Serendipity Strikes Again

I awoke sans alarm clock Saturday morning a little after 0700. I like to listen to the Kim Komando Show to get my weekly dose of all things digital. Kim Komando refers to herself as "America's Digital Goddess", and hosts the most listened-to Technology Radio Show in the country. Her website is my favorite "Macro" Tech website, loaded with helpful news, info and tips to keep my technology serving me...instead of the other way around!

Kim's Show is on from 7AM to 10AM Pacific LIVE. Here in the Inland Valley, the show is tape delayed until Noon Pacific on Sacramento's KSTE AM650 and until 9PM on KNEW AM 910

At the DaveCave I listen on KKOH AM780 Sunday afternoons at 4PM (I usually watch "The Train Wreck News Magazine" on Sacramento's CW31 on Saturday and Sunday mornings...but that's another story)

So, I tuned into Kim's Show on the internet. While listening, I checked @CorduroyPlanet's Twitter Feed and saw a tweet from @planetski that chilled me to my core: "Lift Collapse in New Zealand" with a link to the story.

I went to PlanetSki (we PlanetWhatevers stick together) and fortunately this wasn't a human disaster!

"Preliminary assessment is the tower has sustained significant shock load from natural release of cable ice and this is not due to any design or structural defect in the lift," says a statement on the resort's web site. The damage occurred before the resort opened for the season. Turoa, upon Mt Ruapehu's Southwest Side, opened Thursday June 17th on their Bunny Hill, "Alpine Meadow" The New Zealand Herald has the story

The "High Noon Express" is a Dopplemayr High Speed Detachable that serves the top of Turoa's terrain. From the photos, it looks like a huge build-up of Rime loaded the cable, towers, and tower machinery, and when the rime released, the dynamic loads folded over a lift tower. The Resort's website says the lift will be up and running in 3-4 weeks.

Once I understood the story, and my heartrate returned to resting, I perused PlanetSki and found some interesting stories...A fellow received a $200,000 grant from the World Bank via the United Nations to Paint a mountain in Peru white in order to highlight Climate Change.
A story on ski resorts re-opening in North America, and even a Train Wreck Story; Charlie Sheen Department!

Finally, a little light reading! What a great way to start my weekend. I'll be planting in the Diggins, and fishing Monday...good times.