QuoteScarlet Knight Makes Landfall in Spain
December 09, 2009
BAIONA, SPAIN – The Scarlet Knight, the first submersible robot glider to cross the Atlantic, made its formal entrance into the port of Baiona today, received by Spanish and American government officials, school children and the people of the town.
Baiona, a resort town of 11,000 in Galicia, is where the Pinta, one of Columbus's ships, made landfall at the end of the explorer's first voyage to America. It was thus the first town in the Old World to hear about the New World. A replica of the Pinta is docked at the municipal pier here. A replica of the Scarlet Knight now resides in the harbormaster's building and will eventually be part of a maritime museum.
Spain's minister of development, Jose Blanco, formally handed the glider over to an American delegation led by Richard Spinrad, assistant administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Jerry Miller, senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dean Robert M. Goodman of Rutgers' School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, were also part of the delegation, and made brief remarks.
Spinrad told a gathering in the harbormaster's building that he had challenged Scott Glenn, professor of marine science in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, to send a glider across the ocean in 2006. "Of course, I must admit that I made that challenge over a couple of bottles of wine in Lithuania," Spinrad said, referring to a meeting during an academic conference in that country. "But I have another challenge now: to send a glider on a circumnavigation. And I'm sober now."
A few minutes later, Goodman said, "On behalf of my colleagues, the guys and gals who have to pull this off, we accept your challenge."
Miller, in his remarks, singled out the Scarlet Knight's contribution to meeting that need. "It is especially gratifying that this craft – which is sharing with the world everything it learned on its historic voyage – is the epitome of the kind of transparency the Obama administration is committed to, in the firm belief that the best way for all of us to move ahead is to share information for the common good of all mankind."
Mayor Jesus Vasquez Almuina said the Scarlet Knight was as important to his town as the Pinta, and New Jersey was as important to Baiona as any part of the New World. "Baiona and New Jersey will be linked forever after this moment," the mayor said.
Later, several hundred fifth- and sixth-graders, teachers, parents and citizens gathered to wait for the submersible to come ashore. While a small boat brought the glider into the dock from the M/V Investigador, whose crew recovered the glider last week. The ship gave three long blasts on her horn, the people cheered, and Galician bagpipers struck up a tune. The people lined the old fortress wall as the Scarlet Knight was pulled on its trolley up to a dais on the yacht club's lawn. School children, ignoring their teacher's orders not to touch the glider, caressed it, pulled on it, patted it, moved its rudder back and forth, and ignored the speakers.
Among the honored guests was Doug Webb, a founder of Webb Research Inc., now Teledyne-Webb Research. He designed the Slocum Electric glider, of which the Scarlet Knight is the latest version. Webb, 80 years old and hard of hearing, did not speak at the ceremony, and was not interviewed by reporters. But at the end, when all the kids, their parents, the reporters and researchers had gone, he stayed a moment with the Scarlet Knight. "Quite a day," he said. "Quite a day."
This has been all over the news during the last week or so, as the place where it was picked up is right next to my hometown. In case there's any science nerd left around in the forum, somebody might be interested in this. ;)
Here's the blog of the Rutgers team working in the project:
http://scarletknightinspain.blogspot.com/ (http://scarletknightinspain.blogspot.com/)
In the second post (http://scarletknightinspain.blogspot.com/2009/12/telling-visual-story.html (http://scarletknightinspain.blogspot.com/2009/12/telling-visual-story.html)) you can get to see, in the background behind the sailing boats, the place where I work.
Cool, didn't realize you were right on the coast. Is your town called: Imboca? :cthulu:
Quote from: Caliga on December 10, 2009, 08:07:42 AM
Cool, didn't realize you were right on the coast. Is your town called: Imboca? :cthulu:
Hehe, nope, but a few years ago they shot a Lovecraft-themed horror movie in a city nearby, Combarro. :lol: :cthulu:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fconcurso2008.magazinedigital.com%2Fmedia%2Fg_377954868.JPG&hash=b747687ff7c5ca54d87e00226fad0483897ee3bb)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_wYXTH2zIoHM%2FR0pw_8Lg9II%2FAAAAAAAACTQ%2FAxYwX4yTPqA%2Fs320%2Fdagon%25252005.jpg&hash=84875c15c5d795eb52a4b5ff32d0c1a6b9e23caa)
Dude, I know... that's why I made the joke :lol:
I have that movie on DVD. That Spanish chick (Raquel Moreno?) is HOTT as all fuck.
Quote from: Caliga on December 10, 2009, 08:15:43 AM
Dude, I know... that's why I made the joke :lol:
I have that movie on DVD. That Spanish chick (Raquel Moreno?) is HOTT as all fuck.
Didn't remember that. :blush: And it's Raquel Meroño. ;)
Whatever :P I mean the chick in the pic you linked, not the fish woman... I found her eerie looking (which was no doubt what Stuart Gordon intended, but still...)
I wonder if Raquel Meroño is embarassed that she bared her breasts for at least 10 minutes total in that film given how badly it performed. Also it ended that old Spanish dude's career on a pretty weak note, kinda like Raul Julia's career ending with Street Fighter. :(
Go Big East!!!! :punk:
Let's see an SEC, ACC, or Big 12 school do that.
This thread is about Cthulhu. :mad:
Quote from: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 11:05:22 AM
Go Big East!!!! :punk:
Let's see an SEC, ACC, or Big 12 school do that.
Tebow would have walked across.
Quote from: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 11:05:22 AM
Go Big East!!!! :punk:
Let's see an SEC, ACC, or Big 12 school do that.
Our submersible robot glider kept getting sacked by Ndamukong Suh.
Quote from: Valmy on December 10, 2009, 11:09:58 AM
Quote from: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 11:05:22 AM
Go Big East!!!! :punk:
Let's see an SEC, ACC, or Big 12 school do that.
Our submersible robot glider kept getting sacked by Ndamukong Suh.
Not enough synergy.
QuoteMayor Jesus Vasquez Almuina said the Scarlet Knight was as important to his town as the Pinta, and New Jersey was as important to Baiona as any part of the New World. "Baiona and New Jersey will be linked forever after this moment," the mayor said.
Poor Galicia; that's just terrible.
Quote from: Lettow77 on December 10, 2009, 11:42:42 AM
QuoteMayor Jesus Vasquez Almuina said the Scarlet Knight was as important to his town as the Pinta, and New Jersey was as important to Baiona as any part of the New World. "Baiona and New Jersey will be linked forever after this moment," the mayor said.
Poor Galicia; that's just terrible.
:lol: Many foreigners don't seem to know NJ's reputation inside the US. When we picked up my wife's cousin from JFK a few years ago, she couldn't wait to get into New Jersey-- apparently she had it built up in her mind as some paradise simply because Jon Bon Jovi was from there.
So I made it a point to tell her we were in New Jersey when we crossed the Goethals Bridge into all the industrial ugliness on the Jersey side.
Quote from: derspiess on December 10, 2009, 12:18:17 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on December 10, 2009, 11:42:42 AM
QuoteMayor Jesus Vasquez Almuina said the Scarlet Knight was as important to his town as the Pinta, and New Jersey was as important to Baiona as any part of the New World. "Baiona and New Jersey will be linked forever after this moment," the mayor said.
Poor Galicia; that's just terrible.
:lol: Many foreigners don't seem to know NJ's reputation inside the US. When we picked up my wife's cousin from JFK a few years ago, she couldn't wait to get into New Jersey-- apparently she had it built up in her mind as some paradise simply because Jon Bon Jovi was from there.
So I made it a point to tell her we were in New Jersey when we crossed the Goethals Bridge into all the industrial ugliness on the Jersey side.
You just have to listen to some Springsteen lyrics to know that Jersey is a terrible place.
:mad:
Quote from: Caliga on December 10, 2009, 01:14:25 PM
:mad:
I still wonder why it gets called "The Garden State". When I went through it I could only see concrete. :P
Quote from: The Larch on December 10, 2009, 01:24:04 PM
I still wonder why it gets called "The Garden State". When I went through it I could only see concrete. :P
My uncle lives there and he has a garden. :)
Your uncle got to give the state its nickname? Wow!
Yep! They're getting ready to change the nickname to "The Cradle Robber State" though. Just FYI. :)
Quote from: The Larch on December 10, 2009, 01:24:04 PM
I still wonder why it gets called "The Garden State". When I went through it I could only see concrete. :P
I believe it comes from a Benjamin Franklin quote about the colony and I believe it was meant in a derogative way. It was something like 'New Jersey is like a garden where good food grows with its fence open at both ends, Pennsylvania gobbling the food at one end and New York on the other'.
Nah. Western NJ is total farm country and beautiful.
Quote from: The Larch on December 10, 2009, 08:16:29 AM
Quote from: Caliga on December 10, 2009, 08:15:43 AM
Dude, I know... that's why I made the joke :lol:
I have that movie on DVD. That Spanish chick (Raquel Moreno?) is HOTT as all fuck.
Didn't remember that. :blush: And it's Raquel Meroño. ;)
Like the sheep?
Quote from: Lettow77 on December 10, 2009, 11:42:42 AM
QuoteMayor Jesus Vasquez Almuina said the Scarlet Knight was as important to his town as the Pinta, and New Jersey was as important to Baiona as any part of the New World. "Baiona and New Jersey will be linked forever after this moment," the mayor said.
Poor Galicia; that's just terrible.
Lol. :D
Quote from: ulmont on December 10, 2009, 11:45:31 PM
Nah. Western NJ is total farm country and beautiful.
:huh: Do you mean like northwest Jersey? Western NJ is, like, Princeton and Trenton. AFAIK northwest Jersey is mostly forested hills and ridges, but I've not spent much time there.
Flemington is the area I was thinking of.
:huh: My experience with Flemington is that it's mostly antique stores and shit like that. Maybe it's surrounded by farms... can't remember, though I would have thought trees rather than farms. My mother used to go there all the time to spend my dad's money--I grew up like 20 minutes from there on the other side of the Delaware.
How would a submersible glider even work? :unsure:
These firsts really do get more and more obscure by the year.
Whatever next, first blue painted rowing boat made in Bristol to cross the Atlantic?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 11, 2009, 08:21:13 AM
How would a submersible glider even work? :unsure:
Marine currents.
Quote from: Caliga on December 11, 2009, 08:19:48 AM
:huh: My experience with Flemington is that it's mostly antique stores and shit like that. Maybe it's surrounded by farms... can't remember, though I would have thought trees rather than farms. My mother used to go there all the time to spend my dad's money--I grew up like 20 minutes from there on the other side of the Delaware.
Mostly dairy and horse farms.
QuoteWhile Hunterdon County has lost some of its scenic vistas of rolling cornfields and dairy barns, agriculture is still alive and well. Hunterdon County continues to have the largest land area of farms in the New Jersey: 160,000 farmland assessed acres. The average farm size is 80 acres according to the 1997 Census of Agriculture. There is a trend towards high value crops and specialty crops and animals, such as vegetables, horticulture and organic foods and herbs. Horse farms continue to be popular, hence the market for the County's large hay production.
http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/cadb.htm
Oh, you know what? I think I'm confusing Flemington with Lambertville. :blush:
Quote from: Caliga on December 11, 2009, 09:18:02 AM
Oh, you know what? I think I'm confusing Flemington with Lambertville. :blush:
They're both in Hunterdon County.
What's the town along the Delaware full of homos and antique shops? That's the one I'm thiking of. It's right across the river from New Hope.
Quote from: Caliga on December 11, 2009, 10:38:05 AM
What's the town along the Delaware full of homos and antique shops? That's the one I'm thiking of. It's right across the river from New Hope.
That looks like Lambertville, but Lambertville, "historic" Sergeantsville, and Flemington are all in the same area.