Tranquility Base

Art takes many forms for us to enjoy and be moved by – paintings, music, drama, dance, literature. And, sometimes, an interior of a...

What’s in a name? Sometimes a whole lot of backstory. Take for instance, Pluto. The world was amazed by the first up-close images of the...

A few years ago, while on a campus tour of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, I rubbed the head of a turtle. For good luck, of course. In...

Go out on a clear night and if your timing is right, you’ll see the Moon just past being new, a bright fingernail shape low on the...

I sent a letter to an old friend the other day (yes, a real letter, through the U.S. Postal System!), and to mail it I added a stamp. It...

Think about outer space and music, and it’s not unlikely that David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” comes quickly to mind. But long before Bowie...

I’m going to go out on a limb here – actually, I don’t think I’m going out very far on this particular limb. But I’m going out to say...

There’s something hypnotic about a waterfall. Even at a distance you can feel its power – the way the rushing water cascades down from...

Can a painting be so realistic as to be repulsive? Maybe today we’re so inured to gruesome images as entertainment (thanks, “CSI!”) that...

There’s something magical in the flight of a pelican. The ungainly looking bird often coasts serenely just above the surface of the...

Growing up in the Philadelphia area, I would associate the name Whitman with the bridge we often crossed to get to New Jersey. Later, as...

Can an advertisement be a work of art? Let’s take the travel poster for example. Posters date back to the 19th century, but travel...

Some phrases ring through history, but are they true? Did Julius Caesar ever really cry, “Et tu, Brute?” Did Alexander Graham Bell...

On a two-week trip driving around Ireland on a self-guided tour, I stopped at Caislean na Blarnan to take part in the tradition of...

Sometimes we forget how bawdy a writer William Shakespeare was. Sure, there’s the intense brilliancy of the “To be or not to be”...

Venice is a wonderful place to explore. The Italian city is built on an archipelago in a shallow lagoon with over 177 canals and 400...

Movies are famous for their dramatic moments. Some scenes are more famous than others, and a particular image from that scene can reach...

It lasted 12 seconds. But that was long enough to change the course of human history. On Dec. 17, 1903, two brothers were ready to try...

You know you’re famous when people can recognize you by just one name: Galileo. Einstein. Cher. How about Rembrandt? No need to call the...

So back in the summer of 1985, director Robert Zemeckis releases a little time-travel movie. Maybe you’ve heard of it – “Back to the...

Maps are a wonderful tool for knowing where you are and how to get to where you’re going. It doesn’t matter if it’s an old-school,...

OK, bonus round: In Greek mythology the titan Prometheus is condemned by the supreme Olympian god Zeus for having stolen fire and given...

If the Darwin Awards were around back in 1752, you might think that Benjamin Franklin could have been in the running for one. The awards...

Imagine you have been eating and want to wipe your mouth with a napkin. Sounds like it should be a fairly easy thing to do. But what if...

Name a famous aviator who was active in World War I, heavily involved in NASA’s Apollo space program and is still at it with the Artemis...

Who hasn’t enjoyed the story of the silver-haired old woman who breaks into a cottage in the woods owned by three bachelor bears and...

Chicago has many wonderful sights to enjoy, such as Lake Michigan, Navy Pier, Millennium Park – and dinosaurs! Like many others, I got...

In 1893 Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off his most famous literary creation – Sherlock Holmes. In “The Final Problem,” Holmes and his...

Say the name Ringling, and images of the circus will likely come to mind. While there’s plenty of circus memorabilia to enjoy at the John...

When I was in high school my 10th grade English teacher made us each memorize a passage from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and then...

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