6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
COFFEE BREAK
New feelings for longtime friend are not reciprocated
DEAR ABBY: My longtime
friend “Bonnie” and I have been
reconnecting during COVID,
mostly via text and video chat-
ting. She’s recently
moved back to my
area (she’s in the
military), so we
spent a weekend
together helping
her move in. It was
exhausting and stressful, and her
drinking concerned me. I know
drinking is prevalent in the mil-
itary, and as a relatively high-
ranking offi cer, she’s under a lot
of pressure all the time. I’m more
aware of it because my sister is a
recovering addict.
I’m a queer lady. Bonnie is
gay, and over the last couple
months I’ve been nursing a crush
on her. She’s very supportive of
my artwork, and over the years
has been the one
doing the work to
DEAR
keep our friendship
alive despite our
ABBY
lives going in dif-
ferent directions.
I told her I had a
crush on her during the stressful
moving weekend and asked her
to please not tell me about all the
girls she texts. She responded that
she does not return those feelings
for me. But we talk on the phone
for hours at night, and she calls
me “Baby” sometimes. She also
tells me I’m sexually magnetic.
Our lives are intertwined enough
that both our parents think we’re
dating, and Bonnie frequently
says things like, “My neighbor
thinks we’re dating.”
How do I keep both our friend-
ship and my sanity?
— CRUSHING
DEAR CRUSHING: Regard-
less of what others might think,
you and Bonnie are NOT dating,
and she has told you plainly that
she’s not physically attracted to
you. She was honest with you, I’ll
give her marks for that. Whether
she’s being honest with herself,
however, is anyone’s guess.
My advice is to stop allowing
her to monopolize as much of your
time as she has been. It isn’t good
for you because it keeps you from
looking for a companion who can
reciprocate your feelings. If you
continue as things are, you will
only subject yourself to more of
the confusion you are feeling now.
DEAR ABBY: My wife of 46
years keeps telling me about her
deprived childhood. Everybody
else had a color TV; theirs was a
black-and-white. Granny didn’t
have a dryer; she had to use a
clothesline. They didn’t have a
car, and when they fi nally got one,
it was a used car. Finally, they
had a new car, but it was stolen
two weeks later.
All the other girls had ballet
lessons; all the other girls were in
Brownies. When Granny fi nally
signed her up, it was too late. My
wife had to get a used Brownie
uniform that didn’t fi t, and they
put her in a troop with Girl Scouts
much older. She always wanted a
swing-set, but never got one.
Is there counseling and group
therapy for this self-pity condi-
tion? I’m laughing to myself and
my tears are getting into my beer.
— HAD IT ROUGH, TOO
DEAR HAD IT: I would like
to think your wife has it a lot
better now, but to be married to
someone as insensitive as you
appear to be can hardly be an
upper. Go pour yourself another
pilsner before your tears dilute
this one and bring you down fur-
ther, Laughing Boy.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
EO Media Group
Right up to a body
more than 52 feet long.
The results suggest at
that size, Otodus mega-
lodon likely had a head
about 15 feet long, a
dorsal fi n approximately
5.3 feet tall and a tail
almost 13 feet tall.
“The reconstruction
You’re going to need
a bigger boat — a
much bigger boat
BRISTOL, England —
Paleontologists with the
University of Bristol,
England, have unveiled
the true size of the pre-
historic mega-shark
megalodon.
Today, the most fear-
some living shark is the
Great White. Adults can
exceed 20 feet in length
and bite with a force of
two tons.
The University of
Bristol in a press release
Sept. 3 announced new
research estimating the
Great White’s fossil rela-
tive was more than twice
that long and could bite
with a force of 10 tons.
The massive predator
— and star of a share of
B movies — lived from
23 million to around
three million years ago.
The fossils of megalodon
are mostly huge trian-
gular cutting teeth bigger
than a human hand.
Jack Cooper, who
completed his mas-
ters courses in palaeo-
biology at the Univer-
sity of Bristol’s School of
Earth Sciences, and col-
leagues made close com-
parisons to a diversity of
living relatives with eco-
logical and physiolog-
ical similarities to meg-
alodon, according to the
press release, and used a
number of mathematical
methods to pin down the
size and proportions of
this monster.
Shark expert Dr.
Catalina Pimiento from
Swansea University and
professor Mike Benton, a
palaeontologist at Bristol,
supervised the project.
• At freeway exit
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• Interesting Gifts
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• Bus Terminal
• Barber Shop
• Showers
• Shorepower electric
• LPG
• Dump Station
• 4 hotels adjacent
• 1 mile from downtown
Illustration by Oliver E. Demuth
Paleontologists with the University of Bristol, England, on Sept. 3 published their research
determining the size of the extinct mega-shark megalodon at more than 50 feet long.
Professor Humberto
Ferrón of Bristol also
collaborated.
The journal Scientifi c
Reports published the
research.
“I have always been
mad about sharks,”
Cooper said in the press
release. “As an under-
graduate, I have worked
and dived with Great
whites in South Africa –
protected by a steel cage
of course. It’s that sense
of danger, but also that
sharks are such beautiful
and well-adapted ani-
mals, that makes them so
attractive to study.”
“Megalodon,” he con-
tinued, “was actually the
very animal that inspired
me to pursue paleon-
tology in the fi rst place at
just 6 years old.”
Previously the fossil
shark, known formally as
Otodus megalodon, was
compared with the Great
White.
Cooper and his col-
leagues, for the fi rst time,
expanded this analysis
to include fi ve modern
sharks. Pimiento said
in the press release that
megalodon is not a direct
ancestor of the Great
White but is equally
related to makos, the
salmon shark and
porbeagle shark.
“We pooled detailed
measurements of all fi ve
to make predictions about
megalodon,” he said.
Benton explained
the team fi rst had to
test whether these fi ve
modern sharks changed
proportions as they grew
to adulthood.
“If, for example, they
had been like humans,
where babies have big
heads and short legs,”
he said according to the
press release, “we would
have had some diffi cul-
ties in projecting the
adult proportions for such
a huge extinct shark.”
He said they were sur-
prised and relieved to dis-
cover the babies of all
these modern predatory
sharks start out as little
adults and don’t change
in proportion as they get
larger.
Cooper added this
meant they could take the
growth curves of the fi ve
weather
modern forms and project
the overall shape as they
get larger and larger.
Astoria
Longview
St. Helens
55/87
58/91
Condon
56/94
57/88
50/89
SAT
SUN
MON
Sunshine and
very warm
Mostly sunny;
very warm
Mostly cloudy
89 42
87 45
83 35
Eugene
6
6
9
50/89
90 46
89 51
80 42
4
6
10
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
6
6
47 85 47
Comfort Index™
8
79 38
6
8
10
6
ALMANAC
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 106°
Low: 14°
Wettest: 3.20”
68°
36°
72°
41°
75°
36°
0.00
0.00
0.17
2.99
7.26
0.00
0.00
0.18
13.06
11.09
0.00
0.00
0.20
25.31
15.31
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Tuesday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
15%
NW at 4 to 8 mph
11.8
0.20
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
13% of capacity
30% of capacity
47% of capacity
57% of capacity
21% of capacity
16% of capacity
Medford
Long Creek
High: 92°
Low: 28°
Wettest: none
On Sept. 10, 1976, Kathleen became
the fi rst tropical storm to hit Southern
California in 37 years. The storm killed
fi ve people and caused $160 million in
damage.
SUN & MOON
THU.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
6:25 a.m.
7:12 p.m.
11:39 p.m.
2:48 p.m.
583 cfs
52 cfs
94 cfs
46 cfs
82 cfs
31 cfs
Last
Sep 10
New
Sep 17
First
Sep 23
Beaver Marsh
53/93
FRI.
6:26 a.m.
7:10 p.m.
none
3:47 p.m.
Full
Oct 1
Burns
Jordan Valley
Paisley
Frenchglen
50/89
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
Hi/Lo/W
65/51/pc
91/51/s
88/55/s
64/51/pc
90/43/s
66/52/pc
89/49/s
88/48/s
89/50/s
89/49/s
96/57/s
91/57/s
90/50/s
89/53/s
84/48/s
95/57/s
88/45/s
87/39/s
Hi/Lo/W
64/52/pc
93/52/s
91/59/s
66/51/pc
90/44/s
63/52/pc
85/50/s
89/50/s
90/50/s
86/49/s
96/56/s
93/58/s
91/55/s
92/57/s
85/51/s
95/55/s
89/45/s
88/42/s
Grand View
Arock
47/92
45/90
49/91
Klamath Falls
41/88
Lakeview
38/87
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
SAT.
Diamond
54/87
Fields
56/98
FRI.
Boise
50/85
47/88
45/87
Medford
Brookings
50/94
54/88
56/97
51/64
Juntura
37/90
Silver Lake
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Ontario
46/89
50/89
49/88
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
MOON PHASES
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
Burnt River near Unity
Umatilla River near Gibbon
Minam River at Minam
Powder River near Richland
OREGON
WEATHER HISTORY
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
Thermal, Calif.
Dakota Hill, Colo.
Charlotte, Mich.
50/86
48/88
Roseburg
55/83
Brothers
56/92
Coos Bay
Huntington
52/85
51/91
Oakridge
Council
46/88
51/90
Seneca
Bend
TUESDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
53/89
51/92
Elkton
Powers
48/89
39/87
John Day
44/93
Sisters
Florence
50/61
Halfway
Granite
45/81
Baker City
49/66
Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels
very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable.
Monument
54/93
Redmond
53/85
81 41
46/89
51/89
51/89
Corvallis
Enterprise
47/85
48/89
Newport
49/62
87 50
Elgin
48/89
La Grande
57/89
53/94
Idanha
Salem
FRI
46 89 46
60/91
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
54/92
Hood River
56/92
Sunny and very
warm
La Grande
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Walla Walla
52/95
Vancouver
52/86
Clear
6
515 Campbell Street Baker City
541-523-4318
Kennewick
51/84
TONIGHT
6
Take out and Catering is Available.
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Maupin
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6 am to 12 am Daily
Enter Sweepstakes in the Store
50/65
TIllamook
39 87 40
Old Fashioned Hospitality
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
49/69
Baker City
of the size of megalodon
body parts represents a
fundamental step towards
a better understanding
of the physiology of this
giant,” according to the
press release, “and the
intrinsic factors that may
have made it prone to
extinction.”
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
FRI.
SAT.
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Hi/Lo/W
92/56/s
84/50/s
88/43/s
98/57/s
62/48/pc
83/47/s
89/49/s
95/54/s
92/58/s
88/55/s
83/54/pc
93/47/s
93/53/s
89/50/s
88/56/s
94/58/s
87/44/s
91/63/s
Hi/Lo/W
93/57/s
83/51/s
89/48/s
97/55/s
60/49/pc
81/49/s
91/50/s
94/53/s
93/57/s
85/55/s
79/54/pc
95/48/s
88/53/s
86/50/s
87/56/pc
95/58/s
88/47/s
91/62/s
Sunny and pleasant
Sunny and warm
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
64
42
83
45
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Sunny and pleasant
Plenty of sunshine
76
47
89
48
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Sunny and warm
Sunny and warm
71
37
83
39
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Sunny and warm
Sunny and hot
84
48
92
59
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Sunny and warm
Sunny and warm
87
40
89
46