Columns
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•February 2, 2021
Offering a Farewell to Germy Handshakes; Hoping Our Spring Bear Made the Right Moves
Let’s bid a fond farewell to the handshake, which has bowed out, giving way to the bumping of knuckles, the new proverbial fist bump. And handshakes may very well never return, especially after…
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•January 27, 2021
Ice Age Predicted by 2020
During the first half of the 20th century, scientists began to take notice that Earth’s climate was cooling. They made predictions that an ice age would approach in the distant future and that it was…
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•January 24, 2021
When Face Masks Will Fall From Grace; Inside Story of an LBI Whale Getting Blown Up Real Good
Using nonconventional calculation devices, I’ve scientifically determined how long we’ll have to remain masked … and it quickly got futuristic.
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•January 21, 2021
What Will the World Look Like Besides Cold and Waveless for LBI?
It’s a tough thing, predicting the future.
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•January 20, 2021
Ice Age or Global Warming?
Predicting the weather has never been easy and has become the foundation for countless jokes. But over the years as the science of meteorology has improved, so has our dependency on the accuracy of…
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•January 14, 2021
When Pickups Commence to Drinking; Circle Hooks Have Bassing Their Way
I’m always as sober as a snake is skinny. However, it seems I can’t say the same for my truck. That needs some explaining, with a touch Tom Waits music in the background, namely his song “The Piano…
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•January 13, 2021
How Well Did You Do?
Your time is up! This year you had only one week to find the answers to the annual 200 Plus history test … so if your score is not as high as in past years, you have an excuse.
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•January 9, 2021
Losing a Local Surfer; Winter of Waves and Embracing the Outdoors Like the Nordics
Boy, we were so excited to get into 2021 we could taste it … except we lost our sense of taste.
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•January 6, 2021
How Good Is Your Memory?
Most people would just like to forget the year 2020, but for The Sandpaper’s history column, there is one tradition that must carry on undeterred by world events.
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•January 6, 2021
Slowly We Turn, Step by Step We Approach; They Buried Buster the Baleen Far Too Fast
As a kid hereabouts, my bicycling buddies and I used to do something that has become hugely popular. We’d visit haunted abandoned houses, with which Route 9 was loaded back when. No, we weren’t…
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•December 17, 2020
Striped Bass Selfies Being Targeted by Bassarian; Poachers Can’t Escape Wildlife Violators Compact
As 2020 begins its much-hoped-for exit, a pop analysis indicates the Island is, indeed, more crowded than in Decembers past. To a burdensome degree, as some feared? That remains to be seen in a…
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•December 16, 2020
Would Earth Survive Halley’s Comet?
In 1910, Halley’s Comet was scheduled to return on its 76-year flight through the heavens. As the world prepared to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event, modern science announced it would be even more…
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•December 15, 2020
Learning the Mumblese Dialect; When Fishing Had No Impact on Fishes
I utilize the English language to the nth degree, professionally. Now, I’m being stunningly alerted to the fact I’m not nearly as adept as I thought at comprehending it, so to speak. It seems I’m…
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•December 14, 2020
So Many Coyote Experts; Big Swells to Kick Off Winter
If anyone is interested, I have a fantastic holiday gift idea. There’s always one person on your list who is never in need of anything.
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•December 9, 2020
Comet’s Coming Causes Panic
Halley’s Comet was predicted to be visible during the spring of 1910. The comet’s course brings it close to Earth once every 76 years, and throughout history it had been considered a bad omen. In the…
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•December 3, 2020
Here’s Looking at You, Mister Coyote; the Littering Ways of Shotgun Shells
I know I do the LBI coyote thing to death, though hopefully not to the death of ’yotes. There are plenty of them going to Wiley heaven via hunters around the state, most of whom kill coyotes for…
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•December 2, 2020
DDT Works – But at What Cost?
With the coming of October 1959, it appeared the Jersey Shore’s battle with sleeping sickness was about over. The Associated Press reported from Trenton on the first, saying, “No new suspected cases…
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•November 26, 2020
12 Weeks of Christmas; More Mild as We Enter Weekend of Thanks
So apparently, it’s Christmas. Has been for a while now; kind of eclipsed Halloween.
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•November 25, 2020
When Orcas Commence to Head Banging Boats; Eyes in the Skies Focus on Fishing Bad Guys
Here we go, headlong and bemasked, into what might be a protracted holiday season for many – should part-time residents hitch their vacation wagons to the state’s most perfect place to await…
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•November 25, 2020
Encephalitis Epidemic Spreads
With September 1959 coming to a close, politicians and health officials scrambled to deal with the deadly outbreak along the Jersey Shore of encephalitis, commonly known as “sleeping sickness.” On…
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•November 20, 2020
Send Six-Pack Holders Packing; Bigger Wind Farms on LBI Horizon
The sky is the limit … and the limiter. For the manyith week in a row, huge stripers are awaiting boat bassers. Some anglers are saying it’s bassing like they’ve never seen before, size-wise. Reports…
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•November 18, 2020
Fighting Back Too Little, Too Late?
In September 1959, the Jersey Shore came under attack from a mysterious disease. From Toms River south to Atlantic City, victims were struck down, falling into a coma followed quickly by death.
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•November 17, 2020
Important News Buried in Wild Year, More Tropic Topics and Famous Boards Visit LBI
(Light smattering of applause, some faint cheering through masks.)
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•November 14, 2020
Dazzling Weekend for the Anecdotal Record Books; Island Actually Growing in Face of Adversity
A page or two of anecdotal history was established last weekend. On the fishing front, it was as large a surfcasting gathering as we’ve seen, even dating back to the glory days of the then Striped…
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•November 11, 2020
‘Pesky Mosquitoes’ Bring Death to NJ
In September 1959, the Jersey Shore would go to war – not with Russia or U-boats, but against mosquitoes. During that summer, newspapers had reported cases in Korea of an insect-borne disease called…
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•November 5, 2020
Salmon Skin Chips a Tasteful Appreciation; Atlantic Brant, Survivors of Highest-Flying Order
With the election from Hades draining to a tenuous conclusion, we now embark on the final period of what seems an equally hellish 2020. Where the final weeks of this downright spooky year take us, is…
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•November 4, 2020
Sleeping Sickness Hits the Shore
As Labor Day 1959 marked the unofficial end to the summer season at the Jersey Shore, nobody suspected that within a few days Southern Ocean County would be featured in headlines around the world…
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•November 3, 2020
Modern Recovery Comes Within Ancient Horseshoe Crab Blood; Readying for the Autumnal Arrival of Bald Eagles and Snowy Owls
Anglers have been in quite the fog lately, as have folks using the Island for sundry purposes, like living. The frequent showing of ground-level clouds, aka fog, is simply not common for this time of…
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•October 28, 2020
Doobies on Ballot, Waves in Water, Election Season Almost Wrapped
I have to admit I thought I would hear more people talking about this: the legalization of ganja on the ballot in New Jersey. Makes you wonder if anyone has ever made the connection between surfing…
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•October 28, 2020
Tragic Accident Hits Jail
For years there had been discussions about how to deal with the overcrowded conditions at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, N.J. Then, on Aug. 23, 1959, the worst possible scenario played out. A…
