Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A Chrispy Error: Lovecraft's Meteorology

Soemhow - and I can't defend it - I became obsessed with "Dancing with the Stars". I think I know why. It's LIVE TV where mediocre or past-their-prime celebrities compete to see who can most embarass themselves. No net! Just let it all hang out, wardrobe malfunctions, and bad choices, and all.

Wel, after a zillionth time reading about Howard Lovecraft's weather stuff, reading every weather bulletin the government printed, every story about the Providence Journal building, looking at every 1906 and 1907 US weather data maps online, I suddenly realized my major error.

When Howard mentions his weather station is on top of the "R I Journal" building, it isn't the new edifice built in 1906 for the ProJo. It's his house's rooftop. The "R I Journal" was his little newsletter, and I mistook it for a typo or error for the Providence Journal.

He wasn't a volunteer US Meteorological weather observer, but an entrepreneur peddling weather predictions. He only purchased official US paper to circulate his weather.

He didn't ride his bike everyday to a weather station, he looked out the window of the attic.

All that expensive equipment he used, and listed - he and Susan must have bought it!

And by my estimates from contemporary catalogues and such, that equipment set them back plenty.

Anywa, for those of you who follow Chrispy's explorations into Lovecraft;s life, that's where it seems to be as of now.

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