Author Archives: floegel

Attack of the Giant Pandas

10/25/2012 – 2:49 pm

I don’t have a dog in this fight.  By “this fight” I mean the World Series.  My team, the Orioles, not only had its first winning season in 15 years (which is all I asked for), but also made it to the wild card round, beat the Texas Rangers in a one-game playoff and took […]

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Geography, For Example

10/18/2012 – 5:21 pm

Some things we can’t control.  Geography, for example. Mountains ranges in Europe tend to run east-west; in North America, they run north-south.  A new report by the reinsurance company Munich Re cites this fact as one reason North America experiences more weather related disasters than Europe – there’s no east-west mountain range to separate cold […]

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Judging By the Cover

10/11/2012 – 2:03 pm

I love books.  I’ve always loved reading, a gift from my mother’s (Irish) side of the family.  Some of my earliest memories are of my mother reading to me or her father telling me stories.  To be honest, I suppose what I really love are stories and books represent stories to me the way the […]

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Mulch Ado About Nothing

10/4/2012 – 3:45 pm

I promised myself in January I’d devote the first comment of each month to the world immediately around me.  Today I feel obligated to say something about last night’s presidential debate.  I’ll try, perhaps foolishly, to do both.  Hang on. It’s rained every day of October, so far.  Right now it’s relatively warm and non-relatively […]

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Can You Recommend Journalism as a Career?

9/27/2012 – 3:27 pm

Later this evening, I’m supposed to speak to a class of college students.  My topic is “environmental journalism.”  I suspect one reason I received this invitation is a similar talk I gave to journalism students last year, in which my topic was “how to make money selling out as a journalist.”  What I said then […]

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The Most Typical Political Event

9/20/2012 – 2:06 pm

If you follow the presidential election and have a pulse, you know Vermont is one of the least battleground states in the country.  Mitt Romney was here recently, not to campaign, but to prep, at the home of former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, for his debates vs. President Barack Obama.  His motorcade got stuck […]

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The Grandkids

9/13/2012 – 2:01 pm

It’s mid-September and scientists are floating around the Arctic, something far easier to do this year than ever before.  Other scientists are far away, peering at satellite photos and maps.  They’re all doing the same thing: trying to gauge the minimum extent of the north polar icecap. This is the week every year when the […]

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