An Oyster in the Storm - NYTimes.com

An Oyster in the Storm - NYTimes.com:

by Paul Greenberg
"DOWN here at the end of Manhattan, on the border between evacuation zones B and C, I’m prepared, mostly. My bathtub is full of water, as is every container I own. My flashlights are battery-ed up, the pantry is crammed with canned goods and I even roasted a pork shoulder that I plan to gnaw on in the darkness if ConEd shuts down the power.

But as I confidently tick off all the things that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recommends for my defense as Hurricane Sandy bears down on me, I find I’m desperately missing one thing.

I wish I had some oysters.

I’m not talking about oysters to eat — although a dozen would be nice to go with that leftover bottle of Champagne that I really should drink if the fridge goes off. I’m talking about the oysters that once protected New Yorkers from storm surges, a bivalve population that numbered in the trillions and that played a critical role in stabilizing the shoreline from Washington to Boston."
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Sailor Hopes to Cruise Globe in 10-Foot Boat - WSJ.com

Sven Irvind is at it again.  After sailing across the Atlantic in a teacup of a boat, he now wants to go around the world, single-handed, non-stop (at least no docking).  I don't think I could live on sardines and granola that long.  Doesn't he need salad?  And Mackerel for a treat? Oy vey.

Sailor Hopes to Cruise Globe in 10-Foot Boat - WSJ.com:


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Blue Fin Whale - Pescadotes

a new image from PESCADOTES



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Harlem River drive

We set out for Hell Gate - and stripers and bluefish.  Fed a couple of eels to the prey but hooked none.  Oh well.  A beautiful evening and a ride down the Harlem River whose beautiful bridges are among the architectural gems of New York. (click pix to enlarge and for slide show)

Amtrak RR bridge at Spuyten Duyvil

Henry Hudson bridge in background

Spuyten DuyviL bridge

crew practice

Fordham Road bridge at 207 Street

First Brooklyn Nets game

Went to my first Brooklyn Nets game with Michael at the new Barclay's Arena.  Great venue, good game.  Though Brooklyn lost to the 76'ers (106-96 - no DeeFense), it felt great to be cheering for Brooklyn like I did when I was a kid.

For New York Cross-Country Runners, a Century-Old Proving Ground In a Bronx Park, a Century of Testing Runners’ Speed and Spirit - NYTimes.com

Across the flats in a herd of two hundred, bunched up at the bottle neck entrance to the dusty cow path, around the bend, across the Henry Hudson Parkway footbridge, up freshman hill, then a precarious, twisting run down the rutted path, back across the bridge, then gasping the last 3/8 mile to the finish line. Van Cortland Park has been the scene of cross country running for New York high schoolers for 100 years. Marc Bloom - a track coach remembers his first "terrible experience" on the two and a half mile course which he finished in 21 minutes. I don't know what my personal best was. Was it 15:30? Hmm. I know I ran a 5:25 mile. Could I have done 2.5 at almost 6 minutes per mile? Maybe I dreamed of it. I know that I ran my heart out, feeling like my lungs were bleeding at the end of the race. - GWC
For New York Cross-Country Runners, a Century-Old Proving Ground In a Bronx Park, a Century of Testing Runners’ Speed and Spirit - NYTimes.com:
by Marc Bloom

"Fifty years ago this fall, my running career began the way most do in New York, with a trip to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for a high school cross-country race. It was an inauspicious debut to say the least. My 1962-63 racing diary from junior year at Sheepshead Bay High in Brooklyn contains this comment about a team time trial on the 2.5-mile course: “Stopped five times. First time on course. Terrible experience.”

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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Van Cortlandt Park is commemorating its 100th year as a mecca for high school meets. More Photos »

Multimedia

Slide Show

Runners at Van Cortland Park

I actually wrote those words 50 years ago: terrible experience. Yet I have run at Van Cortlandt every year since and found it to be a wellspring of athletic purity and a touchstone of grace and empowerment, as have thousands of other runners. My time that day was an embarrassing 21 minutes 50 seconds. I improved by about four minutes in ’62 — and completed the course without stopping — but never broke out of what the Public Schools Athletic League then designated the “scrub” division, sort of a third-string junior varsity."

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The Future of Arctic Shipping //Northwest Passage 2012 dot com

Northwest Passage 2012 dot com: The Future of Arctic Shipping (Northwest Passage & Northern Sea Route): "Arctic sea ice is melting rapidly, and within the next decade the effects of global warming may transform the Polar region from an inaccessible frozen desert into a seasonally navigable ocean. The summer of 2011 saw a record 33 ships, carrying 850,000 tons of cargo navigate the Northern Sea Route (NSR) off Russia’s northern coast. This year’s shipping season may see up to 1.5 million tons of cargo, as Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute predicts the NSR to be ice-free and passable for ships by early summer."



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Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Research and Restoration

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Research and Restoration:

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NOAA satellites - helping save lives for 30 years

NOAA satellites - helping save lives for 30 years: "Thirty years ago, about 300 miles off the coast of New England, a barrage of towering, 25-foot waves battered a catamaran sailboat, causing it to begin sinking. A satellite, orbiting in space, detected the signal from an emergency beacon onboard the boat. A short while later, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter pulled the three passengers to safety.
 
The Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system, or Cospas-SARSAT, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of this first life-saving rescue in the United States, which occurred October 10, 1982. NOAA operates several satellites and the U.S. Mission Control Center as part of the international program that has been responsible for the rescue of more than 30,000 people worldwide and nearly 7,000 in the United States since its inception in 1982."



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Skydiver Delays 23-Mile Free Fall - NYTimes.com

Probably a good idea. - gwc

Skydiver Delays 23-Mile Free Fall - NYTimes.com: "ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner canceled his planned death-defying 23-mile free fall Tuesday because of high winds, the second time this week he was forced to postpone his quest to become the world's first supersonic skydiver"



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