Category Archive

What’s the first thing you think of when somebody mentions Japan? Very likely it’s the modern, urban face of Tokyo, brimming with cutting-edge electronics, bright lights, and super-fast trains. There’s more of the same in Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya, and Japan has many smaller cities and towns with millions of buildings and people and miles of roads. But despite the … Read More

Maybe you remember the old riddle from your childhood: What happens if you drop a white hat in the Red Sea? Aside from the answer, which never fails to get a disappointed groan out of kids, what is there to know about the Red Sea? Where is it, and how did it get there? The Saudi Peninsula, home to Saudi … Read More

You’ve heard of it, and yes, you know it’s in Europe, but it’s so small, where does it sit, really? Tiny Liechtenstein comprises less than 62 square miles, tucked along the eastern border of Switzerland. For comparison, that’s a little short of the size of Washington, DC. If you are familiar with the shape of Austria, Liechtenstein is at the … Read More

Lots of mammals like water. Humans, for one, although we don’t generally use it as a habitat. Beaver are more integrally involved with the water, damming it, swimming in it, slapping their tails on it. Beaver are important to their natural habitat and have been reintroduced at some effort in places where they had been hunted out by trappers. Their … Read More

Life is filled with so much work, duty, and obligation. In the little stretches of free time we get, there are innumerable physical activities to keep us amused and exercised. No one needs to be told what sports are tops in America, and worldwide, soccer (the real football) is king. Despite the availability of these and many other mainstream sporty … Read More

The massive slabs of rock that form Stonehenge seem impossibly arranged, tons of weight seemingly placed on high by a giant’s hand. Nothing else compares with the pure volume of the stoneworks there. However, southern England wasn’t the only place big rocks were being moved around, and some of the best examples of the Neolithic cultures who created these displays … Read More

They say everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. So while you’re not dying, where do you want to spend your time? Visions of warm, sandy beaches or mountain vistas come to mind—or maybe a dense cityscape fires your quest for art and culture. Everybody has their own concept of the perfect place to play out … Read More

Some people make sketches of fanciful designs—curving, wandering lines of composition, artful constructs that would be impractical to translate into the three dimensions of real-world materials. And some people have those Dr. Seuss visions and go ahead and make them real despite the difficulty. Sabato “Simon” Rodia, also known as Sam, was an Italian immigrant to Los Angeles in the … Read More

Africa is a very big place. While much of its land is arid, it has vast areas that hold plenty of water. When you can say you are one of Africa’s largest lakes, that’s no small claim. Lake Chad was once a member of that club. Located in northern central Africa’s Sahel region where Nigeria, NIger, Cameroon, and Chad share … Read More

Some think the best way to survive a fight, or a really bad set of circumstances, is to be tough as nails. Be strong, nimble, street-smart, quick, and very determined. In some fights, however, the best quality to possess is adaptability. We live in a changing world. Seasons change, weather changes, the climate shifts to wetter or dryer, colder or … Read More