About 40 miles north of Portland is the town of Wiscasset Maine. Up until the early 1800s Wiscasset was a center for shipbuilding, fishing and lumber and was the busiest seaport north of Boston. Continue reading
Asking people what they don’t know is a sure way to get wrong answers.
The New York Daily News once had a feature called The Inquiring Photographer. It’s a journalistic gimmick to take the pulse of citizens on what they think about issues. Continue reading
Louis Armstrong funeral July 9, 1971 photo: Globe
It is impossible to say who will be remembered by the multitudes years after their passing. I would hope Louis Armstrong will be among those whose name and music goes on for eternity.
Louis Armstrong brought love and joy everywhere he went. And the world universally returned that love.
On July 6, 1971 Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong died at the age of 69 of a heart attack in his home in Corona, Queens. Continue reading
Total solar eclipse June 30, 1954 photo: M Waldmeier
Never look directly at an eclipse.
It was one of the things that was drilled into me in grade school. You’ll permanently damage your eyes. You can go blind. As a class we’ll make shoe box eclipse viewers.
Apparently those eclipses happening during my juvenile years were not the same type that will occur in 2024 – a total solar eclipse. Continue reading
Arne Nicolaysen holding life preserver on British ship Surveyor
Reading the story entitled “Man Overboard” about Arne Nicolaysen in Robert Littell’s 1961 book It Takes All Kinds (Reynal & Compnay) you come to the realization that some human beings are incredibly resilient.
Nicolaysen was able to survive an agonizing 29 hours in the ocean without any flotation device, food or water, while sharks kept approaching him. The fact that it was hours before anyone on his ship discovered that Nicolaysen was missing, made his rescue seem even more unlikely. Between 15 – 20 ships passed by without hearing his calls for help or spotting him bobbing up and down in the endless expanse of the ocean.
Nicolaysen’s story is frightening, dramatic and ultimately inspiring. Continue reading
Hussein Abdel Rasoul, a water boy for an archeological expedition came across something unusual. As he was swishing around sand to make bottles stay upright, he noticed the surface he had uncovered looked like a sculpted stone. It turned out to be a step. The first step leading to a blocked entryway.
Hussein the water boy wearing a scarab necklace found at King Tut’s excavation site
Hussein’s discovery occurred early in the morning of November 4, 1922 in the Valley of the Kings, just outside of Luxor, about 450 miles upstream of Cairo, Egpyt.
The expedition’s lead was archeologist Howard Carter who in the past had other significant finds under his direction. Carter was spending another year digging and looking for treasures, but without progress. Continue reading
Amelia Earhart As A Girl
Boston- Amelia Earhart, the daring Boston aviatrix who with Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon is at Trepassey, Newfoundland waiting for favorable weather to hop off in her tri-motored Fokker plane for England, is pictured above as a young girl. At left she is shown at the age of 3 with her sister Muriel Curtis Earhart, who is now a school teacher, and at the right Amelia is shown at the age of 7 years. photo: International Newsreel 6-5-1928
Amelia Earhart (b. 1897) disappeared on July 2, 1937. But she remains today arguably the most famous woman pilot in history. The newspapers that ran this photo back in 1928 were caught up in the birth of Earhart-mania. Continue reading
The late Clayton Christensen (1952-2020) of Harvard Business School made this one and a half minute video in 2014. Considering the breakdowns in civility and law we are witnessing today it is well worth watching.
My personal views not withstanding, a friend once said religion “is the opium of the people.” Oh, sorry that wasn’t my friend, that was Karl Marx in his critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of the Right.
My real friend said that religion prevents Continue reading
Queen Elizabeth II died September 8, 2022 at age 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Continue reading
Worker at furniture factory, Arthurdale, West Virginia 1937 photo: Ben Shahn via Library of Congress
As the Covid-19 debacle made clear to Americans we are now dependent upon foreign countries for many of the things necessary to conduct our daily lives.”Supply-chain” issues have been one of the main reasons given to explain the shortages of thousands of products. Continue reading
