Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Raw Video: Dramatic Water Main Break Rescue

... and I thought I had seen the worst of the worst. Now that is an epic water main break.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I need to see this befor I die!

WOW! A friend of mine sent me this link. It's a tunnel system behind Niagara Falls that is no longer used. This is the kind of behind the curtain things I go ga ga for. Where was I when this happened?

More pics after the jump.

http://vanishingpoint.ca/tailrace.html

Water Unleashed

            It is remarkable how much power water really has.  The energy is in so many forms that it factors in to nearly every aspect of our lives good and bad.  However when it is bad that’s when people take real note. Water can supply us with the energy of life as well as the energy to make the things in our life go. Waters energy can also bring about devastation and destruction.  The most obvious of scenarios are floods, damaging rains and tsunamis which we have seen through history. Floods caused by untamed nature or by manmade broken water mains (not my fault!) cause millions of dollars of damage all the time.  It doesn’t stop there.  Ice and snow storms have the power to bring bustling cities to a screeching halt; whole states can be left in the dark and it could also dent my car. Let’s see how powerless you feel when your car is skidding down an icy road!

 Water also has the uncanny ability to take power away from us.  A healthy human can survive over a week with little or no food, but with little or no water (or coffee) you can expect to wither away much sooner. Not only people but villages and countries with sort water supplies suffer the harsh realization of the power water has over them.  Cities settled and built on water ways thrived as did farms with natural irrigation supplies.  This resource became ultimate power for shipping and all manners of business.  This need of its power has been fought over time and time again throughout Earths history.  Both man and animal instinctively know that water is the ultimate necessity.  

Water is also a great divider and holds some of life’s greatest mysteries.  The power of the unknown is a driving force in the human mind.  Mankind has only begun to explore the stars and the first question we find ourselves asking is there alien water?  Yet we sill have so much of our own sea floor uncharted and so out of our reach, exploring it would take nearly the same energy as exploring other worlds.

All in all you can get lost in its power as well as become consumed by it.  With this knowledge we still take water for granted.  We build our houses on shorelines and cliff sides, we abuse water and pollute it to the point of no return, and we stay short minded to its potential. 

Just remember that potential when you ball up that first perfect snowball this season and you have that guy in your sights. ;p

 

 

 

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The best use of water........


This is any easy one



Coffee and tea! I mean are you kidding. Taking a hunk of mother nature and adding hot water. Simple. Elegant. A must have on Monday.



Sure I can hear the debates start now, "Yes, but what about beer?", or "just drinking it cold on ice.



My answer is still a brew of coffee (maybe even Irish!) or a nice steeped tea. The aroma, the zing of that first hot sip, the warmth you get when you get a bit more of the cup in you, and the longing for more when the last drip passes your taste buds.


One must beware, sure water is the end all be all of coffee or tea but the science in making it can make your day one of bliss or a day so foul you'd wish you had not been sent to the depths of hell.



All drinkers have a favorite way to make it or a favorite spot to buy it, I just happen to disagree with most of them. ( Drip coffee and and huge chain spots...yuck)



However, no matter what you do it starts with water and just like any other premium ingredient don't ruin it buy making bad coffee or tea.




This rant is now out of my system.



Sip....AHHHH