JFields

I just saw on the local news station where apparently the department of agriculture has closed down the Tornado water slide in Splashwater Kingdom. Accoording to the story, one or possibly two people were injured on the ride on Saturday. The suspicious part is, one woman who was injured waited until Tuesday to call the proper authorities to tell them of her injury. So in other words, she didn't tell anyone at Kentucky Kingdom, meaning she more than likely waited until she called her lawyer to see if she could get any money from this situation, and was not very seriously injured to begin with. The water park is not open on any day of the Kentucky State Fair, so it doesn't really matter right now, but it could be more bad press for a park that's already had more than its fair share. I don't have a link to an online version of the article, I don't think they've posted it yet.

I wasn't saying civilized in the sense that those nations who were not necessarily Christian were uncivilized, acting like animals, crazy, mean, stupid, whatever. I said it in the sense that laws of pretty much every civilization to ever exist on the face of the earth (ie every civilized nation), had laws based on a moral code that came from the rights and wrongs given to us by the Christian god. After all, it's not just in the U.S. or other so-called Christian nations that murder or stealing is considered wrong, but in pretty much every nation. Infact, generally the only exceptions to this rule of thumb are tribal nations who practiced cannibalism (just an example), so obviously they wouldn't think murder was wrong, to them it would be completely acceptable. That doesn't change the fact it was wrong, but to them it was a way of life, and I don't think too many of us would considered tribal establishments like this now or in the past "civilized."

As a Christian, I felt that I should respond to some of what has been said, and maybe try to provide a fresh perspective on this whole big debate. First off, yes I am quoting the Bible in some places to provide justification for some of the things that I say. But it is because I am a Christian. You will probably laugh at me for using this analogy, but it is kind of similar to us as coaster enthusiasts spouting off statistics to a roller coaster due to the statistics that are published by the park- it’s all we have to go on. If the park tells us it is a certain height, unless we have some decently fancy instruments and most likely backstage access to the park, we will never know for sure. Or think about a couple of years ago when many enthusiasts were debating about whether or not SheiKra’s first drop was really straight down. The park told us it was 90 degrees, but still many debated when they looked at pictures. This is kind of similar to that, as, in my Christian walk, all I have to go on is the Bible. I have to have faith that what it is telling me is true, just like we have to have faith that the statistics that parks are telling us about a new ride are true. On the actual inherency and inspired nature of the Bible, that is something I have to take on faith as well. But the actual things mentioned in the Bible, the actual events recorded in the scriptures, by and in large can be proven through archaeological records, eyewitness accounts, and many other sources. Infact, many of the events in the Bible, as well as the scriptures in the Bible itself, are backed up and proven as well as possible to be true by far more and varied sources than almost any other body of work or specific historical event throughout all of history. Have you ever thought about the fact that the way we are taught many historical events took place is sometimes based on nothing more than one or two sources? Yet nobody has a problem accepting these things as fact. So with a much larger body of evidence supporting this as a real historical book with real historical events in it, that puts a new perspective on everything. If the events in the Bible and the body of scripture as a whole are true that means that God really did create the entire universe in six days. He really did give the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai, which were later expounded upon by Jesus to give us an even clearer picture of the way we should live our lives. There really was a woman named Mary who gave birth to Jesus as a virgin and this very real person named Jesus who was fully God and fully man really did walk on this earth, really did perform miracles, and really did die on a cross and rise from the dead three days later. Additionally, it means that things it has to say about murder, lying, stealing, marital affairs, and yes, even homosexuality are true and transcend time to apply to our lives today to tell us how to live our lives. Now, I can type until my hands fall off trying to convince you that the Bible is true, the scriptures are applicable, God exists, and you need to put your faith in His Son to avoid eternal separation from Him in a very real place called Hell, but arguing about those things over the internet accomplishes nothing 99.9% of the time, so I will just humbly ask that you read the rest of my post with an open mind, and truly try to think about it without instantly shutting me down and trying to look for things you can quote in your post to tear to shreds. First off, let me say, that I in no way hate homosexuals. I know many of them, and, often times, they are very friendly, and usually more dependable than other people I know. I realize that many of you have heard the argument from Christian groups we (or God), don’t hate the person who is homosexual, but hate the sin of homosexuality. This is absolutely true. Now, obviously, those people standing outside an amusement park on a gay day or that group from Kansas who go around protesting at soldier’s funerals because they say it is punishment from God for America allowing homosexuality love neither the sin nor the sinner. They are, infact, in just as much sin as the very people they are protesting. Plus, even if they weren’t, their methods aren’t accomplishing anything, and they need to look for ways to show God’s love in a way that will bring people to Christ and cause them to leave their sinful lifestyles behind. So yes, I do believe that homosexuality is a sin. BUT, it is in no way different from any other sin in that God can forgive you of it, if you would just turn from your sins and put your faith in Him. Now I realize fully that even if a homosexual does become a Christian, he or she will still probably have homosexual temptation. They may even act on this homosexual temptation in some way or another. But, if they are trying their best to avoid the temptation and to not act upon these temptations, which is the mark of a repented soul, then I believe that they are covered by God’s grace and will spend eternity in Heaven along with all the rest of us who were lost in sin, put our faith in Christ, who helped us to avoid temptation and get stronger through the years to resist it if we would make an effort. In other words it’s no different than someone who was addicted to pornography or a mass murderer who killed hundreds of people giving their lives to Christ. They will still probably have temptations to look at pornography or kill other people, and they may even unfortunately act on these urges, but again, if they are making the effort and have put their faith in Christ, then they are saved. Only God can judge the character of our heart and know if we have really put our faith in Christ and repented from our sins, and if we have, it doesn’t matter what we did before, we can find salvation in Him. Now on to the reasons WHY I feel homosexuality is a sin. The first passage where it is really talked about in the Bible is in the Old Testament, in Leviticus 18. The Lord is talking to Moses, and He tells him to say to them (them being the men of Israel), “do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable” (Leviticus 18:22, NIV). Now the Old Testament is a very complicated animal that must be studied and taken entirely in context. Some of the laws laid down in the old testament are no longer valid due to the new covenant established with Christ in the New Testament. Basically, all of the ceremonial stuff, including the length of your hair, the types of animals you can eat, the types of clothes you can wear, and all of those things, were specifically the laws that God gave to the Israelites to set them apart from the people of the time because they were His chosen people. Everything dealing with morality, such as murder, adultery, stealing, lying, homosexuality, etc., still stands, and was even expounded upon by Jesus in the New Testament, telling us that not only was murder wrong, but extreme long-term hatred of someone was wrong too, infact, it is the same as murder in God’s eyes. So that said, this is the first verse condemning homosexuality as a sin. The second instance of homosexuality mentioned as a sin is in Romans. Paul is writing to the Romans as he prepared to come and preach the gospel to them. In referring to the sinfulness of the time and the sinfulness of people in the past, he mentions this, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (Romans 1:26-27, NIV). Paul refers to men abandoning natural relations with women and being inflamed with lust for one another in an entire context of sinful things, meaning that homosexuality is a sin. So as you can see, the Bible is pretty clear that yes, homosexual relations of any kind are a sin. But, as I mentioned before, it is by no means an unforgiveable sin or one that those who have been forgiven from or still struggle unforgiven with should be looked down upon. But, seeing as how I do believe it is a sin, I cannot support actions taken by anyone meant to support it. The people should be treated like the humans that they are, but doing things like allowing commitment ceremonies or even allowing gay marriages is just allowing the sin to spread, giving those who are struggling with the sin (yes even those who are not ashamed in any way with being homosexual are still struggling with a sin), more temptation, and exposing the rest of society as a whole to it more and more so they will become calloused to it and forget it was ever mentioned as a sin in the first place. In many places in this forum the argument has been it is becoming more socially acceptable, so it is OK. However, this is flawed logic. Just because something is becoming more common or more acceptable doesn’t mean it is right. Take murder for example. Nearly everyone generally agrees that it is wrong. As it starts to become more common in some areas, does that mean it is right? Now I am in no way saying that homosexuals are murderers, but both of these things are a sin, and in that way can be compared. Additionally, what makes us think that something like murder is wrong? Well, we might say that it’s just wrong or because it causes harm to others or something along those lines. But really, the only reason we can truly say it is wrong is because someone told us it was. Who told that person? Someone else who was older than them, and so on and so on. But where does it all begin. Where do we get the moral code that keeps life in this world somewhat organized and causes punishment for those who steal, murder, rape, lie in court, or whatever the offense might be? It comes from the Bible, and thus, from God. The people who originally said “murder is wrong, don’t do it,” got this idea from God, and later wrote it down in the book we now call the Bible. That means there are moral absolutes that are unchanging, and therefore must be followed. The basis of all law for every civilized country since Bible times has been the Bible, including the United States. Our founding fathers, while not all perhaps being what we would call “Christians” today, were undoubtedly influenced by the Bible and its moral code. Infact, on the facade of the Supreme Court Building, mixed among the many carvings, is one of Moses holding the two Ten Commandments tablets. If this doesn’t tell you that our country was influenced by the Bible, nothing will. Therefore, if the Bible is good enough to be that basis for the law of all great countries past and present, and the moral laws provided within give us a sense of what is “right” and “wrong” that is also generally socially acceptable, and additionally, if this same Bible tells us that homosexuality is wrong, and is a sin, I believe that we should not be doing things which encourage it and further its reach, but instead should be reaching out to those who call themselves homosexual and showing them that there is freedom and peace in a very real person called Jesus Christ. I realize that not all of you will or will want to agree with me, and that is OK. There is really nothing I can do over the internet, and quite possibly, even hypothetically face-to-face that could convince you of who is right and wrong. But I do ask that you would at least consider my comments and respond to them with researched, open-minded, level-headed responses.

I went to SFOG yesterday with my mom and dad. I rode Goliath, but because my mom is terrified of larger coasters, we were able to leave all of our stuff with her. I did notice the lockers, but not having to use them, I didn't make much of them. Although, I did notice two employees posted there who were bouncing a basketball back and forth across the queue that goes through the lockers, causing you to have to pause as you were walking through to not get hit by the basketball. The main problem on Goliath is that they make you take your flip-flops off. People don't go in line barefoot, so when you get to the station, even if nobody has loose articles, a TON of people still have to go over, take their flip-flops off, then go back and sit down and pull down the restraint. Plus...the crew sucks. Although yesterday, I noticed that every single B&M in the park was stacking badly. I think I waited on the train on Batman almost two minutes before we went back in the station. Another EXTREMELY weird policy that came up yesterday on Georgia Cyclone (which, by the way was insanely rough compared to when I rode it back in 2004), was that you had to take all your loose articles with you on the ride. This is no joke, at least for the one time I rode it. A guy that was riding on the same train as me had a basketball he had won, and had put it on the exit side of the platform. But the ride op said that had put a new rule in place on Saturday that you had to take everything with you- so he gave the guy his basketball and made him ride with it. That is about the most stupid thing I have ever heard of in my life.

Yet another death on a theme-park type ride, even though it wasn't at a theme park. news.aol.com/story/_a/teen-dies-after-falling-from-ride/20070715065209990001

I took the following picture and overexposed it and brightened it up. Can anyone else see the two figures standing side by side looking over the fence of the pool? (In the right of the picture).

They finally released the name of the girl. Thirteen-year-old Kaitlyn Lasitter is currently being treated at Vanderbilt Children's Hopsital. At last update, she was in criticial condition. If you want to leave her a note, you can do so here: http://www.whas11.com/perl/common/surveys/display_full.pl?poll_id=12001&site=whas11&vaction=voting&thissite=whas11

One time me and my friends were riding Monster Plantation at SFOG. Obviously the ride is not that scary and isn't meant to be scary, but right at the end when the red eyes glow above you one of my friends leaned over and said "boo" to my other friend, who is quite touchy. She let out a huge scream and all the little kids on the ride were looking at her like she had some kind of problem. On the same trip we were riding Ninja. It was an unbearably hot day, so when we get to the top of the lift hill, my friend (the same who screamed on MP), said something like, "wow, nice breeze up here," and then we dropped and she started screaming her head off. On Thunder Run these two guys were riding in the row in front of me both wearing hats. During the ride they both came off at pretty much the same time, but I was only able to catch one. When we got back to the station I handed the guy whose hat I had saved his hat back, and the other guy just kind of looked at me like, "why couldn't you save my hat?" And last, but certainly not least... One time I was riding Twisted Twins with some friends. We had just ridden Mile High Falls, and were all completely soaked. One of the girls I was with discovered that the water had made her skirt somewhat transparent. Luckily the other girl that was with us had an extra skirt. Instead of going to the bathroom to change though, they decided it would be a good idea to try and change while riding. So as soon as we left the station, she started changing, and kept yelling throughout the whole ride to me and the other guy in our group, "don't you DARE look back here!!" And, believe it or not, by the time we got back to the station, she had succeeded in changing! Pretty talented if you ask me.

Well, everything you said made a lot of sense, and kind of made me rethink about it. But think about a ride-op. You're probably 18, 19, or 20 years old. All of a sudden, this happens. This, as most of us have said, is one of the last things you expect to see happening on a ride like this. Therefore, the one with the ability to stop would have been in shock, so even if e-stopping the ride at the top could have helped, it would probably have been very hard to do mentally.

My mom said she heard an interview on the radio where someone talked about seeing it happening, and then "seeing shoes fall." Unfortunately, well you know. On the maintenance issue, as someone mentioned the maintenance guys at SFKK love their job. I have seen them around the park several times, and there are many of them who are there from season to season, meaning that they enjoy their jobs and take pride in the park, so they would do everything in their power to try and make sure something like this didn't happen. Come to think of it, there are some of them who might be quite devastated as well. Imagine if you truly cared about your park and were the one (or one of the ones) who inspected the ride the day of this accident. Edit: After someone mentioning it on another site, and looking at several of my pictures of STOP, I realized that, infact only two cables hoist up the cars on STOP at SFKK. Most Intamin 2nd Gens, including STOP at SFStL, have three cables, but STOP at SFKK only has two. This probably has something to do with it being the first installation of the 2nd GEN, and may or may not have been significant in the severity and occurance of the accident.

Yeah willski, in the end, we don't know either way. A teeny tiny part of me wishes I had been there so I could know what actually happened instead of having to try and figure it out from eyewitness reports which, as it was pointed out, weren't exactly the sharpest people in the world. But then I come back to reality and realize that I am infinitely more glad that I wasn't there, as I can't imagine what seeing something like that in person would do to me. Think about the park employees who were for the most part finally getting plugged into their park and being encouraged to take ownership by the new GM, just to have something like this happen. Think specifically about the park employees who witnessed the accident, especially the ride ops at the time, and all those who helped in the care of the girl, those who had to clean it up, and those who over the next few months will have to figure out what happened. Think about all the guests in the park who saw it happen. I'm sure there were probably a few little kids in the front at the time who might have some image infused in their minds forever. Most importantly, keep your thoughts and prayers with the girl and her family. Can you imagine being in the park and having that happen or being at home, thinking your daughter is having a fun day at the park, and suddenly getting a phone call telling you that something like this has happened? The young girl, just put yourself in her place. One second you are a happy-go-lucky 13-year-old, wrapping up an amazing day at the park, and the next you face the prospect of many surgeries followed by years of physical therapy, as well as the simple fact that we all take for granted of having fun and letting go in an amusement park, and not thinking about any safety concerns. Whether or not it was neglect in maintenance or just a freak accident, a girl's life changed forever today, and we should keep that at the forefront of our thoughts.

Yeah I completely understand what you're saying. I'm just wondering how much weight (obviously 1/3) but how much actual weight each cable supports as it is being pulled up. I'm sure the cars are quite heavy to be able to attain an exciting speed during the drop. So you've got this really heavy car suspended from three cables. Obviously the cable snapped quickly, meaning that 1/3 of the force of the weight of the car would have been in that cable when it snapped, because it snapped to quickly for the other two to take over the extra force, and therefore didn't have time to negate the force of that cable. In other words, say the car weighs 700 pounds with four passengers. So approximately 233 pounds is being supported by whatever cable broke. If the cable snapped slowly enough, the other two cables would negate the downward acceleration this cable would receive, but it snapped quickly, meaning that it had the force of 233 pounds of tension, causing it to accelerate. In other other words, it would have been better to just have one cable instead of three.

Maybe I don't understand what you're saying, and maybe you don't understand what I'm saying, so I'll try to explain myself better. I think the cable itself snapped. Not at any attachment point, but the cable itself snapped. If it had snapped at an attachment point, yes, the entire cable would have been jerked up, and the reaction of the car moving down would have obviously been negated by the other two cables and/or the locking mechanism at the top of the tower. The cable that did the damage had to be outside the tower at the time. If the car is near the top, very little of the cable is outside of the tower. If the cable itself snapped, however, there would be downward force from the force of gravity pulling on the car, and upward force from the motor pulling the car to the top, the downward force from the car would cause the little bit of cable from whichever cable that snapped to violently snap downwards, because suddenly the entire force of gravity pulling the car down is suddenly being put into that one short cable. When the short bit of cable snapped down, it would have continued in the same direction until acted on by an outside force- in this case the force of its attachment to the catch car. At this instant it was probably behind the girl's legs, because the cables are behind you as you are going up. When it reached the end of its length, it changed directions, and since it couldn't go backwards due to the tower, it went out, still with a very high force and speed, thus cutting off the girl's feet.

While watching the 11:00 news, on WLKY they showed a close-up of what looked like part of a snapped cable. That is the first actual picture I have seen of it. Let's go through this. You're being pulled up the tower. Even though there are three cables on every car, each cable is still under pretty high tension because the cars are heavy plus you have the weight of the riders. A common theme among many of the eyewitness interviews on the local news involved not only the cable snapping but the car dropping. It would have been impossible for the car to drop if only one or if even two cables snapped because I am sure they can all individually support the weight of the car as a backup. Seeing as how only one girl got injured, I have to believe that the car was near the top, meaning that very little of the cable was exposed to come around and do damage, otherwise more people would likely have been injured. So you're somewhere near the top, and the break happens. For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. The upward tension on the cable that broke would have caused a reaction of a quick downward movement, causing it to come down past the catch car, around the edge of the rider car, and in just the right place to reach the girl's legs. Now of course these cables are moving pretty fast because they are under such high tension, meaning that flesh and bone is nothing to it. Since you're so close to the top, you're soon locked in. The girl was probably screaming, but since they were probably at the top, everyone probably assumed she was screaming because they were about to drop. This is just a few seconds after the break happens, so as an onlooker on the ground, it is almost instantaneous, especially when you've just seen what happened. 3...2...1...drop. That seems like what might have happened.

That news video on WHAS 11 is kind of haunting to watch, because you can see a guy down there cleaning, and you know what he is cleaning up, but you don't want to think about it. It had to be while the car was going up. I'm not all that familiar with the cable system on drop rides, but it could have been that the cable snapped, causing that part of the cable and the catch car to drop until the mag brakes stopped it. I watched the news video closely though, and it looked like all the devices that latch to the cars to take them to the top were at the top of the tower, meaning that they were somehow gotten up there. You couldn't see the whole tower though, so one on the other side might have been at the bottom. Or, if there's a backup cable, they could have used that to haul it back up, and just a main cable snapped, causing the injury. What I don't understand is how there was only one injury. Even if the girl was sitting on the end of a row, you sit so close together that anyone else in that car would have come very close to getting injured as well.