On April 20th, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon left 17 workers injured and 11 missing and presumed dead. Oil is spilling from a well 5000 feet below sea level, discharging 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day according to the official estimate. It is estimated that more than 6 million gallons of crude oil have spewed into the Gulf so far.

It is understandably difficult to imagine how large this spill actually is. The picture above shows the area the spill would cover if it had originated in Denver. It would stretch from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs and as far east as Hillrose. Want to see the spill size compared to you city? Check out Paul Rademacher’s website.

UPDATE: If It Was My Home also does a great job of mapping the spill and overlaying it onto your hometown

The sport it is a timed race with skiers being pulled by horses on a track with large jumps and flat landings. In between the jumps the skier must try to spear small circular rings while swinging from one side of the track to the other – at speeds in excess of 40 mile per hour. Missed rings add 2 seconds each to your time. With average times of less than twenty seconds a single missed ring, with skiers of this caliber, will cost you the event. The winner will have the most rings and fastest time. Ski joring is no simple feat – particularly the Leadville race.

Last year, for the 60th annual race, I had the good fortune of making the draw and was able to compete. I wiped out on the first jump. My apologies to the rider and the man who wagered $250 on me. Video evidence below.

My wipe out was nothing compared to Chris Anthony’s (former Alaskan Extreme Skiing Champion, veteran of 9 World Extreme Skiing Championships and 20 Warren Miller films) fall in the 2007 races. He didn’t walk away from his. Video evidence below.

To get a real idea of the sense of speed, tradition, and community this ski joring event brings to Leadville watch this documentary by Foresight Multimedia. To get a sense of what the skier is seeing watch this first person video on youtube. To get a sense of my attitude before the race, read my interview in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Fetus in fetu (or fœtus in fœtu) is a developmental abnormality: a mass of tissue inside the body that more or less resembles a fetus. There are two theories of origin concerning fetus in fetu. One theory is that the mass begins as a normal fetus but becomes enveloped inside its twin. The other theory is that the mass is a highly developed teratoma. Fetus in fetu is estimated to occur in 1 in 500,000 live births.

It’s not quite as exciting as the foot found in the boys brain down in Colorado Springs (warning: very graphic photo [photo credit to the Denver Post]. DO NOT click if you are at all squeamish). But I was still pretty thrilled with my little discovery. My mature, and fully ripened, red pepper was carrying it’s own underdeveloped green pepper twin inside it. Of course I took pictures.

And here is a picture of the with the fetus extracted.

Alas, teratoma peppers are not all that uncommon.

First off, just to reiterate, i’m totally fine! At the end f the video you can see my left hand starting to shake. It threw me back a few feet and then i proceeded to have a breathing problem that sounded like breath hiccups, short and quick, and that lasted for about 3-5 minutes. While that was going on i sat and watched my left arm shake like a jackhammer which seemed to last forever and i could feel the travel path in my arm for the 24 hours following. The air did turn much warmer after the strike. i didn’t notice cooling air before, but i also wasn’t thinking it was about to hit the ground in front of me. I had no idea i even took video of this until at least 20 minutes later. It was a total surprise!

And for your viewing pleasure, here are a couple addition youtube links to some crazy lightning strikes.

      In addition to this letter and the claim report, I have included some other useful information. The circumstances of my injury are as follows: While in Australia, on the date of July 17, 1996, I fell down a flight of stairs and fractured my wrist. On July 18, I went to the Cairns Base Hospital and had my injury taken care of and returned on July 25 to get a cast. I was not charged by the hospital for any of these services other than the $8.00 to make copies of the x-rays to bring back to my doctor in the U.S. I arrived back in the United States on August 4. On August 19 I went to Dr. Philip A. Stull to get my cast removed and was charged for his services.

      Charges incurred during the injury include $8.00 for the x-ray copies (copy of receipt enclosed), $2.95 for a cast cover in order to shower (copy of receipt enclosed), $25.00 for a non-refundable deposit on a scuba diving trip with Reef Encounters that had to be canceled due to the injury (copy of receipt enclosed), and $125.00 for the cast removal and x-rays (copy of receipt enclosed). The photocopies that I included can be explained as follows:
      page 1 – passport, drivers license, and ISIC card
      page 2 – Australian visa
      page 3 – boarding pass for leaving the U.S.
      page 4 – boarding pass for arriving back in the U.S., receipt for x-ray copies, and
      receipts for the shower bag.
      page 5 – receipt for deposit on diving trip
      page 6 – receipt for x-rays and cast removal
      page 7 – photocopy of x-ray taken at Cairns Base Hospital

If there is any other information that you require in order to process my claim please let me know.

Thanks,
Hubs

Luckily, since it’s my haunt, I have a tab there without having to provide a credit card. And luckily the power outage shut the computers down. Woot! Free beer. Well, close, I still tipped the guys and paid them close to the right amount. Mostly because I’m not an asshole to people who don’t treat me like one. It was cool though because as soon as the TVs went out, and the juke box went silent, and the moody light went dark, all of those that were there for “the scene” quickly left. And those of us who didn’t want to stare at the TV, dance, play pool, or eat, all sat at the bar and actually talked to each other. Novel idea. With only candlelight and strangers, an unusually fun evening was had. However, I still left after I finished my beers.