Visitor Locations
- Grand Canyon Geology Lessons on View
The Grand Canyon in northern Arizona is a favorite for astronauts shooting photos from the International Space Station, as well as one of the best-known tourist attractions in the world. The steep walls of the Colorado River canyon and its many side canyons make an intricate landscape that contrasts with the dark green, forested plateau to the north and south. The Colorado River has done all the erosional work of carving away cubic kilometers of rock in a geologically short period of time. Visible as a darker line snaking along the bottom of the canyon, the river lies at an altitude of 715 meters (2,345 feet), thousands of meters below the North and South Rims. Temperatures are furnace-like on the river banks in the summer. But Grand Canyon Village, the classic outlook point for visitors, enjoys a milder climate at an altitude of 2,100 meters (6,890 feet). The Grand Canyon has become a geologic icon—a place where you can almost sense the invisible tectonic forces within the Earth. The North and South Rims are part of the Kaibab Plateau, a gentle tectonic swell in the landscape. The uplift of the plateau had two pronounced effects on the landscape that show up in this image. First, in drier parts of the world, forests usually indicate higher places; higher altitudes are cooler and wetter, conditions that allow trees to grow. The other geologic lesson on view is the canyon itself. Geologists now know that a river can cut a canyon only if the Earth surface rises vertically. If such uplift is not rapid, a river can maintain its course by eroding huge quantities of rock and forming a canyon. This astronaut photograph (ISS039-E-5258) was taken on March 25, 2014 by the Expedition 39 crew, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 180 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. It has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. > View annotated image Image Credit: NASA Caption: M. Justin Wilkinson, Jacobs at NASA-JSC
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Category Archives: Economics
Shutdown / Debt Crisis
So how’s that for a headline? That one get your alarmist hackles up? It should. A friend of mine quoted The Economist this morning and it kind of sent my blood pressure up: The Economist on the government shutdown. Key … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Economics
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Governmental Mismangement
Well the whole Fiscal Cliff issue has been deferred for two months. Then we will see what happens. In the meantime, Roberta X has boiled the entire issue down to a couple of well written paragraphs. The money lines: This … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Economics
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Tort Reform and Other Rantings
A friend of mine threw a link to this article up on Facebook earlier. I started to comment on it, and it rapidly grew into a rant. So, I thought I would clean it up a little and make it … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Economics, Society
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Economics
Some interesting numbers that are pulled together from multiple sources today over at Hot Air. The article supports the position that our “Fiscal Cliff” is not going to be solved by revenue increases. Go read it, and then my comments make sense. … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Politics
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Europe In The News and The Scary Crystal Ball
Well, it appears as if there are some new developments going in on the Continent, that unfortunately appear to be old actions being resurrected for the 21st Century. Let’s take a look at the highlights of recent events: Greece continues to have widespread protests … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Current Events, Economics, History
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Six Minutes of Wisdom
An interesting snippet from Bill Whittle today, that brings us Rudyard Kipling’s wisdom and observations from 100 years ago. Take six minutes to watch.
Posted in Economics, History
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And So It Goes
The death of a brand. I have commented previously, probably multiple times, that unions have outlived their usefulness. There was a dark time in our history where unions were vital to the growth of the economy and industry. Unions were … Continue reading
Economics News
Any interesting analysis on the current economic situation in the US. This one focuses on the velocity of M1 and M2. Break out your econ books, and dust off those facts and terms from where all that knowledge that you … Continue reading
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Interesting Happenings in Europe
A couple of interesting things beginning to show up in Europe lately. Item 1: Item 2 maybe more prophetic (whole story here and here): This morning’s Der Spiegel (Germany) has a real doozy worth paying attention to. – The … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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Focus
Most of our focus recently has been on the US political landscape as we near a critical election. What everyone is missing, perhaps intentionally is the critical events in Europe. Based on today’s election Greece will either adopt severe austerity … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Politics
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