It was disconcerting to go walking out on the beach this morning - a conjunction of sun-moon gravity, high-pressure, and I think a whirlpool Sargasso sea-monster sucked down the water level about two feet; the beach gained a lot more margin. Of course, it could also have been this winter's heroically proportioned beach erosion. But then, I live on the barrier islands of the Jersey shore, and these are the wages of vanity and technical hubris.