This was from our trip to Mt. Lemon.

Day Trip `

Yesterday we went to the Biosphere 2 in Tucson. We've talked about going for awhile so it was great to finally check it out. It's an amazing piece of architecture and engineering. It was designed to be a closed off ecosystem, so the huge complex (over 4 acres) is enclosed in sealed glass and the foundation is lined with solid steel. It is completely air proof and requires two geodesic domes called "lungs" on each end to provide a flexible membrane air compression so that the building does not explode or implode under changing air pressures. There are three main areas, a tropical forest with a tropical coral ocean, a desert, and a farm and living area. At one point, people tried to live inside with no help from the outside world, but had a problem with global warming because the plants could not keep up with their oxygen needs (the building was absorbing it) and had to have oxygen pumped in. We went on a guided tour through the whole place, examining a lot of the high technology that such a place requires. Then we explored on our own.
This was worth the hefty admission price. I recommend going if you haven't seen it. The Discovery Channel voted it 3rd most impressive human engineering accomplishment..

The Rain Forest

Biosphere 2

Mona

Biosphere

Underneath the Biosphere

Stairwell

The US Budget

In 2007 the US government plans on spending $2.8 trillion. In the year 2001, the outlays (how much the government spends) were $1.8 trillion. That means in 7 years government spending has gone up $1 trillion, which is a 155 percent increase! I should mention that the 2007 budget does not include Iraq, Afghanistan, and Katrina.

To see the evidence for yourself see the Government Budget for 2007 (pg. 3) and 2001 (pg. 14). (The page numbers are displayed on the bottom of Adobe Acrobat.)

Road Trip

Mona and I went out to Superior, Miami and Globe, Arizona yesterday for some sightseeing and hiking. It is up in the mountains a little bit and when we got there fairly early in the morning it was 51 degrees! We walked around the city of Globe first, which was deserted because it was Sunday. Then we drove down to Superior and looked through some antique shops and got coffee. Afterwards, we went hiking and rock scrambling to see if we could see some good top rope areas to come back for rock climbing (we did.)

It was really gorgeous up there and we had a great time. We came back home, got chinese food and watched a movie. It was a pretty nice day.

Pictures From Our Road Trip

Globe

Mona in Globe

Globe Arizona

Poll

Another poll from Iraq was released yesterday. I noticed that the polls are pretty consistent over the last couple of years. In the latest one, it states that 47 percent of Iraqis approve of "Attacks on US-led forces."