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 […]
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
The Sirens of Titan Join me on a trip toward the outer reaches of our solar system. On the voyage, we’ll mix metaphors from two fantastic authors. I think the conflation we’ll make might be acceptable to one of them. Maybe both! In 1959, Kurt Vonnegut published his second novel. Setting the tone for his
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Mount Doom and the Crags of Mordor In our previous issue, we explored Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s High Point and the tallest peak in the Alps. After visiting the “White Mountain,” it seems fitting in this Halloween season to travel next to a place with a diametrically opposed name. Translated from the native language of
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Mont Blanc Today we travel to the border of France and Italy, to the crown of the Alps. The highest point in that famed mountain range and all of Western Europe is Mont Blanc. Meaning “white mountain” in French, the crag’s Italian name is Monte Bianco. Rising 15,774 feet above sea level, both countries
The Color Change Autumn Is A Second Spring When Every Leaf Is A Flower. –Albert Camus Why don’t you make like a tree and get out of here? — Biff Tannen One of the greatest boons to living somewhere with distinct seasons is the fireworks show the trees give us every autumn. The
How do we collect data inside the tempests of the sea?
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Prometheus and Methuselah The mountains of California, Nevada, and Utah contain magical creatures. These ancient beings live thousands of feet above sea level in unforgiving terrain. Sometimes, you might encounter one, a gnarled hermit, and suspect she is dead. Yet these presences are masters of survival; they have outlasted countless human civilizations; they have
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