Appreciating Ed Bearss – Civil War Historian

Ed Bearss has been on this Earth for over 92 years, and last week was my first time ever seeing him. I know, I’m not proud of that fact. My only excuse is that my interests are focused on Abraham Lincoln and Ed focuses on the broader Civil War. But this past week I realized what I had been missing.

Ed was the featured speaker at the Bull Run Civil War Round Table (BRCWRT), a group that has been around since 1991 and based in the vicinity of the first major battle of the Civil War. I joined the meeting in part for the chance to hear Ed speak, and in part as a representative of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (LGDC), of which I am Vice President for Outreach and Education.

Ed Bearss

Upon arrival I introduced myself to BRCWRT President Mark Trbovich and was able to chat with several other members, including official “Ace Photographer” Janet Greentree. The turnout was impressive, overflowing the Centerville Library meeting room. Mark told me that they routinely get 80-100 people at these monthly lectures, but with Ed Bearss speaking the room was clearly over its 122-seat capacity.

It was easy to see why. After all these years of leading Civil War tours around our nation’s capital, Ed can still belt out a lively, animated, and entertaining talk. His knowledge of the Civil War and its battles is unmatched, and he rattled off dates, Generals, Colonels, Divisions, Regiments, and locations like he was reading from a script – except he did his entire 1-hour talk with no notes, no PowerPoints. The sole prompt on the screen was a map of the region and he walked us around it one by one, following each skirmish, each General – North and South – through the last days of Robert E. Lee’s retreat from Petersburg and ultimate surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.

Ed Bearss and Gerry Connolly

Ed was impressive, and I’m so glad to finally have this chance to see him in person. It turns out it was a good night all around. Just prior to beginning his talk, Ed received a certificate from Congressman Gerry Connolly noting that he had entered a resolution to give Ed the Congressional Gold Medal, which is awarded to persons “who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement.”

Ed certainly deserves it. So far the bill has 107 co-sponsors and thousands of write-in supporters, including Ken Burns, whom Ed worked with in the production of Burns’s epic mini-series, The Civil War. I was proud to add my name to the list of supporters.

I’m looking forward to the next BRCWRT. Meanwhile, the Lincoln Group of DC is also gearing up for its monthly dinner meetings. On September 15th, Michael A. Ross will talk about “Lincoln and Johnson: The Struggle to Reunite the Nation.” On October 3rd we have our annual picnic and bus tour; this year we follow “Lincoln’s Final Footsteps” at City Point and Petersburg.” More information on both can be found on the Lincoln Group of DC website and Facebook page.

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 and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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Science Traveling Lisbon’s Oceanarium

If you’re an aquarium nut like me, one of the places on your “must-see” list is the Oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. Officially the Oceanário de Lisboa, it ranks as the largest indoor aquarium in Europe.

Lisbon Oceanarium

Like most big aquariums it has a huge central tank of roughly 1.3 million gallons filled with the usual blend of marine fish, sharks, and rays. It is also one of the few aquariums that includes an ocean sunfish (Mola mola), a notoriously difficult species to maintain out of its natural oceanic habitat.

Lisbon Oceanarium

What I liked about the main tank – and I’ve seen dozens of them – is that as you walk around the perimeter you have many large floor to ceiling windows to gaze through.

Lisbon Oceanarium

There are large areas where you can often see divers feeding the fish and maintaining the tank.

Lisbon Oceanarium

But also many alcoves where a diverse community of fish, anemones, and corals can get some “privacy,” i.e., some sense of normality in a life literally in a very large fish bowl.

Lisbon Oceanarium

Of course, there are many smaller tanks and exhibits for up-close-and-personal views of worldwide marine flora and fauna. As always I was drawn to the tropical frog exhibit.

Lisbon Oceanarium

With only a month to go before finishing my three-year sojourn in Brussels, I had made a special trip to Lisbon specifically to see this world-famous aquarium. I was not disappointed.

See more about my aquarium visits on the aquarium page.

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 and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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What President Obama’s Clean Power Act Does for Climate Change – It May Surprise You (from The Dake Page)

On Monday, August 3, 2015, President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency released final rules designed to curtail coal-based power plant emissions. Called the Clean Power Plan, the goal is to reduced carbon emissions contributing to man-made climate change. The impact of this plan will surprise a lot of Americans.

The following video is only a little over 2 minutes and worth watching:

Reaction has been about what you might expect. The Republican candidates for president and their Republican colleagues in the House and Senate have falsely attacked the plan for the usual false reasons. The Democratic candidates and in Congress largely agree that the steps proposed are necessary to deal with the unequivocal science demonstrating humans are warming the climate system.

Media reporting of the Clean Power Act shows its critical importance. Time magazine says that the President is taking the lead on this “superwicked problem.”  CNN says the President “unveils major climate change proposal.” To the New York Times this is a “crucial step on climate change.” Other media outlets also note the unprecedented action by the White House and EPA.

Of course, there are also the denial lobbyists saturating the blogosphere with anti-Clean Power Act rhetoric. All provide opinions based on a single negative “report” produced by, you guessed it, one of the denial lobbyist organizations in their network. That’s a common tactic of lobbyists – create a biased report and then get all your friends to cite your biased report as “unbiased.”

Meanwhile, the response from the scientific community has generally been positive, as might be expected given that nearly every climate scientist agrees that 100+ years of published science unequivocally demonstrates a need to address man’s contribution to climate change. There are some, like outspoken climate scientist James Hansen, who feel the Plan is merely a drop in the bucket and won’t in itself create significant progress in dealing with our changing climate.

Hansen is probably right.

So let’s assume that the Clean Power Plan is insufficient to deal with climate change….

[Read the rest on The Dake Page]

The above is a partial cross-post of a 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 and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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First Tesla…Now Edison is In!

Tesla vs Edison cartoon First there was Nikola Tesla, and now there is Thomas Edison. Those who follow this page know that my book Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity was released by Fall River Press/Sterling Publishing in 2013. The book has been so successful (Thank you!) that Fall River Press asked me to write a similar book on Thomas Edison.

Today the manuscript for Edison! was officially submitted to my editor. Assuming he likes it, Edison! will be in Barnes and Noble stores sometime in the spring of 2016. With the Tesla book going into its 5th printing in October, you should be able to find them side-by-side in the not-too-distant future. [If the editor doesn’t like it, well, never mind.]

Want a preview of Edison!Here is the chapter outline.

But wait, there’s more.

I’ve also have an e-book being published on Amazon in the next few weeks. Lincoln and Tesla – Connected by Fate delves into the incredible connections between these two great men. Lincoln and Tesla connected? Yes, in far more ways than you could ever have imagined. Check out the background at the link above and watch this space for the big launch coming shortly.

In the meantime, if you read Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity or my previous e-book, Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time, please take a moment to give it a rating and/or short review on Goodreads, BN.com, and Amazon. Providing ratings (and feedback if you have the time) helps spread the word to other Tesla fans around the world.

Here are the links:

Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity: Goodreads     BN.com     Amazon

Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time  Goodreads     Amazon

Thank you all for your support. I’ll post updates on Edison! and Tesla as they happen.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. 

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Book Review – Lincoln’s Body: A Cultural History by Richard Wightman Fox

Lincoln's BodyHistorian Richard Wightman Fox employs a unique concept in discussing Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln’s body. His body – the physical, the figurative, the aura, and the memory – is used to trace how he was perceived at the time and during several periods since then to the present day. In doing so, Fox has successfully provided a mirror into not only Abraham Lincoln, but ourselves.

The book is split into three main parts ostensibly covering three broad concepts and also three broad time periods. The Public Body (1840-1865) focuses mostly on how Lincoln’s physical attractiveness (or lack thereof) was used both to promote and dismiss him during his political lifetime. These chapters also discuss his initial martyrdom, impact of the lack of any “last words,” and bodily degradation during the funeral.

The second part, The Enshrined Body (1865-1909), examines the memorialization of Lincoln, the use of him as a symbol, and the “reinterpretation” of him such that he was either for or against political goals, including “black emancipation” and “white reunion.” This section gets us up to the centenary of his birth.

In the final part, The National Body (1909-2015), Fox looks at the various stages of development of what could best be termed the Lincoln “cult” and “anti-cult.” He looks at the development of two memorials that solidify the “cult” (Lincoln Memorial and Sandburg’s Lincoln), and also at Lincoln has been depicted on the screen. Most importantly, Fox does an excellent job looking at Lincoln’s role (and sometimes lack of role) in the Civil Rights era. His discussion of Martin Luther King is one of the best parts of the book. Finally, this part spends considerable time on the more recent cinematic (and Disney) treatments of Lincoln, with a clear appreciation of the Spielberg/Kushner/Day Lewis movie, “Lincoln.”

The writing is fluid and readable. The use of the “body” thread throughout the book is well done – enough to carry the theme without making it groan from its own weight. But the real value of the book is in how Fox reflects the body of Lincoln in all its senses back on our changing views of liberty, race, and democracy over the course of the 150 years since Lincoln’s body made that last long railroad trip back to Springfield.

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 and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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Looking for Housing in Brussels (from Hot White Snow)

Brussels flower carpetThud.

Yes, I actually heard a thud, just like you hear in the old movie reels. So loud it seemed to resonate in my ears, echoing off the walls of the attic room I was evaluating as a possible living space during my impending three-year secondment in Brussels.

On the floor was my guide, his hand to his forehead, his eyes glazed over in partial coherence; clearly concussed.

At my height I rarely worry about low-hanging beams, but he was near two meters easily. Clearly not paying attention he had marched confidently into the center beam of the room, solid and stalwart in its insistence of that space four inches down from the low ceiling. I had walked under it; he found it squarely.

It wasn’t a bad place, really. Tiny in retrospect, but quaint and old-fashioned in a European sort of way. A simple garret with a single window, though grand in size, overlooking one end of the converted attic. Nice enough, and I was considering it, until it took out the man who had been assigned to show me living arrangements. The decision to not take this apartment became clear just as my guide’s vision was doing the same. We would look some more.

In all we looked at a dozen apartments, some impressionably bad…others less obviously insufficient. At one point I decided on one apartment, only to find that it had been rented in the hours I had looked on indecisively. Even the final choice was indecisive. I had agreed to take an apartment in a new building half a block from the main road that led to my company’s office building. It was the only modern building we had seen, and I looked at two or three apartments there. On the second day of looking I asked to go back there and after deciding on an apartment on the fifth floor, had my guide negotiate the deal. An hour later I called him to renege, though just to take a different apartment, this one on the second floor, in the same building.

[Continue reading on Hot White Snow]

The above is a partial of a full article on Hot White Snow, my creative writing blog. Please click on the link above to read further. Thanks.

I’ll have photos and stories from my most recent science traveling trips to Scandinavia and Quebec shortly.

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 and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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.

Science Traveling – Waterfalls (videos)

I love waterfalls, and it seems that during my recent science traveling excursions to Norway, Canada, and Connecticut I saw a lot of waterfalls. So for this edition I thought I would show you some video of a few great falls. Be sure to turn on the volume for your monitor to hear the impressive roar of the water.

Kent Falls: Not surprisingly, these namesake falls are in Kent State Park in Kent, CT. This was a stop coming back from Quebec in early July.

Montmorency Falls: Just above Quebec City is a wonderful surprise. These falls are one and half times the height of Niagara. I wrote more about Montmorency in this previous post.

Kjosfossen Falls: Back in May when we traveled to three Scandinavian countries I saw some amazing waterfalls. This one jumps out at you when traveling the railway through the mountains towards the fjords in central Norway.

Naeroyfjord Falls: As part of the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour, which involves a train, another train, a boat, a bus, and another train as you make your way from Oslo to Bergen (plus another train from Bergen back to Oslo the next day), you spend a few hours in the fjords. There are literally hundreds of waterfalls, and that is not an overstatement. One of the most spectacular is this one as you first turn into Naeroyfjord.

I’ll have more details on these in the future. For now, turn up your sound, go full screen, and enjoy the waterfalls.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and 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!

Why the TSCA Reform Bills Should Become Law Even Though They Won’t Make Us Any Safer (from The Dake Page)

World Chemical FlaskRecently there has been a sudden surge in support for passing bills in both the House and Senate to modernize the four-decade-old Toxic Substances Control Act, i.e., TSCA. This post will explain why this is happening, why TSCA Reform can pass now, and why it should pass – even though it likely will do nothing substantial to make us safer.

What is TSCA anyway?

For those who missed it, TSCA was passed in 1976. That’s right, when Gerald Ford, the only President never to have been elected to either the presidency or vice-presidency (Hint: Nixon and Agnew were, in fact, crooks), signed it into law. TSCA was designed to regulate commercial chemicals before they could be put on the market. Well, except for the 65,000 or so chemicals that were already on the market – those chemicals got grandfathered onto an Inventory, a list of chemicals it was okay to use despite none of them ever having been tested for safety. New chemicals had to go through a review by the Environmental Protection Agency, though the EPA could not actually require any safety testing unless they could prove that the chemicals were dangerous…which they found hard to do since they couldn’t require anyone to do any safety testing. You can see why there was a need to reform TSCA.

Which no one did for nearly 40 years.

Why COULDN’T TSCA be reformed before?

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) tried. In 2005 he introduced the first of several TSCA reform bills that were immediately relegated to the wastebasket with zero action. Not one ever got out of committee. For ten years the Republican Party, along with a few Democrats from states heavy on chemical industry influences, managed to block a half-dozen or more attempts by Lautenberg in the Senate (and Henry Waxman [D-CA)] in the House) from ever getting a vote.

Lautenberg’s initial bill would have fundamentally changed our chemical control system by requiring companies to provide substantial health and safety data on chemicals before they went onto the market. It would have also required companies to provide data for all of the 65,000 chemicals that had been grandfathered onto the Inventory (plus, all the 25,000 or so additional chemicals that were added to the Inventory after only rudimentary model-based evaluation by EPA).

While needed, the requirements were functionally unworkable under our current review structure. When Europe passed a law called REACH that required essentially the same data, they also created an entirely new chemicals agency staffed with at least 500 people and a system for collecting and evaluating the millions of data points that would be coming their way over a ten year period.

A new agency! The EPA would not have been able to handle the workload, especially given the Congressional defunding and forced retirement of key staffers that has been plaguing them for the last decade or more. There is no way Congress would even boost their staff to handle the new data, never mind create an entirely new agency. That one fact killed any chance of a workable solution.

Lautenberg continued to try to revise his bills over the next 10 years, making them more and more industry-friendly with each iteration. His latest version, offered up soon before he passed away, was supported by then-committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who frequently sparred with then-ranking member and serial climate denier James Inhofe (R-OK). Her conflicts with Inhofe were seamlessly passed to his replacement, Senator David Vitter (R-LA), when he began working with Lautenberg on a new, even more industry-friendly, bill. After Lautenberg’s death, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) joined with Vitter to come up with the precursor to the current Senate bill. While the bipartisanship was nice, the dropping of all the fundamental reforms originally proposed by Lautenberg make Boxer a bitter enemy of the bill.

Why CAN TSCA reform pass now?

The answer is easy, though it’s also a reflection of the rather cynical power of lobbyists when it comes to making laws.

[Continue reading on The Dake Page]

The above is a partial cross-post of a 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 and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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.

Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and the Assassination of President William McKinley

Fate can be a cynical maiden. Such is the case with the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. His death involved not only Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison but the son of another assassinated president, Abraham Lincoln.

William McKinley Assassination

President McKinley’s assassination happened six months into the second term of his presidency while he was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, yet another World’s Fair to highlight rapidly changing technology and cultural exchange. McKinley had a busy schedule but managed to slip in a visit to the nearby Niagara Falls. After seeing the gorge with its beautiful falling waters (being careful to remain on the American side to avoid the inevitable political chatter), the President toured Goat Island where a statue of Nikola Tesla would be erected many years later.

One of the main goals of the Niagara Falls trip was to visit the hydroelectric plant. This, of course, included the alternating current generators and motors designed by Nikola Tesla. It was the alternating current from Tesla’s Niagara Falls system that lit up the entire exposition, including the centerpiece “Electric Tower” and the Temple of Music. There were also electric trains, ambulances, and other vehicles moving people to and fro between different parts of the fair and the Falls.

After marveling at the ingenuity of Tesla’s designs at Niagara, McKinley returned to Buffalo for a reception at the very same Temple of Music being lit by the power of those falls. While shaking hands with well-wishers, McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. It was September 6, 1901.

In an ironic twist of fate, Tesla’s rival Thomas Edison could have saved McKinley’s life. Doctors were unable to locate the bullet in McKinley’s abdomen, and an early X-ray machine designed by Edison was on display at the Fair. McKinley’s doctors, however, deemed the apparatus too primitive to be of use. Edison quickly sent his most modern X-ray machine from New Jersey up to Buffalo, but aides to the President refused to use it for fear of radiation poisoning. While McKinley at first appeared to be recovering, gangrene set into the wound and he died on September 14th, Edison’s machine sitting nearby unused.

And the Lincoln connection? Robert Lincoln was in attendance at the fair at the invitation of President McKinley. Robert, of course, had been nearby when his father, Abraham Lincoln, became the first President assassinated, as well as with President Garfield when he was gunned down. McKinley became the third President close to Robert that was assassinated. Not surprisingly, Robert no longer accepted invitations by Presidents, nor I suspect, were many invitations forthcoming.

[The above is excerpted from my e-book, Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla – Connected by Fate.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and 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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Spiraling Upward in Copenhagen

Sometimes science traveling can really take you up in the world, though spiraling around the globe can be a bit dizzying. At least that’s how it felt as I climbed the spiral staircase in the spire of the Church of Our Savior in Copenhagen.

Check that – not “in” the spire; outside the spire. This was (yet another) time that my mild acrophobia seemed not so mild. At least there was a railing.

The day began trying to figure out how to get around the line of 10,000+ marathon runners blocking our path. A very long detour got us heading to the strange spire we had glimpsed the day before. Two elevators and some stairs got us to the top of the tower in Christianborgs Palace and a great view of the city of Copenhagen. From there we could see this very intriguing spiral tower. Zooming in I could see there were people on it (look closely).

spiral tower

Finally ditching the running masses we hiked our way over the bridge into Christianshavn, the canal-laden neighborhood across the river. With the general direction of the spiral in sight we wended our way through the narrow streets where, in case you forgot to look up and might miss it, was a sign to the tower:

spiral tower, church of our savior, Copenhagen

No elevators for this tower. For 45 Danish Krone each we began our climb conventionally, through the bowels of the church tower inside the dusty, and yet creaky, wooden steps, past the carillon (i.e., the bells, which thankfully weren’t pealing), and eventually up to a door leading outside. There the steps seemed more substantial, though they quickly narrowed…and narrowed…and narrowed.

Spiral tower, Church of Our Savior, Copenhagen

It seemed the narrower the steps the more tired our legs until I turned the last turn into steps that actually came to a point. Okay, now the acrophobia kicks in – 295 feet from the street at a pointed step just a few inches at its widest. No problem. Look at the view. Got it, now turn around and slowly start working my way down.

Spiral tower, Church of Our Savior, Copenhagen

Okay, it really wasn’t that bad (no, it really was that bad). But the view was gorgeous.

Spiral tower, Church of Our Savior, Copenhagen

Once back on solid ground we went into the church where we were greeted with a pair of elephants holding up a massive organ. Of course. Elephants. What else should we expect in a church in Denmark?

Spiral tower, Church of Our Savior, Copenhagen

This was the last major event in Copenhagen. A long, winding walk back to the hotel to pack up before heading to the train station for a nearly 6-hour speed train to Stockholm. More on that later; I’m still recovering from climbing the spiral tower.

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!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.

 

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