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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.

 
Ishikawa Island Lighthouse in Chuo City, Japan
An old district near the famous fish market of Tsukiji, Tsukuda is known as the birthplace of tsukudani, a traditional Japanese dish that goes along with plain rice. Made from such ingredients as seaweed, fish, clam, and even locust on occasion, it is typically prepared by simmering the ingredients in soy sauce and a kind of sake called mirin so that it would hold up well for some time. Walk along the waterfront of Tsukuda today, and you would be in for a historic...

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Why Are Paleontologists Getting Into Florida's Oyster...
As the tide slowly recedes out of Apalachicola Bay, a rugged swell of oysters breaks the surface. Paleontologist Greg Dietl gingerly navigates the uneven, slippery surface of exposed reefs. Dietl jokes that he’s “now in the oyster business,” but the curator of Cornell’s Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) in Ithaca, New York, has not come to harvest the living assemblage of eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) poking above the water. He’s here to sample the dead shells entombed below. For the...

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Baguashan Skywalk in Changhua City, Taiwan
Completed in 2016, the Mount Bagua Skywalk winds through the forested hills of Changhua, giving walkers fantastic views of the city. The skywalk passes over botanical gardens, a military cemetery, old Japanese barracks, a baseball field, and a local high school. During the right time of year, walkers are treated to a medley of colorful flowers and butterflies, and parts of the skywalk are often decorated to celebrate holidays and other events.  The skywalk is a popular walking trail...

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India Mill Chimney in Darwen, England
India mill was once a textile mill that operated between 1887 and 1991 in the industrial town of Darwen in the eastern part of Lancashire, England. The mill itself, though large and impressive for the time, was rather plain on the exterior. It appears as though most of the budget was spent on this magnificent brick chimney. The structure is said to be inspired by the bell tower in St Mark’s Square, Venice. It dominates the skyline of Darwen....

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Biatüwi in Centro, Brazil
In downtown Manaus, the city considered the capital of the Brazilian Amazon, just one restaurant exclusively serves indigenous foods made by the rainforest’s native people. At Biatüwi, diners can enjoy fish stews, maniwara ants, and guaraná, which is juice traditionally extracted from the red Amazonian berry by using a local fish’s tongue as a grater. Run by a husband and wife, it is Brazil’s first official restaurant to serve only indigenous food and be owned by indigenous people—even though...

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Coral Cut in Palm Beach, Florida
The town of Palm Beach sits on a barrier island, which as you may expect is mostly flat and sea level. However, the southwest corner of the Palm Beach Country Club sits on a mound of rock and coquina shell up to 200 feet tall. This may have resulted from deposits slowly building up from the intracoastal to the west and the ocean to the east, serendipitously converging at this spot. A few homes directly south of the golf...

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Hand of Timba in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
A short walk from the Port of Bissau stands a large, fist-shaped sculpture known as the Mão de Timba (Hand of Timba). This monument along the Geba River commemorates a critical event in the history of Guinea-Bissau’s fight for independence. For centuries, the people of Guinea-Bissau lived under Portuguese colonial rule. Portuguese traders first showed up in the early 15th-century in what was then the kingdom of Kaabu, a region subordinate to the powerful Mali empire. In 1687, the...

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Podcast: Shipwrecked Doritos
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where in 2006 a massive haul of Doritos was shipwrecked, leaving its mark on the town forever. 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 site, and along the way you’ll meet...

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'The Next Big Thing . . ....
Visitors to McEwan Hall, the late 19th-century graduation site for Edinburgh University, might be forgiven for overlooking a work of art that is on full display and in public view. Without having previous knowledge of the sculpture’s existence, it’s easy to miss. For starters, the piece entitled: “The Next Big Thing… is a Series of Little Things,” by Susan Collis is located on the ground. It begins at the big wooden door, that was the original entrance to the auditorium,...

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The Bust of Juan Bautista De Anza...
This illustrative bust was created by Henry Lion in 1927. The work of art is dedicated to Juan Bautista De Anza by the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Los Angeles Historical Society. A soldier and explorer, De Anza led the first Spanish settlers from the Mexican state of Sonora through Arizona and the San Carlos Pass far north to Monterey, California—a distance of some 1,700 miles. The expedition was actually two meandering trips that lasted several...

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The Dark History of Hawai‘i’s Iconic Hand...
Go to any surfing beach today and you’d be hard-pressed not to find someone throwing a “shaka” hand—thumb and pinkie extended, three middle fingers curled against the palm. The iconic gesture, sometimes referred to as a “hang ten” or “hang loose,” has traveled far from its Hawai‘i origins. Today, American presidents, London nightclub goers, and even the emoji keyboard all sport the shaka hand. Saa Tamba, owner of Tamba Surf Company on Kaua‘i, has been throwing shakas his whole...

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Vincenzo Lunardi Commemorative Plaque in Ceres, Scotland
Just off the B940 road in the Kingdom of Fife, and not far from the village of Ceres, lies a stone marker in a field, which reads: “Vincenzo Lunardi – Born in Lucca, Italy, in 1759. He ascended in a hydrogen balloon on the 5th of October 1785 from the garden of Heriot’s Hospital, Edinburgh. He landed at Coaltown of Callange in the parish of Ceres, having traveled 46 miles. This was the first aerial voyage in Scotland.” Lunardi...

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George W. Lund Petrified Forest in Gerlach,...
Named for the person who fought to get the site protected, the George W. Lund Petrified Forest originally contained large fossil logs fully as spectacular as any in the world. It was particularly remarkable because the site included fossil stumps in place. (The phrase “petrified” wood lives on in popular usage, but contemporary paleontologists just refer to “fossil” wood.) The area was once known as the Leadville Petrified Forest, but it was renamed in honor of George W. Lund...

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How to Turn Your Christmas Tree Into...
This week, Gastro Obscura is looking at wondrous wintertime cocktails. Yesterday’s recipe was for Germany’s favorite flaming punch: feuerzangenbowle. After the warm glow of the festive season has left us, after we have overeaten, overspent, and overdone it, a mass culling of trees begins: 40 million of them across the U.S. and UK alone. For those of us who celebrate the Christmas holiday, we enjoy them for only a month or two before dragging them to the curb. Should...

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What’s So Special About Monk-Made Food?
This article is adapted from the December 11, 2021, edition of Gastro Obscura’s Favorite Things newsletter. You can sign up here. When you work at Gastro Obscura, you get excited about some pretty niche topics. Obscure livestock? Yes, tell me more about this endangered, fuzzy pig. Someone is rescuing a forgotten fruit? That’s our jam. Archaeologists recovering amphorae of wine from ancient shipwrecks? Hell yeah. But there is one category that consistently delights me: how monks, nuns, and other...

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