OleSarge
Elite Member
My wife and I keep the motor home stocked, fueled and ready to go camping at the least provocation. Such a occasion presented itself a couple weeks ago and we found ourselves in the beautiful Ocean City State Park near a Pacific Ocean beach. We look forward to these mini-vacations because they allow my wife the opportunity to read and watch her sitcom videos while I metal detect in the park between clam digging, fishing and beach walks. Having said this, you'll understand why I was on my knees, anxiously probing the ground in a day use picnic area near the beach trail head. Deeply engrossed in the beeps of my pin pointer and wearing my headset, it's no surprise that I failed to notice the young lady and three sprouting kids watching me as if under a spell. When I did finally notice them the young lady asked the usual question "Finding anything good"? I responded with my usual "Not much, just some pull tabs, a couple cool Hot Wheels Cars and lots of pennies". At this the younger sprout (about 3 years old) joins in and asks to "See the things".
I had lots of time so I emptied my finds pouch on a picnic table and the kids dutifully and carefully examined each piece of debris, the Hot Wheels Cars and nearly every penny.
Earlier in the park I had became involved in a conversation with some other campers and had made the statement that "Kids absolutely loved metal detectors, and were so impulsive I'd actually had them start digging my finds before I could do it". About this time these same campers came by and, while one slapped me on the back, another tossed a hand full of pennies into the grassy area of the site. The kids went wild and wanted to use my detector and pin pointer to find the pennies. Better judgment would not allow me to surrender my ATP, but I did let the kids search for, and find many of the pennies with my GPP. They were hooked and the conversation swiftly became "Where did all the pennies, Hot Wheels Cars and pull tabs come from"? Being a certified military instructor, I aptly aimed my response to the next older child (about seven years old) and began my scientific explanation of how pennies, Hot Wheels Cars and so many pull tabs ended up in the most inaccessible places;
The scientific proven formula (E=MC Squared) (which they all knew, of course) dictates that a space craft exiting the earth's gravitational pull must have a propulsion system capable of allowing it to reach escape velocity. The problem presented here is that a engine that large would require massive amounts of fuel and massive amounts of fuel are heavy. So, the larger the engine, the more fuel, the more fuel the heavier the load, the heavier the load the larger the engine....and on and on forever.
So, the Extra-Terrestrials (Aliens) (and, yes I had to explain what a "Alien" was, but the mom kicked in with her own explanation and bailed me out) collects tons of seemingly worthless things which are vey heavy and won't be missed if thousands of tons disappear over a period of time. These things are ballast for the space craft and jettisoned as it gains speed to lighten the load and allow the craft to reach escape velocity without expending valuable fuel. The Aliens have done a lot of research and the things they found that existed in millions of tons, are considered of very little value, and readily available on earth for the (unnoticed) taking was pennies, old Hot Wheels Cars and pull tabs.
So, the Aliens collected these things by the ton and cast them off as ballast as their space craft passed over places like Ocean City State Park.
The kids were entranced, and to my own amazement, the mom was buying into every fabricated word of the explanation.
This worry was compounded as a gent, heavily muscled and fully capable of sending me to meet the maker, approached and introduced himself as the husband and kids father.
Immediately the lady launched into the previous story and recounted the explanation of how pennies, cars and pull tabs ended up I areas were nobody had ever walked with perfect memory.
My jaw had already steeled itself in expectation of the burly guy's fist permanently changing it's geography....But, instead he nearly doubled over in laughter, extended his hand to me and expressed his appreciation for my teaching his kids about a very hard to comprehend scientific theory.
The mom gave me a hug...not too bad either....and the kids pocketed their pennies as if they were gold nuggets.
All in all it was a great experience and we all parted company with a new appreciation of science...and I'll bet the dad never gets another minutes rest until he buys the kids a metal detector.
ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
I had lots of time so I emptied my finds pouch on a picnic table and the kids dutifully and carefully examined each piece of debris, the Hot Wheels Cars and nearly every penny.
Earlier in the park I had became involved in a conversation with some other campers and had made the statement that "Kids absolutely loved metal detectors, and were so impulsive I'd actually had them start digging my finds before I could do it". About this time these same campers came by and, while one slapped me on the back, another tossed a hand full of pennies into the grassy area of the site. The kids went wild and wanted to use my detector and pin pointer to find the pennies. Better judgment would not allow me to surrender my ATP, but I did let the kids search for, and find many of the pennies with my GPP. They were hooked and the conversation swiftly became "Where did all the pennies, Hot Wheels Cars and pull tabs come from"? Being a certified military instructor, I aptly aimed my response to the next older child (about seven years old) and began my scientific explanation of how pennies, Hot Wheels Cars and so many pull tabs ended up in the most inaccessible places;
The scientific proven formula (E=MC Squared) (which they all knew, of course) dictates that a space craft exiting the earth's gravitational pull must have a propulsion system capable of allowing it to reach escape velocity. The problem presented here is that a engine that large would require massive amounts of fuel and massive amounts of fuel are heavy. So, the larger the engine, the more fuel, the more fuel the heavier the load, the heavier the load the larger the engine....and on and on forever.
So, the Extra-Terrestrials (Aliens) (and, yes I had to explain what a "Alien" was, but the mom kicked in with her own explanation and bailed me out) collects tons of seemingly worthless things which are vey heavy and won't be missed if thousands of tons disappear over a period of time. These things are ballast for the space craft and jettisoned as it gains speed to lighten the load and allow the craft to reach escape velocity without expending valuable fuel. The Aliens have done a lot of research and the things they found that existed in millions of tons, are considered of very little value, and readily available on earth for the (unnoticed) taking was pennies, old Hot Wheels Cars and pull tabs.
So, the Aliens collected these things by the ton and cast them off as ballast as their space craft passed over places like Ocean City State Park.
The kids were entranced, and to my own amazement, the mom was buying into every fabricated word of the explanation.
This worry was compounded as a gent, heavily muscled and fully capable of sending me to meet the maker, approached and introduced himself as the husband and kids father.
Immediately the lady launched into the previous story and recounted the explanation of how pennies, cars and pull tabs ended up I areas were nobody had ever walked with perfect memory.
My jaw had already steeled itself in expectation of the burly guy's fist permanently changing it's geography....But, instead he nearly doubled over in laughter, extended his hand to me and expressed his appreciation for my teaching his kids about a very hard to comprehend scientific theory.
The mom gave me a hug...not too bad either....and the kids pocketed their pennies as if they were gold nuggets.
All in all it was a great experience and we all parted company with a new appreciation of science...and I'll bet the dad never gets another minutes rest until he buys the kids a metal detector.
ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
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