Columns
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•February 21, 2024
Gulf Stream Becomes Hot Topic; Infrasound Resounds Throughout Oceanic Realm
There’s quite an in-genre brouhaha forming over, of all things, a warm oceanic current. It is quite a current, though, especially from our point of view. Enter the Gulf Stream, though it may be…
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•February 21, 2024
Final Decision in One Man’s Hands
At the base of Barnegat Lighthouse there is a bust of its designer, Gen. George G. Meade. Few people realize there wouldn’t be a lighthouse or monument if not for the decision of one man, Gen.…
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•February 21, 2024
Could There Be New Category for Hurricanes? Tropic Talk During Long Days of Winter
I recently reread a column that I penned back in October 2016. A formidable Hurricane Matthew, a massive spinner that reached winds of 165 mph in the Atlantic and would tear a vicious path through…
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•February 15, 2024
How Legends Are Made: Behind the Scenes, in the Studio
What a weekend for music … and rumor has it there was also a major sports game? While super fans around the nation were looking forward to the “Bob Weir vs. Taylor Swift” Super Bowl, with Rolling…
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•February 14, 2024
AI Goes Natural, Offering Quiet Ways to Watch Wildlife; Gig Economy Not New to the Island
Artificial intelligence is rushing to the wildlife conservation rescue. It’s especially showing in Ecuador, where scientists have set up advanced recording devices capable of gathering wildlife…
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•February 14, 2024
Bitter Battle to Save ‘Barney’ Continues
Walking around Barnegat Lighthouse today cannot give you a picture of what it was like 100 years ago. If you walk around the base of the lighthouse, you realize how close Barnegat Inlet has eroded…
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•February 8, 2024
Second LBI Songwriter Showcase Huge Success; Yours Truly Shares on Air
Last weekend, Chris Fritz’ LBI Singer/Songwriter Showcase was a wild success, adding another full set and two additional musicians to the lineup. Teaming up with Jetty Rock Foundation served the…
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•February 7, 2024
Sea Surface Temperatures Now Hot Under the Collar; The European Model Rocks the Forecasting Runway
As fun-loving crazies ready themselves to take the annual St. Francis Parish Polar Plunge into 40-degree LBI waters, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is on the brink of…
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•February 7, 2024
No Matter How Much You Love This Island, There Are Times to Get Away
For as ripe as 2024 started out, it’s gone rotten pretty darn quick. We went from a barrage of giant swells and classic late-season fishing to an icy bay and soggy meteorological misery real quick.…
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•February 7, 2024
Barnegat Lighthouse Still in Peril
For anyone familiar with Long Beach Island or the Jersey Shore in general, Barnegat Lighthouse is part of the culture. Today if this symbol were threatened by man or nature, we would expect the…
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•January 31, 2024
Keeping Up With Spongy Political Correctness; Turbines Make a Sudden Move Offshore
I’m required to pass on a series of late-breaking political correctnesses. Hey, you come up with a better word to cover more than one example of political correctness.
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•January 31, 2024
Incredible Survival of ‘USS Shenandoah’
In January 1924 in preparation for a polar expedition, the dirigible USS Shenandoah was moored to its 160-foot-tall mast for a series of tests to see if she could withstand a violent storm. As…
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•January 30, 2024
‘Hallucinate’ Within an Arriving Word-of-Year Flood; Looking for the Toothiest Critters on the Planet
Hey, Dictionary.com, after much word-usage analysis, has chosen “hallucinate” as its 2023 “word of the year.”
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•January 25, 2024
A Couple More MegaSwells and a Milestone; Seeing Where El Niño Takes Us
Thirty-three degrees and raining might be about the most miserable weather New Jersey can get.
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•January 24, 2024
Cast Adrift in the Storm
During January 1924, a strong nor’easter was battering the Jersey Shore. At Lakehurst, the 680-foot-long dirigible Shenandoah was anchored to its almost 200-foot-high mooring tower like a giant…
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•January 20, 2024
We’re Getting Blown Away by the Weather; Island Towns Seeking Sand Renourishment
The weather is well worth a columnistic mention. We’ve gotten meteorologically bounced about of late, particularly by the wind gods … and goddesses. Again, maintaining my political correctness.
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•January 17, 2024
How Safe Is Dirigible Flight?
With the christening of the ZR-1 with the name Shenandoah at Lakehurst in the fall of 1923, the nation’s love affair with the American-made dirigible began. As the airship made its early flights…
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•January 12, 2024
Old Year Goes Out With Historic Monster Swell; January Wave Train Continues
Well, it has been a minute since the last Liquid Lines. I fully admit that was me picking up my dried-out old fir tree off the bridge last Friday when it bounced out of the bed of my truck (much…
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•January 10, 2024
Are You a True History Buff?
The annual two-week vacation for those who produce The SandPaper and the 200 Plus history column is over. After basking in the warmest Christmas and New Year’s in recent memory, it’s back to work…
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•January 10, 2024
Something Familiar-Looking About 2024; Taking Shots at Arriving New Year
It’s 2024 but, to date, it’s the spitting image of late 2023. What’s up with that? Nonetheless, I’m keeping an eye on 2024 just in case it makes some sort of sudden unexpected moves.
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•December 20, 2023
The Year Is Gone With a Snap of a Finger; Getting a Whole New Look at Viewsheds
Wow. The year 2023 went by like that – as I make a finger snap motion. Which begs some early-on columnistic minutiae.
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•December 20, 2023
Time to Crack the Books
With the end of the calendar year, the SandPaper staff is given two weeks to rejuvenate and regroup. But faithful readers of the column 200 Plus are not given that break because that time is to be…
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•December 14, 2023
If November Is ‘Happy’ Version of Winter, December Is Merry
When I was a kid, we wrote letters to Santa. So we were a little surprised when we recently got an unprompted letter from Santa in October.
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•December 14, 2023
Possible End to Limulus Bloodletting; Seeing Reforestation Through the Trees
I think I’ll start with some good news for Limulus. No, not Linus, though we are quickly moving in on a Charlie Brown Christmas.
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•December 13, 2023
Lighthouse Fight Goes to Washington
As Christmas of 1923 approached, the defenders of Barnegat Lighthouse were hoping for a miracle. While Congress had allocated $100,000 to protect the lighthouse from the encroaching tides, a…
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•December 7, 2023
Time to Pencil in ‘The South Ocean,’ Bassing Goes Beyond Times Long Ago
I got an excited call from Antarctica. It’s ecstatic over finally getting its own ocean. With help from prestigious scientists at National Geographic along with many highly community-oriented…
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•December 6, 2023
Lighthouse Fight Goes to the Wire
One hundred years ago this month, Barnegat Lighthouse faced the greatest threat to its existence since its lighting before the Civil War. The threat wasn’t from a nor’easter or even a hurricane; it…
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•November 30, 2023
How to Stay Warm With Winter Activities; Waves to Be More Than Thankful for Last Week
These next few weeks are what we refer to as “happy winter” – cold but not frozen, with the charm of the season. Beyond that is real winter – more bitter, less charming and much, much longer.
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•November 29, 2023
Bureaucrat Blocks Lighthouse Rescue
The story of how Barnegat Lighthouse went from being a major beacon for East Coast mariners to New Jersey’s smallest state park is one of backroom politics complete with heroes and villains.
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•November 22, 2023
LBI Isolated in the 1930s
Today on Long Beach Island we are part of the modern world. We have access to all the marvels of Wi-Fi, cable, cellphones and the services provided by progressive government. But not long ago, a trip…
