We're a Special Species!

What separates the Human race from all other species on Earth?

A trio of news items caught my eye today:

1. In California the agency that oversees the Golden Gate Bridge has voted unanimously to approve a study on environmental impact that enables them to move a step closer to thinking about maybe providing the bridge with a 25 foot netting that stretches the length of the structure on both sides that will possibly catch and save the lives of people who consider jumping off the bridge in an attempt to commit suicide.

The bridge has approximately 25 suicides by this method per year.
First of all anyone interested in knowing why our governments have trouble staying within any realistic budget need go no further than that first paragraph.

But it gets better because as with anything political these days there must be - MUST BE - an opposition group hell bent on stopping any progress while getting their names in the news.
The 15 minutes of fame group this time is claiming that the money for the life-saving netting would be better spent on mental health services.

Just how they are going to cull out the 25 or more possible suicides per year from among the millions and millions of people who visit the bridge in order to stop the tragic event is beyond any sane rational individual.

But since when has sanity stopped publicity hungry morons from stating their position? Perhaps they should seek help themselves and leave the governance to the grown-ups.

2. Wyoming has decided to start us on the road to taxing the very air we breath and everything Mother Nature has to offer.

In order to help us get out from under the thumbs of the oil rich sleaze of the world many projects have been started to provide clean renewable energy across America.

So the Governor of Wyoming sees this as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor as he sets sail to tax the wind!
I suggest that Governor Freudenthal (What were those first 5 letters of his name?) call his proposed windfall 'The Mariah Tax.'

But he and his friends in government better watch out because if we start taxing wind politicians themselves may go broke!

3. And finally a story that for lack of any other title can only be considered out of this world. There is a tiny problem on the Space Station.
Earlier this week astronauts added a huge room onto the orbiting space habitat. The new room, called Tranquility cost nearly $400 million dollars. (I believe a low level official may be on his way up to re-assess the space station and check its C of O.)

The new room boasts a 360º picture window from which residents may have a breathtaking view of the Earth and the Cosmos.
Breathtaking may actually be prophetic because they hit a glitch when they tried to seal the deal by connecting the final wall from the station to Tranquility.

You see the wall cover leaves a tiny gap and does not actually reach all the way to the end. Perhaps the Italian team in charge of manufacturing the addition used the metric system instead of the US System of measurement but no fingers are being pointed as yet.

Now on Earth this might mean a drafty entrance and a slight loss of heat in the winter or cool air in the summer. Unfortunately in Outer Space it might mean a slight, as in total loss of life.

Undaunted by the slight glitch astronauts have continued loading Tranquility with all the trappings of life in space with the possible exception of air.

In conclusion one can only say that we Humans are nothing if not inventive in both the ways we can solve problems and the ways we can create more of them afterward.

We may not be as fast as the cheetah, nor as huge as the whale.


We may not have the keen eye of the eagle nor the staying power of the lowly cockroach.

Our life span is slightly less than that of the Galapagos tortoise but no other species on Earth can screw up the entire world like us!

We are the champions my friend...