New Seniors » Travel

Frazil ice is not quite ice and not quite liquid – but completely dangerous

Your Neighbors — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 02:34:35 +0000

What looks like a pile of snow one minute can turn into a raging torrent the next. Frazil ice is one of the many unusual phenomena in Yosemite National Park. Frazil ice flows are dramatic natural events that occur in the waterfalls of Yosemite Valley during March and April. You have to see this video to believe how bizarre this stuff can be.

If you are thinking frazil ice might be dangerous – you are absolutely right. Walking out into a field of what looks like snow could actually be a flow of frazil ice covering a fast-moving stream of icy waters. Watch and learn!

An amazing bike ride through Scotland

Your Neighbors — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 02:39:01 +0000

Extreme bicyclist Danny MacAskill will amaze you with his gravity-defying feats as he rides his bicycle from Edinburgh back to his hometown Dunvegan, in the Isle of Skye.

“Move Over” Law – Very Important

Your Neighbors — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:34:00 +0000

“Move Over” laws require motorists move over when passing any official vehicle that is stopped with its lights flashing. You must move over one lane while passing, or slow down to at least 20 miles an hour below the posted speed limit if it is not possible to move over one lane. These laws are in effect in every state in the continental U.S.

More than 150 U.S. law enforcement officers have been killed since 1999 after being struck by vehicles along America’s highways. Please ensure their safety by complying with Move Over laws.

Russia in winter. Don’t forget your mittens!

Your Neighbors — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 02:40:49 +0000

Heavy snows can be a major ordeal, but wait until you see what they have to deal with in Russia! You have to see these pictures to believe it!

Know your local speed trap!

Your Neighbors — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 05:15:38 +0000

As millions of Americans prepare to drive to visit their families during the holidays, you can be sure that speed traps will be out in full force. For the most part, it’s a good thing that traffic laws are enforced, but if you are like some of us here in the neighborhood, at one time or another you may have found yourself feeling a speeding ticket was wrongly deserved.

Now there’s help!

The National Motorists Association maintains an online list of known speed traps around the nation. Before your next trip, you might want to take a look!

http://www.speedtrap.org/

Where are the speed traps in your hometown?

Flying used to be fun

Your Neighbors — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 02:57:08 +0000

Pan Am made this short video in 1958 to show off their new 707 jet service. Man how the times have changed! Watch this and weep for the good ol’ days!

Opening soon: the amazing Hoover Dam Bypass

Your Neighbors — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:48:03 +0000

900 feet above the mighty Colorado River, the $240 million bridge at the Hoover Dam slowly takes shape. These pictures tell it all. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself. The bridge is expected to open in November 2010. Once the bypass is completed, the existing roadway across Hoover Dam will be closed to through traffic.

When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day.

In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches that jut out of the rock face.

The arches measure more than 1,000 feet across. The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which were cast on-site and lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons.

While under construction, the structure looked like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches were complete, the suspending cables on each side were removed. Extra vertical columns have been installed on top of the arches to carry the road.

During planning and construction the bridge has been known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although the proposed name is the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and a football player from Arizona who left his professional sports career and enlisted in the United States Army shortly after the 9-11 attacks and was killed in Afghanistan.

Hoover Dam was started in 1931 and used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco. The stretch of water it created, Lake Mead, is 110 miles long and took six years to fill. The original road was opened at the same time as the famous dam in 1936.

Be sure to notice the white band of rock around Lake Mead. It marks the waterline prior to the current drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level.

Beat the heat in Antarctica!

Your Neighbors — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:04:08 +0000

This slideshow captures the icy beauty of the coldest continent on earth!

NOTE: You must have PowerPoint software on your computer to view this slideshow.

CLICK HERE to download the slideshow.

Holy Land Church in 360 degrees

Your Neighbors — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:13:50 +0000

Explore the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in interactive 3D. It is one of the oldest and holiest churches in all Christendom. The site is venerated by many Christians as Golgotha, (the Hill of Calvary), where the New Testament says that Jesus was crucified, and is said to also contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre).

Built in the year 335, the church has been an important Christian pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Today it also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, while control of the building is shared between several Christian churches and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for centuries.

CLICK HERE to see the 3D Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Use your computer’s mouse to view in any direction. Click and drag your cursor in the direction you want to view. Double click on the image to fill your screen with the image. Use your trackball to zoom in or out.

Be sure to check out all four 3D scenes offered.

Utah in 360 degrees

Your Neighbors — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:40:52 +0000

Hold onto your seats! We’re going to take you on a spin around some breathtaking spots in Utah! Literally! You’ll be able to spin around full screen, 360 degree spherical panoramas of the spectacular Utah landscape without leaving your chair!

Click and drag on any panorama to move in any direction. Hold down the shift key to zoom in or the command key to zoom out.

Click here to see Utah in 360 degrees.