I found it to be a great read, two of the more interesting places:
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NASA/USGS Rotational Tuning Facility #9
Lynchburg is home to an unusual scientific facility, a "rotational tuning" station, part of a global network of twenty-four such stations operated jointly by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Each station houses three powerful F-5 rocket engines which are fired in tandem with those at all stations around the globe when it becomes necessary to make minuscule corrections in the Earth's rotational speed (angular velocity). The global array was built in the early 1970's and has been used for two corrections, the most recent firing occurring on August 16, 1988 in which a synchronized burn lasted 8 minutes and 14 seconds. Another correction was scheduled for May 2003, but was cancelled after it was deemed unnecessary. Rotational Tuning Facility #9 is just south of River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, however, the facility is within a government restricted area and visitors are not allowed.
UPDATE: Reliable sources indicate that all of the currently-operational rotational tuning stations, including #9 in Lynchburg, will in the very near future be fired for up to twenty minutes, in what one USGS official has described as a "desperate" attempt to correct the tilt on the Earth's axis and resulting rotational "wobble" induced by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile on February 27, 2010. More details will be posted when available on what will no doubt be a ground-shaking, window-rattling event for Lynchburg and the surrounding area.
and
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The Galax "Gravity Hole" (the world's only known low-gravity cavern)
Although not actually in central Virginia, the Galax low-gravity cavern bears inclusion here for its uniqueness. In 1996, Virginia spelunkers Tim Doyle and Vaughan James were exploring unmapped areas of a cave near Galax, Virginia when they entered a chamber in which they suddenly felt light on their feet. They quickly discovered to their utter amazement that, in this chamber, they could effortlessly leave the ground merely by "pushing off," and rise high into the chamber before gently falling back to the floor. What Doyle and James had discovered was soon confirmed by government scientists to be a "gravity hole," a phenomena that had, up to that point, only been theorized by geophysicists. The gravity hole is essentially a region of reduced gravity which results from an unusually-dense mass immediately above the area, suspected in this case to involve a high concentration of the element iridium.
The Galax low-gravity cavern has since become a hotbed of controversy and dispute over ownership and intended use. A court battle currently rages between landowners wanting to create an amusement park which features the "Low-G" cavern as a centerpiece, and the federal government who has laid claim to the cavern with the intention of researching the gravity hole phenomenon further and potentially using it for astronaut training.
Site linked includes pictures, and locations (if accessible). I think a trip through Virginia is in order.
Off of Rt. 122 near Bedford, one can find a most unusual cemetery. Officially known as the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery, most locals refer to it as the "ABC Cemetery," not because of its name, but because of the obsessive-compulsive nature of its former and long-time owner and caretaker, Thomas Aadland. Aadland's sickness compelled him to continuously re-order the graves to keep them in strict alphabetical order. Local residents would find Aadland at any time of day or night following a new burial, digging up graves and shuffling caskets and headstones from plot to plot to maintain the alphabetic burial sequence. Aadland required all plot owners to sign a form acknowledging the "floating" nature of their burial plot and allowing him to change the assigned plot and move each body as needed. As bizarre as it sounds, family members didn't mind the arrangement, since it allowed them to easily find the grave sites of their loved ones on return visits, even years later, without having to remember the location between visits.
In 1992, Aadland found himself near death, and he realized that he would no longer be able to maintain the cemetery, much less continue to shuffle the grave sites. Because of this, he decided to close the cemetery, but to his horror, he realized that the graves would have to be shuffled one more time so that he himself could be buried in proper sequence (and an "A" shuffle to boot...the worst kind). Too weak to shuffle the graves once more, Aadland placed a newspaper ad seeking laborers, but he had no takers.
If you visit the ABC Cemetery today, you can observe firsthand how Aadland solved his dilemma. Look for the very last grave in the cemetery...the grave of Thomas Zuckerman... formerly known as Thomas Aadland.
If you visit the ABC Cemetery today, you can observe firsthand how Aadland solved his dilemma. Look for the very last grave in the cemetery...the grave of Thomas Zuckerman... formerly known as Thomas Aadland.
This website reminds me of a local golf course. They have some random pieces sitting around (old farm equipment and such). And on each piece they have a sign on it saying out it got there or a brief history of it. Next time I go I'll bring a camera. That was a good read though, someone has a good imagination...
Lynchburg is home to an unusual scientific facility, a "rotational tuning" station, part of a global network of twenty-four such stations operated jointly by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Each station houses three powerful F-5 rocket engines which are fired in tandem with those at all stations around the globe when it becomes necessary to make minuscule corrections in the Earth's rotational speed (angular velocity). The global array was built in the early 1970's and has been used for two corrections, the most recent firing occurring on August 16, 1988 in which a synchronized burn lasted 8 minutes and 14 seconds. Another correction was scheduled for May 2003, but was cancelled after it was deemed unnecessary. Rotational Tuning Facility #9 is just south of River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, however, the facility is within a government restricted area and visitors are not allowed.
UPDATE: Reliable sources indicate that all of the currently-operational rotational tuning stations, including #9 in Lynchburg, will in the very near future be fired for up to twenty minutes, in what one USGS official has described as a "desperate" attempt to correct the tilt on the Earth's axis and resulting rotational "wobble" induced by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile on February 27, 2010. More details will be posted when available on what will no doubt be a ground-shaking, window-rattling event for Lynchburg and the surrounding area.
Geeze. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting on that "Rotational Tuning Facility" to fire up. And I wouldn't spend too much time lookin for that headless cat either.
Still interesting to read, I had a client the other day telling me how the internet worked. No wires are involved anywhere apparently, all done with super secret spy satellites, any conversations with people you have never met are fake, and created by the Government to track you. Any time you plug a cable in to a modem, or otherwise the Government automatically knows everything about you, but the cable is fake, really it's all satellites.
Once upon a time, there was a possum that lived in the woods. His first name was Oscar and he lived in a tree down by the creek. Every day, he would leave his home visit the fish that lived in the creek. They were his friends, and they would often exchange stories and tell jokes. It was a good life, and Oscar enjoyed living every minute of it.
