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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.

Reserve Trust raises $30.5M to become the...

Reserve Trust, a Denver-based financial services provider, has raised $30.5 million in a Series A round led by QED Investors. FinTech Collective, Ardent Venture Partners, Flywire CEO Mike Massaro and Quovo founder and CEO Lowell Putnam also participated in the financing, which included $17.9 million in secondary shares. It brings the startup’s total raised since its 2016 inception to $35.5 million. Reserve Trust describes itself as “the first fintech trust company with a Federal Reserve master account.” What does……

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Tangier American Legation Museum in Tangier, Morocco

The Tangier American Legation is an attractive Moorish style building, built of stuccoed masonry, in Tangier, Morocco. The building is in the, walled medina section of the city and was the first American public property outside the United States. The Legation commemorates the historic relationship between the two countries, which dates back to when the Kingdom of Morocco became the first to recognize the United States as a nation. It is also symbolic of the 1786 Moroccan–American Treaty of Friendship, which……

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Warren Historic Site in Dickerson, Maryland

Martinsburg was an African-American community consisting of about 30-40 homesteads that formed as the Civil War was coming to an end. The intersection of White’s Ferry Road and Martinsburg Road was the epicenter of this town. Its three most important buildings, the church, school, and lodge (renovated in 2019) are still standing in what was once the heart of Martinsburg. It is the last such site in Maryland to retain all three of these structures. The site is comprised……

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Dotonbori Hotel Front Pillars in Osaka, Japan

Dotonbori Hotel, located in Osaka‘s main shopping district of the same name, first opened in 1970. This was the year in which Osaka hosted a World Expo, and it was expected to draw in many tourists from around the world. The hotel was built and served mainly to accommodate them during its first year. In the following years, however, the number of international visitors to Osaka did not grow much. By the 1990s, nearly all of the guests at……

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Robinhood is now a stonk

Update: Trading of Robinhood shares has been halted due to volatility. The company’s stock paused at $65.60 on Robinhood itself. Yahoo Finance has a higher $77.03 price on the company’s equity, up a stunning 64.59% today. Things are fluid, but Robinhood may have been halted and then rose again when it resumed trading. Stonks indeed. Shares of Robinhood, an investing-focused consumer fintech company, soared this morning in pre-market trading. The stonk phenomenon, which helped propel minor companies like GameStop……

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Financial concierge startup Zeni banks $34M to...

Zeni, a Palo Alto fintech company providing real-time financial services data to venture-backed startups, raised $34 million in Series B funding led by Elevation Capital. The new investment comes just five months after Zeni announced $13.5 million in a combined seed and Series A round. The company has now raised $47.5 million in total since it was co-founded in 2019 by twin brothers Swapnil Shinde and Snehal Shinde. Elevation was joined in the new round by new investors Think……

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Matsuchiyama Shoden in Tokyo, Japan

The daikon, or white radish, is one of the most popular vegetables used in traditional Japanese cuisine and can be found at any given grocery store or supermarket. It’s quite unusual, however, for a Buddhist temple to sell daikon radishes—unless it’s the Honryū-in Temple in Asakusa, commonly known as Matsuchiyama Shōden. The temple was originally established in 595 CE and is dedicated to Kangiten, an elusive double deity of lust, wealth, and success. This god is generally depicted as a……

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Podcast: La Piedra Movediza

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit a huge rock that’s teetered on the edge of a hill for thousands of years. It brought tourism, fame, and what’s said to be a 100-year curse to the town of Tandil, Argentina. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible……

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Mired in crises, Lebanon marks 1 year...

BEIRUT (AP) — Banks, businesses and government offices were shuttered Wednesday as Lebanon marks one year since the horrific explosion at the port of Beirut with a national day of mourning. The grim anniversary comes amid an unprecedented economic and financial meltdown, and a political stalemate that has kept the country without a functioning government for a full year. United in grief and anger, families of the victims and other Lebanese were planning prayers and protests later in the…

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Olympics carry a question: What does it...

TOKYO (AP) — Two multiracial athletes, two high-profile roles: Rising NBA star Rui Hachimura carried the Japanese flag at the Olympics’ opening ceremony. Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron. For Japan, it was a remarkable showcase of racial diversity — but one that also highlighted how much remains missing in a nation that values homogeneity and conformity. Osaka and Hachimura, both of whom have one foreign parent and one Japanese parent, were cheered warmly by many even…

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Kristy Johnson: Expanding communication for all

As a teenager, Kristy Johnson thought she had her career all planned out. Raised in a small town in Indiana, she spent much of her childhood stargazing and mapping constellations. She dreamed of becoming an astrophysicist and pursued a rigorous academic path. After achieving top honors as an undergraduate, Johnson immediately began a PhD program in physics at the University of Maryland. Everything changed when she discovered her son, Felix, had a rare genetic disorder, one with only seven……

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Matching health care offices with short-term workers

For small health-care groups like dentist’s offices, one sick staff member can mean a day’s worth of cancelled appointments. Such offices can either continue short-staffed, which could negatively affect patient care, or reschedule appointments, potentially delaying critical procedures and screenings. The MIT alumnus-founded Stynt is solving that problem by helping health care offices fill last-minute shift openings for positions including dental hygienists, assistants, office managers and dentists. Stynt’s online platform lets offices post openings that qualified professionals can then……

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What Square’s acquisition of Afterpay means for...

On Sunday Square announced it was gobbling up Afterpay in a deal worth $29 billion at the time of announcement. Alex followed up yesterday with more details on why the deal made sense for Square and Afterpay over here, but we wanted to ask some notable VCs what it means for the startup market. For context, the Square deal follows a ton of money and interest flowing into the BNPL market. Just this year, VCs have invested in companies……

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Robert Johnson House in Hazlehurst, Mississippi

A small house with wooden siding propped up on brick supports stands behind the Heritage House in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. This structure is what’s left of the original birth home of bluesman Robert Johnson. Perhaps you’ve heard the story that Johnson met the devil at the crossroads and sold his soul in exchange for his musical talent. While that bit of his story is made up, there’s no doubt that Johnson was a gifted musician. Born on the outskirts of……

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Whalley Viaduct in Whalley, England

This magnificent railway viaduct, built between 1846 and 1850 in a combination of red and blue bricks, is far less well known than the famous Ribblehead Viaduct, located about 25 miles to the north, but in many ways, it is more impressive not least because it is longer. Taking the Blackburn to Clitheroe railway line across the valley of the River Calder, close to the border of Lancashire and Yorkshire, it is in a magnificent setting under the shadow……

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