Amelia, Queen of the Sky Have you flown far? “From America,” she answered. — Dan McCallon, Irish farmhand On 24 July 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia and Samuel Earhart gave birth to a child who bore her mother and grandmother’s name. Nicknamed “Meeley,” her mother did not believe in raising “nice little girls,” so […]
Amelia, Queen of the Sky Read More »
Chicxulub Geologists recognize five major extinction events since life emerged on our planet. Each of these catastrophic periods wiped organisms from Earth, usually to the tune of more than 75% of all living species at the time. One such occasion, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, eliminated between 90-96% of species from existence! The one most people
Bluebirds of Happiness Sawiskera, the Spirit of Winter and Darkness, plagued the Iroquois people, daily banishing the sun and conjuring yearly icy eras of tribulation. One magical melody, however, could ward off the forces of Sawiskera. This musical potion emerged from the syrinx of the Eastern bluebird. Bluebirds are passerines, the order of perching
Bluebirds of Happiness Read More »
April April is the cruellest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain. — T.S. Eliot, first lines of The Waste Land Some of English literature’s most recognizable and memorable opening lines arise from the last great long poem, The Waste Land. Part of the power
Chupacabras In March 1995, a strange occurrence transpired on the island of Puerto Rico. Residents found eight sheep dead. Eight is not an unprecedented number of animals to perish at the same time, but it’s certainly strange. Odder still, however, was the state of the sheep. They had been drained of all their blood.
Endurance We recently studied the Heroic Age of Antarctica, which featured major exploratory achievements and set the stage for Ernest Shackleton’s extraordinary tale of survival after the sinking of his ship, the Endurance. That account included a supernatural visitor during a treacherous trek across uncharted mountains. Researchers have since coined this phenomenon the Third Man
Third Man Factor Who is the third who walks always beside you?When I count, there are only you and I togetherBut when I look ahead up the white roadThere is always another one walking beside youGliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hoodedI do not know whether a man or a woman—But who is that
Fortitudine Vincimus When Part I of our tale completed, the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration neared a conclusion. Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott had successfully reached the South Pole. Veteran Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, who had attempted to reach the pole, vibrantly declared that achievement did not end the era of investigation
Fortitudine Vincimus Read More »
Antarctica’s Heroic Age During the Age of Exploration, which occurred roughly between the 15th and 18th centuries, humans believed a gargantuan continent covered most of the Southern Hemisphere. This landmass was known commonly as Terra Australis, Latin for “Southern Land.” The impetus for this notion did not arrive thanks to direct evidence of a massive
Antarctica’s Heroic Age Read More »
