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About Amanda Arnold
Amanda Arnold
When Amanda was a kid, she spent most of her time running around outdoors. So she's happy she grew up to be a HowStuffWorks.com adventure editor, where her "work" is editing articles on outdoor sports, travel and wilderness survival. When she's not at the office drinking free Cokes and learning about stuff like bear spray and alligator attacks, she enjoys running, playing the guitar and spending time with her dog, River. Amanda has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and an M.F.A. in poetry writing from Georgia State University.
Most Recent: Amanda Arnold Postings
See a Glowworm Planetarium
November 20, 2009
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Under normal circumstances, being in a confined space with a bunch of larvae wouldn’t be at all appealing. (I mean, seriously, who wants to do that?) But when the larvae glow in the dark and dangle threads from the ceiling of a dark New Zealand cave, they suddenly become something very delightful and strange.
People Live on Islands Made Out of Reeds
November 19, 2009
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I’m pretty sure I can’t think of anything more adorable than a community of people who live on a lily pad in the middle of a lake.
That’s not exactly what’s happening Peru, but it’s close. If you watched Rachel and Matt’s video podcast on Lake Titicaca, then you know what I’m talking about:
You Need a Vacation. It’s a Scientific Fact.
November 18, 2009
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I’m not trying to be bossy, but you really need a vacation.
According to Psychology Today, your brain doesn’t come up with killer new ideas unless you give it a break. Apparently when you keep working and working and working on something, your brain keeps trying to solve the problem the same old way. That’s not innovation. But if you give your brain a breather and think about something else for a while (like, perhaps, how to not die while you drive the Road of Death), those boring old solutions fall away, opening the door for fresh ideas.
Here’s something else cool I learned about the brain: Ever notice that, right before you think of something completely awesome, there’s this sort of blank moment where everything freezes, and then — bam! — the best idea in the world pops into your mind? That’s because your brain had to control-alt-delete all of the useless old ideas for a second to let that new one squeeze through.
See a Rock Catch Fire
November 13, 2009
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Last Friday I blogged about sunrises. So today I’m blogging about sunsets – or rather, one particular place that looks exceptionally glorious during a sunset. If you’ve already watched Rachel and Matt’s video podcast on Uluru, then you know which place I’m talking about. Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is an enormous rock formation in Australia that, as the sun goes down, turns from a rusty red color to an even more brilliant ruby red color. As Rachel puts it: It looks like a rock on fire. The rock, which is the world’s largest monolith, lies in the middle of a vast desert plain, so its color and presence is quite dramatic.
Would you drive a Road of Death?
November 12, 2009
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Three words you don’t want to hear when you get into the car with someone: “You will die.”
For one thing, if you’re on Bolivia’s “Road of Death,” they’re just redundant. For another, they’re plausible. Two hundred to 300 people die each year on the North Yungas Road that runs from the Amazon forest to Bolivia’s capital of La Paz. Why?
Man Drives Around the World in a Land Cruiser
November 10, 2009
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Last week, B-side co-host Mark Larson forwarded me a blog post written by a guy named Nicolas Rapp, who recently ditched his art director job at the Associated Press to drive his 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser around the world. He hopes to be on the road by Nov. 15, 2009.
Around-the-world trips are fairly common. During a Google search, I found a Forbes Traveler article that lists cruise lines, tour companies and hotel corporations that sell round-the-world travel packages. For example, if you have $100,000 to spend, you can fly from one Four Seasons to another in 34 countries. Or, you can take a 107-day round-the-world cruise on Cunard’s Queen Victoria ship.
But the travel industry uses the term “round-the-world” loosely. You don’t literally circumnavigate the globe. You fly in airplanes to various spots; you eat your meals at cruise buffets while the ship’s at port. Rapp’s round-the-world trip is literal. It’s a road trip — he’s not going anywhere without his Land Cruiser.
Where to See the Sun Rise
November 6, 2009
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My bed is pushed up against my bedroom window, and I keep my blinds up all night. That’s so that in the morning, when the sun comes up, I can roll my head back and look up at the sunlight coming through the leaves in the trees that canopy my building.
The Mother of all Footraces on “The Mother Road”
November 5, 2009
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I don’t know about driving Route 66. But I think running Route 66 would be pretty awesome.
Back in 1928, when Route 66 was just a baby, civic leaders were looking for ways to publicize the road’s existence. Someone made a joke at a Route 66 dinner about hosting a footrace, and everyone laughed. But some folks didn’t think it was such a bad idea.
Lemur Fortress — What’s not to love?
November 3, 2009
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The last time I flew over Manhattan, I looked out the airplane window down at the island of skyscrapers and thought, “Ouch. That would really hurt if you stepped on it.”
But that was before I became acquainted with the forest of knives they’ve got over in Madagascar.
Ode on the Day of the Dead
October 31, 2009
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I had a poetry professor who said that all poems are about death — all of them. Every time he said this, and he said it a lot, I didn’t particularly like it. I suppose I was afraid he was right.
The nice thing about the Day of the Dead is that it’s frank. I don’t know whether all poems are about death, but I know for sure that the Day of the Dead is about death.
