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Dublin, Ireland…Molly Malone…and a Man in a Donkey Head

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Top o’ the mornin’ to ya. By now everyone should have recovered from St. Paddy’s day.  Even President Obama downed a Guinness with his ancestral Irish cousin in Washington DC.  The “effects” of celebrating old St. Patrick should have worn off by now (right?) and we’re all gearing up for going back to work in the morning.

Which gets me to the man in the donkey head.  In Dublin.  As in Ireland.

Whilst in Dublin I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone as she wheeled her wheel-barrow, through streets broad and narrow, crying “cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh.”* At first she seemed sweet, saccharine even, as she stood there nicely bronzed in the sun selling shellfish by the seashore.  We exchanged glances, smiles, and embarrassments before I moved on to check out the city.  My hotel was nearby so the next day I couldn’t resist her allure and was drawn to check out her massive cockles.  Only to find that she was being guarded by a man acting like an ass.

Or perhaps it was a donkey.  Needless to say it was a rather unexpected event to see a man wearing a donkey head sitting by my dear Molly.  Reading the Leopardstown Post racing news.  Seriously, who would have expected to see that?  Everyone knows that donkeys don’t like horse racing.

But here he was for all to see.  The man with the donkey head didn’t speak (I suppose donkeys rarely do), nor did he perform anything other than simply sit there for the entire time we stood by to watch and to snap photos.  Many others took photos as well and for a donkey-headed man he seemed quite patient to allow all of us to get our fill.

From here we moved on to explore Dublin.  But I’ll always remember Molly Malone.  And the man in the donkey head.

* From the song that inspired the legend that inspired the statue on Grafton Street, Dublin.

[Note that the Molly Malone statue has been moved from its original location on Grafton Street to a spot in front of St. Andrew’s Church.]

David J. Kent is the author of 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. His next book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, is scheduled for release in summer 2017.

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One Year After the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami – My Japan Travel

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One year ago Japan experienced a horrendous earthquake that measured 9.0 on the Richter scale.  Beyond the immediate structural damage from the quake and the reduction of tourist travel to Japan, parts of the country were devastated by a massive tsunami.  In addition to the heart-wrenching videos of the massive waves destroying towns, the tsunami took out cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, thus setting in motion three nuclear reactor meltdowns that forced the continued evacuation of a 12-mile area around the plant.  Today Japan remembers the earthquake, the tsunami, and the 19,000 people who lost their lives.

At the same time, Japan is encouraging people to come back to visit.  Most of the country is more or less back to normal.  I visited Japan recently and found it to have the same quaint charm for which it is known, and vibrant in both its old traditions and new modernity.

Today I’ll highlight the tradition. As I toured the temples and the old gardens I was struck by the contrasts.  While there were many young women wearing very short skirts and stockings, there were also quite a few women of the same age wearing traditional kimonos.  Near the Kiyomizudera Temple in old Kyoto I encountered the following couple.

At first I thought they were simply actors dressed up to encourage tourists at the temple.  Then I realized that there were many dressed traditionally who were tourists themselves.

That’s not to say that there weren’t people in traditional garb placed conveniently for tourist photos.  After all, Japan wants travel dollars (and rubles, rupees and renminbis), and geishas are one of the things that tourists come to see. So wandering the narrow lane of Chawan-saka we encountered these two geishas.

And in homage to our hosts, a fellow traveler shows her appreciation.

There is much more to Japan of course and I’ll explore more aspects of my visit in future posts.  So while Japan continues its recovery from the earthquake and tsunami of a year ago I bid you a temporary Sayonara.

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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Abraham Lincoln’s Air Force – Balloons in the Civil War

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Who knew Abraham Lincoln had an air force during the Civil War?  Well, James L. Green knew.  And James L. Green is the authority on Abraham Lincoln’s balloon air force.  Jim’s fascination with Lincoln’s balloon corps goes back 30 years, and perhaps not surprisingly, Jim is the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA headquarters in Washington DC.  During this time he has conducted research into Civil War balloons and has spoken at a number of events.  Which is how I first met Jim – he presented Mr. Lincoln’s Air Force at the February 12th, 2012 meeting of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia.

The most well known Civil War balloonist was Thaddeus S. Lowe, who took over the title of “Chief Aeronaut” when John Wise quit the job after First Bull Run. According to Jim, Lowe was a skillful manager and lobbyist who was able to drum up government support to “build seven balloons, 12 field gas generators, and a flat-topped balloon barge.”  The latter served as an “aircraft carrier” for launching his balloons into the skies over battlefields and along the Potomac River to keep an eye on Confederate troop movements. Jim’s account of “Civil War Ballooning During the Seven Days Campaign” is a fascinating read.

Under Lowe’s direction Lincoln’s Air Force gave a unique and fundamental advantage to the North.  Unfortunately, it only lasted for a short time.  In a dispute with the government, who was trying to reign in Lowe’s sometimes self-serving management style, Lowe quit. Without a champion the balloons ended up in a warehouse in DC and were never again employed in the War effort. A lapse that may have extended the length of the war.

I had the pleasure of joining Jim for lunch not long after his Lincoln Group presentation.  While I believe I have a large collection of books on Abraham Lincoln (650 titles and nearly 1000 volumes), I was humbled to learn that Jim has 1200 books about the Civil War.  Given my own interest in Lincoln’s fascination with science and technology (the book I’m currently working on) I asked Jim how much Lincoln was involved in the balloon corps.  Not surprisingly, Lincoln definitely favored this use of “modern” technology in the war effort.  How much and in what ways is something that Jim may address in the book he is preparing about Mr. Lincoln’s Air Force.

In the end Jim and I traded recommendations for books of interest from our collections and agreed to keep in touch.  Jim has been invited to speak at an event near Richmond in May and is working with the Civil War Trust to help identify locations of the balloon stations during the Peninsula Campaign.

To view Jim’s February 12, 2012 presentation to the Lincoln Group of DC, check out the YouTube video below.

More on my Abraham Lincoln activities.

David J. Kent is the author of the forthcoming book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, scheduled for release in summer 2017. 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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Pap of Glen Coe – the Bonny of Loch Leven

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Aye, the highlands of Scotland.  You read about them, fancy yourself galloping across them with William Wallace, and perhaps spoil a good walk near them (i.e., play a round of golf in the Mark Twain sense).  For me, I admired them up close.

To be honest, I can’t imagine a good walk spoiled in the highlands. On a summer day in 2005 I hopped into my Vauxhall Corsa, remembered to drive on the left, and headed north from where I was living in Edinburgh, Scotland. The drive itself was amazing, in part because the day started off a wee bit foggy – actually almost completely immersed in clouds – but blossomed at the most opportune moment.

And that moment was the Pap.

The Pap of Glen Coe is the mountain you see above to the left.  It gets its name from the conical shape resembling a female breast (apparently the Scottish winters were quite dreary and imaginations were active). The Pap sits in the valley created by Glen Coe above the point where River Coe enters Loch Leven.  Nearby is the intriguing Bidean nam Bian mountain ridges, including the famous Three Sisters of Glen Coe.

To say that these views were awe-inspiring is to engage in severe understatement. The glen has a distinctive U-shape, the result of glacial action during a past ice age.  The area is what is left of an ancient supervolcano, long since gone extinct but imposing nonetheless.

I lingered in the Glen, admired the Pap, marveled at the mossy grass that seemed greener than naturally possible.  My mind hiked high into the mountains, though my feet stayed closer to the narrow road.  I took hundreds of photos that day, most of which are unfortunately lost due to the vagaries of my computer hard drive.  But the memories remain with me as if it was yesterday.

Until next time, my bonny lass. Until next time.

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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.

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About Me

David J Kent Lincoln Memorial centennialMy name is David J. Kent. I am an Abraham Lincoln historian, a career scientist, and a traveler.

My newest book is Lincoln, The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America. You can purchase it at any bookseller nationwide, as well as in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Signed copies can be ordered here. Here are two of the many advance praises for the book:

This is the first in-depth study of Abraham Lincoln’s interest in technology and science and how that interest impacted his life and his Presidency. As Kent demonstrates, Lincoln was a catalyst for some of that transformation wrought by science and technology.

Fire of Genius

– Marc Rothenberg, Ph.D., Editor, The Papers of Joseph Henry, and past Historian, National Academy of Sciences 

 

David J. Kent, a man of science and of history, has skillfully combined his knowledge of both to write a masterful treatise on Lincoln’s scientific mind.

– Edward Steers, Jr., Ph.D., author of Blood on the Moon and Getting Right With Lincoln.

 

I also have two other books on Abraham Lincoln – Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. Check them out here.

I’ve also written books about famous scientists – Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World, plus an e-book: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of His Time.

 

Want to experience more of the world? I have traveled to over 60 countries (with more on the way).

2015 SETAC AwardOver a thirty-five-year scientific career I was a marine biologist, an environmental toxicologist, and a national and international consultant. I was President of three different scientific organizations, chaired many scientific groups and conferences, and won awards for my scientific work. I also had an unofficial career as an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. Now I pursue the Lincoln historian career first and currently serve as President of the Lincoln Group of DC, I’m Treasurer and Executive Board member of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, and I’m on the board of advisors of The Lincoln Forum.

Throughout my professional years I wrote – technical reports, peer-reviewed science papers, scientific analyses for work; newsletters, web articles, and now blogs for my interests. Now I write full time.

Kent in a Bottle

So please join me on my travels through history, science, and the world. Look around the web site. Like my Facebook page. And if you have any questions, feel free to send me a note.

Need to email me?  Write to davidjkent.writer AT gmail DOT com.