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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2017)
1B THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (503) 325-3211 ext. 257 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON BE A CITIZEN SCIENTIST f you’re interested in more than just looking up at the solar eclipse — which will probably be obscured by clouds here at the coast, anyway — you might want to look around you, instead. The Life Responds project seeks “citizen scientists” to go out in the field and record the reactions of plants and animals to the environmental changes that occur just before, during and after a total eclipse. There have been reports that birds stop singing, spiders tear down webs and squirrels go hide in their dens, but none of these observations have been officially noted for the record. It’s all been anecdotal evidence so far, and the Life Responds project expects to change that. Want to help? Download the iNaturalist app (links at www. inaturalist.org), create an account, then join the Life Responds project at http://tinyurl.com/LRproject, where there are full instructions. Then you, too, can participate in this “once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to record eclipse-related animal behavior.” I SAHARA POWER ince we’re all so solar-oriented at the moment, it should be noted that the European Union wants to build a giant solar farm in the Sahara Desert that can power over 2 mil- lion European homes, Digital Trends reports (http://tinyurl.com/ saharapower). The TuNur Project (www.nurenergie.com/tunur) is a mas- sive undertaking, expected to produce 4.5 gigawatts of power to be transmitted via three submarine cables from Tunisia to Malta, central Italy, and the south of France. The image shown is cour- tesy of TuNur. “We have completed all the feasibility work and lined up the partners needed to complete the project,” TuNur COO Daniel Rich said. “To complete it, we have now requested full authori- zation from the Tunisian government, and once we have this we can receive the final permits in Europe, enter into Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts, and start con- struction.” Stay tuned. S NATURAL SELECTION weden has been in the news lately ever since a local politician, Hans Nilsson, filmed a rare white bull moose taking a dip in a stream and walking in some grass, National Geographics reports (http://tinyurl.com/piemoose). It took him three years of trying to finally get the footage, but no time at all for video to go viral. A screen shot is shown. Even though he is pure white, the moose is not actually an albino, since he doesn’t have the pink eyes that go with albinism. His color is believed to be caused by the recessive gene that cre- ates piebald coloring (white with specs of brown), instead. Strangely enough, white moose twins were spotted in Norway at the end of June. One professor of elk and moose, Göran Erics- son, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, says that although the condition is rare, news of a white moose seems to pop up every year, leading him to speculate that perhaps the num- ber of white moose in Scandinavia is increasing. “Hunters have chosen to not kill any moose that are light,” he told National Geographics, thereby protecting the white moose. Natural selection would then work to make the trait more com- mon. “It is kind of like dog breeding. (The hunters) choose to select for traits that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred.” S FINDING D.B. COOPER aybe the D.B. Cooper mystery will finally be solved, after all. In case you don’t remember, D.B., or Dan Cooper (pictured in an FBI drawing) hijacked a Boeing 727 on Nov. 24, 1971, demanded a ransom of $200,000, got it, then jumped out of the plane with the cash and into infamy. He disappeared, and so did most of the money ($5,800 was found), and the FBI officially stopped investigating in July 2016. But that hasn’t stopped the questions, or the attempts by others to get the answers, a recent Fox News story reports (http://tinyurl.com/DBagain). A Pacific Northwest team of volunteer cold case inves- tigators, assembled by TV and film executive Thomas Colbert, and his wife, Dawna, have been looking for D. B. Cooper evidence for years (https://dbcooper.com). The couple confirmed to Fox News recently that they’ve dis- covered “potential evidence” in what “appears to be a decades-old parachute strap.” The 16-inch long piece of nylon, hopefully belonging to the hijacker’s parachute, was found “right where a credible source claimed the chute and remaining money are buried.” By the way, the Colbert team still claims that D. B. Coo- per is Robert Rackstraw, whom the FBI cleared years ago. Colbert also claims that Rackstraw posed as Norman de Winter, who stayed in Astoria, posing as a Swiss baron, in the early 1970s (http://tinyurl.com/DBdeWinter). In 2016, Colbert offered at $500 reward to anyone who had a photo of de Winter, so he could compare it a photo of Rack- straw, but there were no takers, apparently. As of Monday, Colbert had turned the new evidence over to the FBI (http://tinyurl.com/DBagain2), and told them the location of the so-far secret site where it was found. Colbert told the agent, “the site is yours.” “… I can reassure you that the FBI’s Seattle Field Office will review any physical items possibly related to the para- chute or money taken by the NORJAK hijacker,” Ayn S. Dietrich-Williams of the FBI’s Seattle office told Fox News. “Based on that review, the FBI will take any appro- priate action.” Like reopening the official investigation, perhaps? M CATCH THE SUN regon Coast traffic is sure to be a crawling nightmare this weekend with the influx of tourists heading south to desti- nations all over Oregon, from Newport east, to watch the total eclipse of the sun on Monday — which is likely to be an exer- cise in futility on the coast, and in Astoria, what with the proba- ble heavy cloud cover. Be that as it may, if you want to see the eclipse, without that coastal cloud cover, has it occurred to you to head northeast, instead? The Daily News offers an unexpected location from which to watch the celestial festivities: Longview, Washington (http://tinyurl.com/98longview). OK, maybe that sounds counter-intuitive, since it’s not directly under the 70-mile wide path of totality, but it’s pretty close, at 88 miles away, and only 50 miles from Astoria. The eclipse path image is courtesy of GreatAmericanEclipse.com. Actually, in Longview, the sun will be about 98 percent cov- ered by the moon, a “deep partial eclipse,” Washington State Uni- versity astronomer Michael Allen predicts. Even so, don’t forget to bring those special eclipse glasses or an indirect solar viewer (http://tinyurl.com/solareyes). Since this is the first total solar eclipse in 99 years whose total- ity path stretches from coast to coast — and the next one to cross Oregon isn’t until 2169 — it’s something you’ll probably want to see (http://tinyurl.com/oretotal). If you decide to head for the Longview area to watch it, remember this: You might be losing out on 2 percent of totality, but you’ll also probably be missing about 90 percent of the traffic. O THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT AROUND THE TOWN ure the total eclipse of the sun Monday morning is a major big deal event, but maybe you just can’t find those special glasses, or don’t feel like venturing forth to deal with all the traf- fic and crowds to watch it. Wouldn’t you rather lounge around at home to see it? You can, thanks to NASA, who also provided the eclipse image shown. Simply watch the solar event on your smartphone with the NASAapp (www.nasa.gov/nasaapp). Don’t have a smartphone? Watch the eclipse live streaming online with the links NASA pro- vides at http://tinyurl.com/stream-SUN, with coverage starting at 9 a.m. The Facebook feed plans to carry the eclipse live from coast to coast, as seen from the ground, aircraft, spacecraft and the International Space Station. Pour yourself a cuppa whatever, put your feet up and enjoy the view. S ewsy notes from the Tuesday, Aug. 20, 1889 edition of The Daily Morning Astorian: • In Astoria, the oysters taste good every month of the year. • George & Barker will not can any fruit this year. Their experiment last year was not satisfactory, financially. Note: Businessmen George H. George and W. H. Barker partnered in 1885 to form George & Barker, and bought the Port Adams Packing Co. fish cannery. Fruit canning was perhaps an attempt to diversify. (http://tinyurl.com/ GeoBar). • The most singular thing seen in a reporter’s sojourn in upper Astoria yesterday was a cat at Eric Johnson’s White Swan saloon which had 13 kittens. • Rows of men and boys have great sport on the dock these days catching tomcod, and other little fish, with clams for bait. Out in the stream boats at anchor catch, or the occupants thereof catch, salmon trout. Note: A salmon trout is a steelhead. • Proportionate to the size of the place, the Tillamook Headlight Herald is the largest newspaper in the U.S. It is an 18-page paper … and published in a town of about 500 people. Note: The Daily Morning Astorian was only four pages, with a population of about 2,800 in 1880. (http:// tinyurl.com/pop1880). • Some time between 12 o’clock Sunday night and Monday morning, the store of I.S. Jones of Oysterville was burglarized, and all of the jewelry taken. Yesterday morning the culprit was caught on the cars near Ocean Park, with the stolen goods concealed in a pillow slip in his possession. • House to Rent: In Upper Town. Five rooms, good location, water inside and outside. For particulars, apply to H.G. Van Dusen, Upper Town. • Between the eloquence of the Olympia convention, and the disastrous fires, Washington (Territory) is burning her way into the Union. N WALL TO WALL ince we’re on a solar tear this week, here’s one more item: Solar glass blocks to replace exterior building walls, according to a story at NewAtlas.com (http:// tinyurl.com/solarblock). The technology, called Solar Squared, is being developed by a U.K. com- pany called Build Solar (www.buildsolar.co.uk), which was created by a team of researchers from the University of Exeter. The image of the blocks shown is courtesy of Build Solar. Each block absorbs incoming light into a solar cell; all of the blocks’ cells are linked together, and feed the building’s electrical grid. Tinting the inside surface of the blocks can keep too much light from coming into the building and overheating the rooms. The blocks should be available sometime next year. Sounds good, but nobody knows yet if it’s even cost-effective. Time will tell. S COMMUNITY NOTES TODAY Angels for Sara Sanctuary Fundraiser — 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., 60 S. Main Ave., Warrenton. Rum- mage sale and bake sale (items provided by Linda Perkins) to raise money for a senior dog sanctuary. Information on how to plan for a dog’s future also available. For in- formation, call 503-325-2772, email angelsforsara@gmail.com or go to www.angelsforsarasanctuary.com SATURDAY Turnaround Trekker Volkssport Club — 5K or 10K walk, Westport/Puget Island. Regis- ter between 8:30 a.m. and noon at the United Steelworkers (USW) Lo- cal 1097 Union Hall, 91237 Old Mill Town Road, Westport. Ferry costs $1 each way. Public welcome. For information, call Debbie Brown at 503-325-3863. Angels for Sara Sanctuary Fundraiser — 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., 60 S. Main Ave., Warrenton. Rum- mage sale and bake sale (items provided by Linda Perkins) to raise money for a senior dog sanctuary. Information on how to plan for a dog’s future also available. For in- formation, call 503-325-2772, email angelsforsara@gmail.com or go to www.angelsforsarasanctuary.com Angora Hiking Club — 9 a.m., Sixth Street parking lot. Westport Ferry/Puget Island hike. For infor- mation, call Arline LaMear at 503- 338-6883. Sit & Stitch — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Homespun Quilts & Yarn, 108 10th St. Bring knitting, crochet or other needlework projects to this community stitching time. All skill levels welcome. p.m., Astoria Fiber Arts Academy, 1296 Duane St. Bring a spinning wheel. For information, call 503- 325-5598 or go to http://astoriafi- berarts.com Seaside American Legion, 1315 Broadway. For information, call 503-738-5111. No cost; suggested $5 tip to the instructor. Columbia Northwestern Mod- el Railroading Club — 1 p.m., in Hammond. Group runs trains on HO-scale layout. For information, call Don Carter at 503-325-0757. Cannon Beach American Le- gion Women’s Auxiliary Break- fast — 9 to 11:30 a.m., American Legion, 1216 S. Hemlock St., Can- non Beach. Seekers Group — 6 to 7:30 p.m., Pioneer Presbyterian Church, 33324 Patriot Way, Warrenton. Group discusses issues facing re- ligious faith in the modern secular world. All are welcome. For informa- tion, call 503-861-2421. Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m., See NOTES, Page 2B SUNDAY