A Double-dog 15th Birthday Bash and more

Last weekend, we decided (kind of last minute) to honor 2 of our precious canine children because they reached their milestone 15th birthdays!   

2007: Dolly and Franklin celebrated their 2nd birthdays

Yesterday, you read about Dolly the Weimaraner just reaching 15! Franklin, our eldest Dachshund is actually 15 1/2, so it was a double celebration for Franklin and Dolly! 

Tyler Turned 9 Years Old!

2 MORE BIRTHDAYS! - 
It was also TYLER the black and tan Dachshund's 9th birthday- (he was adopted without knowledge of a birthday,
 so because he is bonded to Dolly, we gave him Dolly's birthday), AND it was also TOM's 56th birthday - So it was a 4 birthday celebration 

Aunt Stacey and Uncle Nathan holding Tyler the birthday boy

Thaddeus and Lyle

(Only Dash and Daddy Rob weren't celebrating their birthdays because they were in August and October, respectively). 


 THE GATHERING - We asked several friends who have helped us with our kids or know our kids very well. 
   We had a 1/2 a sheet cake with all 4 birthdays noted, chips, salsa, crackers, cheese, brownies, cookies, fruit, veggies and of course DOG TREATS!    We were so grateful to out friends who came to pay tribute to everyone.

the big cake!

Thaddeus, Linda, Tom, Nathan and Bill

Stacey, Bill and Will

Franklin and Dash

 

  

Franklin and Dolly looking out of the truck's back window: 2008

. 

Bill & Tom & Franklin

Today Dolly the Weim Turns 15 (that's 110 in Human Years)

Dolly today

Today marks our Weimaraner, Dolly's, 15th birthday. That makes her 110 in human years and she's still going strong.

HER HISTORY - She was one of a litter of 6 puppies that were abandoned in a kill shelter in Atlanta by a breeder. The story was that the mother of the puppies contracted tetanus and couldn't feed them and the breeder (was too lazy) couldn't bottle feed them. So the shelter called Amber Keirn at Wolf Creek Weimaraner rescue in Knoxville, Tennessee. (It's not in operation anymore and Amber is a Farm Manager at Hatponics and does Reiki). Amber and others bottle fed the pups and adopted them out when they turned 3 months. I don't know if any of her other siblings are still with us today.

Dolly Adoption Day!  March 2005

ADOPTION DAY -  In March 2005, I (Rob) drove down to Tennessee from Maryland with our friend Jeff to adopt Dolly (her name was Chloe then). Dolly's full name is Dolly Loretta. Named for Dolly Parton (my favorite) and Loretta Lynn (Jeff's favorite singer). Dolly and I have been through everything in the last 15 years and she's been my rock.



A FAVORITE MEMORY - One of my favorite memories include us dressing up as Superman and Krypto (Superman's dog) in 2006 and 2007.

TODAY - Although she's only got 30% of her vision, she still does agility courses in our living room, is able to walk up and down 13 stairs several times a day, walks around the neighborhood 2 or 3 times a day and is still active. In October she became incontinent so she sports a denim diaper, but other than that, she's doing great.

One of my fav pics of Dolly from 2005 @grandma and grandpa's house

I checked what 15 means for weims and it said "110 human years! She truly is KRYPTO the Superdog!

NEXT: THE PARTY!

Happy Thanksgiving from Our House to Yours!

Crusoe and Oakley

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours. 
   We're staying home this year and Rob is cooking (as usual!), and we're having Tom's folks and a friend over. 
  We're thankful for our family and friends and especially our 4 canine kids. 
  If you find yourself working, or physically alone, know that there's always someone who misses you today and cares about you- and is giving thanks that you're in their lives. 
   Thanks, too, to Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund and his brother Oakley for the holiday pictures and for their fun video below.

VIDEO:https://youtu.be/zqyaYYEFjaE

Solution for an Older Dog's Weak Ankles !

Dolly sporting ankle wraps to keep her steady

As dads of 4 dogs and dog rescue volunteers we've worked with a lot of senior dogs. As our four kids have grown older they lose their ability to remain steady on their legs. That's especially true for bigger dogs. One of our fur kids, Dolly is a Weimaraner, who turns 15 years old this week (that's 110 in human years).
     As she has aged, her ankles have weakened, and sometimes quiver when she stands up. So, I came up with a solution... and a cheap but effective one.
    You can get self adhesive bandage wraps at any drug store chain. Get a couple of rolls that are about 1" wide and then wrap it around their ankles, being sure not to wrap their dewclaw.
  The bandages support for her weak ankles. They offer her support that enables her to keep walking around the neighborhood 2 plus times a day, and walking up and down stairs. I came up with the idea because I use a wrist support for carpal tunnel syndrome and this works so well!

   

Remember not to wrap it too tight, and change them every couple of days.
      So, the wraps on Dolly's ankles are NOT Olivia-Newton John Workout socks from the 80s, like from the music video "(Let's get) Physical." They are an effective way to enable your medium to large dog to continue walking in their senior years and stay sturdy on their feet.

Here's How We Cut Cable and Got Broadcast TV FREE (and you can, too)

**REPUBLISHING THIS BECAUSE WE GET SO MANY QUESTIONS**

Here's How We Cut Cable and Got Broadcast TV FREE (and you can, too)
After many years of paying the high cost of Cable TV and having to re-negotiate the cost and ask every 6 months for "special packages" to keep costs affordable we CUT the CABLE and went Broadcast for FREE. We don't miss the cable bill and we only pay for Internet.
Tom researched it extensively and drafted all the steps below, so YOU can do it, too!
(Just a note, like satellite dish tv, if there are storms, the signal can get scrambled for a couple of seconds, so if you put on Closed Captioning, you can still catch all the dialog).
Just print out Tom's instructions and follow along.


Tired of paying for cable TV? We were so fed up with the exorbitant cost of our cable bill each month that we made the decision to disconnect from our local cable provider, return all of their equipment, and get over-the-air high definition television (HDTV) for free. That’s right, at no cost. Here’s what we did.

GE Pro Attic Mount TV Antenna,

GE Pro Attic Mount TV Antenna,
Go to the Amazon.com website and shop for an antenna. The cost can range from as little as $20 to as much as $70. They’re all pretty much the same, so an antenna that costs somewhere in the middle will work just fine. Here’s the one that we got:

GE Pro Attic Mount TV Antenna, Digital, HDTV Antenna, 4K 1080P VHF UHF, Compact Design, Mounting Pole Included, 33692  $30.39

Since we were installing the antenna inside the attic, I also ordered a signal amplifier. You may not need one and you’ll be just fine, but I wanted to ensure that we would pick up as many free channels as possible. You will need a power source in the attic to plug in a signal amplifier, so if you don’t have an outlet, and don’t plan on having one installed, then skip buying a signal amplifier. Here’s the one that we got:

Winegard LNA-100 Boost TV Antenna Amplifier

Winegard LNA-100 Boost TV Antenna Amplifier, HDTV Signal Booster, HD Digital VHF UHF Amplifier, Indoor HDTV Ultra Low Noise Amp (USB Power Supply)
$27.66


Winegard LNA-100 Boost TV Antenna Amplifier
Assemble the antenna following the manufacturer’s instructions. It took me about an hour. Next, install the antenna following the manufacturer’s instructions. We mounted it upside down using the mounting pole provided, and attached it to a roof rafter. I ran a new cable from the antenna to the location of the signal splitter installed by our cable provider. We have 3 TVs in our house, so there is one port on the “input” side of the splitter and 3 ports on the “output” side of the splitter. On the “input” side of the splitter, I disconnected the cable that came from the cable TV company, and installed the amplifier (the piece in the shape of a “J” in the image above). On the other end of the amplifier, I connected the new cable that I ran from the antenna. I didn’t have to do anything to the “output” side of the splitter. Then I plugged the USB power cord into the amplifier, and plugged the amplifier into the outlet. And because I have a touch of OCD, I neatly stapled all of the cables to the rafters and framing in the attic, using insulated stapes used for telecommunications wiring. Now we’re all set. That’s pretty much it for the installation.

Next, you will need to determine which way to point the antenna. This is the website I used: http://www.overtheairdigitaltv.com/tv-station-locator-tool/ 

Type in your address and zip code in the prompt fields. In the top right corner, immediately above the location map, click on “Make Radar Plot.” The site will produce an image like this:

So for our address, most of the TV stations are located just slightly to the east of true north, and just slightly to the south of due west. I opted to point the antenna north because it looked like there were more stations clustered in that general direction.

Next, you will need to rescan or reinitialize your TV so that it receives input signals from over the air, and not from a cable provider’s tuner box.

Once the TV has been reinitialized, it’s time to adjust the direction of the antenna. Have someone watching the TV as you attempt to fine tune the exact direction in which to point the antenna. Once the picture quality suits your preference, tighten the set screws on the mounting pole to fix the antenna permanently in position.

It’s as simple as that. You will be amazed at the picture quality, and best of all, it’s free. No more monthly cable TV bill.

The top 10 Most Popular Scottish Words!

We've been to Scotland and always find the local words interesting. Recently BBC News ran an
article about the Top 10 most popular Scottish words. See if you know any of them.

Dreich' is named most popular Scots word by Scottish Book Trust
BBC News 11-20-19

A word that is commonly used to describe the Scottish weather has been named the "most iconic" Scots word.
"Dreich" - meaning dull or gloomy - topped a poll to mark Book Week Scotland, led by the Scottish Book Trust.
It beat off contenders including "glaikit", "scunnered" and "shoogle".

The charity said the first recorded use of the word "dreich" was in 1420, when it originally meant "enduring" or "slow, tedious".

Here are the entire Top 10 Scots words
Dreich - tedious; damp and wet
glaikit - stupid or foolish
scunnered - disgust or strong dislike
shoogle - shake or move from side to side
wheesht - call for quiet or silence
fankle - to tangle or mix-up
outwith - outside or beyond
braw - fine or pleasant
beastie - an insect or animal
bumfle - an untidy bundle

Idiot of the Week: TheHill.com Reports 'Devin Nunes Is An Idiot' hashtag trends

We didn't pick this week's idiot, but we are in full agreement. Devin Nunes, for those who don't know
this idiot, is a conservative who makes up stuff about liberals and tries to dismiss illegal activities by his "boss." This week, Hill.com, a respectable non-partisan political news service in Washington, DC picked Nunes as an idiot for showing total disrespect for a military officer.  Here's the Hill.com story.

'Devin Nunes Is An Idiot' hashtag trends after Vindman corrects lawmaker about his official title
BY MORGAN GSTALTER -TheHill.com 11/19/19 11:54 AM EST

The hashtag “DevinNunesIsAnIdiot” started trending on Twitter after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman asked GOP Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to address him by his military title.

Nunes, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, was questioning Vindman during his Tuesday testimony in the impeachment inquiry and referred to the Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council (NSC) as “Mr. Vindman.”

"Ranking member, it's Lt. Col. Vindman, please," he responded.

The moment went viral on Twitter and more than 20,000 tweets with the hashtag knocking Nunes quickly spread.

Vindman, during Nunes’s questioning, said he had had discussions about Ukraine with two officials, one being senior State Department official George Kent, who were “properly cleared individuals with a need to know” such information.

Nunes attempted to probe more about the other individual, an unidentified member of the intelligence community. However, Vindman said that he was advised by his lawyer not to discuss specific members of the intelligence community.

The Hill

✔@thehill

Rep. Devin Nunes: "Mr. Vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower."

Vindman: "Ranking member, it's Lt. Col. Vindman, please." #VindmanTestimony http://hill.cm/EhRtG30 

2,611

11:21 AM - Nov 19, 2019

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“You can plead the Fifth but you’re here to answer questions and you’re here under subpoena,” Nunes said. “So you can either answer the question or you can plead the Fifth.

Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) interjected and said the whistleblower has a “statutory right to anonymity.”

Vindman is testifying with Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Pence.

Vindman and Williams are among the officials who listened in on the July 25 phone call in which Trump allegedly pressed Ukraine’s leader to open two politically-motivated investigations, including one into 2020 rival and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

Willy@CHEF_BIGWILLY

Watching Devins opening statement with my 70 year old Republican father my dad looks at me and says "Trumps in trouble if this brain dead fool is his defender" #DevinNunesIsAnIdiot Me being like whaaaa go dad!

4,952

9:50 AM - Nov 19, 2019

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The Oldest Pet Cemetery and it's Hollywood Resident!

Recently, Travel.com did a series on the top 10, and they revealed the oldest know pet cemetery. It's in France!  Below are the details about it, and one of the famous dogs laid to rest there. 

BTW, cemeteries aren't haunted. Earth bound ghosts who chose to stay, stay at places they knew in life, a place where they died, lived or liked. However, spirits who have crossed over can come back and visit living people in cemeteries.  

Cimetière des Chiens, France

Cimetière des Chiens, France is the oldest pet burial ground in the modern world. First opened on the banks of the Seine in 1899, it gave devoted pet owners a place to lay their pets to rest.

Most of the pets buried here are dogs and cats, but if you look closely, you can find the graves of birds, sheep, rabbits, monkeys, and even a lion. The famous trench-dog-turned-Hollywood-star, Rin Tin Tin, was returned to Paris to be buried here after his death in 1932.

WHO WAS RIN-TIN-TIN? Rin Tin Tin (often hyphenated as Rin-Tin-Tin; September 1918 – August 10, 1932) was a male German Shepherd that was an international star in motion pictures. He was rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who nicknamed him "Rinty".

SOURCE: https://www.thetravel.com/bizarre-cemeteries-you-need-to-see/

Studies: Conservatives Tend to be Less Educated and Believe Fake News

  Studies of education levels and voting trends confirm that conservatives have lower education levels than average. Several studies, including one recently from a social media site that generates "fake news" on purpose, have conveyed that conservatives are much more gullible and less informed about news, science and education. They also tend to believe fake news stories and don't fact check, where liberal-minded, more educated people question stories.  

 This is not our opinion, it's research. Below is the proof: Education and Voting and Believing Fake News

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1) PEW RESEARCH POLL: Education and Voting -   A report from the (non-partisan) Pew 

This actually provides a good contrast

Research Center finds a wide partisan gap between highly educated and non-highly-educated Americans. Not only that, but the share of college grads and post-graduates who are "consistently liberal" (based on their answers to a series of policy questions) has grown sharply in the last 20 years.
  Split it out by party, and the shift is even starker. Among the post-grad set, more than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaners today are "consistently liberal," up from fewer than one-in-five in 1994. Likewise, among college grads, it jumped from 12 to 47. NPR Reported on these findings in April 2016 (Click to read full article).

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2) MORE EASILY BELIEVE FAKE NEWS - Why conservatives might be more likely to fall for fake news
 "Numerous reports have highlighted how fake news creators began targeting conservative readers after finding them receptive to stories that reinforced their existing worldview. As one fake news creator told NPR, "We've tried to do [fake news with] liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out."" 
  Click here for the Washington Post Story

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My (Rob)  personal interactions- As someone who works in science I've met a number of people who just can't look beyond their religion to see the reality of science. (That's actually the issue with the Republican Party). It's maddening that people refuse to be educated. Here are some things I've encountered:
1) GLOBAL WARMING - Most conservatives deny the science that Earth's climate is warming (97% of scientists KNOW the Earth is warming and that mankind's pollution has and continues to contribute to it). Conservatives disagree with the science because they're being funded by the very fossil fuel industry that has been exacerbating the Earth's warming.

2) DINOSAURS- Conservatives either think dinosaurs didn't exist or they roamed the Earth at the same time as humans. FACT: They  were separated by millions of years.

3) AGE OF THE EARTH - The Earth is actually 4.543 billion years old. 

In 1898, Marie Curie discovered the phenomenon of radioactivity, in which unstable atoms lose energy, or decay, by emitting radiation in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves. By 1904 physicist Ernest Rutherford showed how this decay process could act as a clock for dating old rocks.

 The best estimate for Earth's age is based on radiometric dating of fragments from the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite. From the fragments, scientists calculated the relative abundances of elements that formed as radioactive uranium decayed over billions of years.

   SO, where did conservatives come up with 6,000 years old? - Earth was pegged at a youthful few thousand years old by Bible readers (by counting all the "begats" since Adam).  

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    BOTTOM LINE - WHAT YOU CAN DO: If you're conservative, start reading, learning and become progressive. Otherwise you'll be misinformed about the world around you.  Learn science. Question news sources (go to the websites and if it says "satire" it means it's fake).  Progressive thinking is responsible for creating inventions, exploration, new technology. Conservative thinking would prevent those things. 

TAKE THE QUIZ- How Conservative or Progressive are you? https://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php

AZ Trip #36: Final Blog: Dust Storm Imminent!

The large cloud of dust to our west! 

Some dust to our east covering the mountains

In today's final AZ Trip blog, you'll learn about what to do if you run into a severe dust storm as we did on our way from Tucson to Phoenix. Suddenly an emergency alert buzzed on both Dan's and my cell phones indicating the dust storm. We noticed that it was far to the northwest of us and fortunately, we missed it! Learn what to do if you encounter one - Read on!

If you run into a severe dust storm, reduce the speed of your vehicle immediately and drive carefully off the highway. After you are off the paved portion of the roadway, turn off your vehicle's lights to ensure other cars do not follow you off the road and hit your vehicle. ... Reduce speed and turn on driving lights


NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ADVICE IF DRIVING DURING A DUST STORM ALERT
If dense dust is observed blowing across or approaching a roadway, pull your vehicle off the pavement as far as possible, stop, turn off lights, set the emergency brake, take your foot off of the brake pedal to be sure the tail lights are not illuminated. Don't enter the dust storm area if you can avoid it.

ARIZONA DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION TIPS IF ON THE ROAD
ADOT says the number one thing you can do during a dust storm is not driving at all, in a recent release, the department offered the following suggestions for those on the road:
- If you're in a dust storm, check traffic around your car and begin slowing down immediately.
- Safely pull off the roadway as soon as possible. Don't wait until it's too late and visibility is poor. Drivers should completely exit the highway if possible.
- Avoid stopping in a travel or emergency lane. Try to find a safe place to pull all the way off the paved portion of the roadway.
- Once you're pulled over, turn off all vehicle lights. This will help keep other vehicles approaching from behind from using your lights as a guide and possibly crash into your parked car.
- Put on your emergency brake and then take your foot off the brake.
- As you wait for the storm to pass, stay in your car with your seat belt buckled.
- If you're driving a high-profile vehicle, you should be aware of changing weather conditions and drive at lower speeds.
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THAT'S ALL FOLKS - This marks the end of the Arizona trip blogs. Hope you've enjoyed the tour of southern Arizona. Now back to the regular mayhem. 

AZ Trip #35: Film Star Tom Mix's Fatal Crash Site

In today's blog about my Arizona trip, you'll learn about the western film actor, Tom Mix and the tragic accident that took his life. After we left the Biosphere 2 complex, we drove north toward Phoenix. While on the highway we spotted a marker about Tom Mix, so we checked it out. You'll learn about it in today's blog.

Tom Mix

HOW DID I KNOW OF TOM MIX? I only knew about Tom Mix, the 1940s western /cowboy actor because I have read a lot about Wyatt Earp's life. When Wyatt was in his 70s, he and his wife Josie moved to Los Angeles, California, and Wyatt hung around movie studios, and got to know Tom Mix!  So, I learned about the actor. 

History.com provided the following info:
WHO IS TOM MIX?   The star was a genuine cowboy and swaggering hero of the Wild West: He was born in Texas; fought in the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion and the Boer War; and served as a sheriff in Kansas, a U.S. marshal in Oklahoma and a Texas Ranger. In fact, Mix was born in Driftwood, Pennsylvania; deserted the Army in 1902; and was a drum major in the Oklahoma Territorial Cavalry band when he went off to Hollywood in 1909. None of these inconvenient facts prevented Mix from becoming one of the greatest silent-film stars in history, however. Along with his famous horse Tony, Mix made 370 full-length Westerns. At the peak of his fame, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, earning as much as $17,500 a week (about $218,000 today).

Tom Mix's car -restored after crash

DIFFICULTY TRANSITIONING INTO TALKING PICTURES - Unfortunately, Mix and Tony had a hard time making the transition to talking pictures. Some people say that the actor’s voice was so high-pitched that it undermined his macho cowboy image, but others argue that sound films simply had too much talking for Mix’s taste: He preferred wild action sequences to heartfelt conversation.

The Highway where Tom Mix's car crashed

ABOUT THE ACCIDENT - On October 12, 1940, cowboy-movie star Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolls into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) near Florence, Arizona. He was 60 years old. On the day he died, Mix was driving north from Tucson in his beloved bright-yellow Cord Phaeton sports car. He was driving so fast that he didn’t notice–or failed to heed–signs warning that one of the bridges was out on the road ahead. The Phaeton swung into a gully and Mix was smacked in the back of the head by one of the heavy aluminum suitcases he was carrying in the convertible’s backseat. The impact broke the actor’s neck and he died almost instantly. Today, the dented “Suitcase of Death” is the featured attraction at the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, Oklahoma.

HIGHWAY MEMORIAL - Today, visitors to the site of the accident can see a 2-foot–tall iron statue of a riderless horse and a somewhat awkwardly written plaque that reads: “In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the Old West in the minds of living men.”

NEXT: FINAL AZ BLOG: Severe Dust Storm Imminent! 

AZ Trip #34: The Giant Lung and more Underneath Biosphere 2

The Giant "Lung" underneath the Biosphere

Last week I toured you through the biosphere in the Arizona desert. Today, we'll take you to the underground part of the biosphere, where you'll learn about the famous giant "Lung" and the oxygen challenge...
Read on! 

Rob and Dan descending into the Biosphere's "Lung"

WHAT IS THE BIOSPHERE 2? As a reminder, here's the summary of the biosphere: It remains the largest closed system ever created. Biosphere 2 was originally meant to demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems to support and maintain human life in outer space. ... Its mission was a two-year closure experiment with a crew of eight humans ("biospherians"). The self-contained and sustainable environment (that would simulate what it's like living on another planet in a domed in environment.

Outside look that the windows and steel construction

WHAT'S UNDERGROUND? - Below ground was an extensive part of the technical infrastructure. Heating and cooling water circulated through independent piping systems and passive solar input through the glass space frame panels covering most of the facility, and electrical power was supplied into Biosphere 2 from an onsite natural gas energy center.

Outside another part of the Biosphere - Many windows! 

THE GIANT "LUNG" - During the day, the heat from the sun caused the air inside to expand and during the night it cooled and contracted. To avoid having to deal with the huge forces that maintaining a constant volume would create, the structure had large diaphragms kept in domes called "lungs" or variable volume structures.  LOOKS LIKE A TRAMPOLINE - The lung resembles a giant trampoline and it rises and descends based on the temperature and air pressure inside the Biosphere 2 environment above. It's fascinating to see. 

The Santa Catalina Mountains

Rob and Dan leaving Biosphere 2

THE OXYGEN CHALLENGE -  There were several challenges to maintaining it as a habitable environment, and that included oxygen and CO2 levels. The oxygen inside the facility, which began at 20.9%, fell at a steady pace and after 16 months was down to 14.5%. This is equivalent to the oxygen availability at an elevation of 4,080 meters (13,390 ft). Since some biospherians were starting to have symptoms like sleep apnea and fatigue, Walford and the medical team decided to boost oxygen with injections in January and August 1993. The oxygen decline and minimal response of the crew indicated that changes in air pressure are what trigger human adaptation responses.

WHERE IS IT LOCATED? The glass and spaceframe facility is located in Oracle, Arizona at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains, about 50 minutes north of Tucson. Its elevation is around 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level. 

NEXT FILM STAR TOM MIX'S FATAL CRASH SCENE