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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.

 
Sulphur Springs Park in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas
During Antebellum, travel became very popular across the United States. Springs, abundant in the Ozarks, were sought out for their healing properties. Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, became a spa and health tourism boom town. The center of the town contained four mineral springs. The boom continued through the 1940s.  The three springs of Sulphur Springs Park contained different minerals for suggested cures. White sulfur water eased liver aliments, black sulfur for malaria, lithium soothed the nerves, and alkaline magnesium helped...

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Rock Springs Historical Museum in Rock Springs,...
This stately building was once the center of civic life in the mining town of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Now the historic building serves as the city’s historical museum telling the story of the many individuals who came together to create Rock Springs, and of one of the darkest moments in American history. By 1893, the newly incorporated Rock Springs was booming, and its citizens were looking to create a grand municipal building that would confirm its status as a...

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5 Creepy Tales of Real-World Zombies
Scary movies have nothing on nature itself. Eons of evolution have created plenty of nightmare scenarios with no screenwriter in sight. For example, the Atlas Obscura archives are full of tales of the undead all around us—bees that dig their own graves, caterpillars that explode, shrimp controlled by parasites—and scientists’ efforts to explain these totally real zombies. Here are a few of our favorites, along with our picks for refuge when Hollywood’s more familiar brain-eating monsters shamble to life....

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The Benefits of Offering Multiple Payment Methods...
The world of hotel payments is everchanging. New payment methods are constantly being introduced into the market, from cash and bank transfers to credit cards and digital wallets. To satisfy guest expectations and encourage direct bookings, lodging operators must stay on top of emerging trends and offer the latest payment methods. The Importance of a The post The Benefits of Offering Multiple Payment Methods at Your Hotel appeared first on Revfine.com.

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The Tomb at Cuthá Mountain in Zapotitlán...
This area was once inhabited by the chocho-popolcas, and was the central political power in the Tehuacán Valley in pre-Hispanic times. The ancient city is located on top of a mountain, and the tomb itself is located at the highest point. Also, the area has a very rich biodiversity of cacti and desert vegetation, as well as fossils from an ancient seabed. 

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Stone Skimming Is a World Champion Sport—And...
Alex Lewis has spent many evenings searching for and gathering 100 rocks. After collecting various shapes and sizes from the west coast of Scotland, he returns home, numbers each from one to 100, weighs them, and measures their width and thickness. He’s looking for stones that fit comfortably in his palm, are heavy and light, and vary from circular to square. He then records all his data in a little black book full of tables and near indecipherable calculations....

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Monument to the Latvian Riflemen in Riga,...
The Latvian Riflemen were a military battalion of the Imperial Russian Army when first founded in 1915.  The purpose of this battalion was to defend the Baltic territories against the Germans during World War I. Initially, the Riflemen were made up of volunteers, but from 1916 onwards, the battalion was formed by conscription. Around 40,000 troops were drafted into the Latvian Riflemen Division. The battalion was used as an elite force in both the Imperial and Bolshevik armies. Despite suffering from...

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Kanibōzu Claw Marks in Yamanashi, Japan
Chōgen-ji Temple in Manriki, Yamanashi, is home to a bizarre legend of a man-eating crab monster and the marks of its claws to prove it. One evening in the early 18th century, the temple was visited by a 10-foot-tall pilgrim, who gave its head priest a riddle: “I am eight-legged, able to sidle at will, and heavenward-eyed; what am I?” When the head priest failed to guess correctly, the monk struck him dead and ate him, and continued this...

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Daffin's Chocolate Kingdom in Sharon, Pennsylvania
In the 1940s, Mr. Pete Daffin and his wife Jean created “the world’s largest candy store.” In the 1960s they moved to this building, keeping a factory that still offers tours in nearby Farrell. In 1970, Pete realized his vision of a Wonka-esque wonderland, which he called “Daffin’s Chocolate Kingdom.” Over the years, the cast of mammoth chocolate characters and creatures have changed. Recently, this surreal attraction welcomed a 125-pound turtle and a 75lb bunny made of solid milk...

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Memorial Rock in Dolores, Colorado
Inconvenient rock features are nothing unusual on the Colorado Western Slope. Indeed, billions of dollars have been spent on infrastructure linking tiny towns and navigating the high cliffs and mountain passes of the region. However, the Earth has a way of reminding humans that our geography is still a work in progress.  On May 24, 2019, a small natural disaster befell State Highway 145, north of Dolores, Colorado. Thousands of years of freeze-thaw cycles had widened cracks in the...

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Greenfield Money Tree in Greenfield, Massachusetts
The Greenfield Savings Bank Money Tree is a whimsical ATM in an otherwise mundane American shopping plaza. The 25-foot-tall fiberglass tree features hidden animal carvings.  Greenfield Savings Bank President Becky Caplice had long toyed with the idea of a money tree. In 2008, her vision came to life with the help of a design firm, some seriously skilled sculptors, and a ton of fiberglass. 

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Truman Villa in Potsdam, Germany
Nested in the outskirts of Babelsberg stands an elegant villa with a fascinating past. President Harry S. Truman lived in the house for a mere 17 days during the Potsdam Conference in 1945. During his stay, Truman called the residence the “Little White House,” but today it’s named after him. Originally known as Villa Erlenkamp, the house was built in 1891 as a summer residence for Berlin publisher Carl Müller-Grote. It was designed by architects Karl von Großheim and Heinrich...

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S.K. Pierce Mansion in Gardner, Massachusetts
Overlooking the nearby hills, the S.K. Pierce Mansion in Gardner, Massachusetts, is hard to miss with its dark gray and red paint and stunning architectural detail. There are countless historical homes and mansions across the state and New England but few claim to house paranormal activity and even fewer have achieved a reputation like that of the S.K. Pierce mansion. What started off as a home for one of the city’s wealthiest residents took a turn for the worse...

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Ryerss Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Few museums in Philadelphia are filled with a collection of art and artifacts quite as strange, random, and fantastic as the Ryerss Museum and Library. And what’s really surprising is that the whole place is free. There are literally hundreds of items to see in the large rooms of the museum section in this old Victorian home, so this is one of those places that benefit from repeat visits. A few notable pieces include the museum’s mascot, Snapper (a...

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