Scree - September 25, 2010
Amy is home from her outdoor trip to NC. Hopefully, she will write a Journal entry, next Friday. Rose is also home for the weekend. She is planning on going to Haiti for an Engineers Without Borders group for her Fall Break. It is good having both of the home.
Our good friend, Mark is in India working with the Goodwill Games. The construction work on the facilities was so far behind that there was talk of canceling the Games. An email from Mark:
Monty,
It is crazy over here. I certainly haven't seen anything like it before. The overt poverty is mind boggling and I just can't describe what it is like to see the slums and shanty encampments. The Games are teetering on the brink of disaster because of the lack of preparations and by how behind the construction is. I don't know what kind of news you can get there but there was a bridge that collapsed just outside the stadium yesterday. We were working there and saw all the turmoil. Working in the venues is very heads up because the structures are scary to hang from and everything is filthy. The stadium has 300-400 people working there and there are no operable toilets so the place is a health time bomb. It is a good education for me though. We live pretty good lives in the States.
Mark
Wow!
Are you tired of dogs pooping in your yard? Well, put it to good use. A Massachusetts man invented a poop collector that collects and captures methane gas. The gas is used to power a street lamp.
Children with dogs are more active. The article claims that a child that owns a dog is active for eleven more minutes each day. If they owned a dog like our Jake, they would be even more active. Our demanding dog loves to walk and play. (Yahoo - Live Science)
Los Angeles County is trying to ban the use of polystyrene containers - foam food cups and containers. The containers litter the beaches and waterways of the world. In Nashville walking near the shores of Percy Priest Lake we saw the containers everywhere. They were used by the stores selling bait. We are years behind Los Angeles; but there is hope. (LA Times)