"Precious Cargo" at Save the River's Winter Weekend

If you happen to be heading to Clayton, NY, over February 5th - 7th, I'll be speaking at Save the River's 2010 Winter Weekend conference. I'll be presenting a shortened version of my "Precious Cargo" workshop as part of Saturday's lectures and presentations. It should be an interesting series of speakers, of which the keynote address will be by writer Jeff Alexander, author of Pandora's Locks.

recycledcarbon.com: forthcoming events

Because I'm often slow at updating my main website, recycledcarbon.com, I've decided to use this blog for my "Forthcoming Events" announcements. Check back from time to time to see what I'm doing as I wander around, from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region to the New York City area and beyond, picking up junk off the ground.

Two Barges, Same Tug

These are two images of the same tugboat, the Salvor, captured at different times and under very different conditions on the St. Lawrence River.






The first image is a collage of video stills taken of the Salvor and barge stuck on a shoal near the town of Alexandria Bay, NY, July 2004.














The second is of the Salvor pushing a different barge through rough water a half mile from the accident site, about five years later.

Salvor is a common name among nautical vessels, as it means "one who carries out Marine salvage." That's an ironic name for a tug that almost caused the St. Lawrence Seaway its worst possible PR nightmare, as the barge that hit Frontenac shoal in 2004 was on a direct course with the "Playhouse" building at the head of Heart Island, the site of the hugely popular 1000 Islands tourist attraction, Boldt Castle.



















Sadly, public outcry over a barge hitting a shoal and leaking hundreds of gallons of liquid cargo was not nearly as angry as it might have been had the barge smashed into a long-since-dead billionaire's mansion.

It's funny when you make a blog and then forget about it.

Aha!! Caught you! I wondered were I left you. I spent a good hour trying to remember the name of this blog, under what email account I made it, searching for at least a hint of it somewhere on the Internet. But here it is, just as I discarded it months ago.

Funny story, this blog.

I only made an account here because I wanted to participate with some cool kids at In What Respect, Charlie? Unfortunately, for reasons I couldn't figure out, Blogspot never would let me join that blog despite an invitation from its creator. So basically I just clicked out and went on doing whatever else it is I do.

Now that I've found you again, I guess it's time to dress you up and take you for a spin...

recycledcarbon.com's ugly little brother

This place is for the leftovers. For ranting and raving. For whatever survives the shredder.