New Frontiers (0)
10/30/12 •
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the text of a speech I gave at the 30th Friends of the Library Book & Author Dinner at the Indian Creek Yacht and Country Club in Kilmarnock, Va., on October 29, 2012.] The theory of continental drift is 100 years old this month. Alfred Wegener, the father of continental drift and one […]
Recent Posts
Drugstore soda fountains: A bit of nostalgia, a lot of home (0)
3/26/11 •
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Three years ago, Renee Bond started a day confused. She left for her waitressing job an hour early, took a wrong turn, and found herself in front of Mechanicsville Drug Store. She saw that it had a soda fountain inside. She went in to check it out. By accident, Bond found herself a […]
Worried about Japanese nuclear fallout? (1)
3/12/11 •
EDITOR’S NOTE: I have added an explanation on now to interpret the charts in a comment at the bottom of the post. MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — I woke up with the news of the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, and cooling troubles at the nearby Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in […]
Hallelujah! Notes from the Abyss restored! (0)
2/11/11 •
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Screams of anguish have changed into screams of joy. The management is pleased to announce that it has recovered from its tremendous lapse of intelligence of early Saturday morning when it deleted the database that contained Notes from the Abyss—without a recent backup of the site. After several days of sustained effort, however, […]
Hello world! (0)
2/05/11 •
MECHANICSVILLE, Va — Hello is not exactly what I wanted to say. In fact, I wanted to say something unprintable. Early Saturday morning I accidentally deleted my WordPress database. I had no backup. Now I am reconstructing the blog using archived materials from both its WordPress and Blogger incarnations. So far, I think I have […]
Review: World Ocean Census (0)
11/25/10 •
Darlene Trew Crist, Gail Scowcroft, and James M. Harding Jr. World Ocean Census: A Global Survey of Marine Life Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books, 2009 ISBN: 978−1−555407−434−1. 256 pp. $40.00 (US) LEXINGTON, N.C.—For the past 10 years, more than 2,700 scientists from more than 80 countries have been engaged in one of the most ambitious projects in […]
RIP, Ronnie James Dio (0)
5/10/10 •
Rest in peace, Ronnie James Dio. I first heard you with Rainbow on a late-night radio program in the 1970s. Being a guitar geek, I was of course thrilled by Ritchie Blackmore’s playing. But the majesty and … beauty for lack a better word … of your voice has haunted and enchanted me in the 30-something […]
This Blog has changed (0)
4/30/10 •
Blogger’s discontinuation of FTP support — and its incomprehensible instructions on how to migrate a blog to its new system, have forced me to switch Notes from the Abyss to a more easily managed WordPress platform. The migration was slow and cumbersome, but I have finished the process. The original Blogger version of Notes from […]
Censorship by Amazon.com (0)
4/12/09 •
Amazon recently instituted a policy to remove sales rankings from titles it considers “adult.” It seems, however, that these “adult” titles primarily address GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered) issues. Amazon’s policy was revealed by Mark Probst on his blog, http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html. The problem is not so much the removal of sales rank statistics from book […]
Review: Letters to a Young Journalist (0)
3/18/09 •
Samuel G. Freedman Letters to a Young Journalist New York: Basic Books, 2006 ISBN: 978−0−465−02455−1. 183+viii pp. $22.95 (US) Toward the end of Letters to a Young Journalist, Samuel G. Freedman discusses a dark time in the spring of 1997 when his hopes for literary success based on the book The Inheritance –- one of […]
Review: Battle for the Southern Frontier (0)
3/08/09 •
Mike Bunn and Clay Williams Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812 Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2008 ISBN: 978−1−59629−371−7. 192 pp. $22.95 (US) If you are looking for a comprehensive narrative history of the Creek War and the War of 1812 in the southern states and territories of the United […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day Three: The Dive (0)
1/27/08 •
HIGHLAND SPRINGS, Va. (Friday, January 25, 2008) – I was nervous when I woke up Sunday morning in my room at Ascension Auxiliary Air Field. This was going to be my big day. The dive gear I had lugged with me 10,000 miles from Richmond eastward to London; northward from London to Thurso, Scotland; southward from […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day Two: Green Mountain (0)
1/20/08 •
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. (Saturday, July 7, 2007) – Afterward leaving Jacqui Ellick and her Green sea turtle nesting project, I returned to the the American air field to shower, prepare lunch for the day (peanut butter and jelly), and head into the field with Steve Stephenson and Tom Smith. The three of us first headed into Georgetown. […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day Two: The Beach (0)
1/20/08 •
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. (Sunday, June 24, 2007) – I met Jacqui Ellick and a couple of helpers on Long Beach early Saturday morning. Jacqui is a long-time resident of Ascension, the publisher of the local newspaper, The Islander, and a volunteer with the Ascension Conservation Centre. Besides leading turtle tours, she has been conducting her own […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day One (0)
6/22/07 •
GEORGETOWN, Ascension Island (March 12, 2007) – The flight crossed Spain – I took some phởtographs – and apparently flew around Africa rather than crossing over it. For those who stayed awake on the flight, the flight offered a series of movies and television shows, as well as a number of listening options. They also […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Berwick-Upon-Tweed to RAF Brize Norton (0)
6/03/07 •
SHEFFIELD, England (Thursday, March 8, 2007) – Today began well. I had a good, though somewhat interrupted sleep. Before breakfast, I walked to the train station and learned southbound trans were operating as scheduled. I returned to the bed & breakfast for an excellent meal (egg sunny side up, English-style bacon, sausage, toast, and grapefruit. […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Strike! (Thurso to Berwick-Upon-Tweed) (0)
6/03/07 •
LEEDS, England (Thursday, March 8, 2007) – I woke up at 0445 hours to get ready for my departure from the Thurso rail station. A taxi (the same driver who took me to Scrabster; ₤3) took the to the station. I arrived there about 0625, about 30 minutes early. For awhile a diver of a car parked […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Orkney (0)
6/03/07 •
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, England (Thursday, March 8, 2007) – I need not have worried about the previous night’s storm. When I woke Tuesday morning, the wind that howled outside (and sometimes through) my window was nowhere to be heard. The sun was bright, with scattered clouds. This was looking good. After breakfast I caught a taxi (₤4) to […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Caithness (0)
3/13/07 •
FORSINARD, Scotland (Wednesday, March 7, 2007) – Monday, I took a Rapson’s bus over to Wick, on the northeastern coast of Scotland. I was not very interested in visiting Wick, but it was the jumping-off place to get to Noss Head, site of a working lighthouse as well as the Clan Sinclair Study Centre, and […]
Ascension Island Expedition — Edinburgh to Thurso (0)
3/13/07 •
STROMNESS, Scotland (Tuesday, March 6, 2007) – I haven’t had much time to write since my trip up to Thurso from Edinburgh on Sunday. I would have liked to write more on the train, but there were no power outlets. I had to stop after about little more than an hour. I have been running […]
Older Posts
- Ascension Island Expedition — London to Edinburgh
- Ascension Island Expedition — Mechanicsville to London
- Weird, but true (another bear story)
- The search for a missing airliner
- Welcome to the newly converted
- The story behind the image — Tramps
- Lindzen needs a reality check on climate change
- No time to sit on the sidelines
- Imminent eruption of Mount Merapi
- Welcome to my Blog
Featured Categories
Animals»
1/05/07 •
Weird, but true (another bear story)12/30/06 •
Welcome to the newly converted
Archaeology»
6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Orkney3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Caithness
Arctic»
12/30/06 •
Welcome to the newly converted
Ascension Island»
1/27/08 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day Three: The Dive1/20/08 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day Two: Green Mountain1/20/08 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day Two: The Beach6/22/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Ascension Island, Day One6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Berwick-Upon-Tweed to RAF Brize Norton
Berwick-upon-Tweed»
Book Review»
11/25/10 •
Review: World Ocean Census3/18/09 •
Review: Letters to a Young Journalist3/08/09 •
Review: Battle for the Southern Frontier
Caithness»
3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Caithness3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Edinburgh to Thurso
Climate»
12/30/06 •
Welcome to the newly converted6/26/06 •
Lindzen needs a reality check on climate change
Diving»
Edinburgh»
Endangered Species»
12/30/06 •
Welcome to the newly converted
England»
6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Berwick-Upon-Tweed to RAF Brize Norton6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Strike! (Thurso to Berwick-Upon-Tweed)3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — London to Edinburgh3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Mechanicsville to London
Indonesia»
1/03/07 •
The search for a missing airliner12/22/06 •
The story behind the image — Tramps5/15/06 •
Imminent eruption of Mount Merapi
Music»
5/10/10 •
RIP, Ronnie James Dio
Natural Hazards»
5/15/06 •
Imminent eruption of Mount Merapi
Orkney»
6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Orkney
Rocky Mountains»
1/05/07 •
Weird, but true (another bear story)
Scotland»
6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Strike! (Thurso to Berwick-Upon-Tweed)6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Orkney3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Caithness3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Edinburgh to Thurso3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — London to Edinburgh
Scottish Highlands»
6/03/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Strike! (Thurso to Berwick-Upon-Tweed)3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Caithness3/13/07 •
Ascension Island Expedition — Edinburgh to Thurso
Volcanism»
5/15/06 •
Imminent eruption of Mount Merapi
