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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017
CONTACT US
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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