Unfathomable Fathoms - Beacon Church

08/15/2025

THIS IS A 100,000 year old petrified clam found almost 100 years ago just west of the dam on Central Ave in EHT where the ground rises to the Uncle Dick's site. This are was part of a Sangamon Area Bay prior to the last ice age. This bay covered all of the Patcong Creek area plus Northfield, Linwood, Somers Point, and at times, the barrier islands as well. Come see it and touch it this Tuesday evening in Ventnor.
THE DATE IS August 19 at the Ventnor Library. The presentation is the changing coastline and inlets of Southern New Jersey, particularly of Ventnor, Margate and L:ongport. The time is 6:30 PM and I'll look forward to seeing many of you. We'll be using maps and surveys on the screen to show you things about the coastline and bay area that may have previously eluded you eyes. I'm going to bring a couple of wonderful maps and surveys from the 1800's for "show and tell," fresh from the vault at the Atlantic County Historical Society If you bring a pen and a piece of paper (or you can write in your smart phone!), I'll give you the web addresses for the maps for future investigation. If you have any old maps in your possession, bring them to share with the other folks in the audience. See you soon...Norm.

08/05/2025

THE NEW DATE IS August 19 at the Ventnor Library. The presentation is the changing coastline and inlets of Southern New Jersey, particularly of Ventnor, Margate and L:ongport. The time is 6:30 PM and I'll look forward to seeing many of you. We'll be using maps and surveys on the screen to show you things about the coastline and bay area that may have previously eluded you eyes. I'm going to bring a couple of wonderful maps and surveys from the 1800's for "show and tell," fresh from the vault at the Atlantic County Historical Society If you bring a pen and a piece of paper (or you can write in your smart phone!), I'll give you the web addresses for the maps for future investigation. If you have any old maps in your possession, bring them to share with the other folks in the audience. See you soon...Norm.

06/30/2025

WHAT'S A GOOD WAY TO READ A PART OF THE BIBLE THAT WILL HOLD MY INTEREST?? I get asked that often, by both Christian, Jewish and non-religious friends. ANSWER: I tend to get bored by the small devotional booklets on the market and I don't like the literature that tries to jam so0mething down my throat. So, I've found a way that fits my personality well. Here's what I do. 1) I choose a book of the Bible, the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament - I chose the Books of Kings this time. 2) I buy the volume from the pictured series in either hardback ($35) or digitally ($15). You can get either the Kindle or Logos versions digitally. 3) The book uses the NIV translation for easy reading and explains it, section by section, from beginning to end, in plain English. I make notes in it, in either the digital or hardback version - I kind of dialogue with the author. 4) Once I understand what happened in the historical context of the time the action occurred, I ask myself what is relevant to today and ask God to show me how this applies to my life. Sometimes I sense a pat of the back and sometimes a gentle whack on the butt. Right now I'm working through the Hebrew Bible books of 1 and 2 Kings. There are some things in the Intro section that are a little deep, but you can just jump over them and get right into Chapter one. verse one. For those readers who are not Christians, choosing an "Old testament" book will probably be more comfortable, since the series was written to explain the text and its culture, not cram a particular view down someone's throat. Think about it. If you have any questions, or want to discuss a particular story in 1 and 2 Kings, give me a shout. Lastly, I'm thoroughly enjoying reading the section in 1 Kings about King Solomon with all his strengths and weaknesses. How has God stimulated my thoughts through it? If God could use Solomon, there's hope for me!! :-)

06/20/2025

WANT TO VISIT THE ATLANTIC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR A FEW MINUTES WITHOUT DRVING TO SOMERS POINT? Here's a 5 minute video that Atlantic County and the NJ State Historical Commission helped us produce - our many thanks go to Kim Brown. Share this with your family and friends and then come visit us any Thursday, Friday or Saturday from 10:00 AM until 3:30 PM. You can simply come for a tour or start to research your family. Here's the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGSH676hu4M . Enjoy!

06/17/2025

A bit longer post but well worth reading. I bought Rocky Nook's new book titled "The Practical Guide to Using Generative AI in Photoshop" on Kindle (lowest price!). I read chapter 1 at breakfast this morning at Fitzpatrick's. When I got into the Atlantic County Historical Society I decided to test what I thought I learned. The first photo is a section of the sales deed for land in Atlantic City for the railroad project in 1853 from members of the Leeds family to the Railroad company's land holding division. No matter how I adjusted the exposure, contrast and color balance in this iPhone JPEG, I could not clearly read through the stain to make an accurate transcription. Using the lasso tool in PS (Photoshop) I simply selected the stained portion. Using the Generative Fill tool Ityped in a text command to "remove the stain without damaging the underlying written script." About 15 seconds later the results in the lower photo popped up. Amazing restoration! This opens a whole new vista regarding damaged photos, documents and maps. My thoughts are that the AI in PS reads the individual pixels and "sees" slight differences in tones and makes its decisions based on that. I suspect that documents and maps will produce better results than photos because they are graphically less complicated. We'll see if I'm right. If you own/rent the latest Photoshop and want to talk about how to do this, give me a call (609-513-1044) or visit with me on Tuesdays between 10:00 and 3:30 but call first.

06/10/2025

AS YOU REQUESTED! I was the almost impromptu speaker Sunday at Beacon Church in Galloway, NJ. Many of you asked if I would let you know the next time I was speaking but this was a last minute assignment. It was outdoors in a moist climate but over 300 people were present and attentive. I only had a day to prepare so I decided to simply explain one of the most well know stories in the Bible, the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Jewish scholar and political leader Nicodemas during a Passover week in Jerusalem. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me to present it. Here is the link to the video online: https://www.beaconefc.org/sermon-archive?sapurl=Lys2YjdnL2xiL2xpLyszajIzbjhtP2JyYW5kaW5nPXRydWUmZW1iZWQ9dHJ1ZSZyZWNlbnRSb3V0ZT1hcHAud2ViLWFwcC5saWJyYXJ5Lmxpc3QmcmVjZW50Um91dGVTbHVnPSUyQjNqMjNuOG0= The sermon starts at minute 21:00. If the link does not work, go to www.beaconefc.org and then choose the Media tab and then the Sermon Archives tab. The Message title is "The Gospel's Timeless Call." Double click on it and then click the arrow to play it.

11/14/2024

Here's something I never knew about dear old Atlantic City! At least once, we had bull fights on the Boardwalk. This article is from the Atlantic City Gazette Review, Sept. 8, 1924 on page 2. Rendezvous Park was advertised as the city's largest amusement park in the early 20's (approx. 1920-1926). It took up the entire block from Georgia to Mississippi Avenues between Pacific and the Boardwalk and the articles in the Gazette and Press picture it as quite successful. It was later bought by the city and the lot was used to build Convention Hall, although the purchase reports "smack" of typical old AC political cronyism in the sharing of the purchase proceeds :-). It seems to have been known locally as "The Italian Park" because it was located in what was known as Ducktown which had become THE Italian neighborhood between 1900 and 1910. I'm giving a presentation on the park's history at the Sons of Italy down beach chapter meeting on Feb. 25th at the Epiphany RC Church. If any of you all know anything about the park's history or have any photos (I have 7 or 8), email, call or text me to help me fill in the blanks.

10/05/2024

NJSSAR Color Guard at the Chestnut Neck ceremony today.

09/21/2024

ANNOUNCEMENT: Many people have asked me to do a series of teachings explaining the New Testament book or Revelation. I started to do so at my son's church in Aston, PA last Wednesday night. Here's the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/ChiUnited19014/live_videos/ . I hope it works well. Each week the new session will be posted. There is an extensive handout available for each session in a Word format. I didn't see it on the page so you'll have to request it from me week-by-week until my son can figure out how to include it on the FB page. I'm working from a fresh translation of the original Greek text and using references only from legitimate published scholars at reputable schools (no flakey stuff). When I reference the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) the same will be true, a fresh look at the underlying Hebrew text and extensive research from legitimate, well-trained sources. One last thing, if you disagree with me it doesn't bother me, but I do not have time to debate issues online. I see that as a waste of precious time that a 78-year old can not afford to piddle away :-)! If it's a legitimate Bible question, please feel free to text or email me directly and I'll try to make time to respond. Disclaimer: If you're just looking for an online spot to vent or share odd prophetic propositions, please don't do it on my page. You'll be blocked quickly.

05/25/2024

HERE'S A NEW "BEFORE AND AFTER" series via Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. This unusual "ferris-type" wheel was on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the late 1800s. Anyone remember its name and how it operated? The original photo had a bleached out sky that was damaged with rubbed-in dirt all over the photo. There were also parts of the sky that were stained. This must have been a long exposure on a windy day one summer. The flag kept moving while the wheels stopped for while to load a car on each of the four wheels. If any of you have unusual old photos of our county that are damaged, bring them to us to scan and we'll put them in line for consideration for restoration. You can scan them yourself and bring them on a flash drive so long as they're in the TIFF format and at least 600dpi. We can't restore low grade scans or photocopies.

05/07/2024

The "Colonial Mills and Streams of Absecon Creek" presentation went very well. As always, the folks of the Absecon Hist Soc were a focused, friendly and inquisitive audience. The presentation will be repeated "no charge" on June 18th at 6 PM at the Egg Harbor Township Public Library. Come and join us. Incidentally, these presentations were created at the Atlantic County Historical Society with the research assistance of the members of the Gen. Lafayette Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the Col. Richard Somers Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). There will be another "no charge" presentation on May 16th at 7 PM at the Linwood Library featuring "The Changing Inlets, Beaches and Bays of Atlantic County over the Last 400 Years."

05/07/2024

Retired Stockton U professor Anthony (Tony) Marino sent us a link to a video about the Jersey Central Railroad, including the famous Blue Comet that connected New York City and Atlantic City. It was a joy to watch it - thanks, Tony! I'm including the link so you can enjoy it too.

As one of the most influential railroads in all of New Jersey, the Central New Jersey Railroad has had an incredible impact on the Garden State’s growth thro...