Darnit, I'm always tuning in late when they're showing one I've never seen before.

Today, they had the case of the message in a bottle. Young fellow named Kevin throws a glass bottle with a message in it into a lake somewhere in the northern U.S. It turns up on the shore in San Diego many years later and its note is found and responded to by a whimsical couple. An expert on water currents shows that the bottle could have gotten into the St. Lawrence Seaway and gotten most of the way to Europe before other ocean currents took it toward South America, then back toward Africa and thence into the Indian Ocean, up near the Philippines and on into the South Pacific until it wandered down the West Coast and onto the San Diego beach where it was found.

The people who found it wrote a humorous message, "We found your message in the bottle, just like that song (ha ha!) and thought we'd answer... where the heck is Ovid?" They didn't provide a return address however. The message was mailed to Kevin, the fellow who sent the bottle, now a young man who talked in quiet amazement about the journey of his life paralleling the journey the bottle must have taken.

There's something funny about this story though. When I went to look it up, I found this, all right:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_19960616/ai_n10250488

But I also found this curiously coincidental story:

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/bay/display.var.654338.0.message_in_a_bottle_mystery_unravelled.php

There's one for Unsolved for you -- two Kevins toss out bottle messages that go around the world and turn up years later? The English dude wasn't even alive by the time his response came -- a younger brother received it!

That's one of my favorite little stories. I'm normally able to see UM on Tuesday so I was glad it was included today. I vacation in upstate New York most summers so maybe one year I'll try to find where that lake is.

Frankly, I'm surprised they never found the couple since they had the specific area of San Diego, a specific time frame of February 1996, and both names. Rosa and Bruce is not exactly a cliche pairing with thousands and thousands of possibilities. You would think someone could publicize this case in that area and respondents would recognize the name of the couple, although of course they could have been vacationing there. I guess it's not a case anyone is going to spend much time and money trying to "solve."

That other case you linked is more interesting overall, but very sad due to the death of the person who wrote the note. Strange that they didn't give details of the death, just at age 33 on a family holiday.

that case was so stupid, some fat little dork and his momma sending a message in a freaking bottle? and its sent in a land locked lake? idiots.

that case was so stupid, some fat little dork and his momma sending a message in a freaking bottle? and its sent in a land locked lake? idiots.


Wow... that was blunt.

lol

The little fat dork is now a VP of a successful and award winning business, apparently a landmark in the Geneva area, including an old castle, that his family acquired and substantially renovated: http://www.belhurst.com/biz_of_yr.htm

now he can afford better bottles.

I know most on here never cared for this segment, but I always found it charming. Anyway, a similar event just happened recently, and is one of the lead stories on Yahoo! News:

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/9-old-boy-finds-message-bottle-172000177.html

In addition, here is a story about a message that stayed in a bottle for 98 years, and was recovered off the coast of Scotland in August: http://news.yahoo.com/98-old-message-bottle-sets-world-record-173356177.html

I'll admit that I never cared for the segment. The story itself about the bottle being found was pretty cool, and was probably neat for Kevin when he actually got a response all the way across the continent. I just never understood why he was looking for the people that wrote back. What would they have discussed or talked about if in fact they were located? Can you imagine that awkward reunion if in fact they did find them and UM filmed an UPDATE? "Wow you guys found my bottle...that's so cool!" "Yep, we found it on the beach one day and wrote you back." "Yeah"....

I'll admit that I never cared for the segment. The story itself about the bottle being found was pretty cool, and was probably neat for Kevin when he actually got a response all the way across the continent. I just never understood why he was looking for the people that wrote back. What would they have discussed or talked about if in fact they were located? Can you imagine that awkward reunion if in fact they did find them and UM filmed an UPDATE? "Wow you guys found my bottle...that's so cool!" "Yep, we found it on the beach one day and wrote you back." "Yeah"....

Well, IIRC, the question the segment was posting was: "Is it actually possible this bottle circumnavigated the globe?", because the returned message was postmarked San Diego, and the only water route from where the bottle was thrown in the water (in either southern Canada or Northern US on one of the Great Lakes, IIRC) to San Diego, CA, is by circumnavigation. Some of the geologists in the segment dismissed this possibility, saying that there was no way the little bottle could have done it and the person who mailed the note back probably found it some place more logical and simply mailed it from CA.

So, if the person who mailed it could be found, presumably that person could say where the bottle was found, and that would go some way to answering whether or not the bottle could really have gone around the globe. The fact that one of the bottles I posted crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 8 years makes it seem slightly more plausible to me, FWIW.

I always enjoyed this case because it's soooo close to where I live. If they built a bridge across Seneca Lake it would be a direct link from my town to Ovid. Also Ovid is where the old Willard State Hospital is located. Has nothing to do with U.M that I'm aware of, but still pretty stinkin' awesome.

And for the record, the Belhurst is a lovely place to stay. They have a water fountain in the hallway that is actually a wine fountain.

And for the record, the Belhurst is a lovely place to stay. They have a water fountain in the hallway that is actually a wine fountain.


JACKPOT!:crazy:

JACKPOT!:crazy:


Especially if, say, theorectically of course, someone happens to be staying there when they are under 21 for a family function.