Freedom Town: Aesthetic and Recreational Lawn Alternative
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WHEN THE TSUNAMI hit the northern coast of Japan last year, the waves ripped four dock floats the size of freight train boxcars from their pilings in the fishing port of Misawa and turned them over to the whims of wind and currents.
One floated up on a nearby island. Two have never been seen again. And one made an incredible journey across 5,000 miles of ocean that ended this week on a popular Oregon beach.
Along for the ride were hundreds of millions of individual organisms, including a tiny species of crab, a species of algae, and a little starfish all native to Japan that have scientists worried if they get a chance to spread out on the West Coast.
“This is a very clear threat,” said John Chapman, a research scientist at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, where the dock float washed up early last week.
It’s exactly like saying you threw a bowling ball into a China shop. It’s going to break something. But will it be valuable or cheap glass. It’s incredibly difficult to predict what will happen next.
Plans were being considered by state authorities to scrape all the living things off the dock and bury them in the sand, so they would not spread, Chapman said.
While scientists expect much of the floating debris to follow the currents to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of millions of tons of small bits of plastic floating in the northern Pacific, tsunami debris that can catch the wind is making its way to North America. In recent weeks a soccer ball washed up in Alaska, and a Harley Davidson motorcycle in a shipping container in British Columbia.
Just how the dock float — 165 tons of concrete and steel measuring 66 feet long, 19 feet wide and 7 feet high — happened to turn up on Agate Beach a mile north of Newport, Ore., was probably determined within sight of land in Japan, said Jan Hafner, a computer programmer in the University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center, which is tracking the 1.5 million tons of tsunami debris estimated to still be floating across the Pacific.
That’s where the winds, currents and tides are most variable, due to changes in the coastline and the features of the land, even for two objects a few yards apart, he said. Once the dock float got into the ocean, it was pushed steadily by the prevailing westerly winds, and the North Pacific Current.
After it ran ashore on Tuesday, the Japanese Consulate was able to track down the origin of the dock float from a plaque bolted to it commemorating its installation in June 2008.
Deputy Consul Hirofumi Murabayashi said from Portland on Wednesday that it was one of four owned by Aomori Prefecture that broke loose from the port of Misawa on the northern tip of the main island during the tsunami.
Akihisa Sato, an engineer with Zeniya Kaiyo Service, the dock’s Tokyo-based manufacturer, said the docks were used for loading fish onto trucks. One of them turned up several weeks later on an island south of Misawa, but the other two are still missing.
SenTOR Ron Wyden, D-OreGON, called on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to redouble its efforts to track the debris, saying something as big as the dock could pose a danger to ships at sea.
NOAA’s tsunami marine debris coordinator Ruth Yender said if the Pacific were shrunk to the size of a football field, something like the dock would be the size of a human hair, making it very difficult to monitor, even from satellites.
A radiation check of the dock came up negative, which was to be expected if the dock broke loose before the nuclear power plant accident triggered by the waves, said Chris Havel, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, which is overseeing removal of the dock.
Chapman said the dock float was covered with masses of algae, kelp, barnacles, mussels and other organisms. One square-foot area weighed nine pounds.
Of particular concern was a small crab that has run wild on the East Coast, but not shown up yet on the West Coast, and a species of algae that has hit Southern California, but not Oregon. The starfish, measuring about three inches across, also appears to be new to US shores.
Tom Cleveland, a housekeeping supervisor at some nearby beachfront condominiums, said people curious to see it have been jamming up traffic at a beach parking lot.
“Everybody and their brother has been here looking at it and checking it out,” Cleveland said.
__________________________
Might go check this out tomorrow.
One floated up on a nearby island. Two have never been seen again. And one made an incredible journey across 5,000 miles of ocean that ended this week on a popular Oregon beach.
Along for the ride were hundreds of millions of individual organisms, including a tiny species of crab, a species of algae, and a little starfish all native to Japan that have scientists worried if they get a chance to spread out on the West Coast.
“This is a very clear threat,” said John Chapman, a research scientist at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, where the dock float washed up early last week.
It’s exactly like saying you threw a bowling ball into a China shop. It’s going to break something. But will it be valuable or cheap glass. It’s incredibly difficult to predict what will happen next.
Plans were being considered by state authorities to scrape all the living things off the dock and bury them in the sand, so they would not spread, Chapman said.
While scientists expect much of the floating debris to follow the currents to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of millions of tons of small bits of plastic floating in the northern Pacific, tsunami debris that can catch the wind is making its way to North America. In recent weeks a soccer ball washed up in Alaska, and a Harley Davidson motorcycle in a shipping container in British Columbia.
Just how the dock float — 165 tons of concrete and steel measuring 66 feet long, 19 feet wide and 7 feet high — happened to turn up on Agate Beach a mile north of Newport, Ore., was probably determined within sight of land in Japan, said Jan Hafner, a computer programmer in the University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center, which is tracking the 1.5 million tons of tsunami debris estimated to still be floating across the Pacific.
That’s where the winds, currents and tides are most variable, due to changes in the coastline and the features of the land, even for two objects a few yards apart, he said. Once the dock float got into the ocean, it was pushed steadily by the prevailing westerly winds, and the North Pacific Current.
After it ran ashore on Tuesday, the Japanese Consulate was able to track down the origin of the dock float from a plaque bolted to it commemorating its installation in June 2008.
Deputy Consul Hirofumi Murabayashi said from Portland on Wednesday that it was one of four owned by Aomori Prefecture that broke loose from the port of Misawa on the northern tip of the main island during the tsunami.
Akihisa Sato, an engineer with Zeniya Kaiyo Service, the dock’s Tokyo-based manufacturer, said the docks were used for loading fish onto trucks. One of them turned up several weeks later on an island south of Misawa, but the other two are still missing.
SenTOR Ron Wyden, D-OreGON, called on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to redouble its efforts to track the debris, saying something as big as the dock could pose a danger to ships at sea.
NOAA’s tsunami marine debris coordinator Ruth Yender said if the Pacific were shrunk to the size of a football field, something like the dock would be the size of a human hair, making it very difficult to monitor, even from satellites.
A radiation check of the dock came up negative, which was to be expected if the dock broke loose before the nuclear power plant accident triggered by the waves, said Chris Havel, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, which is overseeing removal of the dock.
Chapman said the dock float was covered with masses of algae, kelp, barnacles, mussels and other organisms. One square-foot area weighed nine pounds.
Of particular concern was a small crab that has run wild on the East Coast, but not shown up yet on the West Coast, and a species of algae that has hit Southern California, but not Oregon. The starfish, measuring about three inches across, also appears to be new to US shores.
Tom Cleveland, a housekeeping supervisor at some nearby beachfront condominiums, said people curious to see it have been jamming up traffic at a beach parking lot.
“Everybody and their brother has been here looking at it and checking it out,” Cleveland said.
__________________________
Might go check this out tomorrow.
Crocs – Shoes for People Who’ve Given Up
By Mark Donahue
New York – A study just released by Columbia University shows that people who lack enthusiasm and don’t look forward to anything, who are unimaginative and don’t have anything to say comprise the vast majority of people who wear Crocs shoes. The study also found that a majority of women who wear Crocs shoes routinely disregard shaving their underarms and legs, watch Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood and have a deep disdain for women who are fashionable.
The study was conducted by Sociology Professor Dr. Talmond Rabinowitz in 2009. Over a period of nine months he and his staff interviewed over eight thousand Crocs owners throughout the United States. He told The Daily Rash that his findings surprised even him.
“I was astonished by the staggering number of Crocs wearers who suffer from depression, anxiety, lack of ambition and an overall feeling of worthlessness. Almost the entire eight thousand people we interviewed said that they were unable to think of anything that truly interested them. Lethargy and an underlying foundation of malaise permeates the existence of most people who wear Crocs. Although a tiny percentage of Crocs wearers enjoy a sense of security by embracing worthlessness as a way of life, even they admitted to fighting against despair several times a day. And though all Crocs wearers are not obese, all obese people own a pair of Crocs.”
Dr. Rabinowitz said that the overall attraction of the Croc is its generic design, simple construction and lack of style.
“Many people sighed with relief when Crocs appeared on the shelves of their favorite stores. Crocs alleviate the agony that paralyze so many when there are too many choices. Look at what women face today when they shop for shoes. Many times the average shoe store has thousands of different styles and brands to choose from. When a woman who doesn’t have any interests outside of television and fearing global warming is faced with choosing a pair of shoes, many times she’ll just lie down on the floor of the store and go to sleep.”
The study shows that Crocs allow people who’ve always felt disenfranchised and left out to finally feel they are part of a community.
“When I walked into our community center for the Sustainable Alternatives to Mass Produced Organ Meats symposium and saw other people wearing Crocs, I ran to the restroom and cried happy tears!” – Carol L. from Seattle, Washington.
“Crocs allow the average Joe to become a part of his community without worrying that everybody else is better than him. I know that when I saw others in my neighborhood wearing Crocs it was as if the dark cloud that had been hovering over me my entire life had evaporated. And when that bright, happy sun began shining I saw for the very first time that there were others like me!” – Andrew S. from Carrboro, North Carolina.
Dr. Rabinowitz said that his research also found that many prominent members of society wear Crocs as well.
“There is a small percentage of people who wear Crocs that have satisfying lives who don’t succumb to constant pangs of apathy and listlessness. Most of these are men over the age of sixty who are dressed by their wives. These men haven’t chosen any of their own clothes for decades. Although they might lack a sense of pride in how they look, most of their unorthodox fashion choices can usually be traced back to passive aggressive wives who purposely adorn them in attire that make them look like buffoons.
The doctor warned against judging children who wear Crocs.
“Children are usually not wearing Crocs of their own volition. Their mothers are usually responsible and there is no reason to think it will have any negative effect on the child in later years. However, if a child, especially a male child, chooses to wear Crocs past the age of ten, I would recommend therapy and possibly removing him from the home.”
The study concludes that wearing Crocs allows people to share with each other that they have little or no self-esteem. That their lives are without meaning and they have long since given up looking forward to anything. That life… is more an annoyance than anything else.
“Hey! I didn’t ask to be born!” – Delores K. from Needles, California. Crocs wearer since 2008.
By Mark Donahue
New York – A study just released by Columbia University shows that people who lack enthusiasm and don’t look forward to anything, who are unimaginative and don’t have anything to say comprise the vast majority of people who wear Crocs shoes. The study also found that a majority of women who wear Crocs shoes routinely disregard shaving their underarms and legs, watch Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood and have a deep disdain for women who are fashionable.
The study was conducted by Sociology Professor Dr. Talmond Rabinowitz in 2009. Over a period of nine months he and his staff interviewed over eight thousand Crocs owners throughout the United States. He told The Daily Rash that his findings surprised even him.
“I was astonished by the staggering number of Crocs wearers who suffer from depression, anxiety, lack of ambition and an overall feeling of worthlessness. Almost the entire eight thousand people we interviewed said that they were unable to think of anything that truly interested them. Lethargy and an underlying foundation of malaise permeates the existence of most people who wear Crocs. Although a tiny percentage of Crocs wearers enjoy a sense of security by embracing worthlessness as a way of life, even they admitted to fighting against despair several times a day. And though all Crocs wearers are not obese, all obese people own a pair of Crocs.”
Dr. Rabinowitz said that the overall attraction of the Croc is its generic design, simple construction and lack of style.
“Many people sighed with relief when Crocs appeared on the shelves of their favorite stores. Crocs alleviate the agony that paralyze so many when there are too many choices. Look at what women face today when they shop for shoes. Many times the average shoe store has thousands of different styles and brands to choose from. When a woman who doesn’t have any interests outside of television and fearing global warming is faced with choosing a pair of shoes, many times she’ll just lie down on the floor of the store and go to sleep.”
The study shows that Crocs allow people who’ve always felt disenfranchised and left out to finally feel they are part of a community.
“When I walked into our community center for the Sustainable Alternatives to Mass Produced Organ Meats symposium and saw other people wearing Crocs, I ran to the restroom and cried happy tears!” – Carol L. from Seattle, Washington.
“Crocs allow the average Joe to become a part of his community without worrying that everybody else is better than him. I know that when I saw others in my neighborhood wearing Crocs it was as if the dark cloud that had been hovering over me my entire life had evaporated. And when that bright, happy sun began shining I saw for the very first time that there were others like me!” – Andrew S. from Carrboro, North Carolina.
Dr. Rabinowitz said that his research also found that many prominent members of society wear Crocs as well.
“There is a small percentage of people who wear Crocs that have satisfying lives who don’t succumb to constant pangs of apathy and listlessness. Most of these are men over the age of sixty who are dressed by their wives. These men haven’t chosen any of their own clothes for decades. Although they might lack a sense of pride in how they look, most of their unorthodox fashion choices can usually be traced back to passive aggressive wives who purposely adorn them in attire that make them look like buffoons.
The doctor warned against judging children who wear Crocs.
“Children are usually not wearing Crocs of their own volition. Their mothers are usually responsible and there is no reason to think it will have any negative effect on the child in later years. However, if a child, especially a male child, chooses to wear Crocs past the age of ten, I would recommend therapy and possibly removing him from the home.”
The study concludes that wearing Crocs allows people to share with each other that they have little or no self-esteem. That their lives are without meaning and they have long since given up looking forward to anything. That life… is more an annoyance than anything else.
“Hey! I didn’t ask to be born!” – Delores K. from Needles, California. Crocs wearer since 2008.
