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We haven't gained one "useful" bit of knowledge from our trip to the Moon in 1969, but we didn't know that would be the case until we actually went there.

It's posts like yours that keep me reading Slashdot.

Getting to the moon, in terms of the science of it, was a bit like Robert Powell's first voyage down the Green and Colorado rivers in 1869. People knew there were canyons there, and the Grand Canyon at the end, and that it was about a mile deep. They didn't have maps of the region at all, even to know where the Green and Grand meet to form the Colorado.

After that trip, people knew there were canyons there, and the Grand Canyon at the end. No gold, no lost native civilization, no huge waterfalls. Scientific anti-knowledge. But they had a map, and they knew they could get down the river.

People don't realize that until we actually went to the moon we weren't precisely sure what was there. There were all sorts of "green cheese" ideas floating around the common populace, like were there air pockets in caves or whatever. We could look at it from here, bounce lasers off it, and so forth. But seeing something and standing on it are two different things.

Thanks again.

By rapidly, do you mean 5 to 6 million years? Here is at least one discussion that reviews the geology of the Grand Canyon. And here is another, by the National Park Service. They use professional geologists to test their theories.

And, please, the next time you plan to rant about Noah's flood, please feel free to post with a user ID.

Hydro power, like that long the Colorado river has its own set of problems. It interrupts fish migration most of all. It also changes the flow of rivers which causes more (or less) silt in given areas, and may (over time) significantly reduce the ability of the dam to produce power. Changes to river flows also cause problems in temperature.

There is also a bunch of research into the fact that the large resovoirs of hydro power plants actually cause earthquakes. We are displacing so much material and adding so much weight in a place it hasn't been before that we are (ever so slightly) altering the shape of the earth's crust.

I don't know of a perfect power source, but I don't think developed nations will be adding significant amounts of hydro power. There are too many issues.

Is the metor that hit the earth and killed off the dinosaurs in any way to the breakup of pangea?

Nope, the the pangea breakup was around 150 million years earlier. A guesstimate off by a factor of 3 or so ain't so bad when your talking about geological timescales :)

Here's a rough map of the Earth 65 million years ago.

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For geographic marvels, I highly recommend Yosemite National Park, and of course, the Grand Canyon. If you do the canyon, try to hike below the rim, instead of just gazing down into it like 99.9% of visitors do. Just be prepared, the rangers have to rescue ill prepared tourists on a daily basis. One of the best hiking destinations in the Grand Canyon is Havasupai Falls, which is on the Havasupai Reservation.

And if you're in the Southwest, you'd probably like to see some other Native American sites. One of the best cliff dwellings is Bandolier National Monument, in New Mexico. Or in Arizona, Montezuma Castle National Monument. Other Native American sites worth seeing in Arizona are Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, Tuzigoot National Monument, and the Hopi Villages, the longest continuously inhabited village in North America. In New Mexico, there's Chaco Canyon, Aztec Ruins National Monument and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. While in New Mexico, it'd be a shame to miss Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Another geeky destination in Arizona near the Grand Canyon would be Lowell Observatory, where Percival Lowell discovered the planet Pluto.

Next, I would like to recommend the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, if you like to paddle and portage. This is located in northern Minnesota. And if you're in Minnesota, check out the city of Duluth. It's the world's most inland seaport, and a very cool place, literally. It's located at the very tip of Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake. And if you really want a good Lake Superior experience, check out Isle Royale National Park or at least the Apostle Islands. Both offer great hiking and see kayaking. Those are my recommendations. Hope you can make it to at least some of them! Tim Savage Phoenix, AZ

A lot of bodies of water are above sea level. The Colorado river starts at 9,010 feet above sea level.

Of course, not all dams will inflict all types of damage. Still, indirect effects can be powerful. The unexpected rate of siltation behind Hoover led to the construction of another large dam (Glen Canyon)upriver, which had its own economic and environmental costs. Incidentally, simple ecosystems like deserts, tundra, etc turn out to be much more fragile than more complex ecosystems like rainforests (which have many more feedback loops to resist change). In general, the Colorado River is considered one of the worst ecological disasters in the country, though controlling the flow of water has made irrigation possible (bad for the environment, good for humans).

Of course, Three Gorges is far, far worse.

(crotchety old fogey voice)

Sit down around my feet youngsters and let me tell yer a tale of REAL hacking.

My school's IBM 1130 (size of a large desk, power of a pocket calculator) put out so much RF that you could place a transistor radio (Remember those? Nope? Didn't think so) on top of the CPU and when certain combinations of i/o were run would play music from the radio.

he he he , good old days....