Philosophy
James Weddell
August 24th, 1787 to September 9th, 1834
Some people should never take up pen and ink to draw.
Bill Ashworth [University of Missouri at Kansas City professor] wrote...
James Weddell, an American sealing captain, died Sep. 9. 1834, at age 47. Weddell was an odd sealer, in that he liked to explore and make scientific observations while looking for new sealing grounds, and since his domain was the southern ocean in the 1820s, there was plenty of unexplored territory to examine. He made his first voyage to the Antarctic in a brig named Jane in 1821, and two more voyages followed in the next three years. This, mind you, was before Antarctica had been discovered, and when only a few of the southern islands had been sighted, such as South Georgia and the South Shetlands islands. Weddell visited them all, and in 1823, he sailed down into what is now the Weddell Sea of Antarctica to a latitude of 74° 15’ south, which would be a "furthest south" record for almost 20 years. This is the same area where Ernest Shackleton and his Endurance would be imprisoned in ice in 1915, if you are familiar with that most famous of all survival sagas. Also on this 1823 voyage, Weddell discovered a new kind of seal, which he called a spotted sea-leopard. He brought back a specimen, and when it was found to be a new species, it was named the Weddell seal. When he published his Voyage towards the South Pole in 1825, he included an engraving of his seal, which he drew himself.
The Weddell seal by James Weddell...
A real Weddell seal...
- Paul Nicklen - Tales Of Ice-bound Wonderlands
You may remember the story of how photographer Paul Nicklen came face to face with a leopard seal, one of the Antarctic's top predators. Obviously, since he is the one who told us the story, you know he survived the encounter, but what you may not...
- Laura Dekker...remember Her?
"Teen ends globe-circling voyage in St. Maarten"January 21st, 2011USA TODAYLaura Dekker set a steady foot aboard a dock in St. Maarten on Saturday, ending a yearlong voyage aboard a sailboat named "Guppy" that apparently made her the youngest person ever...
- The End Comes For All, But There Are Questions
It is a given...Death will come to all. Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal [1957] allows exhausted medieval knight Antonius Block to stall his demise via a game of chess to ask metaphysical questions. My comments at IMDb... A must see., 27 February...
- America's Earliest Notation [1507]
Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map...the earliest to slap Amerigo Vespucci’s name on the lands bordering the western Atlantic Ocean. "March 9, 1454: This Man Is a Continent … or Two" by Randy Alfred March 8th, 2010 Wired 1454: Amerigo Vespucci...
- Deceased--jerri Nielsen Fitzgerald
Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald 1957 to June 23rd, 2009 A time to be humble and attempt to fathom the psyche and suffering of the human species. "Doctor In Dramatic South Pole Rescue Dies At 57" June 24th, 2009 Associated Press Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald,...
Philosophy
Weddell seal
James WeddellAugust 24th, 1787 to September 9th, 1834
Some people should never take up pen and ink to draw.
Bill Ashworth [University of Missouri at Kansas City professor] wrote...
James Weddell, an American sealing captain, died Sep. 9. 1834, at age 47. Weddell was an odd sealer, in that he liked to explore and make scientific observations while looking for new sealing grounds, and since his domain was the southern ocean in the 1820s, there was plenty of unexplored territory to examine. He made his first voyage to the Antarctic in a brig named Jane in 1821, and two more voyages followed in the next three years. This, mind you, was before Antarctica had been discovered, and when only a few of the southern islands had been sighted, such as South Georgia and the South Shetlands islands. Weddell visited them all, and in 1823, he sailed down into what is now the Weddell Sea of Antarctica to a latitude of 74° 15’ south, which would be a "furthest south" record for almost 20 years. This is the same area where Ernest Shackleton and his Endurance would be imprisoned in ice in 1915, if you are familiar with that most famous of all survival sagas. Also on this 1823 voyage, Weddell discovered a new kind of seal, which he called a spotted sea-leopard. He brought back a specimen, and when it was found to be a new species, it was named the Weddell seal. When he published his Voyage towards the South Pole in 1825, he included an engraving of his seal, which he drew himself.
The Weddell seal by James Weddell...
A real Weddell seal...
- Paul Nicklen - Tales Of Ice-bound Wonderlands
You may remember the story of how photographer Paul Nicklen came face to face with a leopard seal, one of the Antarctic's top predators. Obviously, since he is the one who told us the story, you know he survived the encounter, but what you may not...
- Laura Dekker...remember Her?
"Teen ends globe-circling voyage in St. Maarten"January 21st, 2011USA TODAYLaura Dekker set a steady foot aboard a dock in St. Maarten on Saturday, ending a yearlong voyage aboard a sailboat named "Guppy" that apparently made her the youngest person ever...
- The End Comes For All, But There Are Questions
It is a given...Death will come to all. Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal [1957] allows exhausted medieval knight Antonius Block to stall his demise via a game of chess to ask metaphysical questions. My comments at IMDb... A must see., 27 February...
- America's Earliest Notation [1507]
Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map...the earliest to slap Amerigo Vespucci’s name on the lands bordering the western Atlantic Ocean. "March 9, 1454: This Man Is a Continent … or Two" by Randy Alfred March 8th, 2010 Wired 1454: Amerigo Vespucci...
- Deceased--jerri Nielsen Fitzgerald
Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald 1957 to June 23rd, 2009 A time to be humble and attempt to fathom the psyche and suffering of the human species. "Doctor In Dramatic South Pole Rescue Dies At 57" June 24th, 2009 Associated Press Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald,...