Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday: High & Low Brow

   On Tuesday we hit another restaurant from the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" show: Grinder's! We both had sandwiches and split another cider: Ace pear; it was nearly as delicious as the Crispin! We then hurried off to the Kauffman Center to catch National Geographic's 2011 Explorer of the Year, Kenny Broad: diver and environmental anthropologist. He studies blue holes in the Bahamas, their fresh water, and the human impact on the environment. The underwater caves are so deep and narrow that he wears up to five specially-designs tanks while diving—and in tight spots, detaches them and pushes them ahead of him. He uses a line to ensure he'll be able to find his way back out. Terrifying, if you ask me! Here's an excerpt from the program: "Exploring submerged caves and blue holes, one mistake can equal death. Kenny and his team must take every precaution to avoid such dangers as stirring up sediments that can wipe out visibility, succumbing to nausea as they pass through a toxic layer of hydrogen sulfide, or getting lost in maze-like passageways with a limited supply of diving gasses. The need to study blue holes is urgent, as they are among the least studied and most threatened habitats on Earth."
   Not to be outdone, just being inside the Kauffman is a show in itself—a true landmark in Kansas City.

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