Showing posts with label martha's vineyard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martha's vineyard. Show all posts

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Tropical Storm Watch For Cape Cod, Islands, South Coast, (parts of) South Shore


The situation is going downhill quickly, as they say.

Tropical Storm Hermine emerged off of the Carolina coast as a strong tropical storm, and is forecast to regain hurricane status as it meanders around just south of us.

We could be in for several days of high surf and beach erosion. Like a nor'easter, this storm will aim 4-8 mean tides at Massachusetts beaches.

The National Weather Service has issued a Tropical Storm Watch (meaning that Tropical Storm conditions are possible within 48 hours) for all of the South Coast, both islands, Cape Cod and extreme Southern Plymouth County.

Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury and points north are not currently under any watches or warnings from the NWS, but that could change with their 5 PM update.

We urge our readers to take whatever precautions are necessary, especially if you are on the coast. Seas will build for several days, and will have some fierce winds behind them.

It's looking like a Sunday night arrival, with a terrible Monday, a rotten Tuesday, and an improving but still coastal-floodish Wednesday and perhaps Thursday.

Two important things to keep in mind:

1) Hurricane Irene barely touched us, and some places had no power for 2 weeks.

and

2) A slight, and I mean slight westward jiggle of the track gives us a direct hit of a powerful tropical storm on Nantucket, and a slightly northern jiggle gives in a Barnstable/Chatham landfall.

Happy Labor Day! We'll be back with many updates.

Add caption
**TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTH COASTS OF RHODE
ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS INCLUDING THE ISLANDS**

NEW INFORMATION
---------------

* CHANGES TO WATCHES AND WARNINGS:
- A TROPICAL STORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR SOUTHERN BRISTOL
MA...SOUTHERN PLYMOUTH MA...BARNSTABLE MA...DUKES
MA...NANTUCKET MA...SOUTHEAST PROVIDENCE RI...EASTERN KENT
RI...BRISTOL RI...WASHINGTON RI...NEWPORT RI AND BLOCK ISLAND RI

* CURRENT WATCHES AND WARNINGS:
- A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHERN BRISTOL
MA...SOUTHERN PLYMOUTH MA...BARNSTABLE MA...DUKES
MA...NANTUCKET MA...SOUTHEAST PROVIDENCE RI...EASTERN KENT
RI...BRISTOL RI...WASHINGTON RI...NEWPORT RI AND BLOCK ISLAND RI

* STORM INFORMATION:
- ABOUT 450 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NANTUCKET MA
- 36.1N 75.2W
- STORM INTENSITY 65 MPH
- MOVEMENT EAST-NORTHEAST OR 60 DEGREES AT 15 MPH

SITUATION OVERVIEW
------------------

SITUATION OVERVIEW

TROPICAL STORM HERMINE WILL AFFECT THE RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS
SOUTH COAST WITH WIND...ROUGH SURF...DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS AND BEACH
EROSION. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTH COASTS
OF RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS INCLUDING BLOCK ISLAND...MARTHA/S
VINEYARD...NANTUCKET AND CAPE COD. TROPICAL STORM FORCE CONDITIONS ARE
MOST LIKELY FROM LATE SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. SINCE HERMINE IS
EXPECTED TO STALL SOUTH OF NEW ENGLAND...SQUALLS WITH TROPICAL STORM
FORCE GUSTS MAY AFFECT THE RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS SOUTH COAST
THROUGH MID WEEK.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS MAY ARRIVE ACROSS BLOCK ISLAND...MARTHA/S
VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND SPREAD ALONG THE THE
SOUTH COAST FROM WESTERLY RHODE ISLAND TO CHATHAM MASSACHUSETTS
SOMETIME SUNDAY EVENING. WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 40 AND 50 MPH ALONG THE
IMMEDIATE SOUTH COAST AND ISLANDS MAY DOWN SOME TREES AND LARGE
BRANCHES WITH SCATTERED POWER OUTAGE. SOME TREES MAY BE MORE
SUSCEPTIBLE TO WIND DAMAGE DUE TO STRESS FROM DROUGHT CONDITIONS.

ALONG THE SHORE...DANGEROUSLY ROUGH SURF AND LIFE THREATENING RIP
CURRENTS ARE LIKELY SUNDAY INTO THE MIDDLE PART OF NEXT WEEK...
ESPECIALLY ALONG RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS SOUTH COAST BEACHES. A
STORM SURGE OF 2 TO 3 FEET MAY OCCUR DURING THE SUNDAY NIGHT AND
MONDAY HIGH TIDES ALONG THE RHODE ISLAND COAST FROM WESTERLY TO POINT
JUDITH. A 1 TO 2 FOOT STORM SURGE IS LIKELY ALONG THE REST OF THE
RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS SHORELINES. HIGH SURF ON TOP OF THE
ELEVATED WATER LEVELS MAY CAUSE MINOR TO MODERATE BEACH EROSION ALONG
THE RHODE ISLAND COAST BETWEEN WESTERLY AND POINT JUDITH INCLUDING THE
MISQUAMICUT BEACH AND CHARLESTOWN AREAS. MINOR BEACH EROSION IS
POSSIBLE ALONG THE REST OF THE OCEAN EXPOSED RHODE ISLAND AND
MASSACHUSETTS SHORELINES.

A FEW HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK
ACROSS RHODE ISLAND AND SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS...BUT FLOODING OF
STREAMS AND RIVERS APPEARS UNLIKELY AT THIS TIME.

POTENTIAL IMPACTS
-----------------

* WIND: PREPARE FOR DANGEROUS WIND HAVING POSSIBLE SIGNIFICANT
IMPACTS ACROSS THE SOUTH COAST. POTENTIAL IMPACTS IN THIS AREA
INCLUDE:

- SOME DAMAGE TO ROOFING AND SIDING MATERIALS, ALONG
WITH DAMAGE TO PORCHES, AWNINGS, CARPORTS, AND SHEDS. A FEW
BUILDINGS EXPERIENCING WINDOW, DOOR, AND GARAGE DOOR FAILURES.
MOBILE HOMES DAMAGED, ESPECIALLY IF UNANCHORED. UNSECURED
LIGHTWEIGHT OBJECTS BECOME DANGEROUS PROJECTILES.

- SEVERAL LARGE TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED, BUT WITH GREATER
NUMBERS IN PLACES WHERE TREES ARE SHALLOW ROOTED. SEVERAL FENCES
AND ROADWAY SIGNS BLOWN OVER.

- SOME ROADS IMPASSABLE FROM LARGE DEBRIS, AND MORE WITHIN URBAN
OR HEAVILY WOODED PLACES. A FEW BRIDGES, CAUSEWAYS, AND ACCESS
ROUTES IMPASSABLE.

- SCATTERED POWER AND COMMUNICATIONS OUTAGES,
BUT MORE PREVALENT IN AREAS WITH ABOVE GROUND LINES.

* FLOODING RAIN:
LITTLE TO NO IMPACTS ARE ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME ACROSS
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND.

* TORNADOES:
LITTLE TO NO IMPACTS ARE ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME
ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS
----------------------------------

* EVACUATIONS:

IF YOU ARE EXCEPTIONALLY VULNERABLE TO WIND OR WATER HAZARDS FROM
TROPICAL SYSTEMS, CONSIDER VOLUNTARY EVACUATION, ESPECIALLY IF
BEING OFFICIALLY RECOMMENDED. RELOCATE TO A PREDETERMINED SHELTER
OR SAFE DESTINATION.

IF EVACUATING AWAY FROM THE AREA OR RELOCATING TO A NEARBY
SHELTER, LEAVE EARLY BEFORE WEATHER CONDITIONS BECOME HAZARDOUS.

* OTHER PREPAREDNESS INFORMATION:

NOW IS THE TIME TO CHECK YOUR EMERGENCY PLAN AND TAKE NECESSARY
ACTIONS TO SECURE YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. DELIBERATE EFFORTS SHOULD
BE UNDERWAY TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY. ENSURE THAT YOUR
EMERGENCY SUPPLIES KIT IS STOCKED AND READY.

WHEN MAKING SAFETY AND PREPAREDNESS DECISIONS, DO NOT FOCUS ON THE
EXACT FORECAST TRACK AS THERE ARE INHERENT FORECAST UNCERTAINTIES
WHICH MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

IF YOU LIVE IN A PLACE THAT IS PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE TO HIGH WIND,
SUCH AS A MOBILE HOME, AN UPPER FLOOR OF A HIGH RISE BUILDING, OR ON
A BOAT, PLAN TO MOVE TO SAFE SHELTER. TAKE ENOUGH SUPPLIES FOR YOU
AND YOUR FAMILY FOR SEVERAL DAYS.

ALWAYS HEED THE ADVICE OF LOCAL OFFICIALS AND COMPLY WITH ANY ORDERS
THAT ARE ISSUED. DO NOT NEEDLESSLY JEOPARDIZE YOUR LIFE OR THE LIVES
OF OTHERS.

WHEN SECURING YOUR PROPERTY, OUTSIDE PREPARATIONS SHOULD BE CONDUCTED
AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BEFORE CONDITIONS DETERIORATE. THE ONSET OF
STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN CAN CAUSE CERTAIN PREPAREDNESS
ACTIVITIES TO BECOME UNSAFE.

BE SURE TO LET FRIENDS AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS KNOW OF YOUR
INTENTIONS AND WHEREABOUTS FOR SURVIVING THE STORM. FOR EMERGENCY
PURPOSES, HAVE SOMEONE LOCATED AWAY FROM THE THREATENED AREA SERVE AS
YOUR POINT OF CONTACT. SHARE VITAL CONTACT INFORMATION WITH OTHERS.
KEEP CELL PHONES HANDY AND WELL CHARGED.

BE A GOOD SAMARITAN AND CHECK ON THOSE WHO MAY NOT BE FULLY AWARE OF
THE SITUATION OR WHO ARE UNABLE TO MAKE PERSONAL PREPARATIONS.

VISITORS TO THE AREA SHOULD BECOME FAMILIAR WITH NEARBY SURROUNDINGS.
IF YOU ARE A VISITOR, KNOW THE NAME OF THE COUNTY OR PARISH IN WHICH
YOU ARE LOCATED AND WHERE IT IS RELATIVE TO CURRENT WATCHES AND
WARNINGS. IF STAYING AT A HOTEL, ASK THE MANAGEMENT STAFF ABOUT THEIR
ONSITE DISASTER PLAN. LISTEN FOR EVACUATION ORDERS, ESPECIALLY
PERTAINING TO AREA VISITORS.

CLOSELY MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS FOR
OFFICIAL STORM INFORMATION. LISTEN FOR POSSIBLE CHANGES TO THE
FORECAST.

* ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
- FOR INFORMATION ON APPROPRIATE PREPARATIONS SEE READY.GOV
- FOR INFORMATION ON CREATING AN EMERGENCY PLAN SEE GETAGAMEPLAN.ORG
- FOR ADDITIONAL DISASTER PREPAREDNESS INFORMATION SEE REDCROSS.ORG

NEXT UPDATE
-----------

THE NEXT LOCAL STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE IN TAUNTON MA AROUND 230 PM, OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.




Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Breaking News: Secret Martha's Vineyard Meeting Between Obamas And Clintons

picture from ABC 

Cranberry County Magazine is hardly a media conglomerate. However, we do have our spies. From Fall River to Falmouth, from Weymouth to Wellfleet... we have eyes everywhere. We even have some people on Martha's Vineyard. which is where today's story comes from.

Several sources have reported that a heavily disguised Hillary Clinton arrived in Martha's Vineyard yesterday for a clandestine meeting with President Barack Obama.

The meeting between the standing President and the 2016 election front-runner happened at Detente, a tony Edgartown bistro. While the restaurant was cleared out by the Secret Service (several patrons had to be stomped and tasered), the food doesn't cook and serve itself, and you'd be amazed at what a waitress will admit to having heard if you pay for her cocaine over 29 hours.

The gist of the story is that Obama and his former SecState are preparing an October Surprise... not just to knock Donald Trump out of the race, but to inflict massive damage upon the GOP as a whole.

Here are the basics of it:

The ascension of a former Wrestlemania participant (and, unlike when Minnesota elected Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the GOP has chosen a grappler with no political experience) to the head of the GOP has presented the Libbers with the opportunity to win not only 2016, but a whole generation.

Trump overwhelmed an underwhelming GOP field in the primaries, seized the nomination over the efforts of his own party, humbled the beaten-down House Speaker and now makes GOP policy off of the top of his head over Twitter.

What primarily drives Trump is his ego. That ego is the Maginot Line into which Clinton and Obama will launch their drang nach westen.

Trump rode a wave of discontent into the GOP nomination. He did a lot of insult comic work, made some outrageous promises, singled out some unpopular minorities and belittled the liberals. That works when fishing for votes in the banjo states, but it doesn't seem to be gaining momentum nationally.

People are looking at Trump vs Hillary and they are using the L word. Not love, not liberal, not lesbian, not Latino... but Landslide. Many/most polls are giving Clinton a double digit lead, and a notoriously sexist Trump is faced with the prospect of getting a nation-wide bitch-slapping from a Pantsuit Patty.

It can only get worse. Clinton, a more nuanced pol than Donald (low bar, granted) was vetted for free by the GOP for the last 4 years or so. They went at her with both fists, and their efforts (which have now sunk into conspiracy theories that have Hillary as a serial killer with 40-50 victims) currently have her as a double-digit favorite.

Hillary is also not in office now, and can create no more disasters that she may need to defend herself from. Her reputation is as low as it is going to get. She'd be very well-served by just hiding from now until November, something that her disguised arrival on the Vineyard yesterday (she was dressed as R&B diva Mary J. Blige) points to. Keep in mind that "as low as her reputation can get" today means "10 point lead in the polls."

Trump, meanwhile, seems to be about as high as he's going to get. He has the billionaire vote, he should own the gun vote, he is the main man of the anti-immigrant crowd, and he is by far the more charismatic candidate ( in the words of some comic I wish I could remember the name of, when Hillary appears on television she involuntarily and unconsciously makes your mouse hand start sliding to the SKIP THIS AD part of the screen  even if Hillary isn't being broadcast on your computer). This seems to be good for 35-45% of the national vote... if you believe in today's polling methods.

Trump seems to have political ADHD. He picks fights with the parents of dead soldiers. He somehow has polled a negative 5%  among Latinos. You can check out his (third) wife's nude pics online, there may even be some lesbian stuff. He mocks the handicapped, he belittles POWs, he seems to hate babies, and he still has 90 days or so to offend other groups of people. Most of his own party doesn't want anything to do with him.

He's not going to go much higher (unless he has an October Surprise of his own, of course), and the possibility of the bottom falling out is looming quite large. He could suffer a Nixon/McGovern 49-1 crusher, although the more likely result would be an LBJ/Goldwater-style blitz where Donald only wins Army Of Northern Virginia states.

Trump is a rich man, and the GOP is the rich man's party. If he steps up and Hillary slaps him down, he's not going to be able to show his face in any place fancier than an Arby's or a Golden Corrall. That's sort of his power base anyhow, but he didn't enter this campaign so that he can be the most popular guy at the KFC.

His best option at redemption among the billionaire crowd may indeed rest on preparing Ivanka for a 2024 catfight with the she'll-be-ready-by-then Chelsea Clinton. If his daughter becomes the second Trump to bow before a Clinton in combat, Donald may not be alive by the time that Barron is ready to take on the non-stoner Obama daughter in 2032.

Donald is that rare dog who finally caught the car he was chasing, only to be looking like a good bet to get pancaked by it.

He needs an Out, and he doesn't appear to have one at his disposal. This is something that was discussed in great detail, and it is why we have our entire staff staking out landing strips and docks on Martha's Vineyard right now. There are rumors that Trump is coming to town to try to get better terms.

The Clinton/Obama plan calls for Trump to drop out of the race. He will admit that he was a liberal sleeper agent all the time, and he will denounce a Republican Party that has crapped all over him anyhow. He will bury, by means fair and foul, anyone who may be written in as a last-second GOP candidate. He will drive a wedge between his voter base and the GOP, and his defection will be felt all the way down the ballot. He will do this on the first Monday of November.

To insure this plan, the Clinton/Obama axis is prepared to make the Donald an offer large enough to make refusal impossible. Among the terms of the deal will be:

- Immediate dismissal of any suits involving any Trump brand.

- While a Mexico wall will not be built, the entire southern borders running between California and Texas will be re-fashioned as a Komodo Dragon habitat.

- Overwhelming and decisive intervention in the Syrian and Iraqi civil wars. Donald Trump will be appointed as military governor in the newly-formed OPEC nation of "Syriraq." He will have no mandate other than to "clean this place up." All future oil revenue from Syriaq would go to pay the off the US federal debt.

- The White House will be bulldozed, and replaced with a Trump-designed modern building. No expense will be spared... diamond chandeliers, ivory doorknobs, gold walls, mink bathtubs..... you name it.

- The $500 bill will be re-introduced, and it will have Donald Trump on it. In honor of Cheeto Jesus, the bill will have an orange tint similar to that seen on the $500 bill in Monopoly.


Should Trump submit to the plan, the Democrats would seize control of political power for a generation. Hillary and Obama will set themselves up a dynasty that essentially runs from 1992 to 2048 or so, with a mere 8 year interruption of a dimwitted Bush failure.

By the time the GOP rebuilt itself, the libbers would have named all of SCOTUS justices, they'd have 100% tax reform, they'd have crushed Islam's baddest bad boys while concurrently scaring anyone else who may disagree with us, and they'd have liberal reforms in education, trade, science, energy and you name it. All of it would be dictated to us by five members of two families... and that is if Michelle doesn't throw herself into the mix.

As for Trump:

- His defection saves him from sending a 500 point Electoral College whipping through eternity with his name at the bottom. Ego problem, solved.

- It gives him some people to govern who he might just grow fond of over time... and perhaps even vice-versa. Donald does have an odd charisma. At worst, he keeps his promise to crush ISIS.

- He fixes the budget. Promise, kept.

- He gets to crumble up the Republican party that scorned him and toss it over his shoulder into the bonfire of history. Winning.

- He gets to claim Daddy status over whatever the GOP reforms itself into. More winning.

- While he doesn't stop illegal immigration, he insures that those who do make it here deserve to make it here. That's a semi-kept promise, not a bad thing to get from a politician or a businessman in this Year Of Our Lord 2016.

- He secures his tree-hugger bona fides by moving Komodo Dragons from "Threatened" status to the lesser-known "Amazingly well-fed" status. He never promised that, but it might help him with the jury of History.

- He becomes the immediate winner of Most Influential Private Citizen Ever. Ego, refreshed!

- His name replaces "Willie Horton" as the term for a political dirty trick. That's admirable, in some circles.

- While he never lives there, the White House becomes his house. He wins by Technicality.


Charles I would marvel at the decapitation strike that was discussed on Martha's Vineyard yesterday.


Thursday, July 14, 2016

Massachusetts Sharks In Our Archives

Eddie Fairweather be havin' fish or dinner!

We've been very Nature-oriented this summer. This pattern will continue, as several ideas we're kicking around involve oysters, foxes, bluefish, owls, stripers and God knows whatever else walks/swims/flies in front of one of our cameras.

You're going to get all of that soon enough, but today we're going to issue a recap/filler article about our toothiest locals. Great White Sharks own the news around here, even though more people are hurt by schnauzers than sharks in Massachusetts.

This will be our tenth article devoted to sharks, not a bad total at all for a publication in a region with an 100 day swimming season.

Rather than make you wade through our archives for some good ol' fashioned Shark Talk, we're going to give you a list of these articles for you to peruse easily from this very location here.

If you get through all of this and still need more Shark in your life, you should probably just open a wound in your skin and jump into the waters off of Monomoy. We probably have a few Shark articles lurking on Cape Cod TODAY or perhaps even AOL, but this is everything for which we'll get paid if you read it.

Apologies in advance if you see us re-telling a few stories or even telling the same story twice with different details. We have several authors on this site, and occasional short circuits will occur.

What If? A Cape Cod Shark Attack Fatality

I'm very much in Mayor Vaughn's camp on this one, as I feel that a fatal Outer Cape shark attack caught on video would end Cape Cod's status as a vacation destination.

We were actually wrong about this, at least as far as we have been able to prove. Sharks have attacked a couple of people in Truro and also said howdy-do to a couple of kayakers in Plymouth. It seemed to have no negative effect at all on the Cape's tourist flow.

Aim high, fall far.


Historical Massachusetts Shark Attacks

If you want to know your odds, you have to get the stats.

Location is everything in this category, too. Someone who had done no research most likely would not be able to guess where our three shark attack fatalities went down in the Bay State.

We branch out to include Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut and New York.


Great White Shark Spotted Off Duxbury Beach

This, and the Plymouth attack, brought it all home to the Irish Riviera that sharks are not solely the problem of Cape Cod. You're more likely to be killed by a shark on the bay side of Cape Cod than you are on the ocean side, and the same goes for the South Coast.

This was a brief article, written the instant I heard the news,and more of a warning to my friends and family who live on that beach. If I go to Thanksgiving and have to sit with a one-legged niece with a very personal Duxbury shark attack story, I will very much need my "Well, you should have checked my site updates" guilt-block.

Best line? "Wow, and I thought that Duxbury didn't get Cape traffic."


Ol' Toothy, The Kayak Eating Shark Of The Irish Riviera

We discuss a theory of ours, focusing on the possibility that Cape Cod Bay only had one shark. That's why we named him. We had some theory that he was a rogue, who split away from his posse off Chatham for some reason that probably makes perfectly good sense to a shark.

This theory, like many of my theories, was wildly off-base. Shark tagging and receiver buoys proved me wrong pretty much right away.

I'm pretty sure that this article at one point also included a Stacey-conducted interview with the shark who dumped those two girls out of the kayak off Manomet. We may have had to remove the interview, as the shark's frank talk on race (he prefers white meat) and age (he steals a Mark Leyner joke about brittle-boned/osteoperosis-having old people being crunchier to the shark) would have been  upsetting to a greater portion of our readership.

Best line? "I'm assuming that the shark was male. Boats are girls, Sharks are boys. That's how I roll."


How To Not Get Eaten By A Shark

This is important stuff to know if you plan to go into the water. In short, if it is at all possible to be attacked by a shark, there must exist steps which will lower those odds.

Some advice ("Don't swim where people are fishing") makes sense. Other advice ("Do nothing at all seal-like") we play off as a joke when the advice is actually sound. One ("Swim with people fatter than you") sounds like a joke but was not denied when I approached a nationally-known shark expert for his thoughts about my theory. Yet another ("Be local" ) is true factually, but true in a category with a body of evidence small enough to magnify coincidence.

"Follow these rules, and you'll have mad bread to break up. If not, 17 feet on the wake-up."


Sharks In Cape Cod Bay

Speaking of shark experts, we went to Duxbury  to attend a lecture by shark expert Dr.Gregory Skomal. He's the guy you see on te news, tagging sharks.

We got to ask him all of our stupid questions ("Have you ever met a friendly, seems-to-enjoy-hanging-with-people Great White Sharks?" and "Can you make a Great White Shark do tricks?"), and we got to hear more serous people ask more serious questions.

I'm pretty sure that I'm the only journalist on Earth to ask a shark expert, at length, to weigh in on Dr. Hooper's territoriality theory from Jaws. It turns out that true Territoriality involves one shark claiming an area and driving off other sharks, something which isn't happening around here.

Written during a blizzard, I might add.


Where Exactly Do Our Great White Sharks Hang Out?

Dr. Skomal's efforts do give us some amazingly valuable information. We know where they go in the winter, and we also know where they go when they are up here.

This article tells us where sharks were registered as having swam to. It also tells you how many (tagged) sharks are working any particular stretch of coast.

This is another wake-up call for the South Shore and even the North Shore. Sharks show up from Cape Ann to Cape Cod.

Cape Cod holds the title, no doubt. While Plymouth, Scituate and Duxbury combined for 200 shark tag signals, Chatham had over 14,000 in that same period. Granted, Dr. Skomal spends his days tagging off of Chatham and may never have set foot on the South Shore, 14,000 to 200 is a pretty wide gap.


Can Orcas Chase Our Sharks Away?

This was actually our last article. If you're reading this, you most likely read that. It involves yet another theory of mine.

I still think that a robotic Orca could be employed by Outer Cape towns to drive away the sharks. even if it didn't, there must be some cool use for a 40 foot mechanical Killer Whale.


Deep-Sea Surfcasting Methods

I think that this article, concerning inventions we're working on to allow even novice fishermen to make casts out to sea that would fly completely over small towns if they casted towards land, gets into shark-fishing at some point.

Our best idea involves hooking a shark with a chain that is attached to a Jeep. Dr. Skomal somehow was able to avoid my question about a huge shark taking on a Jeep in a tug-o-war.