6/22/2002: Mystery balls from the ocean

[Undertoad]

This from fark yesterday; normally I avoid duplicating them but hey.

One of the nicest sections of the USA, in my opinion, is the coast off of New Hampshire and Maine. It's the east coast, but not quite the same kind of touristy as the rest of the coast, maybe because the summer season is short and the water cold so it doesn't attract the typical beach-goers.

But there was something else convincing people that the NH coast wasn't for swimming this week: mystery balls. Nobody could figure out what these things were, but they were washing up on a particular New Hampshire shore, numbering in the tens of thousands.

Marine biologists were confused, and local fishermen had seen nothing like it. Everyone was concerned. Is it plastic? Is it animal? Will the whales eat them and not be able to digest them, and die? Can we use them to scour our saucepans?

Finally they figured it out: it's a particular type of algae. The motion of the waves rolls it up into these balls.

[smed]

Insert one dung-beatle.....and I'm pretty sure I've seen these things before - Discovery channel or something of that ilk.

[blase]

I can't find one on eBay, got more details on the specific area? I MUST have a mystery ball.

[Undertoad]

All I know is Hampton, NH!

[bluebomber]

Originally posted by Undertoad
All I know is Hampton, NH!

They were talking about this on the radio last week. Apparently the local lobstermen were laughing at the marine biologist -- they see these balls in their traps all the time.

UT, you were right in the first statement -- nothing nicer than the coast off NH/ME! Come to NH: the Land of The Free, The No Sales-Tax, and The Cheap Booze. (And when you've spent your money, go home dammit!)

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by bluebomber
UT, you were right in the first statement -- nothing nicer than the coast off NH/ME! Come to NH: the Land of The Free, The No Sales-Tax, and The Cheap Booze. (And when you've spent your money, go home dammit!)

Wow...sounds almost like Delaware. I wonder if it's as cheap to start a business in NH as it is in DE.

Plus, no seat belts required in NH.

[Undertoad]

I have a lot of family history and my momma has a little bit o' land up in Franconia, bb. So I'm allowed to stay as long as I like!

The wife and I visted Portsmouth last year, and what an awesome town.

[Griff]

What NH's booze policy? Isn't it all state owned and operated and used to replace other forms of taxation?

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Undertoad
The wife and I visted Portsmouth last year, and what an awesome town.

I think I mentioned this before, but my parents have friends in York, ME, just across from Portsmouth. We're going up to Boston for my cousin's wedding in October, and we'll probably go up to NH and ME for a day as well. (Which is cool of course b/c those are two states I have not yet been to.)

[dasviper]

Originally posted by Griff
What NH's booze policy? Isn't it all state owned and operated and used to replace other forms of taxation?

As a college student in New Hampshire (Dartmouth), I'll field this one... Beer and wine are sold at convenience stores and grocery stores. Hard stuff is sold at state-run liquor outlets (including a couple of mega-booze stores at rest areas on route 93... go figure). On on the other hand, there is no general sales tax. To this day, NH license plates read "Live Free or Die", and we mean it.

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by Griff
In a moment of madness the Griffs decided to ride 150 miles in two days to fight multiple sclerosis. If anyone would like to make a pledge, we'd appreciate it.

The City-to-Shore? Say hi as you peddle by: I'm one of the radio operators on the route, just outside of Hammonton on Saturday, at the end of that long, straight run on 8th Avenue, I think it is .

On Sunday, I'm at mile 48.6 inside Hammondton proper, making sure that folks make that left turn to take Plymouth Road out of town...and warning that there's alway a pile of "Gravel!" there.

[Griff]

We're doing the Finger Lakes Tour which starts and finishes at Seneca Falls (New York). I haven't seen the exact route but it'll be through wine country around the lakes. Radio volunteer, thats pretty cool, I guess these rides really require a lot of help. This is our first supported tour, so this will be a different experience.

[CharlieG]

Originally posted by Griff
...snip... Radio volunteer, thats pretty cool, I guess these rides really require a lot of help. ...snip...

Griff,
Yes it is - I helped out on the NYC 5 Boro (sic) Bike Tour, the Manhattan MS walk, the Governor's Island Regatta so far this year, and will probably be out for a bunch of other events. Some of these events take dozens of radio operators

The big daddy is, of course, the NYC Marathon. That usually takes close to 500 ham radio operators to pull off. That event is arranged by one of my co-workers (Steve W2ML). Any hams who want to be in NYC on Nov 3, let me know

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by Griff
Radio volunteer, thats pretty cool, I guess these rides really require a lot of help.

Yes, there's lots of support required: rest stops, "sag wagons", cycle repair trucks, and the radio operators, who provide communications along the route. An in-place network of radio opoerators who already know radio network procedures and how to operate their equipment is a pretty valuable thing. If you 've ever listened in on untrained volunteers trying to use, say, CB or FRS radios to do anything organized, you'll know what I mean.

Long sections of the Philadelphia City-to-Shore run are outside good cellphone coverage, and cellphones are far from an ideal communications medium when it comes to coordinating the efforts of a large number of stations...about 150 in our case, IIRC.

I know our riders are comforted when they pass by to know that they can get a message to the ride management or get a call for emergency medical help handled without a lot of confusion about what their exact location is and who should handle it. And if the ride management needs to get information out to the riders for some reason, *one* radio call gets it out to every operator on the route simultaneously.

[Griff]

Thats neat guys, its great that you help out like that. I'm hoping to have all the bugs out of our old road bikes by then but you never know whats around the bend.