Columns
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•February 17, 2016
Bet You Can’t See Me, or My Lure; It’s Time to Take a Bite Out of Sharks
CLOAKING CLOTHING 101: Imagine dressing in a material that instantly converts your here-ness into gone-ness, just like that weird-glasses kid, Harry something, does when wrapping himself in his…
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•February 11, 2016
Perfect Time for Out-of-Body Escape; Shrimp Heads Gain Weight in China
My new motto for this winter on LBI: If you don’t like the weather, wait a day … it’ll get even worse.
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•January 20, 2016
Wind Beneath My Phobia; Bringing Bling to Cavewomen
ENCAPSULATE ME!: I was recently offered a free round-trip flight to a foreign fishing land from a rich buddy. I bowed out, using a lame accuse that I had somehow contracted just the smallest touch of…
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•January 14, 2016
It’s Time for the Reckoning
Last year I started off with the comment that December 2014 had been one of the warmest and wettest on record. Although the editor has been known to rerun articles, I will simply say I think I see a…
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•December 19, 2015
Your Christmas Trees Aren’t Ticking; Getting Only the Good Stuff From China
I have to begin by needling a new Christmas tree myth that has arisen this year. Actually, it might not be a bona fide myth as much as a misread, one that really bugs me because it has to do with a…
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•November 25, 2015
Barnegat Park, 1891: The Laborers’ ‘Riot’
January 1891 saw the apparent return of peace and quiet to Barnegat Park, the Army Navy retirement settlement in today’s Berkeley Township. The 60 Italian laborers who had rioted over not being paid…
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•October 21, 2015
Scientifically Snuffing a Comely Kingfisher; Time in a Cosmically Black Cave
GORGEOUS … KILL IT!: I was emailed a photo of a mesmerizingly colorful “new species” of kingfisher, called the moustached kingfisher – a name that elicits the look of a bird trying to hide by putting…
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•October 15, 2015
Eye-Opening Kite Event Truly Took Flight; Braking Beemer Sees Different Shade of Yellow
We all know the ho-hum motto “It’s Better in September.” But there’s a seldom-used sub-maxim, onea local chamber of commerceis not wild about this year: “It’s Iffy in October.”
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•September 30, 2015
Eclipse Had Excitement of Wet Paint; New Causeway Is for the Birds and Bikers
Did you catch that epic, full lunar eclipse on Sunday evening? As an AD/HD type, I hereafter know what to put between watching paint dry and waiting for water to boil. Sorry, but that was some boring…
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•September 23, 2015
This Sushi Is Whaley Bad; And Just Call It a Clock
A WHALE OF TROUBLE: I’ve only been to Santa Monica a few times but I can assure it is one of your consummate Cali towns – dripping in coolness, surfing, shopping and a West Coast ecological awareness…
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•September 17, 2015
Never Leave the Pen, Sulley, Never; The Sound of Maui Ants Marching
I want to begin this week by sending out a big “Nice try!” to Big Sulley for his great adventure/escape, which ended over the weekend.
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•September 9, 2015
Getting Slimy Rich Off Shark Skin; The Pinelands Are Spittin’ Cotton
That might have been the nicest Labor Day Weekend Sunday in the history of the world.
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•September 2, 2015
Better Check That Bag And Run; Let Me Know If You See a Tsunami
After writing about a lawsuit in which a movie chain won a suit lodged against it by a man who broke a tooth on unpopped popcorn, I somehow became the movie incident man. I recently began getting…
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•August 27, 2015
Sailors, Not Pirates, Loot Their Own Ship
In December 1834, John S. Darcy, U.S. marshal for New Jersey, had entered Barnegat Inlet aboard the armed revenue cutter Alert for the purpose of arresting dozens of people accused of being the…
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•August 20, 2015
It’s Anti-Radiation Skivvies Vs. Pocketed Cell Phones; Always Look for Typos to Prevent Shut From Happening
Cell phones are now the ultimate means of exchanging fishing news. Considering how intimate we’ve become with our cell phones, I need to now tenderly touch on a bodily zone near and dear to the…
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•August 12, 2015
Bitten by Fish and Popcorn Law; Networking in Search of New Sundew
FISH AND POPCORN, IMPERFECT TOGETHER: So you’re in the theater this week to see the first local showing of “Straight Outta Compton,” a movie you believe to be travelogue. To better appreciate the…
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•August 6, 2015
How to Become Hated by an Entire Planet; Groovy Rally to Ignore All LBI Speed Limits
After noisily slapping a black fly while crossing the beach on Sunday, I noticed a buncha nearby folks staring over at me, real hard. Then I had this blood-curdling thought: Holy, s***, did I just…
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•July 29, 2015
Rattlesnake Bite in the Bill; Sharks, Stingrays and Rover A-Swim
Here’s a wild-ride story that starts well within the natural realm but ends up with you writhing on the ground in financial pain. It’s also where nature and the nature of Mann mix it up.
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•July 16, 2015
Trying to Get Bike Thieves to Bite; Detroit Just Adores Its Jersey Seal
DEAD STICKING FOR THIEVES: We have a new brand of fishing surfacing in Long Beach Township. The quarry: Bike dogs. Say what?!
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•July 8, 2015
Can’t Take No Frackin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll; Garden State as ‘Least Liked’
I prefer thinking outside the box … unfortunately, they only let me out of the box on alternate Wednesdays and on special occasions. Such was the case last holiday weekend, when I was allowed out to…
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•June 30, 2015
Man o’ Wars Hot on Social Media; Island’s Clean Waters Have Dirty History
MAN O’ MEDIA WAR: Over a dozen LBI Portuguese man o’ war reports and sightings have crossed my desk – and dozens have come to life via Facebook.
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•June 25, 2015
Constitution‘s War Finally Over
In March 1815, Capt. Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution, who was born in Philadelphia but would live in Bordentown, N.J., for over 50 years, found himself in a dangerous position. The captain…
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•June 24, 2015
LBI’s Feral Cats Fading Away; Salt Assault on Biting Flies
PORTUGUESE MAN O’ WOW: While the average sea-creature-fearing person, hearing about a single Portuguese man o’ war washing up in Harvey Cedars, would swear off oceans until Portugal returns to…
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•June 17, 2015
Shark Bites Likely a Buncha Bull; Being Ambidextrous and Amphibious
SHARK BITE FRIGHT: The shark biting of a couple kids in North Carolina hits a little too close to home, by my bullish thinking.
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•June 10, 2015
Gold Ring Through the Nose; Those Needing Beach Replen 101
Before I get to very earthy stuff, including a Reader’s Digest version of the LBI beach replenishment project, I have to haul all ya’ll back into the freaky realm of engaging gamefish.
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•June 10, 2015
Old Ironsides Finds a Foe
The USS Constitution had set out on her final wartime voyage in mid-December 1814, shortly after the American delegates in Ghent, Belgium, signed a treaty ending the War of 1812. Capt. Charles…
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•June 4, 2015
Old Ironsides Goes Looking for a Fight
When you think of New Jersey’s early naval heroes, the names Lawrence, Bainbridge, and Somers are the first to come to mind. But the name Charles Stewart is usually associated with Philadelphia…
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•June 4, 2015
Southern Shore Counseling LLC Offers Support Group for Panic Disorder, Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Editor’s note: Mark Todd McFarlin of Southern Shore Counseling LLC in Manahawkin submitted the following to let folks know about the counseling center’s anxiety and panic disorder support group that…
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•June 3, 2015
Just Shoot Me Now, Bird Gals; Get That Sword Outta Here, Brah
CRUEL CORRECTION: A small flock of gals got their collective panties in a bunch over my mis-ID’ing of an egret, accidentally dubbing it a heron. My avian faux pas took place in here last week. It…
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•May 27, 2015
Dynamite in the Pines Ends With a Whimper
One of the great recurring stories of the Jersey Pine Barrens is the many attempts to profit from them, whether it’s from natural resources such as timber, iron and water or its remoteness. It was…
