naturalfeature:niagara falls

  • Motivational Commencement Address by Marc S. Lewis, Professor of Clinical Psychology
    http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0013-lewis.htm

    The First Tightrope Walker

    In 1859 the Great Blondin — the man who invented the high wire act, announced to the world that he intended to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Five thousand people including the Prince of Wales gathered to watch. Halfway across, Blondin suddenly stopped, steadied himself, backflipped into the air, landed squarely on the rope then continued safely to the other side. During that year, Blondin crossed the Falls again and again — once blindfolded, once carrying a stove, once in chains, and once on a bicycle. Just as he was about to begin yet another crossing, this time pushing a wheelbarrow, he turned to the crowd and shouted “who believes that I can cross pushing this wheelbarrow.” Every hand in the crowd went up. Blondin pointed at one man.
    “Do you believe that I can do it?” he asked.
    “Yes, I believe you can,” said the man.
    “Are you certain?” said Blondin
    “Yes,” said the man.
    “Absolutely certain?”
    "Yes, Absolutely certain."
    “Thank you” said Blondin, “then sir, get into the wheelbarrow.”

  • The Cancer of the Great Lakes - Issue 46: Balance
    http://nautil.us/issue/46/balance/the-cancer-of-the-great-lakes

    The first day of June 1988 was sunny, hot, and mostly calm—perfect weather for the three young researchers from the University of Windsor who were hunting for critters crawling across the bottom of Lake St. Clair. Sonya Santavy was a freshly graduated biologist aboard a 16-foot-long runabout as the whining outboard pushed the boat toward the middle of the lake that straddles the United States and Canadian border. On a map, Lake St. Clair looks like a 24-mile-wide aneurysm in the river system east of Detroit that connects Lake Huron to Lake Erie, and that is essentially what it is. Water pools in it and then churns through as the outflows from Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron tumble down into Erie, then continue flowing east over Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario, and finally down the (...)