News & Events
Jack’s latest book rolling off the presses
Jack has received copies of his latest book, the Field Guide to the Water's Edge, which Amazon says it will begin shipping on May 1, 2012. Jack is co-author with Stephen Leatherman, who is widely known as Dr. Beach for his annual 10 Best Beaches lists. Stephen's day job is is the director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International... »
Answers: Light, moderate, and heavy fog
Q: I have seen heavy fog defined as having a visibility of less than 0.3 miles. But have never see what defines a moderate or light fog. Is there some standard? Lowell, Glen Allen, Va. A: This sounds like a pretty simple question, but isn’t. First, here’s the definition of “fog” from the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Glossary of Weather and... »
Background on Lake Vostok
The material below is from Chapter 24 of the Complete Idiot's Guide to the Arctic and Antarctic ©by Jack Williams, 2003. It offers some background on the Feb. 7, 2012 announcement that the Russians had succeeded in drilling into Lake Vostok. The text has not been updated since it was originally written in 2003. Jack's commentary on Lake Vostok news... »
Commentary: Don’t let facts get in the way
Journalists like to joke that one shouldn't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Some journalists seem to take this joke as a guide to spinning a good yarn. A yarn that in the old days would get the story on a newspaper's Page 1 and today will bring lots of hits and links to a Web... »
