Author: Ms. R.

King of Thieves. Hero of the Wild West. Pirate menace of the Brotherhood of Buccaneers. Errol Flynn is an icon of the Golden Age of Hollywood. But before he made a name for himself as the swashbuckler of the silver screen, Flynn lived the life of his future film counterparts in his native Australia.  In 2003, the city council of Hobart, Tasmania, named a small park in the city’s affluent Sandy Bay suburb Errol Flynn Reserve, laying claim to……

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This piece was originally published in National Observer and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. Deep in a remote British Columbia valley, a prized Japanese vegetable grows wild, its carpet of tea plate-sized leaves a living testament to the internment of thousands of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Fuki, or Japanese butterbur, is a perennial plant native to Japan with rhubarb-like stems that are popular cooked in stir fries or dashi, a kelp-based broth…….

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The seaside town of Margate has long had a connection with artists, from the more contemporary Tracy Emin, all the way back to J.M.William Turner. “Mrs. Booth,” or “The Shell Lady” as she’s affectionately known, was created in 2008 by sculptor Ann Carrington. The sculpture is a tribute to Sophie Booth, landlady and lover to J.M.William Turner. Booth was born in Dover in 1798 to German parents. She then moved to Margate where she married a local fisherman John……

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Though once a booming site for the glass industry, hosting more than five seperate factories, Fostoria, Ohio, is now known for a much different attraction: railway viewing. Fostoria is home to a unique intersection of routes that has long made it of interest to train fans. The first was developed by the newly-formed Fremont and Indiana Railroad in 1853—a year before the town itself was created via the merging of the communities of Rome and Risdon. Additional lines were added……

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Around 10,000 years ago the world was in the grips of an Ice Age, the Wisconsinan Glaciation. Most of Canada and the border regions of the northern United States were covered by a giant sheet of ice. But because of the way the mountain slopes directed the flow of ice, some areas were never covered by glacier floes. These were islands of land surrounded by deserts of ice, scientists have dubbed these oases “nunataks,” from Inuit term nunataq. One……

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The Winfield Mounds were crafted by Native Americans who lived along the West Branch of the DuPage River, now West Chicago.  The three mounds dome-shaped and set in a triangular pattern. This happens to be the only documented prehistoric burial/effigy site in DuPage County. Unfortunately, vandals dug up the mounds during the early 20th-century, and years later, research-oriented digs by the University of Chicago and Wheaton College removed all artifacts and permanently damaged the mounds.  In 1998, volunteers reconstructed……

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From the 1850s to the late 1900s, the area to the north of Creswick, Victoria was the site of extensive gold mining activity with massive alluvial mining operations in all the gullies and creeks. Alluvial gold was deposited by water action into creeks and rivers. Over time, these materials became buried below the surface. These buried rivers of gold were called leads. The Berry Lead System was Victoria’s richest alluvial gold lead and ran north from Creswick to the……

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Japanese architecture generally brings to mind one of two images: hypermodern structures that fill crowded metropolises or serene wooden buildings tucked away in placid rural settings. For some remote areas of Japan, however, these architectural worlds collide with bold, modern designs flung deep into the countryside. Perhaps best known among them is Yusuhara, population 3,400, which features hotels, museums, and public buildings from famed architect Kengo Kuma, designer of Tokyo’s striking new National Stadium, built for the 2020/2021 Summer……

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Walter Brooke was born in Charles County, Maryland in 1740 to a family of landowners with ties to the Mason family (George Mason was his first cousin). He began his career as a midshipman with the British Navy before receiving his commission as captain with the Virginia Navy in 1775. Within two years, he was selected as one of three commodores before being named commander-in-chief. Sadly, his career was cut short due to severe gout, and on the advice……

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It was a strange place: the edge of a frozen ocean with mountainous waves and bare rock summits that pierced the sky. Creatures dove deep into the dark waters. As the waka, or dugout canoe, sliced through this cold sea, its crew noticed a woman’s long tresses floating in the waves around them. Such details, preserved for nearly 1,400 years, come from a tale of exploration by the Polynesian navigator Hui te Rangiora, who set out from Rarotonga, the……

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