, Vaughn Phonograph Records. …

Read More

The first Big Bench with this particular design was constructed in 2010 by Chris Bangle on the grounds of his residence and studio in Clavesana, as an installation looking out onto the panorama and accessible to visitors. The change in perspective due to the size of the bench makes one feel like a child, able to be amazed by the beauty of the landscape seen through new eyes. “It is a great lesson in the use of contextual innovation,” says……

Read More

J. P. Small Baseball Park was originally opened in 1912 and served baseball players from Major, Minor, and Negro league teams. The land was originally owned by a former Union soldier. Over the years, after several name changes and a devastating fire in the 1930s, the baseball field has been a center of both Jacksonville baseball and entertainment for the Durkeeville, Sugar Hill, and Springfield neighborhoods.  J.P. Small has had the pleasure of hosting some of baseball’s biggest names…….

Read More

Sequestered in a corner of Glasgow‘s Botanical Garden, outside the Tearoom cafe, stands a rather unusual feature that might go unnoticed. In the sprawling, nearly 40 acres of gardens, some of which date back to the mid-19th century, is a common everyday item one might encounter on the street. Fashioned in the style of a red pillar postbox is a facsimile made entirely of fired stoneware and decorated with whimsical childlike depictions of flora and fauna. An inscription on……

Read More

In 2003, a wine cabinet in Portland, Oregon, somehow made headlines. The owner of the foot-and-a-half-tall wooden bit of decor, Kevin Mannis, had listed it on eBay alongside an elaborate story. He claimed that the cabinet had previously been owned by a Polish Holocaust survivor and was inhabited by a powerful demon known as a Dybbuk. Since it came into his possession, he wrote, his life had been shaken by paranormal occurrences, from disturbing nightmares to intense feelings of……

Read More

In June 1991, Mount Unzen erupted and caused major damage to the surrounding towns, taking 43 lives and burying many houses in the debris flows. To memorialize the disaster, the city of Shimabara preserved some of the buried houses in situ as a park. Known as the Memorial Park of Houses Destroyed by Debris Flows, it consists of 11 structures, three inside a pavilion and the rest outside. Together, the disaster-stricken houses warn visitors of the dangers of volcanic eruptions……

Read More