Scree - October 30, 2010
While walking Jake this week I came across a hydrant which had been toppled. The poor hydrant was broken; but I am afraid the poor car and possibly the driver fared even worse. When I saw my neighbor who lives on the corner near the hydrant, I asked about the incident.
She told me that she woke a few nights before to the flash of blue lights from the police car. A car had hit the hydrant.
I then asked about the water, did it shoot up like a fountain?
She said, no. The hydrant just sort of laid there but the water feed to the hydrant is actually a big hose encased and protected by the metal hydrant. There was no fountain of water gushing out like in the chase scenes of tv and the movies.
How disappointing. Maybe this could be a Mythbusters episode.
Good news, it is now being reported that the Mayan Calendar is not calibrated as well as previously assumed. The end of the world is not necessarily going to end on Dec 21, 2012! Yeah!
But, the Mayan Calendar hoax is not the only failed apocalypse. Live Science also has an article on Ten Failed Doomsday Predictions. Of course it goes without saying that if a doomsday actually occurred, then it would be difficult to report on the successful predictions.
Over 600 grizzly bears are reported in the Yellowstone Park region. The number has been steadily increasing since the mid-seventies. With more grizzlies the bears seem to be having more conflicts with humans. Two people have died from grizzly attacks. 46 grizzlies have been killed or removed from the wilds.
Mark Bruscino, carnivore specialist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said,
"We're dealing with bears that are in and around people constantly. There's no place to put them because the wildland habitat is full in our state."
Meanwhile in the Smokies, the acorns are plentiful in the backwoods and the bears are not making their roadside appearances.
"A lot of the leaf watchers are asking, 'Where are the bears?' " said park wildlife biologist Bill Stiver. "We're not having nearly the close human-bear interactions in the park we've had the last several falls."
Maybe if Yellowstone provided special natural feeding areas where pine nuts, berries, and other grizzly palatable foods were abundant; the grizzlies too would stay away from human areas.
I guess then visitors would be upset and would be asking where to go to pet the grizzlies? Of course that is probably a question that a visitor only asks once!
(KnoxNews)
