Author: Ms. R.

The magical, colorful story of Mary Poppins—the stern yet ethereal nanny, friend to every screever, constellation, and animal—has its origins in, of all places, the serious confines of a bank.  Mary Poppins book series author, P.L. Travers, was born Helen Lyndon Goff in Maryborough, Queensland, on August 9, 1899, in the top floor apartment of the Australian Joint Stock Bank managed by her father, Travers Goff.  Goff had always been a dreamer and a storyteller himself. A child at heart, he……

Read More

An Army Air Force B-25D flying a nighttime navigation training mission was supposed to be a routine exercise, however, it ended in tragedy. On February 2, 1943, the plane crashed at 3,100 feet on the side of Sharp Top Mountain in southwest Virginia. The forest is slowly reclaiming the wreckage but still visible is a large portion of one wing, a large radial engine, and some unidentified pieces wrapped around trees. There were five crewmen aboard this tragic flight, whose……

Read More

Ask six different people what the flavor of Blue Moon ice cream is and you’ll get six different answers, at least. It’s almond, it’s raspberry, it’s lemon, it’s Froot Loops, it’s cotton candy, it’s beaver musk additive (seriously—more on that later). It is, perhaps, one or more of these flavors, but that’s not for us civilians to know. An alluring hue of cosmic blue, this ice cream has secrets. Native to the Midwestern United States and little known elsewhere,……

Read More

In the middle of the Jemez mountain range in New Mexico, stands a huge rock that is roughly in the shape of a teapot. Virtually alone in a grassy clearing, Teakettle Rock looks a bit out of place, like it was flown in by helicopter and dropped there on purpose. Of course, there is a logical explanation for its existence. Teakettle Rock is made of Cutler sandstone, laid down around 300 million years ago when the area was the……

Read More

The Mission-style building that houses the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum was originally built to house a Chinese Mission where Chinese immigrants were taught to speak English. The building was designed by Louis J. Gill, nephew of famed architect, Irving Gill. Later, the building served as home to the Chinese Community Church for 30 years, after which the congregation moved to a new building constructed on 47th Street. The original mission building sat unused for over 20 years and……

Read More

Unbeknownst to many, integration in Washington, D.C. actually took a big step backward when the District Code was written in 1890. Prior to the issuance of the code, local integration laws required restaurant proprietors “to serve any well-behaved person regardless of color,” or face a steep fine and forfeiture of their license. Enter Mary Church Terrell. Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1863, she graduated from Oberlin and was one of the first Black women to earn a college degree,……

Read More

Japan is a country that has mastered the art of the capsule hotel. If you don’t mind sharing a shower, toilet, and basic standing room with other travelers, you can usually find a place to stay for cheap. These hostels also offer a chance to meet and socialize with other travelers from around the globe. One Shinjuku hostel has made this concept a little more interesting—instead of simply building beds into the wall, why not file them into bookcases?……

Read More

This story was originally published on The Conversation and appears here under a Creative Commons license. In a tunnel 40 feet beneath the surface of the Greenland ice sheet, a Geiger counter screamed. It was 1964, the height of the Cold War. U.S. soldiers in the tunnel, 800 miles from the North Pole, were dismantling the Army’s first portable nuclear reactor. Commanding Officer Joseph Franklin grabbed the radiation detector, ordered his men out and did a quick survey before……

Read More