I'll repost here what I originally posted on a dupe of this:

I naturally became curious to find out what/where/why, and here is what Wikipedia told me (from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey)

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King's little pathway) is a walkway or via ferrata, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to Camino del Rey.

The walkway has now gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is one meter (3 feet and 3 inches) in width, and is over 300 meters (984 feet) above the river. Nearly all of the path has no handrail. Some parts of the concrete walkway have completely collapsed and all that is remaining is the steel beam originally in place to hold it up and the wire that follows most of the path. One can latch onto a safety-wire to keep from falling. Several people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years; after four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances. However, many adventurous tourists still find their way onto the walkway to explore it.

I naturally became curious to find out what/where/why, and here is what Wikipedia told me (from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey)

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King's little pathway) is a walkway or via ferrata, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to Camino del Rey.

The walkway has now gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is one meter (3 feet and 3 inches) in width, and is over 300 meters (984 feet) above the river. Nearly all of the path has no handrail. Some parts of the concrete walkway have completely collapsed and all that is remaining is the steel beam originally in place to hold it up and the wire that follows most of the path. One can latch onto a safety-wire to keep from falling. Several people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years; after four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances. However, many adventurous tourists still find their way onto the walkway to explore it.

*fear *nature *music

Tags for this video have been changed from 'three gorges, bbc, chinese, demolish' to 'three gorges, bbc, chinese, demolish, dam, demolition' - edited by cybrbeast

I've done ceremonial guard duties for a bunch of summers (it's not a full-time thing, it's an occasional duty performed by (usually) reserve infantry soldiers), and mostly the things the tourists do to try and make you crack a smile just aren't funny. Them sticking out their tongues and waggling their fingers just isn't. You're standing there all sweaty, broiling in the sun, and your feet ache and you're just looking straight to your front and shifting your weight infinitesimally (enough to bring your dogs some relief, not enough for it to be noticed). And so on. The only time some dudes came close (and they weren't even trying) was when they started talking amongst themselves about the Imodium commercial with the palace guard in it, all yukking it up. I was about to infinitesimally bite the tip of my tongue to keep from joining them but they walked off and took their good times with them.

Once, though, a mosquito landed on my face just below the eye and started chowing down. I was still standing there like a wax statue but inside I was feverishly trying to think what I could do about it, which didn't take long as there were precious few movements I was allowed to make and I quickly concluded that there was nothing I could legally do which would have the slightest chance of dislodging it. After a full minute it could gorge no more and bumbled away; the bump swelled up as big around as a quarter and 3/8" high (and itched like a bitch of course).

On a more serious note, some female soldiers standing guard have reported getting groped by spectators in recent years. The first time or two that it happened there wasn't even a contingency plan in place because the higher-ups had doubted that anybody would do such a thing (that, and the guards are supposed to be watched by Mounties and/or commissionaires whose job it is to intervene).

*military

I've heard about this. New studies are showing diet drinks could make you hungrier, because your brain believes the drink should contain calories, and when it does not, the body craves more. Though the principle behind the Shangri-La diet is a bit different.

The diet creator claims it's not the sweetness, but flavor mixed with the sugar that is makes your brain want to ingest more. The diet says if you ingest flavorless oil or drink a small amount of sugar water periodically throughout the day your brain will associate calories with flavorless foods, and so you won't want to gorge. Really weird stuff. Good post.

My frustration is not with the production or regulation of pharmaceuticals, but with the concentration and increase of power in the hands of a few, and the income that unnecessary pharmaceuticals nets one of 5 or so, of the largest industries ever created, in recorded history-
Agreed that diet is key. When you mentioned underdeveloped countries, immediately thought of the USA, considering the ratio of healthy to unhealthy folks here, with respect to diet-We have the means to educate everyone on nutrition, and by the same means, provide a way to redirect the psychic dependence on the medical establishment, and her promise of facility, and affordable care-as it is now, the mantra is, "create the problem(let people stay fat and unhealthy), provide a solution(buy our drugs and insurance)"

I don't ascribe to any vitamins,extracts, or alternative treatments, unless prescribed by a ninety-year old Chinese woman....so, I wholeheartedly agree with the snake-oil element, being as faulty as the system's approved, structured, and watch-dogged apparatus-

the paradigm is corrupt-and the fissures becoming gorges-

The anti-depressants and pain-killers, gone tomorrow, would not be missed...folks would do as they have always done, self-medicate and deal.

Nationalized health care is a cop-out. It gives the beast more power.
Stop poisoning your body with food.

The 2006 river cruise in the film is a so-called "farewell tour" of the Yangtze River, before the area was irreversibly changed by flooding from the Three Gorges dam.

Here's an interview with the filmmaker:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/24/up_the_yangtze_documentary_takes_on

I highly recommend the Up the Yangtze, it speaks to a difficult subject through the personal journeys of the main characters. The filmmaker deftly shows that hope and humour survive in the bleakest of situations.

Leave the fat man alone!

He's probably a bulimic amnesiac sufferer - he gorges on food but then forgets to throw up afterwards.

man, whenever i see someone jumping down snowy slope i remember the avalanche that took with him 7 of my friends a month ago on a not so demanding 2000m high mountain some 10 km from where i live. they were on a training hike for alpine climbing course they attended. there were 15 people in the group and 2 of them were very experienced free climbers and mountaineers. this incident happend on 15th of december 2007. here's an article on one of our cable news channels. there are also some video clips of the rescue when they were piloted off the mountain down to where ambulances took them further to a hospital (just a block from where i live). one of the climbers was a co-woker of mine. he's into free climbing but has little less experience alpine climbing so he attented this course for some months before this happened. he got off well, just bruised and in shock. the avalanche started just 100m before they reached the peak. as it happened nobody expected any of that cause there was only 10-20cm of snow on ground. but it was snowing all night before and it was very windy. that caused the unstable, fresh powder to accumulate on top and they somehow tripped this huge patch of snow that drove them down a very steep slope through a gorge that ended some 300m downhill. there were also 6 other friends of mine, most with minor injuries, two girls had more severe injuries. i met one of them just last night, she got out of hospital few days earlier. she's got broken leg and she needed some surgery on her jaw. she was joking that she will always trip the airport alarms now that she's got 6 titanium plates in her jaw nice to see her smiling and so optimistic after something so shocking. she will still need few months of recovery before she's ok but all of them said that they feel really lucky and kinda reborn after that meet with matilda

^ very impressed with grimm and sourcing this. you are *quality

In reply to this comment by Grimm:
National Park Services Responce:

Recently there have been several media and internet reports concerning the National Park Service’s interpretation of the formation of the Grand Canyon.

The National Park Service uses the latest National Academy of Sciences explanation for the geologic formation of the Grand Canyon. Our guidance to the field is contained in the NPS Management Policies 2006 and NPS Director’s Order # 6 and requires that the interpretive and educational treatment used to explain the natural processes and history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism. Our commitment to scientific accuracy is also driven by Director’s Order #11B, which requires us to ensure the objectivity of the information we disseminate.

Therefore, our interpretive talks, way-side exhibits, visitor center films, etc use the following explanation for the age of the geologic features at Grand Canyon. If asked the age of the Grand Canyon, our rangers use the following answer.

The principal consensus among geologists is that the Colorado River basin has developed in the past 40 million years and that the Grand Canyon itself is probably less than five to six million years old. The result of all this erosion is one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.

The major geologic exposures in Grand Canyon range in age from the 1.7 billion year old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 270 million year old Kaibab Limestone on the Rim.

So, why are there news reports that differ from this explanation? Since 2003 the park bookstore has been selling a book that gives a Creationist view of the formation of the Grand Canyon, claiming that the canyon is less than six thousand years old. This book is sold in the inspirational section of the bookstore. In this section there are photographic texts, poetry books, and Native American books (that also give an alternative view of the canyon’s origin). The park’s bookstore contains scores of texts that give the NPS geologic view of the formation of the canyon.

We do not use the Creationist text in our teaching nor do we endorse its content. However, neither do we censor alternative beliefs. Much like your local public library, you will find many alternative beliefs, but not all of these beliefs are used in the school classroom. It is not our role to tell people what to believe. We recognize that alternative views exist, but we teach the scientific explanation for the formation of the Grand Canyon.

I hope this explanation helps.

David Barna
Chief of Public Affairs
National Park Service
Washington, DC
Registered Professional Geologist (AIPG #6528)
Licensed Geologist (North Carolina #129)

National Park Services Responce:

Recently there have been several media and internet reports concerning the National Park Service’s interpretation of the formation of the Grand Canyon.

The National Park Service uses the latest National Academy of Sciences explanation for the geologic formation of the Grand Canyon. Our guidance to the field is contained in the NPS Management Policies 2006 and NPS Director’s Order # 6 and requires that the interpretive and educational treatment used to explain the natural processes and history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism. Our commitment to scientific accuracy is also driven by Director’s Order #11B, which requires us to ensure the objectivity of the information we disseminate.

Therefore, our interpretive talks, way-side exhibits, visitor center films, etc use the following explanation for the age of the geologic features at Grand Canyon. If asked the age of the Grand Canyon, our rangers use the following answer.

The principal consensus among geologists is that the Colorado River basin has developed in the past 40 million years and that the Grand Canyon itself is probably less than five to six million years old. The result of all this erosion is one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.

The major geologic exposures in Grand Canyon range in age from the 1.7 billion year old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 270 million year old Kaibab Limestone on the Rim.

So, why are there news reports that differ from this explanation? Since 2003 the park bookstore has been selling a book that gives a Creationist view of the formation of the Grand Canyon, claiming that the canyon is less than six thousand years old. This book is sold in the inspirational section of the bookstore. In this section there are photographic texts, poetry books, and Native American books (that also give an alternative view of the canyon’s origin). The park’s bookstore contains scores of texts that give the NPS geologic view of the formation of the canyon.

We do not use the Creationist text in our teaching nor do we endorse its content. However, neither do we censor alternative beliefs. Much like your local public library, you will find many alternative beliefs, but not all of these beliefs are used in the school classroom. It is not our role to tell people what to believe. We recognize that alternative views exist, but we teach the scientific explanation for the formation of the Grand Canyon.

I hope this explanation helps.

David Barna
Chief of Public Affairs
National Park Service
Washington, DC
Registered Professional Geologist (AIPG #6528)
Licensed Geologist (North Carolina #129)

thanks gorg. for your assistance I now share with you a comic I found both insightful and amusing... http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-1127.png

In reply to this comment by gorgonheap:
Found a fix for the lil' Hitler vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCPOGZmDfu0

I thought the song and the dance were entertaining enough, but I felt it went better with the music at the end with 10 seconds to go. I think that could have been their real music through the entire session.

With a bit of speed control it could look just as good to this: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/6928/peanuts.mid

They do need to stop playing with sticks though (32 seconds till end). That is just going to end up as another shameful light saber kid video.

Thanks big C, apparently I need to go back to school.

In reply to this comment by siftbot:
Tags for this video have been changed from 'zip, line, cable, colombia, ripleys, gourge, river, children, omg' to 'zip, line, cable, colombia, ripleys, gorge, river, children, omg' - edited by calvados

Tags for this video have been changed from 'zip, line, cable, colombia, ripleys, gourge, river, children, omg' to 'zip, line, cable, colombia, ripleys, gorge, river, children, omg' - edited by calvados