The Limits of Levees

The nature of the beast. As devastating as Hurricane Katrina was, a greater disaster might have occurred had the storm made landfall just 150 miles to the west, where a series of flood control structures on the Mississippi River are located.  Begun in the 1950s and built where the River makes a sharp 90° left…

GPS for the Church

For sure? On October 22, 1707, British Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovel sailed his fleet into bad weather.  When a sailor reported that his own navigational calculations indicated Shovel’s ships were badly out of position, Shovel had him hung.  No one likes to hear bad news.  Plus, private navigation was considered illegal at that time.  It…