Tag: Nature
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Mount McKinley Three Weeks from New York
The mountain had been colloquially referred to as Mount McKinley since 1896 and had clearly achieved widespread usage by this article’s publication in 1916, becoming the official name one year later in 1917. But indigenous Alaskans had long called it Mount Denali and never stopped doing so. Last September, President Obama announced that the name would once […]
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Carrier Pigeons an Aid to Preparedness
As the sub-headline suggests, 1916 was an era where a bird could be counted on as more reliable and speedier than “aeroplanes” or “the wireless.” Today, of course, with supersonic jets and instant communication worldwide via the Internet and other digital devices, that is no longer true. The U.S. military stopped using messenger pigeons in 1957. […]
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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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Martians Build Two Immense Canals In Two Years
Percival Lowell was a smart astronomer. He was the first person to build his observatory in a remote location away from city lights, at the top of a high mountain. Lowell picked Flagstaff, Arizona as the location for his observatory. I lived in Flagstaff for four years in college and the observatory is one of […]
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Pasteur Expert Sounds Warning Against Pet Dogs
Well, that’s a pretty scary headline. Turns out that the expert is pretty much just concerned about rabies (referred to as “hydrophobia” because one symptom of rabies is a fear of water). He does mention those other diseases, but, well, just read it yourself: “Almost any of the contagious diseases may be conveyed by either […]
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Have You Ever Seen A Blue Rose? A Horticultural Problem
This article gives a nice background on the history of roses as a coveted flower, and then gets into the matter of a blue rose. A blue rose is held to be about the hardest thing in the flower-growing world to attain… It can’t be done by any chemical process, of course. Any one rose […]
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For The Sightseer In New York: “There’s The Aquarium”
Amusing look at the personalities of people and animals that one can find at the city’s aquarium back when it was still in Battery Park. FOR THE SIGHTSEER IN NEW YORK: “THERE’S THE AQUARIUM”: Some Interesting Features, Human and Piscine, to Be Found at the Battery Park Establishment on a Sunday Afternoon. (PDF) From July […]
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The American Student Acquiring A Uniform Face
The two faces in the middle of the page are composites of 25 boys and 25 girls, to create the “typical” student face. In modern times, this has been done digitally to interesting effects. I wonder if this is the earliest known example of such a composite. THE AMERICAN STUDENT ACQUIRING A UNIFORM FACE: Mayor […]
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Seventeen-Year Locusts Here; Moths Even Worse
I don’t have time to write more comments on this article because I’m a brand new dad and need to focus on that for a bit. But please feel free to read the article and make your own comments. SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUSTS HERE; MOTHS EVEN WORSE: Cicada Army Not the Most Destructive of Our Pests — […]
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A Great Sixty-Inch Reflector Which Photographs The Stars
The rest of this post is unwritten because I’m a brand new dad and need to focus on that for a bit. But please feel free to read the article and make your own comments. A GREAT SIXTY-INCH REFLECTOR WHICH PHOTOGRAPHS THE STARS: Wonderful Instrument Erectred by the Carnegie Institution at Mount Wilson, California. (PDF) […]
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