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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, JANuARy 21, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
EDGY DOLPHINS
M
any feel saddened seeing marine mammals like dol-
phins trapped into performing and being on display
in aquariums instead of being free to roam the oceans.
Well, now there’s an answer: Animatronics, thanks
to Roger Holzberg, creative director at Edge Innova-
tions (edgefx.com), DigitalTrends.com reports (bit.ly/
DTdolphins).
Edge is responsible for the animatronic orca in “Free
Willy” and the psycho sharks in “Deep Blue Sea,” just to
name a few. When computer graphics took over for most
special effects in movies, Edge turned its focus to theme
parks. They built an animatronic dolphin that could swim
in water in the late 1990s for an aquarium show that was a
little too real — an audience member called the cops and
animal rescue organizations.
But, because of that dolphin, Holzberg was approached
almost two years ago to create a new dolphin for a Chi-
nese company developing three new oceanariums. Holz-
berg agreed, and Edge went to work. The result is a bat-
tery-powered robotic dolphin that weighs 550 pounds, is
8.5 feet long, looks realistic and “shows impressively dol-
phin-like behavior.” A dolphin prototype is shown, cour-
tesy of Edge Innovations.
When Holzberg asked his wife what she thought about
building these dolphins, her answer became part of the
mission: “Well,” she said, “you’ll have kept perhaps 100
large animals from being taken out of the wild and put in
an aquarium. That means you’ve changed the history of
(this) species.”
MYSTERY BUOY
F
un rerun: “Sunday, April 12, my friend Karen
Hoyt and I found this bad boy just south of Silver
Point in Cannon Beach,” Pam Chater wrote about
a buoy, which is shown. “As directed, we called the
police, and they responded immediately.”
They put tape around it but they didn’t remove it.
A call to the U.S. Coast Guard revealed it is not
one of theirs. But, judging from photos, it’s a Canadian
submarine indicator distress buoy (bit.ly/CBbuoy).
Each of the four Victoria Class submarines is outfit-
ted with one fore and one aft. Emails to Fisheries and
Oceans Canada have produced no answers.
Pam noted that a Coast Guard helicopter was flying
low and slow over the beach near the buoy on Satur-
day. There was also a king tide Saturday. But all we
know is, at the end of the day, the buoy was gone — dis-
appearing as mysteriously as it appeared. (In One Ear,
4/24/15)
LOCAL BREVITIES
T
idbits from the Jan. 21, 1881 edition of The Daily
Astorian:
• Muddy water from the Columbia River extends to
sea for a distance of over 20 miles.
Note: Although the South Jetty construction started
in 1885, it didn’t affect the bar’s water flow until 1889.
Construction on the North Jetty didn’t even begin until
1914. (bit.ly/CRjetties1, bit.ly/CRjetties2)
On the same topic, in the same edition: President
(Rutherford B.) Hayes, in his annual message to Con-
gress at the beginning of the present session, especially
recommended the improvement of the Columbia River
Bar.
• (The) Tillamook Rock … fog siren arrived in
Portland from New York last week, and is now
being put together at Smith Brothers for the purpose
of thoroughly testing it. This done, the siren will be
taken by the Schubrick to the rock, and permanently
erected.
Note: Installation of the fog horn completed
the more than 500-day lighthouse construction ordeal.
The lamp was officially lit Jan. 21, 1881, too late to
help the Lupatia, which ran aground nearby in early
January; the only survivor was the ship’s dog. (bit.ly/
BuildTTilly)
• Capt. Hooper of the revenue cutter Thomas Cor-
win, who made an unsuccessful effort last year to dis-
cover the whereabouts of the Jeannette, expects shortly
to be dispatched in the same direction on the second
expedition.
Note: The USS Jeannette (pictured inset) and its com-
mander, George W. De Long, disappeared while on an
arctic expedition that began in 1879. The ship was even-
tually crushed by ice; all aboard survived.
Eight died sailing to the Siberian coast in
small cutters; 12 died in Siberia of cold and
starvation, including De Long; and the two sent to find
help survived after they found a village. The wreck-
age of the Jeannette was not found until 1884. (bit.ly/
USSJeannette)
• Mr. McCormick’s (Oregon and Washington)
Almanac for 1881 is at the city bookstore, Charles Ste-
vens & Son.
Note: S. J. McCormick’s almanacs were incredibly
detailed, and covered a wide range of everyday and eso-
teric topics. The 1856 version can be found here: bit.ly/
McCAlmanac
• Mayor Thompson, of Portland, advocates
large and continued appropriations for the benefit of
Portland by digging a ship canal to that place from
Astoria.
Note: Clearly, this rather intriguing idea didn’t
fly.
CALENDAR MAN
THE WHISKEY DID IT
A
cautionary tale from the Jan. 21, 1881 edition of The
Daily Astorian:
Mr. Samuel Walker of Grays River (Washington Ter-
ritory) settlement informs us by letter of the death of A.
B. Soule from exposure on the beach of Gray’s Bay, on or
about the 9th or 10th.
Soule was better known as the “Old Trapper.” He had
been missing a few days before any apprehensions were
felt for his safety. He lived … at Mr. J.R. McClarken’s
place.
He left his house for the purpose of selling some furs on
Sunday, Jan. 9. After disposing of them to a peddling boat,
he laid in a supply of bad whiskey which, together with the
cold weather, sealed his fate.
After a few days, McClarken became uneasy about
him, and went to search for him. On Sunday, Jan. 16,
McClarken … found him laying in his skiff on the beach;
he had been dead five or six days. A coroner’s jury was
summoned to hold an inquest, and they returned a verdict
of death from exposure to cold.
… Mr. Walker hopes the fate of this old man will be a
warning to dealers of pizen (poison) whiskey, but it won’t;
any more than to those who use it.
AFTERMATH
O
n Jan. 13, a mudslide pushed the Alameda Avenue
home of Cati Foss and her family (pictured, right)
about 10 feet northeast, destroying it. In the process, the
landslide also badly damaged the house next door (pic-
tured, left), which belongs to Heidi and Lloyd Hougham.
There are fundraisers for both families.
“No one expects to lose everything, so it will be a
lengthy process to start over,” Missy Black wrote on the
Foss GoFundMe page. “… They are so deserving of sup-
port during an impossibly hard time.”
You can help at bit.ly/FossFund
“They are now officially homeless,” Amy Gouge wrote
on the Hougham family’s GoFundMe page, “and are faced
with unexpected costs of finding a rental and the fees that
go along with that. If you are able to help, even a little, I
know they would be so grateful.”
To donate to the Hougham family, go to bit.ly/
HoughamFund
To make matters worse, both families have been vic-
timized by looters.
“Please continue to share both families’ GoFundMe,”
Amy added. “If you are unable to donate, I know they
appreciate your thoughts and prayers.”
GOOGLE NOTICED
THE BEST WAVE
T
his tsunami won’t scare you: Jumpei Mitsui,
Japan’s only certified professional Lego
block builder, created an astounding 3-D Lego
version of Hokusai’s classic work, “The Great
Wave off Kanagawa,” MyModernMet.com announced.
Mitsui’s wave contains 50,000 Lego blocks and is
about 4 by 5 feet. It took 400 hours to build; his photo is
shown.
To emulate wave dynamics, the Lego artist read about
giant wave formations and studied videos of waves on
YouTube, then created several sketches he used to con-
struct the sculpture, which is on display at the Hankyu
Brick Museum in Osaka, Japan.
“This is the BEST WAVE I’ve ever built
with LEGO bricks !!!” the artist posted on Twitter. No
doubt.
I
n case you didn’t know it, Warrenton has its very own
calendar man, Portland TV station KGW reported
(bit.ly/JTjanitor).
He’s Josh Thompson, a Warrenton Grade School jan-
itor with a large family: He and his wife have four bio-
logical children, three adopted children and one foster
child. When his son asked what fostering a child meant,
and it was explained, the son thought they should do it.
So they did.
Every month of Josh’s calendar depicts
him having fun on the job, whether he’s wearing a bunny
suit or is in mid-flight with rolls of unraveling toilet
paper.
“Josh is a guy who gives 100% to everything he does,”
KGW newsman Drew Carney said. And it shows.
The idea actually started three years ago,
when Josh sent a photo of him hugging a vacuum
cleaner (shown) to the school staff as a way to brighten
people’s spirits. The next year he sent a Christmas orna-
ment of him sitting on the john, hoisting a plunger
(shown inset).
This year he went all out with the calendar, which
was once again created as a gift for the school staff, but
then someone suggested he sell them to raise money
for nonprofits that deal with foster care, such as Court
Appointed Special Advocates and With Love. And so he
is.
Want to buy a calendar for a good giggle and to sup-
port these worthy nonprofits? Email josh at janitor-
josh123@gmail.com
“He is hilarious,” teacher Lacy Brown noted, “but he
also has a big heart. That would be the first word I would
use to describe him.”
Y
es folks, let it be known that after three years a Goo-
gle algorithm is actually paying attention. Sort of.
The Ear recently received this email from Google:
“Your reviews have been seen over 1,000 times! Reviews
like these are a great addition to Google Maps and help
others discover the things worth doing and places worth
seeing.”
A link led to the single critique in question, which has
1,009 views. Actually, it’s a snarky remark, posted Oct. 31,
2017, about a Google Maps gaffe: “Ocean View Ceme-
tery is not in Astoria. It is in Warrenton.” So there.
Many years ago, the Ear submitted another suggestion
to Google Maps, noting that despite what the map showed
— 12th Street in Astoria as a continuous line — you really
cannot, or at least should not, drive down the 12th Street
stairs from upper Grand Avenue to lower Grand Avenue.
Google never responded, and it took several years, but
the map has been corrected.