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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.

 
PlayGarden Park Sculptures in Fulton, Mississippi
At the entrance to this Mississippi park, an anthropomorphic bronze coin welcomes visitors with open arms. This little coin is just the first of several smiling pennies, joined by an assortment of little houses wearing skirts. These whimsical figures, created by American sculptor Tom Otterness, are scattered around the public space known as PlayGarden Park, located in downtown Fulton. One coin stands on a rock, another peeps out of bushes, and a cute little couple sits with their arms around...

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Gryteskogen Troll Trees in Lund NO, Sweden
Leafless trees that cascade shadows in the dark are often synonymous with fear, derived from our world of horror movies and Halloween adventures. A normal tree does the job quite well, but these trees found in Sweden, with their twisted, irregular forms, create an element of creepiness even in light. Dwarf beech trees are a cultivar of European beech trees. Also known as vresbok, a rare mutation disrupts this species growth cycle causing it to sprout in what appears to...

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Veliki Buk Waterfall in Strmosten, Serbia
Tucked deep into the slopes of Mount Beljanica in Eastern Serbia, stands the Veliki Buk (“The Great Hum”) or Lisine Waterfall. The waterfall originates from a small river named Vrelo, the right tributary of the Resava river. It’s located at more than 1,000 feet (380 meters) above sea level and is 82 feet (25 meters) tall. The waterfall is one of the largest in all of Serbia and was formed due to natural sinter (tufa) accumulation. A shallow pond...

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Vespa Muzej Srbija (Vespa Museum Serbia) in...
Vespa Muzej Srbija was founded by members of the Vespa Club of Serbia and contains a massive collection of classic models made by the famous Italian scooter manufacturer. The museum arose from a desire to showcase the unmistakable Italian vehicle. Although it had been in works for several years prior, the idea for the museum didn’t gain real steam until 2012, after an exhibition celebrating the vehicle garnered great interest.  The permanent exhibit showcases the chronological history of the...

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The Forgotten Stones That Still Inspire Turks...
On a typical Friday at midday, the racks at the entrance to the Dedeman Mosque in northern Istanbul would be full of shoes, doffed by members of the congregation before they enter the building for the most important Islamic prayer of the week. But when Turkey suspended mass prayers in mid-March, to try to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, those racks stood empty. And as businesses around the city shut their doors, the mosque’s young imam, Abdulsamet...

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Eastern Sub-Continental Divide Mural in Atlanta, Georgia
Unlike most major cities, Atlanta is not built around a waterway, like a bay or river. Atlanta was founded around railways. And railways are best designed where there is minimal elevation change, such as along a hydrological feature known as a continental divide.  A continental divide is a ridge line dividing major watersheds in an area, and the Eastern Sub-Continental Divide runs right through Atlanta, by design. Although the well-known Chattahoochee is Atlanta’s largest river, it was not central to...

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Senju Shrine Bomb Shelter in Adachi City,...
As fighting during the Pacific War grew more intense, Tokyo was often subjected to air raids from the Allied forces. To escape the bombings, civilians constructed shelters across the city. Although many didn’t survive the war, a few are still easily accessible. One such shelter can be found within the grounds of Senju Shrine, which contains two shrines originally founded in 926 and 1279. The makeshift concrete shelter could house around a dozen people should the occasion arise. Although abandoned today,...

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Victorian Walkway in Whitehead, Northern Ireland
In the small seaside town of Whitehead, history is a huge part of the town’s cultural identity. It was known as a Victorian railway village and is home to Victorian and Edwardian buildings, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, steam trains, and of course, this Victorian walkway. At the Beach Road end of the Whitehead Train Station is a small footbridge that dates back to the Victorian era. The railway structure is an important historic monument and has been...

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What It’s Like to Care for the...
For a few days in mid-July 2020, a botanical spectacle began to unfurl at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Over the course of these two days, a massive titan arum, better known as a “corpse flower,” bloomed before crowds of hundreds of people waiting in socially distanced lines. Among the largest inflorescences (the “bloom” is covered in smaller flowers) in the world, titan arums earned their popular name by emitting the overwhelming smell of rotting flesh to attract...

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The Ultimate COVID Recovery Strategy for Every...
COVID-19 brought the global hospitality industry to a grinding halt. Now, many destinations are slowly opening up again and the industry is beginning to recover. To help you get the most out of your property during this rebound phase, this article summarises expert COVID recovery tips for your marketing, revenue management, F&B and front office The post The Ultimate COVID Recovery Strategy for Every Hotel Department appeared first on Revfine.com.

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Recreate the Ancient Egyptian Recipes Painted on...
The ancient Egyptians left writing everywhere, with hieroglyphics carved painstakingly onto stone steles and miraculously preserved in papyrus. Though historians are able to study ancient texts on subjects from trade to funeral rites, one category is largely missing from the record: recipes. Without any textual directions or menus, historians have looked elsewhere to unlock the secrets of a 5,000-year-old culinary culture. As it turns out, paintings on tomb walls can provide a rare glimpse into one of the oldest...

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Tell Us About the Most Wondrous Things...
For the past several weeks, we’ve been taking a virtual road trip across the United States, getting reacquainted with some of the strangest and most enchanting sights America has to offer. We’re nearly halfway through this project—50 States of Wonder, our guide to fascinating things from coast to coast and beyond. Many readers have journeyed with us as we visited things that rise high above North Dakota’s flat landscape, Oregon’s most spellbinding holes, truly trippy art in Kansas, and...

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The Hidden Histories of Black Americans in...
Monique Wells moved from Texas to Paris in 1992 for a job, and she ended up staying indefinitely. Like generations of Americans before her, Wells and her husband fell in love with the City of Light. But since she went there as a veterinary pathobiologist, and not as a tourist, it was years before she asked herself where she’d go if she only had a few days in Paris. Then Wells and her husband, Tom, started a company that...

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Humpback Bridge in Covington, Virginia
Located three miles west of Covington, the Humpback Bridge in Alleghany County is the oldest of seven covered bridges still standing in Virginia. It’s also one of two remaining cambered and covered wooden bridges in the United States. For over 163 years, the bridge endured catastrophic floods, fires, and decay. These elements have destroyed all other covered bridges in this region of the Shenandoah Valley. Its last brush with destruction occurred in September 2016, when the bridge again survived...

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Mill Brae Memory Garden in Larne, Northern...
In a little corner of Larne, a local resident transformed a former grass verge into a community garden for all to enjoy. The garden in question sits at the bottom corner of the Mill Brae, at the junction with Lower Cairncastle Road, next to Larne Grammar Secondary School. Local resident Ann Magee single-handedly converted the area into a floral paradise with wildflowers, potted plants, garden ornaments, decorative plants, fairy lights, and paving stones. Magee originally created the garden to...

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