Claim: Illustrations show a proposed Grand Canyon skywalk.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Grand Canyon Skywalk):
“…The $30 million all-glass Skywalk will hover 4,000 feet above the Colorado River over a rim of the Grand Canyon, allowing tourists to stroll on a semicircular platform 80 yards beyond the canyon rim, surrounded by Plexiglas that will provide a spectacular view of the canyon floor directly below. The Skywalk’s opening is planned for early 2006, the attraction being part of a new Grand Canyon West resort on the Hualapai reservation at the western edge of the park, about 120 miles from Las Vegas.…”

Hualapai Indian Reservation

This Is Not One of Randy’s…

…“Put down your glass/mug/cup before you read this.” posts:

Thoughts on New Orleans:
“This has been attributed to George Carlin, and New Orleans blues musician Bill Boudreaux, but apparently neither wrote it. There are several versions, and it’s not a joke; rather, it’s some thought-provoking plain speaking about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

---

“Been sitting here with my ass in a wad, wanting to speak out about what’s going on in New Orleans. For the people of New Orleans… First I would like to say, Sorry for your loss.

“Unlike an earthquake, we know when a hurricane is coming. With that said, Let’s go through a few hurricane rules:

“#1. A mandatory evacuation means just that. Get the hell out. Don’t blame the Government after they tell you to go. If they hadn’t said anything, I can see the argument. They said get out. If you didn’t, it’s your fault, not theirs. Even if you don’t have a car, you can get out.…”

Rain Numbers - 15 October 2005

.04", for today
.04", for the storm
.05", for the month
.05", for the (rain) year

:::sigh:::

The battery/capacitor/solar panel combination in the weather station seems to be trying to behave, but the display was still showing 6.04" as the total for the year; the rain year here begins 1 October… Since I wasn’t sure if that was controlled by the panel or HCA, I didn’t dare contemplate fiddling.

I did notice, however, on a day following a nearly fully moon, that the display panel was depicting a new moon. I’m still not sure how I got there, but I pushed the right button to display the date and time, and we were still back in September!

Called Davis’ tech support, and the very nice, helpful young man stepped me through resetting the date and the time, and the yearly rain total (which is a good approximation).

I Don’t Know Where Randy Finds These…

…but he really needs to put a “Put down your glass/mug/cup before you read this.” warning on some of them:

France Elevates its Security Level:
“As many are aware, the French government recently announced a raise in its terror alert level from ‘Run’ to ‘Hide’. The normal level is ‘General Arrogance’, and the only two higher levels in France are ‘Surrender’ and ‘Collaborate’. The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country’s military capability.

“It’s not only the French that are on a heightened level of alert:…”

I’m a Nut. Or Not…

Today’s word:
A.Word.A.Day -- algophobia:

“…Usually having a phobia might brand you as a nut but here is a phobia that indicates you’re a regular human being, if you have it. Algophobia is the fear of pain. Though the word indicates an unusual, morbid fear of pain, producing intense anxiety.

“There is even an instrument called an algometer to measure pain. Now I know why they called that grueling course ‘algorithms’ in my computer science curriculum.…”

1918 Flu = Bird Flu

From The New York Times tomorrow:
Experts Unlock Clues to Spread of 1918 Flu Virus:

“The 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history’s most deadly epidemics, has been reconstructed and found to be a bird flu that jumped directly to humans, two teams of federal and university scientists announced yesterday.

“It was the culmination of work that began a decade ago and involved fishing tiny fragments of the 1918 virus from snippets of lung tissue from two soldiers and an Alaskan woman who died in the 1918 pandemic. The soldiers’ tissue had been saved in an Army pathology warehouse, and the woman had been buried in permanently frozen ground.…”

Interesting implications.


The Guardian’s take: From frozen Alaska to the lab: a virus 39,000 times more virulent than flu:

“…‘I didn’t expect it to be as lethal as it was,’ Dr Terrence Tumpey, a scientist on the project from the US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention, told the journal Nature.…”


From CBC World News: Scientists re-create deadly pandemic virus

“…The growing fear of a flu pandemic led U.S. President George Bush to speculate Tuesday on possible American reactions to such a crisis, including quarantines of infected groups of people.…”