Author Archives: William Hooke

This past week, Michael Rosenwald wrote a thoughtful piece for the Washington Post entitled Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming, researchers say. Unsurprisingly, the piece itself is worth “serious reading,” as in: in its entirety…in one … Continue reading →

Okay, Bill, you said in last week’s post that I had a choice between another three routine days in the office and helping make history at the AMS Washington Forum. I chose the office. What did I miss? Did you … Continue reading →

The choice is yours. Working in the DC area… on Earth observations, sciences, and services, or at the intersection between Earth sciences and policy? Short notice, but it’s not too late for you to lift your next three working days out of … Continue reading →

The tragic landslide from last Saturday, March 22, and its frustrating and grief-stricken aftermath has focused minds. The U.S. Geological Survey has provided a preliminary summary of the event, which resulted from rains and saturated soils on unstable slopes. The … Continue reading →

March 27th marks the 50th anniversary of the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America. It had a moment magnitude of 9.2 and affected some 200,000 miles of Alaska real estate, permanently raising some areas by as much as … Continue reading →

In case you needed any reminding, yesterday was the first day of spring. The poet Tennyson nicely articulated spring’s iconic signs: …In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin’s breast In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself … Continue reading →

The previous LOTRW post took a look at work of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority to modernize DC’s wastewater treatment infrastructure.  Half a world away, a micro-business is addressing a waste-management/recycling challenge in Nigeria. Here’s an article … Continue reading →

A sandworm from George Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel Dune has come to Washington DC. But this one isn’t being ridden and guided by the fremen, Herbert’s fictional people of the planet Arakis. Instead, at any given time, as many as … Continue reading →

When I was a teenager, the medical community thought that stomach ulcers were caused by worry/stress. Doctors would tell patients, “You have an ulcer. If you don’t stop worrying, you’re going to kill yourself.” Sometimes this approach would seemingly lead … Continue reading →

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late … Continue reading →