Rowing to Europe in 1896, 21 live streams, Great Reads to begin your summer, Hugo Cabret and Echo, 9 year old boy finds a nest of Dinosaur eggs while looking for a cracker, AFAR Magazine, getting through Quarantine, Exactly How far can that Bird Fly? WOW!
Thursday. 6/18
Friday 6/19
Rais’d are the dripping oars—
Silent the boat: the lake,
Lovely and soft as a dream,
Swims in the sheen of the moon.
Silent the boat: the lake,
Lovely and soft as a dream,
Swims in the sheen of the moon.
–Matthew Arnold (1822–88)
HISTORY
Here’s the true story of two oyster dredgers from New Jersey, George Harbo and Frank Samuelson, who voyaged in a tiny open rowboat across the Atlantic.
https://www.cabinlife.com/articles/article/rowboat-for-cabin
Hi,
Here’s the true story of two oyster dredgers from New Jersey, George Harbo and Frank Samuelson, who voyaged in a tiny open rowboat across the Atlantic.
Legend says that early in 1896, wealthy Police Gazette publisher Richard Fox offered a $10,000 prize to anyone who could cross the ocean without sails or steam. No contemporary accounts confirm this reward, but there is no doubt that Harbo, 30, and Samuelsen, 26, who dredged oysters and clams off the New Jersey coast for a living, were the first to row across the Atlantic, setting a speed record that stood for 114 years.
Of medium stature, both men had spent their lives at sea and were lean and muscular. Both were Norwegian-born. Harbo had studied navigation at a sailors’ school in his native town, Sandar, in Norway. He had gone to sea at 16, and after 2 years on long voyages, had come to America. He had since sailed on coasters and fishing vessels, and had earned a pilot’s license for New York harbor. Samuelsen, from Farsund, Norway, was Harbo’s friend and clamming partner.
THE TINY ROWBOAT
The two men spent all of their spare time laying out plans for the boat and equipment and building up their stamina by rowing daily along the shore. Because they were unable to finance the building of the boat, Mr. Fox offered to help. He hired William Seaman, a famous boatbuilder from Sea Bright, New Jersey, for the job.
Named Fox in honor of their benefactor, the boat he crafted was built of cedar, with oak timbers and copper fastenings. It was 18 feet 4 inches long and 5 feet wide with an 8-inch draft, weighed 200 pounds, and was pointed at both ends like a whaleboat. At each end were watertight air tanks and tanks of drinking water.
Onboard supplies included 60 gallons of water; 6 gallons of kerosene for a small stove set up in the bow; 2 gallons of signal oil; 12 green, red, and white signals that burned at night; 100 pounds of sea biscuits; quantities of canned meats; 250 eggs; and 9 pounds of coffee—all calculated to last 2 months.
Most of the equipment in the boat was lashed down to prevent loss if the boat rolled over. Other gear included five pairs of oars; a compass, quadrant, and chart; canvas sea anchor; and an air mattress. Harbo and Samuelsen took only the clothing they were wearing, plus oilskins. The boat was not fitted with a mast or sail, and if all of the oars were lost or broken before the journey ended, they would be at the mercy of the sea.
Hi,
The weekend is almost here, and with it today, Friday the 19th. The end of most school years.
I am amazed that we have been out of school since March, Traditionally, this is the last day of School, or would be if this was a normal year.
Blessings and wishes for your best health and Wellness, Happy Summer Solstice, Happy Summer.
I will post interesting things throughout the summer, but more sporadically, and whatever I may find that applies to learning and interests throughout the summer!
Providing 360-degree views of cities and natural areas across the globe, 360Cities offers a fun way to virtually visit rainforests, monasteries, and geysers. Check out the site’s curated collectionsor search on a world map.
The Berlin Philharmonic (Germany)
https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour
Summer Reads
Check out the Book, Hugo Cabret. A Graphic Novel and beautifully told story.
Check out the Book, Hugo Cabret. A Graphic Novel and beautifully told story.
Review by Nat, GoodReads.com Twelve-year-old Hugo, orphan, clock keeper, and thief, has been keeping the clocks running in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity.
also Echo
Echo
by
4.37 · Rating details · 29,899 ratings · 5,939 reviews
Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica.
Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible thread of destiny, their solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo. (less)
by: Rachel Reads Ravenously
For a few hours, Echo healed my cynical heart with pure hope. Beautifully written and compelling, what I will call an historical fairytale - with all the hardships that come with it - enchanted me from the very first page, and my interest never wavered : Friedrich, Mike, Frankie, Ivy... They all earned a little place in my heart.
One might say that these stories are not free of some kind of simplistic resolution (and I agree), but in my opinion the novel's worth lies elsewhere: in the heartwarming and hopeful messages that music can bring people together and that we all can find the place where we belong, no matter how different we think we are, no matter how intolerant our contemporaries are being, no matter how idiotic and selfish people can be.
As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried about the age target. If I could see straight away that the story was aimed at children, I think that there's a reason we adults come back to fairytales sometimes. As much as I love my Dark Fantasy novels, as much as I complain about the stupid and intolerant comments I see every day on the social medias, there's a part of me that needs to believe. I wouldn't be a teacher if I didn't hope for the future to be more open-minded, more accepting, less scared of differences.
Everyone needs to believe in a better world once in a while, to let a bright day overtake the clouds of ignorance.
Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible thread of destiny, their solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo. (less)
by: Rachel Reads Ravenously
For a few hours, Echo healed my cynical heart with pure hope. Beautifully written and compelling, what I will call an historical fairytale - with all the hardships that come with it - enchanted me from the very first page, and my interest never wavered : Friedrich, Mike, Frankie, Ivy... They all earned a little place in my heart.
One might say that these stories are not free of some kind of simplistic resolution (and I agree), but in my opinion the novel's worth lies elsewhere: in the heartwarming and hopeful messages that music can bring people together and that we all can find the place where we belong, no matter how different we think we are, no matter how intolerant our contemporaries are being, no matter how idiotic and selfish people can be.
As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried about the age target. If I could see straight away that the story was aimed at children, I think that there's a reason we adults come back to fairytales sometimes. As much as I love my Dark Fantasy novels, as much as I complain about the stupid and intolerant comments I see every day on the social medias, there's a part of me that needs to believe. I wouldn't be a teacher if I didn't hope for the future to be more open-minded, more accepting, less scared of differences.
Everyone needs to believe in a better world once in a while, to let a bright day overtake the clouds of ignorance.
Learn how to play Harmonica.
From AFAR Magazine
-I’m among those who are a little more wary. A little more inclined to rent an RV or go backpacking before I fulfill my dream of flying to Japan to hike the Kumano Kodo. But one thing rings true for most of us: We want to see our friends and our family ASAP. In fact, I hope my first trip will be with my family to our property on Samish, an island off the coast of Washington State.
I wrote about Samish as part of AFAR’s series on “happy places.” As we struggled through the early days of quarantine, senior editor Katherine LaGrave spearheaded a series about the destinations we return to, again and again, even if it’s just in our mind.
Some of the stories are poetic odes to places, like assistant editor Sarah Buder’s story about the Northern California mountain that “raised” her and senior editor Tim Chester’s tale of sailing off the coast of Brittany with his father. Others show how deeply emotions can be tied to a place. Managing editor Nicole Antonio shared her struggle to finally appreciate Hawaii, where she lived (somewhat unhappily) for several years as a teenager. Guides editor Natalie Beauregard wrote about how she’s found refuge in her family’s Maine cabin time and time again.
We didn’t talk about a theme before we began the project, but as the essays rolled out, a thread emerged: Most of us wrote about a place tied to family and childhood. That’s not necessarily surprising—the places we tend to return to again and again are often part of family traditions, and who hasn’t felt nostalgic during quarantine? But it did surprise me that so many people who travel for a living wrote not about far-flung destinations but about those places closest to their hearts. It makes you stop and think about why we travel—and for whom.
Writing about Samish, for example, helped me understand how much that island shaped who I am today—at least why I’m most comfortable in some quasi–Huck Finn state. It’s not something I’d fully understood, or appreciated, before I took the time to sort it out on (virtual) paper.
So I offer this: Before you rush out into the world, if you haven’t already, take a minute to meditate on your happy place. You might be surprised by what you find. And as always, feel free to share your answer by replying to this email or DM me on Instagram.
Yours in wondering what’s next,
Aislyn Greene
Senior editor
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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, the future of Africa’s natural landscapes—and the communities that coexist with them—are hanging in the balance.
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6 things getting me through day 72,054 in quarantine:
1 “As the last of the light faded, the pachyderms, with their large tusks and six-foot-long ears, became impossible to distinguish as individuals, their backs and heads forming a silhouette of hills.” One of the many highlights of a story about the future of Africa’s wild places from resident Africa expert and deputy editor, Jennifer Flowers. (She’s been to the continent nearly a dozen times!)
2 Dig a little deeper into a side of Italy must of us will never touch—literally. Assistant editor Sara Button wrote a moving essay about her summers spent on an archaeological dig in the Umbrian town of Orvieto. (And in case you’re jonesing for more Italy, it’s part of our “To Italy, With Love” series devoted to the Bel Paese.)
3 Have I mentioned my new favorite book on punctuation? I promise, you’ve never read a grammar book like Cecelia Watson’s Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark. It’s a funny, smart romp through the ways the much-maligned mark evolved around the world (and reinforced my philosophy that punctuation is an art, not a science).
4 Need a new podcast to binge? Try Passport, an audio series about, yes, travel, but also about being a human in this strange and beautiful world. (How can you not want to listen to something titled “Jackson Hole: The Chinese Wild West”?)
5 Yeah, so I guess we’re all still cooking at home. I don’t know about you, but I could use some inspiration—and recently found it in these new online cooking classes from Traveling Spoon.
6 My latest quarantine obsession is digging into NPR’s Tiny Desk archives. This week’s find (the singer-songwriter iLe) came as I was researching Puerto Rican music for a guide on how to pretend you’re on the island during lockdown. Enjoy!
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What did Dinosaur eggs look like?
What started out as a bright sunny day of rock collecting for a young Chinese boy ended up with a nest of 66 million-year-old dinosaureggs being discovered. The dino-loving third-grader, nine-year-old Zhang Yangzhe, made the fortuitous find during playtime on the embankments of the Dong River in Heyuan, in southern China's Guangdong Province last week.
While accompanied by his mother, Xi Xiaofang, the precocious youngster was searching for something to crack open walnuts with when he stumbled across one of the semi-rare, round fossils. According to the China Global Television Network report below, Yangzhe is well-versed in dinosaur lore and has read numerous books on the subject.
MORE DINOSAURS
Xiaofang notified the police immediately and protected the fertile site with Zhang until authorities arrived. Local experts based at the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum quickly identified the specimen as a true fossilized dino egg, measuring approximately 3.5 inches long. Upon further exploration, their team located another 10 Late Cretaceous Period orbs near the original discovery spot. The precious prehistoric eggs were taken to the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum for tests to help determine which species they are from.
Exactly How far can that Bird Fly? WOW!
https://youtu.be/3So7OMwNgy8, how birds fly. Cannon analogy.
National Geographic Kids
Discover the very best videos about birds YouTube has to offer - brought to you by National Geographic Kids!
Steve and the Deadly 60 team are at the University of The West of England in Bristol to see just how eagles fly. Steve is in a wind tunnel with Sasha, a tawny eagle. As the wind gets stronger and the bird begins to fly Steve explains how the wings and its different feathers are used by the bird to help it soar, swoop and dive when attacking its prey.
BBC EARTH
https://youtu.be/r_Hmt9xI_d8
(very good on bird flight. This young man tells his dog to "shut up,"in an English accent, at the end of the clip. Everything in video is good besides this.)
(very good on bird flight. This young man tells his dog to "shut up,"in an English accent, at the end of the clip. Everything in video is good besides this.)
From the Old farmer’s Almanac
There are no birds flying to the Moon, but with the distance that some of them migrate every year, it may seem that way. The ruby-throated hummingbird, for instance, can fly 1,245 miles without a break. The blackpoll warbler will fly 2,300 miles from the boreal forest of Canada to the Caribbean.
There are no birds flying to the Moon, but with the distance that some of them migrate every year, it may seem that way. The ruby-throated hummingbird, for instance, can fly 1,245 miles without a break. The blackpoll warbler will fly 2,300 miles from the boreal forest of Canada to the Caribbean.
The migratory champion, however, is the arctic tern.
These birds make the equivalent of three trips to the Moon over the course of their lifespan!
These birds make the equivalent of three trips to the Moon over the course of their lifespan!
That’s a lot of air time! How do these avian travelers prepare for such a journey? Some songbirds will double their weight so that they have enough energy for the flight. Fresh feathers grow in to maximize efficiency and endurance. And these new feathers are often less colorful than their summer feathers, making them less conspicuous to predators.
Get put there, read about things you are interested in every day. Look into ways you can find out new things. Experience all you can. Life is short and there is so much to learn!
Thanks for Stopping by,
Eliza
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