A little taste of New York. Probably the only blue sky seen all day, and with a tropical storm hitting, all week.
Today probably a good day for museums. Saw the new 9/11 Museum yesterday. Very emotional impact; a lot of memories can flooding back.
More later.
As Billy Joel once said a long, long time ago (and probably at every concert for the last four decades), I’m in a New York state of mind. And not just mind, body too. By the time you read this I should be on a train to the Big Apple, The City, the City That Never Sleeps.
New York, New York (a la Frank Sinatra).
It will either be a short week or a long week. I’ll let you know when I return. The plan is somewhat flexible, pending cooperative weather (or not) and ease of decision-making (or not). Try to Imagine the possibilities.
I’m sure there will be a Lincoln stop or two, and a Tesla stop or two, and maybe even an Edison stop (or not). How about the United Nations? Seems there has been a flurry of activity there – the Pope last week and Presidents of various countries this week. Perhaps I’ll run into Barack, of Vladimir, or Xi (or not).
I’ll post updates from the ground as I can during the week.
David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
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Patagonia is one of the most diverse geographies on Earth. It encompasses the lower end of South America, mostly in Argentina but also spanning Chile. As such it touches on two coastlines – the Atlantic on the Argentinian east and the Pacific on the Chilean west. The area goes from the high Andes, to the low scrubland plains, the large lake filled northwest, glaciers in the southwest, and coastlines of the southeast. Animals range from the ostrich-like choiques (CHOY-kas) and camel-like guanacos (WAN-a-coes) to snakes and penguins. Yes, penguins.
Last year I spent three weeks in Patagonia, traveling from the very north in Bariloche down through the Argentinian side of the Andes mountains to the southern glaciers at Perito Moreno. A planned visit to the Chilean side of the Andeans was quashed by an unforeseen broken ankle (my host’s, not mine), but that opened up a return trip driving east through the desert-like steppe and up the eastern coastline. Another week was split between enjoying the beautiful lakes of Bariloche and visiting various doctors and hospitals (see “unforeseen broken ankle”). I also got to visit with my host’s fisheries biology lab mates. All in all a fantastic trip.
I’ll be writing much more on Patagonia (and planning another South American trip), but to catch everyone up here are links to previous posts. Click on the titles below.
The Route: A quick tour of the plan for the trip, and some highlights.
Cueva de las Manos…the Cave of the Hands: An amazing place with 10,000 year old hand prints. It was quite a challenge to hike to, which made it all the more incredible.
Mount Fitz Roy and the Glaciers: Mountains named after the Captain of the Beagle (Charles Darwin’s ship). An amazing hike with even more amazing views.
Up Close and Personal with the Perito Moreno Glacier: One of the most iconic glaciers in the world (you’ve probably seen photos). It’s even more impressive up close.
The Gravel Roads of Patagonia: This was a road trip. Except the roads were often more in name than actuality. A good story was had by all.
Drinking Tea, aka, Mate, in Argentina: No trip to Patagonia is possible without a healthy dose of matte, the South American “tea” that is as much a social event as it is a libation.
Much more on Argentina and other points south in the future.
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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The road to Tenerife is paved with four inches of snow. At least, that was the case for this trip. So while the warmth of the largest Canary Island waited off the coast of Morocco, my plane sat in the Brussels airport buried in snowflakes. At first it seemed just a minor delay – only a half hour waiting for the bus to take us to the Airbus A320. Brussels had seen snow before, I reminded myself, and this didn’t seem like that much. The snow coming in on the train was fluffy; beautiful, in fact. Okay, it was cold, even frigid, but a little ice is easy to handle. No matter, we were ready to board the transport.
“Excusez-moi, Mesdames et Messieurs.” “Neem me niet kwalijk, dames en heren.”
This can’t be good, I thought. The announcement repeated over the airport intercom. Somehow the mere introduction, in French and Dutch, was enough to create a wave of incredulous groaning from the passengers impatiently dawdling in the concourse. We all knew what was coming.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we regret to inform you that the airport is now closed because of the weather. We will keep you posted as to when the status changes. Thank you.”
The next three hours seemed like forever. The din from hundreds of disgruntled travelers calling their bosses, spouses, paramours, and travel agents was deafening. No one was happy, but then in oft-rainy Brussels no one ever seems to be happy. Most of us wandered around, looking to see if anyone else was taking off (they weren’t) or giving up and leaving the airport (they were). I had an overnight stopover in Madrid, so knowing that I had some time to kill anyway, decided to stick it out, keeping myself company watching the television monitor documenting the snowfall accumulations.
Somehow I survived, though whether it was despite not having a cell phone of my own, or because of it, I can’t be sure. All I remember is that eventually we were told to board the bus, which took fifteen minutes to snake around the entire terminal (possibly twice) before letting us off about 50 feet from the plane. The slog through snow drifts at least a foot deep, and the climb up the slippery steps to the fuselage, was a challenge. Then more time waiting our turn at the de-icing station where we spent another ten minutes under a waterfall of what I knew from experience was not the most innocuous of chemicals. I didn’t care; we were off the ground. Tenerife or bust.
I found out later that I was in the last plane to leave Brussels that day. Only six planes took off, the rest were stranded; some as long as two days. Ironically, on my first day in the tropical paradise I would discover that Tenerife also boasted frigid cold and snow. But that’s another story.
Check out this earlier look at The Orchids of Tenerife.
[More on Tenerife and other science travel coming soon. Reposted from Hot White Snow.]
David J. Kent is an avid traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!
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Earlier this year I traveled to Florida. A quick couple of days in Miami was followed by two days exploring the Everglades before heading down the Keys and eventually out to the Dry Tortugas. At one stop along the keys we encountered two beautiful black birds. The first was a Black Vulture .
There were hundreds of them. Our first clue was in the parking lot, where you could tell the first-time tourists from the seasoned veteran visitors by whether their car was covered by a blue tarp or not. Fully half the cars had tarps designed to protect the vehicles from black vultures. Protection seemed futile, however, as most of the tarps had holes ripped in them, or were pulled largely off the car onto the ground. Black vultures used many of the cars as perches.
Once on the path for the hike it was hard not to step on the vultures. They were everywhere, seemingly undaunted by human presence. Quick to scarf up any dropped morsel, they wandered around your feet, across the paths, and along the edge of the waterways. Not really domesticated, just unconcerned. A far cry from the Turkey Vultures I was used to in the northeast.
The other black bird was the Double-Crested Cormorant. Beautiful plumage and orange chin patch led to its hooked bill.
These birds too were plentiful and unafraid of the humans trudging noisily around them. If you’ve seen a cormorant, it’s likely to have been the Double-Crested.
There were many other birds as well – herons, egrets, ospreys and more. We also saw manatees, alligators, fish and frogs. More on those later.
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!
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It’s been a big week in climate change, in more ways than one. This is especially true for President Obama. First he went to New Orleans, and then he spent several days in Alaska. That’s a big deal for climate communication.
The above is a partial cross-post of the full article on The Dake Page. Please click on the link above to read further. Thanks.
David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
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Many years ago I lived in Bermuda for a college semester. There were 15 of us learning how to be marine biologists while living at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. For two months we studied, we dived, we snorkeled, we spent hours bent over equipment in the laboratory searching for microscopic parasites. Fun was had by all.
As my old classmates responded to my recent “Barracuda of Walsingham Bay” post on Hot White Snow I realized that there are a million stories to tell. I also realized that those stories fit better here on Science Traveler. So along with other science traveling stories I’ll be reconstructing those Bermuda experiences.
To catch everyone up on the story, the following were two I posted on my creative writing blog, Hot White Snow. Click on the titles to read the full articles. I’ll follow with more on a regular basis. Who knows; some day it might make a good book.
Each of us were required to do a field research project of our own design. Mine was to examine the epibiota on mangrove roots in Walsingham Pond, with a comparison site in Walsingham Bay. I gathered data by snorkeling around both locations and writing my findings on waterproof tablets (the plasticized paper kind, long before iPad-type tablets). A barracuda full of teeth and curiosity followed me around the Bay. It was unnerving, and yet at the same time exhilarating. [Read more]
Our main mode of transportation around the island was by small motor scooters called moped. While seemingly innocuous, they played central roles in several incidents, including one that makes my knee throb to this day. One day after a light rain we set out on a research expedition that turned out to be more eventful than we anticipated. This is why. [Read more]
I’ll have a lot more on our time in Bermuda. There are many stories about the science, but also many about a bunch of college kids in a semi-tropical island (think “The Real World” before MTV), and even more stories of love and intrigue.
I hope that my colleagues on that trip – Pat Arszyla, Mark Blake, Mike Calabrese, Ed Carver, Ken Foote, Eric Henderson, Joan Kwiatkoski, Sandy Mazzo, Pat Piccirilli, Nancy Rigotty, Sue Schurman, George Skalski, CeCe Spinella, Pablo Vigliano; our professors Dr. Bob Singletary and Dr. Dean Christanson; and Bermuda Biological Station Director Wolfgang Sterrer and other instructors – will enjoy the memories. I’ve had the privilege to reconnect with some of them after all these years. If anyone has kept in touch with those I haven’t, I would appreciate getting reintroduced.
[A quick note about the photo. It was taken a few years after Bermuda while I worked as a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service at Sandy Hook, NJ. I was tagging flounder on a cold winter’s day. It was a good day to be a marine biologist, just before the laboratory burned to the ground. But, that’s another story.]
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!
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A year ago I wrote some “Reflections” on the first anniversary of trading in my well-paid job as a scientific consultant for a new gig as a poor starving writer. My conclusion last year was “It was the best decision I ever made.” After another twelve months as an impoverished writer my new conclusion is an even more emphatic “best decision ever.”
When I left paid employment my book Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity had been in Barnes and Noble bookstores for only a month. It’s now into its 5th printing, bringing the total to over 65,000 copies (plus multiple foreign languages). The book has been such a great success that the publisher came back to me for a follow up – Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World is now written and in the design stage with a 2016 publication date. I also published two specialty e-books on Amazon. The writing life is good.
The traveling life is not so bad either. In the last year I’ve traveled to wild Yosemite and even wilder Everglades and Dry Tortugas. I’ve experienced three Scandinavian countries and cruised through Norwegian fjords. I’ve also visited New England twice and been drenched by the waterfalls outside Quebec City. In the next few months I’ll be in Paris, London, New York City, Gettysburg, and Salt Lake City.
The latter is to pick up an award; I’m being recognized for my contributions over the last 25 years serving SETAC and my regional chapter. I’m honored to receive such a prestigious accolade.
Over the coming year I’ll be writing even more. The Abraham Lincoln book I’ve been researching for, well, it seems forever, should finally get a chance to see the inside of a bookstore. As a VP for the Lincoln Group of DC I’ll continue to expand our outreach and education activities as I immerse myself deeper in that long-time intellectual study. I even have an idea for a compendium of essays by Lincoln scholars.
But that’s just the beginning. My list of “books-to-write” has grown to over twenty, one or two of which are in genres that may be unexpected. The order isn’t necessarily settled, it will depend on finding publishers, but one thing is clear – I’m going to have to write faster to get them all done.
On to the next adventure!
David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
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It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’m an aquarium nut. I was a marine biologist early in my scientific career, including a semester in Bermuda during college and several years working at National Marine Fisheries Service laboratories in Maryland and New Jersey.
Over the years I’ve visited 40 aquariums in the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe, and Bermuda. I have an Aquariums page on this website where I’ve logged in the places visited. As I’ve written articles about them I provide a link, and my plan is to cover all of the remaining aquariums over the next several months.
I’ve rearranged the Aquariums page to make the stories and photos easier to find. It will also serve as a handy guide to finding aquariums in your area, or an area where you plan to travel. North America is now split into regions covering New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, the West, and Miscellaneous (for those that don’t quite fit the others). Asia and Europe remain as single entities because there are fewer aquariums to list, but I’ll expand in the future as necessary. I also hope to add aquariums from South America and Africa if and when I go to any.
Check out the Aquarium page and come back to see new additions.
David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. And feel free to “Like” my Facebook author’s page and connect on LinkedIn. Share with your friends using the buttons below.
Hot White Snow is my creative writing page, where I post articles, poems, writing responses, and other bits that don’t fit the Science Traveling, Tesla, Edison, Lincoln theme of this site. With the labor day weekend here, it’s time to catch up on creativity. The following are three articles posted on Hot White Snow in recent weeks. Follow the links to the full articles.
This poem (yes, a poem) was a big departure for me. Not only do I not write a lot of poetry (the reason for which may or may not become obvious), I tackled the difficult and serious topic provoking the “Black Lives Matter” movement. This was a response to a writing prompt. [Read the poem and explanation here]
I can’t read half of my Facebook posts. As I scroll through my feed I come across such a diversity of languages it appears Facebook is randomizing its database of world users.
[A look at the international flavor of my Facebook (and real life) friend network. Read the full article here.]
I’m writing this to take a break from throwing out my life. For more than three decades I worked as a scientist, mostly for various consulting firms in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. About two years ago I resigned from my last employer to become a writer. Part of me held out the option of going back into consulting if the writing gig wasn’t going to work. That part has moved on; it’s the writing life for me.
[Making the commitment to move on. Read the full article here.]
The above are partials of full articles on Hot White Snow, my creative writing blog. Please click on the links to read further. Thanks.
David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. And feel free to “Like” my Facebook author’s page and connect on LinkedIn. Share with your friends using the buttons below.
Abraham Lincoln Historian, Scientist, Traveler
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