Tag: Travel

Amusing Information

25 Scary Bridges

25 scary bridges you’ll have to see to believe.

Enjoy!

If you’re not afraid of heights, you have a sense of adventure, and you you scoff in the face of danger then you may want to check out these 25 scary bridges you’ll have to see to believe.

Trift Bridge — Switzerland
Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge — New Zealand
Daedunsan Mountain Suspension Bridge — South Korea
Hanging Bridge of Ghasa — Nepal
Monkey Bridges — Vietnam
Huangshan — China
Montenegro Rainforest Bridge — Costa Rica
U-Bein Bridge — Myanmar
Chesapeake Bay Bridge — Maryland
Langkawi Sky Bridge — Malaysia
Storseisundet Bridge — Norway
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge — Northern Ireland
Capilano Suspension Bridge — Canada
Canopy walk bridge — Ghana
Aiguille du Midi Bridge — France
Vitim River Bridge — Russia
Millau Viaduct — France
Royal Gorge Bridge — Colorado
Mackinac Bridge — Michigan
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway — Louisiana
Musou Tsuribashi — Japan
Estrada Puerto Suarez — Bolivia
Volgograd Bridge — Russia
Quepos Bridge — Costa Rica
Sidhue River Bridge — China

 

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How Much Do The Obamas Spend On Vacations And Travel?

How Much Do The Obamas Spend On Vacations And Travel?

How Much Do The Obamas Spend On Vacations And Travel?

Shared sacrifice? Socialism is for the people, not the socialists.

Obama administration travel and vacation documents were released yesterday by Judicial Watch,  and they reveal an unprecedented level of executive branch leisure spending.

According to public information: “As of 2001, the president earns a$400,000 annual salary, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a$100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment. The most recent raise in salary was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 and went into effect in 2001.”

Obtained via a Freedom of Information request, here are some of the Obama presidency’s spending items:

  • Since 2009, a total of $40,000,000 has been spent.
  • This year’s Presidential golf outings to California and Florida, including $3,000,000 in flight expenses.
  • 2013′s Africa trip and Honolulu vacations for the Obamas cost $16,000,000- for flight expenses alone.
  • 2013′s Ireland trip tab: $8,000,000.
  • Michelle Obama’s 2-day side trip to Dublin cost $250,000, including a $3,500 per-night suite.

To put these figures in perspective, the administration spends every 5 hours what the average American family spends each summer on vacations. And that only counts those that actually are financially able to vacation. To put it another way, it takes the annual income taxes of 926 typical households to cover these costs.

Or another way, that’s 70 times what the president is allotted in compensation on a yearly basis.

Is there any conceivable way to justify a monthly average travel and vacation budget of $625,000? For a President that constantly harps on about income inequality and shared sacrifice, his lavish presidential lifestyle is the epitome of hypocrisy.

Source…

 

Amusing

The Ringing Rocks Of Pennsylvania

The Ringing Rocks Of Pennsylvania

The Ringing Rocks Of Pennsylvania

Ringing Rocks County Park is a Bucks County park in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. Located within the park is a field of boulders that have an unusual property. When the rocks are struck with a hammer or another rock, they sound as if they are metal and hollow and ring with a sound similar to a bell or metal pipe being struck.

If you strike a rock, you’d expect to hear a dull ‘thud’. Or maybe a ‘chink’. Definitely not a ringing sound. So you’d be surprised to know that ringing rocks actually do exist. Nestled in the midst of the 128-acre Ringing Rocks County Park in Pennsylvania, is a field of unique boulders. Spread out across seven to eight acres, the boulders produce a distinctive metallic ‘clang’ when struck with a hammer or another piece of rock. Native Americans have known about the rocks for centuries, and passed on their knowledge to the first White settlers in the mid-1700s.

The sound produced by the rocks is so unexpected that it could get you wondering if they are really made of stone. They actually sound hollow and metallic. The strange phenomenon has baffled scientists and geologists for years. Several experiments have been conducted on the ringing rocks, but the exact reason for the unusual sound remains unknown.

Richard Faas, a geologist from Pennsylvania, tested a few of the rocks in his lab in 1965. He discovered that when struck, each individual rock produced low frequency tones that aren’t audible to the human ear. The tones from multiple rocks interact with each other and it’s the collective sound that we get to hear.

There’s another very odd thing about the field – there’s almost no vegetation or plant life in the area. Not even insects. The 10 foot deep field is hotter than the forest surrounding it and provides very little in terms of food or shelter. A few have claimed that compasses don’t work in the barren area, but no trace of high background radiation, abnormal magnetic fields or strange electromagnetic activity has ever been found. So I suppose that rules out the supernatural angle as well.

Read more…

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Amusing Information

The Haiku Stairs

The Haiku Stairs, also known as the Stairway to Heaven or Haiku Ladder, is a steep hiking trail on the island of Oʻahu.

The Haiku Stairs

The Haiku Stairs

The trail began as a wooden ladder spiked to the cliff on the south side of the Haʻikū Valley. It was installed in 1942 to enable antenna cables to be strung from one side of the cliffs above Haʻikū Valley to the other. A building to provide a continuous communication link between Wahiawā and Haʻikū Valley Naval Radio Station was constructed at the peak of Puʻukeahiakahoe, elevation about 2,800 feet (850 m). The antennae transmitted very low frequency radio signals from a 200,000-watt Alexanderson alternator in the center of Haʻikū valley. The signals could reach US Navy submarines as far away as Tokyo Bay while the submarines were submerged. Testers for RCA picked up signals on Long Island, and the signal also reached India, 6,600 miles (10,600 km) away.

When the Naval base was decommissioned in the 1950s, the United States Coast Guard used the site for an Omega Navigation System station. In the mid-1950s, the wooden stairs were replaced by sections of metal steps and ramps — by one count, 3,922 steps. The station and trail were closed to the public in 1987. Some hikers ignore the No Trespassing signs and continue to climb, contributing to the local community’s misgivings about reopening the structure.

In 2003, the stairs were repaired, costing the city $875,000. As of early 2012, land usage rights issues have not been resolved. The City and County of Honolulu has stated that there is currently no plan to open the stairs for public use, citing liability concerns.

 

Amusing Information

25 Creepiest Places On Earth

25 Creepiest Places On Earth

Creepiness can be hard to define. Although the dictionary definition would be something along the lines of “annoyingly unpleasant” if you ask a hundred people you’ll most likely get a hundred different explanations. Keeping that in mind get ready to embark on a journey to some of the more spine tingling (or annoyingly unpleasant) corners of the globe. These are the 25 creepiest places on Earth.

 

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