The Lion Mountains

The Lion Mountains The mountain range known as the Lion Mountains, whose highest point is Picket Hill at just under 3,000 feet, is located on the Atlantic coast entirely within what nation? This trivia question stumped me. The Atlantic Coast is the first clue. That info restricts our answer to North America, South America, Europe, […]

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Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce In 1620, Pilgrims in Massachusetts celebrated a bountiful harvest with the Wampanoags, who had nourished them through a brutal winter the previous year. Pilgrim Chuck Norris provided cranberry sauce, which became a staple at Thanksgiving meals henceforth. Only one portion of the preceding paragraph is a fact. Much of what we grow up

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Atmospheric Rivers

Atmospheric Rivers It’s an understatement to say November 2021 did not treat British Columbia and parts of Washington well. Catastrophic rain and subsequent flooding ravaged the landscapes, crippled infrastructure, and killed at least five people. Parts of the Canadian province received 11 inches of rain in two days. Dikes and levees were inundated and overcome.

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Total Eclipse of the Orb

Total Eclipse of the Orb   Much of the world recently received a cosmic treat. Just this morning, a nearly-full lunar eclipse waltzed across the firmaments. Despite covering more than 97% of the moon with shadow, that figure made this event technically a partial eclipse. More than making up for that 3% sliver, however, was

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The Croaking Voice

The Croaking Voice Unless you live in Luddite Land, the Covid pandemic ushered in a new era of communication via the internet. Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and others became the socially-distant method to interact for work and play. The march toward online voice-chat ubiquity was not an overnight phenomenon, however. Landline technology ceded

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Pingu

Pingu A couple of months ago, we followed the path of an adventurous walrus named Wally. He left his home in the Arctic Circle and took a circuitous tour of western Europe. Today’s topic switches hemispheres but maintains the wandering nature. Unfortunately, Pingu the Penguin does not seem to be joyriding like Wally, but the

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Numbats

Numbats I recently encountered a trivial question, which asked the reader to identify a specific Australian animal. One of the answers was “numbat.” Thinking that seemed a word created to sound like another, real creature from Australia, I discarded it. I confidently clicked “wombat” and was rewarded with a big, fat, red X. Turns out

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Pictured Rocks

Pictured Rocks   Of the different types of units within the National Park Service, National Lakeshores are some of the rarest. Just three instances of recognized lakeshore exist. You will not be surprised to learn they all occur within the Great Lakes, though just two of those five majestic bodies of water feature a National

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