Tag: Adventure
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River of Doubt Now on Brazil’s Official Maps
In 1914, Theodore Roosevelt — at that point a former U.S. president — trekked upon a previously unmapped tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. To honor his heroism, Brazil officially named the Rio Duvida (or River of Doubt) the Rio Roosevelt. Did the new name last to the present day? Yes it has. River…
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Do Sharks Attack Humans Only When Crazed?
A full 59 years before Jaws created a generation of terrorized beachgoers, people were worried about sharks and the possibility of being attacked. In fact, the fear should go the other way around, seeing as sharks kill about 10 humans a year but humans kill about 20 million sharks a year. So to answer the title question:…
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America’s Switzerland; Three Days From New York
The Canadian Rockies remain a great place to go on vacation. I went last year, spending a week or so in and around Banff, Alberta. A Google Image Search for Banff will show you some of its beauty. There’s a lot of great hiking, it’s easy to reach, not very expensive, and not too crowded.…
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Moving Pictures Suggested To End The Tramp Evil
James Forbes, Director of the National Association for the Prevention of Mendicancy and Charitable Imposture, is a hobo expert. As the article says, “The study of tramps has been a life study with him.” Forbes has finally figured out how to get rid of this blight on society using modern technology: For years he has…
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Going Down In A Tube To Hunt For Sunken Treasure
This is one of those great articles where I do a little research and find out even more interesting stuff that happened next. The article is about Charles Williamson, who invented a tube he could use to go treasure hunting on the bottom of the sea. What I learned is that Charles’ son John took…
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George B. Boynton, “The War Maker,” Tells His Adventures
Here’s a bit of good summer reading for you. The book The War Maker tells the supposedly true story of George B. Boynton, whose unlikely adventures sound like a 19th century Forrest Gump. You can download the book in a variety of ebook formats here at Google Books. The article gives a historic context for…
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Have Englishmen Found The Ark Of The Covenant?
If I didn’t have a new baby coming this week, you can be sure that this post would include a witty paragraph or two about Indiana Jones, archaeology in general, and this Time magazine article. HAVE ENGLISHMEN FOUND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT? A Mysterious Expedition, Apparently Not Composed of Archaeologists, Hunts Strange Treasure Under…
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What A Rich Man Learned In Living With Hoboes
A rich man living with hoboes? That sounds like the plot of a Mel Brooks movie (because it is the plot of a Mel Brooks movie). The article is actually considerably less funny. It’s by Edwin A. Brown, a wealthy man who spent “years studying the lives and conditions of the great floating body of…
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Capt. Bartlett And Harry Whitney To Lead American Expedition To Seek South Pole
I’ll get to the article’s headline in a second. But for me, the real eye-opening part of this article is buried on page two: “Are penguin nice to eat?” “They are not,” said Harry Whitney emphatically. “The meat is course and oily,” added Capt. Bartlett. “But anything counts down there.” I don’t think I’ve ever…
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