THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015
COMMUNITY
1B
GROUNDHOG DAY DUST-UP
YOUR LION EYES
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
L
ike Katy Perry or not, you couldn’t help but be dazzled by
the lion she rode in on for the Super Bowl XLIX Halftime
Show. She was completely upstaged by her own prop. Where,
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that’s where. Yes, you read that right.
According to a story on KATU, the lion, actually a giant puppet,
was designed and manufactured by Michael Curry and team at his
studio in Scappoose (http://tinyurl.com/currylion). Weighing in at
about a ton, the 30-foot long, 14-foot high feline required 13 puppe-
teers to complete its sleek moves during the show. The photo of the
lion is courtesy of NBC.
The project started as a small 3-D model, and grew from there.
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thing in gold mirror. Triangulated mirror, which was to replicate ori-
gami,” the artist told KATU. “We wanted this piece to feel heavy,
so you could almost feel its footsteps into the ground, and to keep it
slow enough it almost felt like a time-lapse entrance.”
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puppets for her stage show, not to mention he has a resume as long as
his lion’s tail (http://michaelcurrydesign.com) — including design-
ing several projects for the Walt Disney Company (think “The Lion
King” on Broadway, for one), Las Vegas shows, Cirque du Soleil,
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When Curry watched his creation on TV Sunday, he was tickled
when his puppeteers surprised him. “We didn’t even know it could
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Katy must have been feeling pretty glorious, too. She got to keep
the lion.
P
unxsutawney Phil might be the reigning rodent weather
forecaster on Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pa., but
what does an East Coast groundhog know about West Coast
weather, the Ear wants to know, feeling somewhat petulant.
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little varmint even see his shadow with all that snow around, any-
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newest weather muse, housed at the Oregon Zoo, hedgehog Whis-
kers J., who, according to KGW, predicts an early spring (http://
tinyurl.com/punxwhisk). Whiskers is pictured with zoo curator Mi-
chael Illig in a photo by Michael Durham courtesy of the Oregon
Zoo and KGW.
“Hedgehogs are the real weather experts of the animal world,”
ormer Astorian Stig M. Johannessen posted a link to a vid- Illig proclaimed to KGW. “Punxsutawney Phil and his ilk are rel-
eo, “Building the Cannery Pier Hotel,” (http://tinyurl.com/ ative newcomers to the game. When European immigrants to the
canpier) on Facebook, and the Ear admits to being captivated. U.S. realized their new home didn’t have hedgehogs, they turned
7KHPLQXWH¿OPQDUUDWHGE\DUFKLWHFWDQGKRWHORZQHU-DNH to the groundhog out of necessity. But Whiskers J. is bringing the
Jacob, documents the hotel’s rise on the pilings of the former (Groundhog Day) holiday back to its origins.”
location of the Union Fishermen’s Cooperative Packing Com-
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the original building is shown.
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Astoria resident Dick Thompson, who on his own accord, walked
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event.’”
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HE TOOK UP HIS COW-HORN ...
BIRTHDAY BONANZA
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
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nother goodie for marine biology fans: An extremely
rare 15-foot megamouth shark washed up on a beach in
the province of Albay in the Philippines Jan. 28, according to
Mashable.com (http://tinyurl.com/megabeached).
A photo of the critter by Christopher Bird is shown. The locals
named it Toothless, because they thought it resembles the creature of
the same name in the “How to Train Your Dragon” series.
The article notes that not much is known about the species, since
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U.S. Navy vessel’s anchor.
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such meeting, “Alien Sharks: The Megamouth,” at http://tinyurl.
com/megadiscover
Toothless has been put on ice for further study. However, it was
quite a feat hauling the beast onto the beach to be studied, as me-
gamouths can weigh a ton or more (http://tinyurl.com/megawikip).
You can watch the struggle in a Facebook video by Nonus Enolvus
at http://tinyurl.com/haulmega — yes, it really took a village to get
’er done.
T
he Ear has always thought buying a Powerball ticket was
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body in Oregon ever seemed to win anything.
Wrong. Melissa Lundy of Tillamook, while out for her birthday
dinner, checked her Powerball ticket from the Jan. 31 drawing. She
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of the Oregon Lottery.
“We scanned the ticket when I was out for dinner, and it said
go to Salem, then I checked on my phone and couldn’t believe it!”
she exclaimed. “I’m having a great birthday!” Just so you know, she
bought the ticket at the Tillamook Safeway.
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Bobby, noted. “But I’m not complaining.” Especially since the cou-
ple is now planning a vacation in Mexico.
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very same Powerball drawing. The Ear is reconsidering buying a
ticket.
nother gem, courtesy of the George Flavel Facebook page
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This morning the inhabitants of the quiet little town of Oysterville
(Wash.) were awakened by the hideous howling of a whistling buoy,
which has been washed from its proper place of residence, supposed
to be from near the mouth of the Columbia River, and seated its no-
ble self in the ocean, opposite here, and about two miles off shore.”
Pictured, inset, a whistling buoy, courtesy of the Jan. 3, 1885,
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noted: “There are now 34 of these whistling buoys on the coast of the
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are useful to the mariner, they are obnoxious to the house dweller
within earshot of them ... They can at times be heard 15 miles, and
emit an inexpressibly mournful and saddening sound.”
Back to the consternation of the 1882 Oysterville locals: “To
say that they were wonder-struck is only a mild way of expressing
it. None could solve the mystery. Each seemed to have a different
opinion of its origin or whereabouts. One man, for instance, arose
jumped into his clothes, and rushed around the corner to see if it were
some one in distress. After following the noise from house to house
he returned home none the wiser for his search. Some thought it was
Indians lamenting their dead. Another took up his good old cow-
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ET TU, TUNA?
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
BOOKS AND CHOCOLATE
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storia Elementary School was featured as the establishing
scene for a skit on the Jan. 31 Saturday Night Live on
UH\RXDURPDQFHQRYHOD¿FLRQDGR"¶7LVWKHVHDVRQ$VWRULDDX- NBC,’ Jeffrey Nelson told the Ear. “The comedy bit was about
thor Muriel Jensen’s books are featured as prizes in Harlequin Career Day at a school, and starred guest host J.K. Simmons,
Books’ Heartwarming Valentine’s Day Giveaway. She is pictured, WKH2VFDUQRPLQDWHGDFWRUIRUWKH¿OPµ:KLSODVK¶´
left. The prize packages (four in all, plus a grand prize) feature books
Pictured, Jeff’s screen shot of the school. Sure enough, it says
by other Harlequin authors, as well as Muriel, along with chocolates. “Astoria Elementary School” over the door when you look at it
The grand prize throws in roses, as well.
closely.
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But wait! The real elementary school here on Franklin Av-
LQJPRPHQW"´LQWKHFRPPHQWVVHFWLRQDWWKH+DUOHTXLQ+HDUWZDUP- enue actually says “John Jacob Astor” over the door. Yet, the
ing blog (http://tinyurl.com/hrtwarm) before Valentine’s Day.
windows, doorway, doors, decorative inverted Ys, etc., in the
³2QHRIWKHERRNVLVP\ODWHVWµ,Q0\'UHDPV¶UHOHDVHG-DQ´ photo from the SNL skit look identical to those at our local
Muriel posted on her Facebook page. “Good luck! Wonderful books school.
and chocolate. Doesn’t get any better than that.” She has a point.
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man-made: The GhostSwimmer roboshark, pictured in a U.S.
Navy photo, a shark-shaped underwater robot that is the Navy’s
latest toy to gather data and videos on tides, currents and weather,
according to a story on Gizmag.com (http://tinyurl.com/roboshrk).
Both its body shape and swinging tail mimic its namesake.
Developed by Boston Engineering as part of the Navy’s Silent
NEMO project, to create “nature-inspired unmanned underwater ve-
hicles,” roboshark is about 5 feet long, weighs almost 100 pounds, and
works both in 10 inches of water and as deep as at 300 feet. No surprise,
it can also be used for covert military operations such as surveillance
and reconnaissance, or for more mundane tasks, like hull inspection.
The device can be either remotely controlled via a 500-foot teth-
er connected to a computer, or can scoot about autonomously using
onboard sensors and a battery.
In development alongside the roboshark, but not yet in service,
the BIOswimmer — this one looks like a tuna.