Word: damming
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Five...four...three...two...one...see ya!" And Chance McGuire, 25, is airborne off a 650-ft. concrete dam in Northern California. In one second he falls 16 ft., in two seconds 63 ft., and after three seconds and 137 ft. he is flying at 65 m.p.h. He prays that his parachute will open facing away from the dam, that his canopy won't collapse, that his toggles will be handy and that no ill wind will slam him back into the cold concrete. The chute snaps open, the sound ricocheting through the gorge like a gunshot, and McGuire...
Could the antibiotic dam that has kept bacteriological infections at bay for half a century soon be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of super-germs? That's the concern after the discovery of what could be the first crack in that dam - one probably caused by the overuse of the wonder drug. According to figures released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control, more than 200 people in Minnesota and North Dakota have become ill - and four have died - after contracting a lethal strain of the staph germ known as staphylococcus aureus. Most disturbingly, the mutated germ apparently came...
...windows don't roll down; the passenger-side door opens only from the outside; and the paint is pocked with rust. But Jean doesn't care. All her $60,000 prize money went to Loire Vivante, the umbrella group she has headed since 1987. Its mission: blocking a gargantuan dam-building project that could have destroyed beautiful landscape and fragile ecosystems surrounding Europe's last wild river...
...obstacle the dam builders never anticipated was the feisty Jean. A native of Nantes, she had been fascinated by nature since childhood, studied biology in college and got a master's degree in ecology. In 1985 she ran into a former teacher who was trying to organize opposition to the dams. "I went to some meetings with him and was soon gripped by the same passion to save the Loire," she explains...
...Serre-de-la-Fare dam was finally canceled in 1994, and two others are in jeopardy. One smaller dam was built, but Jean believes the ecological impact will be limited. She is now turning her attention to fighting a plan to enlarge the port of Nantes-St. Nazaire, which would destroy wetlands in the Loire estuary...