I saw on CNN this morning that the Hualapai Indian tribe(wiki) is getting ready to open what they hope will be their ticket out of reservation poverty. The Skywalk is a massive steel and glass horizontal arch that lets people walk out over the edge of the Grand Canyon and look down some 4,000 feet to the canyon floor. The tribe has bet the proverbial farm on this in hopes that the tourist draw from near by Las Vegas will give them a much needed boost to their economy. The fees from the Skywalk(wiki) attraction ($25US) and a tribal heritage center ($50US) will give the 2,200 members of the tribe a better standard of living.
However, this have been met with criticism from some environmentalists stating that the increased traffic will put an undo burden on the local environment. Also some members of the tribe have voiced concerns that near by burial sites will be damaged.
One mans cultural awareness center is another mans tourist trap. It all depends on what side of the dollar you’re on. I wish them the best of luck with this endeavor and I hope that the entire tribe and the other people involved will not over develop the land around Skywalk and degrade the attraction to the point that no one wants to see it any more.
Category: Dumb
US Postal Service Removes Clocks to Speed Up Time, WTF?
Normally I’d make a long winded rant about the piss poor service I have been getting at my local post offices lately but I see little point in it. Lets just say that if the overlords at the USPS would wake up they would realize that customer service and proficiency of your tasks should be ‘job one’. Whey you employ chatter boxes and inept fools at the front lines (counter help) your making a big mistake. I don’t know what genius decided that taking the clocks out of the waiting room was a good idea but I bet i was the same ass that did away with the ‘take a number’ concept. Perhaps this is a ploy to get everyone to use FedEx and UPS so the postal employees can whine and cry about being put out of a job by those guys. Somehow the ‘forever stamp‘ works into that scenario I’m sure. Jerks. I blame the unions…
[via Consumerist]
Postal Service fixes long waits by removing clocks
No Where To Go in London
Well this sucks. If your going to visit London make sure you go to the bathroom before you get on the plane. Apparently there is a general lack of public bathrooms these days. Seems that the local authorities have been selling off the property to make an easy buck (or pound as the case may be) because of the skyrocketing costs of real estate over there (up 53 percent in just five years) and many public toilets have been given the axe. In other cases, multi stalled public facilities that had been on private property are now being renovated and turned into living spaces. Simply amazing… The answer to all this has been a rise of private luxury toilets where, for 5 pounds ($10US) you can receive a hand massage (no, not that kind!) and other pampering, or if your in a hurry just 1 pound and you can answer the call of nature without having to find a convenient alleyway or parked car.
Londoners Squirm as Public Toilets Grow Scarce; New Loo Is $10
(photo by smoothdude)
Is This The Tomb of Jesus?
Looks like mega director James Cameron is stirring up the muck with his latest project. Seems he found the Jesus family tomb. And bones. And evidence that Jesus had a wife and kids. Yeah, that’s going to give some people a brain ache. It must be a bit like finding out that Star Wars is all blue screen and miniatures…
So will Cameron’s next film be, if they can get DNA out of the bones, a new twist on the film ‘The Boys From Brazil‘? You decide, go have a look at the article of you can wait an see the documentary on the Discovery channel.
Oh No, Not Again. The Phoenix Lights Are Back
Oh boy… I can hear the UFO people running around making up stuff about this already..
Phoenix residents again lit up police switchboards and news hotlines as bright stationary lights were again visible south of the skies of Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday night. Many residents of Arizona are particularly diligent sky watchers as the most reported UFO event in history that is commonly known as the ‘Phoenix Lights’ is nearing a ten-year anniversary. On March 13, 1997 several events composed the event known as the ‘Phoenix lights’ with most seeing tapes and photographs of the orbs that were spotted southwest of the Valley of the Sun on news channels and TV specials.
Umm, it’s parachute flares from the military gunnery range south of Phoenix? Just like the ones 10 years ago. But you know, if your a believer of this stuff no amount of proof will sway you opinion. Catalog this under religious faith.
Arizona Ufo: Phoenix Lights Return?
Video from Channel 10 News
What’s On the Far Side of the Moon?
Wow… And to think I thought there were just rocks craters and a few crashed lunar probes on the dark side of the moon.
It has long been a theory of some UFOlogists that the far side of the Moon could harbor a base for extraterrestrials. Presuming they come from a distant planet in some other solar system, they must have a base from which they can make their regular visits to the Earth. What better place than the far side of the Moon, which is perpetually hidden from sight?
Of course, i did a little looking around and found other people that think along the same lines.