https://buy-zithromax.online buy kamagra usa https://antibiotics.top buy stromectol online https://deutschland-doxycycline.com https://ivermectin-apotheke.com kaufen cialis https://2-pharmaceuticals.com buy antibiotics online Online Pharmacy vermectin apotheke buy stromectol europe buy zithromax online https://kaufen-cialis.com levitra usa https://stromectol-apotheke.com buy doxycycline online https://buy-ivermectin.online https://stromectol-europe.com stromectol apotheke https://buyamoxil24x7.online deutschland doxycycline https://buy-stromectol.online https://doxycycline365.online https://levitra-usa.com buy ivermectin online buy amoxil online https://buykamagrausa.net

Category: Interesting Places

Dying to Get Up

Ascending Everest takes patience. But not in the way you might think.

The waiting line to the top, 5/22/2019.

People joke about dying whilst waiting in line. On Everest, the crowds are such that it’s really happening. Risking your life that way seems kind of … goofy. https://t.co/naqtoqIxp7

I understand, to a degree. The challenge of the nigh-unobtainable (and having a large amount of money and time and money to invest) makes ascending Everest a tempting challenge.

But … if the place is so damned crowded that people are actually dying waiting in line in the hostile environment to take their turn at the summit … is that really the “risk! risk is my business!” kind of thrill that these people are looking for? Is it bragging rights to the folk back home to say that you managed to outlast the queue?

“Because it’s there” is a stirring, heroic sentiment. “Please take a ticket and wait for your number to be called” is not.

In Denver, we OWN our conspiracy theories

Denver International Airport (DEN) has been the subject of endless conspiracy theories since its construction, from rumors of underground labor camps (or bunkers or dwelling places for lizard people), to swastika-shaped runways, to (for some) bizarre murals, to the clearly evil blue horse sculpture at the entrance (“Blucifer” as the locals call it). (See https://goo.gl/jBnR4z for a good sprinkling of these, and more.)

The airport, which is going through a major (and controversial) reconstruction of its main terminal, has decided to run with the joke by festooning its construction walls with posters that hint at … something mysterious going on.

Well done, DEN team. Well done.




The Denver Airport Has the Best Public Service Announcements Ever – Atlas Obscura
Conspiracy or construction?

Original Post

The Disaster of A.D. 79

I’ve had the privilege of visiting both Pompeii and Herculaneum. They are remarkable sites (and sights). A touring Pompeii exhibit — not, I think, the one mentioned in Chicago — came through Denver a few years back.

If you have the chance to go to such an exhibit (if not the places themselves), I highly recommend it. The lesson of life interrupted, of a glimpse of disaster overcoming people who had no clue it was coming, and just the plain old richness of understanding of Roman life that both these cities provide is well worth the effort.




Resurrecting Pompeii
A new exhibition brings the doomed residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum vividly to life

Original Post

Memorial Suspended

The USS Arizona memorial is indefinitely closed, due to structural issues.

For those who had been planning to visit (something that’s been on my list but never quite fulfilled):

Memorials to the Oklahoma and Utah are on the opposite side of Ford Island from the Arizona and are still open. The monument’s visitor center also remains open, and includes a museum, documentary on the attack and harbor tours.




Exterior Cracks Force Indefinite Closure of the USS Arizona Memorial
Workers are currently assessing the damage to the iconic structure that straddles the sunken ship

Original Post

Lovely, Tolkienesque maps

This cartographer is doing maps of the UK’s national parks in the style of Tolkien’ maps in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, etc. He’ll also do custom work.




A Cartographer Is Mapping All of the UK’s National Parks, J.R.R. Tolkien-Style
Yeah, we think parks are pretty magical, too.

View on Google+

The Sphinx

The Sphinx, and the other sites in Giza, are definitely on my bucket list.

Here’s a current survey of what we know about how this remarkable sculpture came to be.




Uncovering Secrets of the Sphinx
After decades of research, American archaeologist Mark Lehner has some answers about the mysteries of the Egyptian colossus

View on Google+

The father of the Big Blue Bear has passed away

Okay, the sculpture is called “I See What You Mean,” and Lawrence Argent was the sculptor, but it still sad.

Thank you sir, for your various public art. You have brought and will continue to bring joy to many people.




Lawrence Argent, Legendary Denver Sculptor, Has Died
Artist Lawrence Argent got commissions around the globe, but in Denver he will always be remembered for “I See What You Mean,” the Big Blue Bear…

View on Google+

The Abandoned Poconos

Very cool article of postcards and matchbook covers showing glorious resorts in the Poconos and Catskills, and the abandoned ruins there today.

I’m always fascinated (in a sad way) how things go to ruin over time.

Originally shared by +Les Jenkins:




Abandoned States: Places In Idyllic 1960s Postcards Have Transformed Into Scenes Of Abandonment
The transformation of these Poconos and Catskills resorts is like looking through some sort of dystopian View-Master.

View on Google+

DIA may be where the “buffalo roam” soon

Denver International Airport (“DEN” to folk who prefer the actual airport code) originally floated the idea of the Denver buffalo herd grazing alongside the airport entrance road, Pena Blvd., back during its original design, but nothing ever came of that plan.

But, since then, the herd roaming about the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge has been growing, and that facility and the City of Denver are pursuing plans to let the herd “roam” up to the edges of Pena Blvd where it runs near the RMAWR border.

That’ll be very cool.




Rocky Mountain Arsenal bison get doubled room to roam, and new territory at Denver International Airport
There’s a deal in the making that would let bison roam from Rocky Mountain Arsenal on to Denver International Airport land. “This is not something you will see in Des Moines,” air…

View on Google+

The “UFO Bank” turns 50

Alas, not all buildings of the future will (or did) look like this. But it’s pretty keen. The bank building was designed by Charles Deaton, who, not surprisingly, also designed the “Sleeper House” that overlooks I-70 west of Denver.

(I once ran a supers game where both buildings actually were disguised UFOs, though that part never really came to fruition.)

It’s a cool and noteworthy building, and makes me smile every time I drive past it.




Colorado’s UFO bank is turning 50 (Video) – Denver Business Journal
“It’s so eccentric. It’s so radical,” says an historic preservation consultant.

View on Google+

A Visit to North Korea

Summary: It’s a really awful place full of people who are not, in fact, really awful (though frequently miserable).

Something to remember the next time someone near you comments about how we should just nuke them into a parking lot and have done with it.




I Went To North Korea: What You’ve Heard Vs. What I Saw
Seven carefully controlled days in North Korea isn’t enough time to become an expert, but here are one internet fart-joke writer’s thoughts.

View on Google+

Colorful Colorado

A lovely montage of shots from around Colorado, photographed by David Leiter (and his drones).




Colorado By Drone
I slept in a tent for 2 months to capture this video of Colorado, USA. Places in the video: – Mountain stream (Frisco) – Bangs Canyon (Grand Junction) -…

View on Google+

Credit: https://theworldtravelguy.com/

What will become of the Burnham Yard?

As a commuter along the light rail, it's been shocking to see the changes at the yard since UP shut down the place. All the trains in for repair have been taken away, of course. 90% of the track has been yanked out. I'm sure a decent amount of soil decontamination needs to be done.

I do hope that some of the classic structures on the site can be preserved. There's a lot of history there, and Denver has seen in the past decade or two how much modern appreciation there is for old brick buildings.




Burnham Yard closing ends chapter of Denver history | Life on Capitol Hill
By Lucy Graca. As commuters riding RTD’s C or E Lines rise over Santa Fe Drive and pull into the 10th and Osage station, they might look down at the mass of railroad tracks and lines of locomotives and freight cars gathering graffiti to the west. Drivers heading west on the Eighth Avenue …

View on Google+

Because every super-villain needs a lair!

Here are some real-world suggestions, either as inspirations or … well, heck, why not steal / take over one as your very own? You are, after all, a super-villain.




6 Real Locations That Are Clearly Secret Supervillain Lairs | Cracked.com
We live in a world of strange structures and eldritch locations that are seemingly normal, but are clearly cartoonish supervillain lairs.

View on Google+

So maybe it's just as well I've never yet made it to Greenwich

I'd just have to go back again.

So … still looking forward to visiting Greenwich.




The Real Greenwich Prime Meridian
Thanks to modern navigational tools we now know that the true prime meridian runs through a park next door

View on Google+

New "Star Wars" lands at both Orlando and Anaheim Disney parks

This has me so much more excited than the whole Avatar felgercarb. I want to go to this now.

View on Google+

Fiddling with the 16th Street Mall

Denver's 16th Street Mall is a pretty cool place, a remarkable success story in terms of revitalizing downtown shopping, dining, and transit. It's length is open only to pedestrians and free busses that run between Union Station and the Civic Center Station. While I've been working in downtown, I've always been amazed by its vitality.

Apparently, though, vitality is not enough. Planners want to get people to linger. The question is, can they do that without screwing up the success?

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28503640/study-revitalize-denvers-mall-seeks-linger-factor

During the weekday, the mall is highly active with commuters (early morning and evening) and pedstrians from the downtown area or the convention center. But planners are concerns that people are going to one place or another, and not just hanging out on the various benches along the way, and on the weekends and at night it's often a much quieter place.

The problem is, if you're looking for something more, how do you do it? Do you get rid of the busses, as some are proposing. That's fine, except it pulls some of the bus traffic onto less convenient parallel streets. What will compel people to sit and chat with others, or just take in some sun, and can you somehow make that happen? What demographic are you going for, and what do you do about the demographic that already has time to sit around on the mall?

I'm happy that there's discussion of what to do to make the mall even more of a success story than it is, but I worry about the conflicting needs of retail owners, entertainment and dining owners, commuters, residents, locals, and folk who come in and out of town each day for work.

 

View on Google+

The First Kids in Disneyland, 60 Years Ago Today

The full story in the Orange County Register (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-671925-michael-says.html) is pretty fun, as is the video.

Originally shared by +Les Jenkins:




Video: The First Two Children To Visit Disneyland
We’ve all seen video of the park’s grand opening, but have you ever wondered what happened to the first two children to visit Disneyland? Here is the story.

View on Google+

It's "Cars," only for real

Route 66 is an amazing tale. Here are some gorgeous images of it.

Originally shared by +Thomas Hawk:

#Route66 America

              

In Album 2015-05-04

View on Google+

Graffiti vs Mother Nature

I'm not all that sanguine about street art on other people's property to begin with. Sure, something really artistic on something blighted, that's easy to aesthetically justify. Defacing something that had its own beauty of place and aesthetic intent? That's rude, at the very least.

Extending that to national parks — something preserved with aesthetic intent, and owned by everyone, myself included, the tagging of natural features (or even artificial structures) is a sketchy thing to do at best (so to speak), but it also has a "broken window" effect: even if someone's art is the greatest thing since Alma-Tadema, violating that social convention opens that space up to art and messaging that simply won't be.

As to the sentiment, "If provoking outrage is not part of your intention as a graffiti artist, why do it?" … well, that just sounds like you're being a dick, not an imp or gadfly.




Graffiti artists’ move to national parks shocks nature community
Andre Saraiva is an internationally known graffiti artist. He owns nightclubs in Paris and New York, works as a top editor of the men’s fashion magazine L’Officiel Hommes and has appeared in countless glossy magazines as a tastemaker and bon vivant.

View on Google+