updated: caught between the devil and the burning sea

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breaking news
A few of you read my 55 Flash Fiction piece this week, and were justifiably horrified by the story it told. Well apparently you weren't alone. Several groups generated enough attention to the travesty and enough people expressed enough outrage that according to this repoert in Bloomberg Business Week BP and the US Coast Guard are now taking measures to better protect the wildlife caught in the operations. The details aren't yet finalized, but any kind of plan is an improvement. A little good news is always welcome.

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Thematic Photographic 83: "What I Did On My Vacation" v.6.0 - E.T. Phone Home

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"I'll be right... here"
North Topsail Beach, NC - December 2009(Click to embiggen)

 Hosted by Written Inc.

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You can find some very unique rocks on Topsail Island, among them fossilized sea creatures of bygone eras. Most of these are shellfish, and most are far too worn down to determine what specific kind of shellfish they once were. Then there are the ones like the E.T. lookalike you see here. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that this was some sort of coral or possibly sponge when it was alive. How long ago that might have been I wouldn't venture to guess, but the patterns in its surface suggest that it grew while anchored to the sea bottom. Weathering and erosion can only account for so much of its features, and in fact, most of the stones that have been shaped by the ocean are smooth and rounded, not fluted like this. We found literally hundreds of specimens along the four-mile stretch of beach we walked, some of which bore resemblance to continental land masses or other -- much smaller -- objects. But this one, which looked shockingly like Steven Spielberg's now famous lover of Reese's Pieces was easily the most captivating. But being too big to fit in a pocket, I opted for a photograph instead. Much easier to carry.

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