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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

Shoemaker's Pear Tree in Falsterbo, Sweden

The Swedish village of Falsterbo is known for the Falsterbo Horse Show, golf courses, beaches, and much more. But there is at least one place in the village that is not so “known” among visitors, but very familiar to locals: the Shoemaker’s Pear Tree. To the visitor, the place appears to consist of a lawn that is used to park cars on, and a collection of pear trees behind a fence, but not all is what it seems. This……

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Westinghouse Electric Corp in Cleveland, Ohio

Originally owned by machinist John Walker, this massive factory located on what was once known as Waverly Ave in Cleveland, Ohio, housed the Walker Manufacturing Corporation. The company manufactured a vast amount of heavy machinery varying from hydraulic shears and hydraulic riveters to cable railroad machinery and foundry equipment. In 1894, Walker was in the midst of a patent-infringement lawsuit, which was filed by the owner and founder of Westinghouse Electric, George Westinghouse. Four years later, in 1898, Walker……

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What Practices Make a Hotel Booking Process...

Question for Our Hotel Marketing Expert Panel What Practices Make a Hotel Booking Process Effective? (Question by Thomas Dieben) Our Marketing Expert Panel Thomas Dieben – Founder, Becurious Tamie Matthews – Revenue, Sales & Marketing Consultant, RevenYou Jacopo Focaroli – CEO & Founder, The Host Kaylie Holley – The post What Practices Make a Hotel Booking Process Effective? appeared first on Revfine.com….

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Taya Caves in Yokohama, Japan

Close to the border between Yokohama and the historic city of Kamakura lies an esoteric network of tunnels and vaulted chambers adorned with Buddhist reliefs. Commonly referred to as the Taya Caves, the Yugadō (“yoga grotto”) of Jōsen-ji Temple is a fascinating mystery, rich in history and ambiance. Believed to be the site of an ancient burial cave, the Yugadō predates the temple itself, whose origin can be traced back to 1532. The tunnels were dug in the early Kamakura……

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Quantum repeaters use defects in diamond to...

The popular children’s game of telephone is based on a simple premise: The starting player whispers a message into the ear of the next player. That second player then passes along the message to the third person and so on until the message reaches the final recipient, who relays it to the group aloud. Often, what the first person said and the last person heard are laughably different; the information gets garbled along the chain. Such transmission errors from……

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Re-imagining the opera of the future

In the mid-1980s, composer Tod Machover came across a copy of Philip K. Dick’s science fiction novel “VALIS” in a Parisian bookstore. Based on a mystical vision Dick called his “pink light experience,” “VALIS” was an acronym for “vast active living intelligence system.” The metaphysical novel would become the basis for Machover’s opera of the same name, which first premiered at the Pompidou Center in 1987, and was recently re-staged at MIT for a new generation. At the time,……

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MIT welcomes nine MLK Visiting Professors and...

Established in 1990, the MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars Program at MIT welcomes outstanding scholars to the Institute for visiting appointments. MIT aspires to attract candidates who are, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “trailblazers in human, academic, scientific and religious freedom.” The program honors King’s life and legacy by expanding and extending the reach of our community.  The MLK Scholars Program has welcomed more than 140 professors, practitioners, and professionals at the forefront of their respective……

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Willard House & Clock Museum in Grafton,...

From a modern wristwatch to an antique timepiece, the sound of a clock ticking is one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable in the world. Inside the Willard House and Clock Museum, the sound of time passing is continuous and comprised of a chorus of historical clocks some of which have been functioning almost non-stop for over 200 years.  Located within a rural and picturesque area of Grafton, Massachusetts, the museum is housed within an old red farm homestead……

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Rattlers & Reptiles in Fort Davis, Texas

Here you can see almost every species of rattlesnake in the United States, including a few from Mexico. Along with a few local insects, arachnids, skinks, and even Gila monsters. Jeffery Ross, known as “Buzz,” had a lifelong love of reptiles and big dreams to match. As the former supervisor of the reptile house at the Fort Worth Zoo, Buzz had a yearning to move out to West Texas in the Davis mountains. He moved to Fort Davis and……

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Repère Pierre du Niton in Geneva, Switzerland

While in everyday life we do not use it much directly, it is crucial to know the elevation of a place to properly build and construct. For most of the world, this is based on the Amsterdam Ordinance Datum. Before this standard was put in place, each country had its own datum, off of which they could base measurements of elevation, like Sweden’s Normalhöjdpunkten. Switzerland is no different, but because the landlocked country did not have access to the……

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Carhartt Mansion Ruins in Rock Hill, South...

In the woods outside of Rock Hill, South Carolina, stand the crumbling ruins of a once-grand house. Just a few years after it was completed its owner, Hamilton Carhartt, was killed in an automobile accident in 1937. The founder of the Carhartt clothing company lived in Michigan, but had a second home built in Rock Hill because Carhartt owned a large cotton mill in the town. The clothing company employed many of the townspeople in the early 1900s, though……

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Suceviţa Monastery in Sucevița, Romania

The Sucevița Monastery is a must-visit destination for anyone who loves history, art, and architecture. Sucevița (“The Church of the Resurrection”) is an Eastern Orthodox convent located in northeastern Romania. Founded in 1581 by Bishop Gheorghe Movila and expanded by Prince Ieremia, the monastery boasts a fortress-like appearance with high walls and defensive towers. According to a local legend, the stone used to build the monastery was transported in an ox-drawn cart by a single woman who was attempting to repent for……

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Longhorn Cavern in Burnet, Texas

This limestone cave in central Texas was carved by a river that has long since dried up. Now known as Longhorn Cavern (because the wide mouth in its ceiling caused several unsuspecting longhorns to fall to their deaths), the subterranean site has been used by humans for thousands of years. There is evidence that parts of the cave were used to mine materials for arrowheads and other weapons and tools. During the Civil War, Texans mined the caverns for guano……

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National Holocaust Monument in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Dutch national memorial for the victims of the Holocaust and the Porajmos commemorates the estimated 102,000 Jewish victims from across the Netherlands who were arrested by Nazis during the German occupation of the country. The monument also remembers the 220 Roma and Sinti victims. Visitors wander through corridors made out of red brick walls. Inscribed on each of these bricks are the alphabetically ordered names, dates of birth, and ages at death of a victim of the Holocaust. These victims were deported and killed in……

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Crystal Ball Cave and Bates Family Ranch...

In Juab County, Utah, there is a natural cave that rivals man-made architectural wonders. This limestone and feldspar cavern was once filled by Lake Bonneville. Since 1956, the Bates family has curated the attraction for the Federal government and offers guided tours from their nearby ranch. The story goes that the father of the family was out looking for his sheep in the hills and chanced upon a narrow opening in the rock. He uncovered a massive cavern that……

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