Author Archives: William Hooke

The term “news cycle” connotes coverage of an event, followed by reporting on reactions to the earlier reports by prominent figures and the general public. With the advent of cable, the proliferation of channels, and internet alternatives to broadcast and … Continue reading →

A victim of Schumpeter’s Gale…                                     …and the man himself Named tropical storms have been with us for decades; Andrew, Katrina, Sandy and other … Continue reading →

“If you want to move a barge, and you kick it – you’ll just hurt your foot. But if you lean against it, pretty soon it has to move your way.” – Joseph O. Fletcher Joe Fletcher, former NOAA OAR … Continue reading →

“Don’t you know you can’t go home again?” the author Ella Winter[1] “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus Today I make passage through … Continue reading →

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” – Albert Einstein This past Thursday, January 15, Will Steffen of the Australian National University and seventeen co-authors generated a bit of media stir with the electronic publication … Continue reading →

Four conversations – and their juxtaposition –merit our reflection on this three-day weekend. Interestingly, each swirls around an indicator. The first is the Dow. The Dow and other stock-market indices hit new highs toward the end of 2014, but the … Continue reading →

A tall order? That’s AMS President Bill Gail’s theme for the 95th AMS Annual Meeting getting underway here in Phoenix, Arizona. Here is an (extended) excerpt: “People, businesses, and government agencies depend increasingly on weather, water, and climate information matched … Continue reading →

The ninth of Bill Gail’s ten questions in his new book is this: do we live in a special time? He was asking of course, whether we are at a pivotal point in world history. It is tempting to see … Continue reading →

Regrettably, you usually see the word “reading” tied to the word “remedial” in these LOTRW posts. All too often I find myself belatedly giving attention to books I wish I’d come across years earlier, when they were first published. Could … Continue reading →

As hinted in an earlier LOTRW post, NASA’s Applied Sciences Program (ASP) and the 2007 NRC Report Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond (the Decadal Survey) have accomplished a beneficial synergism. The … Continue reading →