Don Pogreba is a current writer and retired teacher of English, Social Studies and Debate, and a loyal, if often sad, fan of the San Diego Padres and Portland Timbers. When he is not traveling, he is working on his classroom web site or dreaming about another adventure.
Rats Are Us–That discovery was just the tip of the iceberg. We now know that rats don’t live merely in the present, but are capable of reliving memories of past experiences and mentally planning ahead the navigation route they will later follow. They reciprocally trade different kinds of goods with each other – and understand not...
DIGITAL AUTHORITARIANISM: FINDING OUR WAY OUT OF THE DARKNESS–While democrats once believed that innovations in information and communications technology and data analysis would promote more open societies, the actual effects of these tools have been mixed. Authoritarians are using technology to deepen their grip internally, spread...
What Will the World Look Like in 2030?–When people imagine the future, they tend to assume that most things will stay the same, or that the trends of the recent past will continue in a linear fashion. But the world today looks very different than people expected it to look in 2010. And one thing that is virtually certain about this...
Selective Hearing–Last August, one of the country’s most successful podcasts was accused of multiple incidents of plagiarism. Called Crime Junkie, the weekly show has used what seems to be an irresistible formula to rocket to number-one status in numerous rankings: In each episode, cohosts Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat give an...
The Equality Conundrum–The complexities of egalitarianism are especially frustrating because inequalities are so easy to grasp. C.E.O.s, on average, make almost three hundred times what their employees make; billionaire donors shape our politics; automation favors owners over workers; urban economies grow while rural areas...
London was a very late addition to my travel plans after my job in Istanbul fell through, so the plans weren’t as developed as I would have liked, but the experience was excellent. After the solitude of Iceland, the crowds were a change of pace, but five shows in five nights, incredible museums, and food from all over the world...
I decided to skip some of the big attractions on the South Coast this time, as the weather was pretty dreary and the crowds were large, but I’ll always enjoy the most-traveled part of Iceland and finally had a decent puffin sighting or two this time.
While the north of Iceland was a bit forbidding when I visited it in March a few years ago, it was absolutely lovely in June this past summer. Featuring Iceland’s second city, Akureyri, Martian landscapes, and two of the best waterfalls you’ll ever see, it’s certainly a place you’ll want to spend time exploring.
I visited the Westfjords on an earlier trip to Iceland but hadn’t made it to this little corner in the southeast corner of the region. Most of these photos were taken in the little town of Djúpavík and in and around its abandoned herring factory. It was a long, but incredibly scenic drive on a narrow gravel road to get there and I...