• About
    • About the FIA
    • Priorities
    • Our Team
    • Brainstorming Board
    • Partners and Affiliates
    • Contact Us
  • News + Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Videos
    • Newsletters
    • @FIAumd
    • In the Media
  • Spark Grants
    • Spark Grants Overview
    • Spark Grants FAQ
    • 2012-2015 Seed Grants
    • 2012-2015 Seed Grant Winners
  • Special Topics
    • SearchReSearch
    • Curated Topics
FIA

SearchReSearch

Not a Challenge, but a reminder (and another Paul Boynton update…)

Dan Russell • January 4, 2016
 SearchReSearch
Republished with permission from SearchReSearch
Not a Challenge, but a reminder (and another Paul Boynton update…) Dan Russell

This isn't a Search Challenge...

... but rather, a quick reminder for everyone who enjoys reading SearchResearch that you can get this delivered to you via email by joining the Wednesday SearchResearch Challenge group.

Here's the link to join the SearchResearch Group.

Click on the blue "Apply" button to join the group.


When you join, you'll get around 2 emails / week (one Challenge, one Answer), and maybe one or two more each year.

I'll be taking this week off (more traveling), and we'll get back to regular business NEXT week (Jan 11, 2016).

After all of the discussion of Paul Boynton in SearchResearch...

...you'd think we'd be done with him. But no--he's far too interesting a person.

I printed out the book "The Story of Paul Boyton" and have been reading through it during idle moments over the holidays. (I highly recommend this.)

He is, without doubt, the most interesting person I've ever heard of... if half of his stories are true, he led an unparalleled life.

The thing that struck me this week was how much time he spent diving in the Caribbean. Yeah. This was the middle of the 19th century, and he's diving in a hard hat, pulling up corals and "curiosities" to sell in New York and the big cities of the east coast. This proved to be very lucrative, and set the stage for much of the adventures that followed.

1873 diving dress. Copper hard hat.
This was the day of hard hat diving, enclosed in a heavy canvas suit, with heavy boots to hold you underwater. You'd put on the suit (or "dress" as it was called), and then buckle on the hard hat, trusting that the pumper above would keep manually pumping air down to you as you walked along the ocean floor.

What sights did he see as one of the first divers in the Caribbean? How wonderful was that?
Before putting on the hard hat.


See you all next week. I'll keep reading (and doing my own bit of diving during the upcoming week.)

Search on!

Share

Comments

This post was republished. Comments can be viewed and shared via the original site.
1 comment

About the Author

Dan RussellDan Russell

I study the way people search and research. I guess that makes me an anthropologist of search. While I work at Google, my blog and G+ posts reflects my own thoughts and not those of my employer. I am FIA's Future-ist in Residence. More »

Recent News

  • Deepfakes and the Future of Facts
    Deepfakes and the Future of FactsSeptember 27, 2019
  • Book cover for Joy of Search by Daniel M. Russell
    The Joy of Search: A Google Insider’s Guide to Going Beyond the BasicsSeptember 26, 2019
  • The Future of Facts in a ‘Post-Truth’ World
    The Future of Facts in a ‘Post-Truth’ WorldMay 15, 2018
  • The Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Storytelling
    The Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive StorytellingJune 6, 2017

More »

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events scheduled. Please check back later.
Event Archive »
Video Archive »

Join Email List

SearchReSearch

  • SearchResearch Challenge (3/22/23):  What do you call the sediment that blocks a river from flowing to the sea?
    SearchResearch Challenge (3/22/23): What do you call the sediment that blocks a river from flowing to the sea?March 22, 2023
  • Answer: What do these everyday symbols mean?
    Answer: What do these everyday symbols mean?March 15, 2023
  • SearchResearch Challenge (3/8/23): What do these everyday symbols mean?
    SearchResearch Challenge (3/8/23): What do these everyday symbols mean?March 8, 2023
  • PSA:  Read Clive Thompson’s article about how he does research
    PSA: Read Clive Thompson’s article about how he does researchMarch 3, 2023

More »

University of Maryland logo
Robert W. Deutsch Foundation logo
Google logo
Barrie School
Library of Congress logo
State of Maryland logo
National Archives logo
National Geographic Society logo
National Park Service logo
Newseum logo
Sesame Workshop logo
Smithsonian logo
WAMU
© 2023 The Future of Information Alliance, University of Maryland | Privacy Policy | Web Accessibility