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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2017)
1B THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (503) 325-3211 ext. 257 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON CUBISM HISTORY MYSTERY: H.L. HUNLEY E noch Gray, 19, and his mother, Emily, moved to Astoria in 2005. He graduated from Astoria High School in 2016, and expects to graduate from Oregon State University in March. But being a student isn’t his only occupation: He’s a whiz at solving the Rubik’s Cube and the even more difficult Megaminx puzzle, which has 50 movable pieces. You can watch him solve a Rubik’s cube in 18 seconds (!) at http://tinyurl.com/EnochCube. Enoch competed in the World Rubik’s Cube Championship in Las Vegas in 2013, and recently participated in the World Cube Association Northwest Championships in Portland, coming home with some “cubing” awards: Northwest Champion for solving both the Rubik’s Cube 4x4x4 Blindfolded (5 minutes, 29 sec- onds) and the 5x5x5 Blindfolded (11 minutes, 47 seconds). The numbers refer to the number of squares on each side of the cube. “He beat his personal record times for each,” his mother said. “Enoch also currently holds the unofficial world record for solving a Megaminx blindfolded,” she added, solving it in 9 min- utes, 8 seconds, which boggles the imagination. “This is an unof- ficial event because few people do it, and it takes a longer period of time to compete than most events.” Enoch started “cubing” in 2011. “My brother found an old Rubik’s Cube at our grandparent’s house, and he was playing with it,” he recalled. “I wanted to know how to solve it, so I looked up a guide and learned the basic method.” “I enjoy doing it,” he added, “because it gives me a goal to work towards, whether that’s solving it faster, or solving a more difficult puzzle, or solving it without looking.” LEND A HAND R ecently Duke University researchers made a big splash announcing they had figured out what hap- pened to the crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley (http://tinyurl.com/HunleyAnswer), shown in an 1863 painting by Conrad Wise Chapman. If your Civil War history is a little rusty, the 40-foot Hunley, propelled by a hand-crank for stealth, attacked and sank the Union’s USS Housatonic near Charleston, South Carolina. The sub’s weapon was a torpedo, filled with 135 pounds of black powder and affixed to the end of a 16-foot spar that was attached to its hull (an image of a similar sub is shown, inset). Consequently, the Hunley was able to ram the bomb directly into the 1,200-ton war- ship’s hull below the waterline and blow it up. But then the little sub vanished. In 1995, the Hunley was discovered only about 1,000 feet from the Housatonic. It was raised in 2000, still con- taining the remains of its eight-man crew, skeletons and hatches intact. But what killed them? Duke’s three-year study involved setting off blasts near a scale model of the Hunley, and concluded that the shock wave from the explosion killed Hunley’s crew, most likely by means of “immediately fatal lung trauma.” Not so fast, the Hunley Project says, the Duke study didn’t have all the facts, and more research is necessary to state definitively what occurred on the sub (http:// tinyurl.com/DukeNo). “Though a shock wave can cause life-threatening injuries, this is something we discounted quite a while back based on the evidence,” Jamie Downs, former Alabama chief medical examiner, explained. And the mystery continues. BACK ON THE BOUNDING MAIN A bout a month ago, there was a story in this column about a wooden cruising sailboat, the Havorn, originally built in Norway in 1936 as a fishing boat. It was love at first sight for Rick Knier in the early 1970s, his wife Toni, recalled, but an opportunity to buy the boat didn’t come along until around 2005. He lovingly restored the Havorn and brought her to Asto- ria, where, he said, she could be seen “tacking through the anchored ships.” Then disaster struck, when the top third of the main mast, which had become decayed, broke off. Rick decided to replace both the main and mizzen masts with larch trees felled in Idaho, which he partially shaped on the spot in the forest. On Aug. 25, a crane at Tongue Point hoisted the finished masts into position, and with the help of Bucky Barnett and Nate Killops, were set into place. The photo, left, is courtesy of Peter Marshall; at right, courtesy of Rick Knier. “It might be mentioned that the gaff rig is somewhat complicated,” Rick noted. “When the main mast was low- ered, attached and sometimes dangling were 10 steel stays and shrouds for supporting the mast, and hundreds of feet of Dacron line formed into six halyards, employing eight single and double wooden blocks.” Somewhat complicated? Yikes. “Motoring by Alderbrook to her big event, the stout ketch looked incomplete,” Rick added, “but on the return leg, she was proudly displaying her pretty new spars.” HONORABLE MENTION LABOR OF LOVE ‘T his sweet babe (a common murre jumpling) and many more like him have washed onto shore and into our hands over the past few weeks,” the Wildlife Center of the North Coast posted on its Facebook page, with the photo shown.. “Each starving and in need of food and critical care. These babies and their parents are struggling out in the ocean right now, not finding enough small fish to eat, and need our help. Will you help us care for these precious birds, provide them with nutritious food, and a second chance at life?” Want to lend a hand to this organization, which has done so much to help local wildlife? Mail a check to P.O. Box 1232, Astoria OR 97103, or donate at www.coastwildlife.org DRONE ON, ICELAND Scandinavia neighbor beats the U.S. to the punch … this time it’s Iceland, which has something Amazon.com has been dreaming about in the U.S.: Drone delivery service, Mashable reports. In this case, it’s for takeout food (http://tinyurl.com/TakeoutDrone). Drone company Flytrex partnered with ecommerce company AHA in the city of Reykjavik to provide the service. Drones, which can carry a load of up to 6 pounds, can take a direct route “as the crow flies” and deliver a package in four minutes. A truck would take 25 minutes to get to the same location because of the way the city is laid out. A drone in action is shown in a screen shot, courtesy of Flytrex. There’s no direct to door service just yet; someone has to load the drone and send it to a delivery person, who then unloads the package and drives it to the customer. It’s not all that expensive for this perk, at 80 cents a mile. So far, there’s only one route, but plans to add more, as well as delivering directly to the consumer (via a drop-down wire) are in the works. A ince Saturday, June 4, 1887, was the first official Labor Day in Oregon, the Ear decided to check out what was going on that day in The Daily Morning Astorian. The simple answer is: Not much. On Page 1, the featured story takes place in a Native Ameri- can village outside Juneau, Alaska; the reporter attended a double cremation ceremony. The only other story, amongst all the ads (e.g. “C.H. Stockton, Pioneer Painter and Paper Hanger”), was a short rant about the price of hay. On Page 2, the prominent story is whether or not the Star of Bethlehem would be visible during the Christmas season. Of lesser importance, “The Joy of Planked Shad.” Page 4 offers a short column of “Shipping Intelligence,” and the rest is ads, many touting local saloons. But hey, what about mentioning the first state holiday honor- ing the working man? It’s on Page 3, where the local tidbits and “Latest Telegraphic News” items are. Look just under the mast- head for two words in small type, and there it is: “Labor day.” S S ince Monday is Labor Day, a little history lesson is in order, right from the source, the U.S. Department of Labor (http://tinyurl.com/5Sep1882). Although there had been many parades, picnics, etc. supporting labor in the 1800s, there was no specific day devoted to the working man. However, at a meeting of the Central Labor Union in New York in May 1882, someone — no mention of who, exactly — proposed a “monster labor festival” for September. A committee was duly formed, the date set, a park was chosen and a resolution was passed declaring “that the 5th of Septem- ber be proclaimed a general holiday for the workingmen in this city.” Unfortunately, employers weren’t exactly on board with this idea, and anyone participating in the event would lose a day’s pay. But that didn’t seem to throw a wet blanket on the festivities, as the various local unions puffed up their coffers by managing to sell 20,000 tick- ets to the event. Sept. 5, 1882 started out with grim prospects, as only a few showed up at the beginning of the parade. Gradually groups of union members and labor support- ers showed up, however, and an estimated 10,000 peo- ple wound up in the parade by the time it arrived at the park for the celebration. An illustration of the crowd is shown. The event was a decided hit, and gradually other areas started having festivals honoring workers, too. In fact, Oregon was the first state declaring Labor Day a state holiday in 1887, making it the first Saturday in June, strangely enough (http://tinyurl.com/OreLD). Eventually, bowing to public pressure, in 1894, Con- gress declared an annual Labor Day to be celebrated the first Monday in September, as it has been ever since. And there you have it. Enjoy the day! IS THAT YOU, ASTORIA? T he Ear audi- bly hooted in disbelief at Sunset Magazine’s review of Astoria, which came in at No. 2 in “Top 14 Unsung Beach Towns” (http://tinyurl.com/ AstoriaOcean): “Yellow-slickered fishermen mix with just a sprinkling of iPad-tot- ing tourists in this small riverfront town with San Francisco–steep streets. Particularly fine stretches of sand with towering dunes and uninterrupted ocean views make Astoria a dreamy spot … ” Cannon Beach got a nod, too, as did Depoe Bay, Newport, Port Orford, Bandon and Westport, Washington, but there’s no mention of Hammond, where the photo of “Astoria” used for the story was taken by Jake Stangel. The Ear only has only one question: Would someone please point out Astoria’s “towering dunes and uninterrupted ocean views”? COMMUNITY NOTES SATURDAY 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. Detachment 1228 Marine Corps League — noon, El Compa- dre, 119 Main Ave., Warrenton. For information, contact Lou Neubecker at 503-717-0153. 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. Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m., Astoria Fiber Arts Academy, 1296 Duane St. Bring a spinning wheel. For information, call 503-325-5598 or go to http://astoriafiberarts.com Seaside American Legion, 1315 Broadway. For information, call 503-738-5111. No cost; suggested $5 tip to the instructor. 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. SUNDAY Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m., MONDAY — LABOR DAY Senior Lunch (Seaside) — No lunch served today. Columbia Senior Diners (As- toria) — No lunch served today. Warrenton Senior Lunch Pro- gram — No lunch served today. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance — 7 to 9 p.m., Room A, Columbia Memorial Hos- pital, 2111 Exchange St. Open to all those diagnosed with a mood dis- order, or have a family member or friend diagnosed, or who think they might have depression or bipolar disorder. For information, contact Patricia Fessler at 503-325-8930. TUESDAY World War II Warbirds — 8 a.m., Labor Temple Diner, 934 Duane St. All are welcome. Donations of material always appreciat- ed. For information, call Janet Kemp at 503-325-4268. Do Nothing Club — 10 a.m. to noon, 24002 U St., Ocean Park, Wash. Men’s group. For informa- tion, call Jack McBride at 360-665- 2721. Stewardship Quilting Group — 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., First Senior Lunch — 11:30 a.m., Lutheran Church, 725 33rd St. See NOTES, Page 2B
