Caption Contest

The Seeger Bridge

Pete Seeger, the famous folk singer and environmental activist, died this week.

Not many people know that Pete was also famous because of a bridge. Here is a picture of his banjo bridge…

The Seeger bridge

The "bridge" of Pete's banjo is somewhat unusual.

(For those unfamiliar with instruments like the banjo, the bridge is a piece of wood that sits on top of the head and transmits the vibrations from the strings that rest on top if it to the head and the rest of the banjo.)

The bridge on a banjo is usually a straight piece of wood, with 3 contact points, like this…

But the Seeger bridge has "outriggers" like this…

As I understand it, the point about the Seeger bridge is to excite a larger area near the center of the head than is possible with conventional style banjo bridges.



Now there is a proposal to name another bridge after Pete Seeger.

There is an old bridge called the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River north of New York City.

But the current Tappan Zee Bridge was built in the Korean War and was only designed to last 50 years. It carries much more traffic than it was designed for and it is crumbling. It has been called "one of the most decrepit and potentially dangerous bridges" in the US. Anything from further corrosion to a minor earthquake or a maritime accident could bring it tumbling down.

So the good people in New York State are building a brand new bridge across the Tappan Zee.

As you probably know, for almost the last 50 years of his life Pete was active in promoting action to clean up the Hudson River through the the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization, dealing with everything from PCB contamination of the river caused by industrial manufacturing, to pesticide runoff, to harbor dredge spoil disposal.

Everyone who enjoys water sports on the Hudson owes Pete Seeger a huge debt of thanks.

And now we can thank him, posthumously, in a very special way.

Let's name the new Tappan Zee Bridge after Peter Seeger. What could be more appropriate?

The current Tappan Zee Bridge is really called the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.

Do you really want the new bridge to be called the Governor Andrew Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge? Or would you prefer the Governor Elliot Spitzer Tappan Zee Bridge?

It should be the Seeger Bridge.

The Seeger Bridge?

If you agree, then please go and sign the online petition at

https://www.change.org/petitions/gov-cuomo-name-the-new-tappan-zee-bridge-for-pete-seeger

Peter Seeger deserves to be commemorated by something more significant than a banjo bridge.

'Straya

The Unsuccessful Self Treatment of a Case of Writer's Block

Caption Contest

Go Amy!

Congratulations to Amy Cox of Barbados for winning the Radial fleet at the 2014 Caribbean Laser Midwinters in Cabarete, Dominican Republic this weekend.

I stole the picture of Amy from Scuttlebutt.  Isn't it just the perfect picture to explain why Laser sailing is so much fun and why many more attractive young ladies should participate in our sport?



Also from Scuttlebutt is this picture of a start at the same event, with #187944 Ari Barshi either pulling off a perfect pin-end start or perhaps a perfect OCS. Whatever!

My friend Peter Seidenberg was a very close second to Amy in the Radial fleet. I can't find any photos of him sailing, so I will just have to post this one of him (on the left) eating a hot dog at the Eze Bar on the first day of the regatta.

Isn't it just the perfect picture to explain why eating hot dogs and hanging out at the Eze Bar is so much fun and why many more attractive young ladies should participate in this sport?

Nuts

Laser frostbiting at Winthrop MA last Sunday.

First Day of Spring

Can you see what I see?

Yes! The daffodils are coming up in our garden.

It's an interesting biological fact that daffodils are as smart as some human beings, at least when it comes to forecasting the weather. Daffodils are the dolphins of the bulbous perennial world. These little shoots, spotted Wednesday morning, are clear and irrefutable evidence that Spring is here. No more winter. No more icy cold weather. No more snowstorms. You can't argue with the daffodils.



So I went sailing.

I hitched up my Laser and went over to Bristol.

The temperature was in the mid 40s and the wind around 5-8 knots.

Perfect Spring sailing weather.



While I was rigging, a cyclist about my age came over to look at my boat (as they do.)

He didn't say what cyclists usually say. ("Is that a Sunfish?") He actually knew it was a Laser.

He had what sounded to me like an Australian accent and he said that he used to sail a Tasmanian Tiger. He implied it was similar to a Laser.

I had never heard of a Tasmanian Tiger. I had to look it up on the Wikipedia afterwards. Apparently it is now extinct.

Tasmanian Tiger

Not a Laser

Not a tiger

Now extinct

Then I had a wonderful sail on the harbor.

There wasn't a single boat on the moorings.

There wasn't any other boat of any kind on the harbor all the time I was sailing.

Perfect solitude!



Towards the end of my sail I saw several skeins of geese winging across the sky.

It's an interesting biological fact that geese are as smart as some human beings, at least when it comes to forecasting the weather. Geese are the dolphins of the waterfowl world. These skeins of geese were clear and irrefutable evidence that Spring is here. No more winter. No more icy cold weather. No more snowstorms. You can't argue with the geese.

Viking Vareo

I found another blog to follow... Viking Vareo.

It's about another singlehanded sailor who, in some ways, is a lot like me.



He is a Viking... like me. Well actually he probably has a better claim than me to call himself a Viking, even if I did officially change my name to Tillerman Bloodaxe. He lives in Sweden and his name is Per Åkesson. That little circle above the A definitely makes that an authentic Viking name, doesn't it?

He used to sail a Laser, but he says he was never very good at it… like me.

He enjoys sailing a singlehanded boat with an asymmetric spinnaker… like me. Except he actually went and did something about it and bought one.

He sails an RS Vareo… like me. OK. OK. I only sailed a Vareo on vacation but at least it means I can understand what he is writing about and relate to it.

He likes to go off and cruise around in his boat by himself and try to improve his skills. Just like me.

Did I mention we are both Vikings?



Check out Viking Vareo.

Pufferfish Drug Scandal

Back in November I wrote 5 Amazing Facts About Pufferfish.

Well, the Pufferfish continues to amaze us, and I should have made it SIX amazing facts.



Apparently, young dolphins have been observed purposefully and carefully chewing Pufferfish to get high.

Yes, just like the behavior of certain young humans.

What? Don't they know that the Pufferfish releases a deadly toxin that can be fatal?



The behavior was captured by filmmakers during the creation of a BBC One documentary series. According to Rob Pilley, a zoologist who worked as a producer for the series...

This was a case of young dolphins purposely experimenting with something we know to be intoxicating. After chewing the puffer gently and passing it round, they began acting most peculiarly, hanging around with their noses at the surface as if fascinated by their own reflection.

Who would have thunk it?



The original story can be found at Puff, puff, pass: Young dolphins deliberately chew puffer fish to get high with each other.

And here is a video of those naughty young dolphins getting high...

 


What do you think?

Is this the most amazing Pufferfish story of the week, or what?