Shinmoedake peak, one of the calderas of the Kirishima

The peak was the site of the “villainous massive underground rocket launch site in the 1967 movie, ‘You Only Live Twice.’”

Photos of volcanoes and lightning are amazing.

We took a drive today down to the southwest part of the state to Crater of Diamonds State Park where anyone – for the price of admission – can prospect for diamonds and “Any diamonds, semi-precious stones, rocks or minerals you unearth are yours to keep, regardless of their value.”  We didn’t do any digging this time, but probably will go over some time for a day or two, just to say that we did.

While we there, we checked out the campground and took a short hike on a trail that’s next to the campground. 

After I started this contract job, I bought a new camera.  The previous camera had been banged around quite a bit over the last four years and the LCD screen is broken.  The new camera is a recently released Pentax with a lot of nice features – it’s certainly more user friendly – including the capability of video.  It really seems strange shooting video using a single lens reflex, but here’s the first uploaded video:

Masonic Lodge and School House

The first schools in Bannack were subscription schools – essentially private schools with parents paying tuition for their children to attend.

In 1874, Bannack Masonic Lodge No. 16 built a combination lodge and school building.  The school was a public school serving students in K through 8th grade.  It finally closed in the 1950s.  The school was on the bottom floor and the lodge on the second.

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

Graeter House – (above) Augustus Graeter and his wife, Emily Drury were married in Nebraska in 1860 and arrived in Bannack in 1862. In partnership with A. J. Smith, they constructed the Smith – Graeter Ditch in 1863 to provide water for mining.  The ditch, along with others, helped sustain and contributed to the expansion of mining operations in Bannack.  In 1897, his company built the gold dredge, which operated along Grasshopper Creek until 1902.

Turner House – Like most buildings in Bannack, this cabin saw many different uses over the years. This house was last owned by the Turner family before being acquired by the State of Montana.  Arthur Contway purchased the building in the early 1900s and it served as his residence, Post Office, barbershop and had the only telephone in town for some time.

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

“I’m Sorry” just doesn’t cut it, sometimes.

See more comics from Calamities of Nature

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

A view through a Bannack window.

Wallpaper inside the Bannack State Park visitor center.

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

Photo: Some rights reserved by richardmasoner

There are two lanes of traffic traveling south.  A driver stopped in the outside lane waves through a car coming out of a gas station.  The car coming out of the gas station attempts to cross both lanes and is hit by a vehicle traveling in the inside lane.

Who is at fault?

Without a doubt, the driver coming out of the gas station is at fault for failing to yield the right of way to the car that hit him.

Is the driver that waved him through liable in any way?

The answer is that she or he may be held partially liable.

Apparently, there are two major positions taken by courts in the United States.  The first position is that by waving someone through, you are simply allowing the other drive to pass in front of you without making any representations of the safety of doing so.  The second position is that waving someone in front of you may be more than mere courtesy and may involve liability, a determination that can, and should, be made by a jury.

In one example I found on a law office website:

Pennsylvania courts will look at the full circumstances of the incident to determine whether or not the waving driver can be held liable.

The factors to be considered are

• the type of signal given;
• the reasonable interpretation of the signal given;
• whether or not giving the signal was negligent; and
• whether the negligent signaling was a cause of the accident in question. See Askew by Askew v. Zeller, 521 A.2d 459 (PA Super, 1987)

It’s nice to be courteous to others when driving.   However, if the courtesy results in an accident, you may be liable.

On the day after Christmas, we were involved in a car accident very similar to what I described above.  Karen ended up in the emergency room and our car was ruled by the insurance company a total loss.  The person who waved the other car through drove away after the other car was backed up into the gas station.

After being in this accident, I’ve been less inclined to be courteous in these situations – and I won’t pull out across traffic when others wave me through unless I am sure it’s totally safe.

Now that I know I may be liable if there is an accident, being Mr. Nice Guy in this kind of situation just ain’t going to happen.

What about you?

Does knowing that you might be held liable change anything?

See more comics from Calamities of Nature

Whether it’s weather or climate – it’s all in the accuracy of the models and the accuracy model assumptions and data that the models are fed.

If the assumptions and/or data are off, what can be said about the results?