And Jefferson had faith in the republic because of its people...
     
Questions people have actually asked of Park Rangers.  Taken from Outside 
Magazine, May 1995
     
Grand Canyon National Park
>  ------------------------------------- 
> Was this man-made?
> Do you light it up at night?
> I bought tickets for the elevator to the bottom --where is it? 
> Is the mule train air conditioned?
> So where are the faces of the presidents? 
>
> Everglades National Park
>  -------------------------------
> Are the alligators real?
> Are the baby alligators for sale?
> Where are all the rides?
> What time does the two o'clock bus leave? 
>
> Denali National Park (Alaska)
>  ---------------------------------- 
> What time do you feed the bears?
> Can you show me where the yeti lives? 
> How often do you mow the tundra?
> How much does Mount McKinley weigh? 
>
> Mesa Verde National Park
>  ---------------------------------
> Did people build this, or did Indians?
> Why did they build the ruins so close to the road?
> What did they worship in the kivas -- their own made-up religion? 
> Do you know of any undiscovered ruins?
> Why did the Indians decide to live in Colorado? 
>
> Carlsbad Caverns National Park
>  ------------------------------------------ 
> How much of the cave is underground?
> So what's in the unexplored part of the cave? 
> Does it ever rain in here?
> How many Ping-Pong balls would it take to fill this up? 
> So what is this -- just a hole in the ground?
>
> Yosemite National Park
>  -------------------------------
> Where are the cages for the animals?
> What time do you turn on Yosemite Falls?
> Can I get my picture taken with the carving of President 
>      Clinton?
>
> Yellowstone National Park
>  --------------------------------- 
> Does Old Faithful erupt at night?
> How do you turn it on?
> When does the guy who turns it on get to sleep?
> We had no trouble finding the park entrances, but where are the exits? 
- ----
     
"Chicken Bullet"
     
Someone saw this on CompuServe TrainNet Forum and passed it on to me:
     
The FAA has a device for testing the strength of windshields on 
airplanes. They point this thing at the windshield of the aircraft and 
shoot a dead chicken at about the speed the aircraft normally flies at 
it.  If the windshield doesn't break, it's likely to survive a real 
collision with a bird during flight.
     
The British had recently built a new diesel locomotive that could pull a 
train faster than any before it.  They were not sure that its windshield 
was strong enough so they borrowed the testing device from the FAA, reset 
it to approximate the maximum speed of the locomotive, loaded in the dead 
chicken, and fired.  The bird went through the windshield, broke the 
engineer's chair, and made a major dent in the back wall of the engine 
cab.
     
They were quite surprised with this result, so they asked the FAA to 
check the test to see if everything was done correctly.  The FAA checked 
everything and suggested that they might want to repeat the test using a 
thawed chicken.
     
     
--- End of forwarded mail from Heather.A.Bartholf@Dartmouth.EDU (Heather A. 
Bartholf)
     
     
     
-- 
Lisa Anderson
     
     
Phone: (410) 550-6440  
Fax: (410) 550-6414  
Email: lla@owl.med.jhu.edu