Monday, May 7, 2007

What Does This Mean...And Other Denver Airport Mysteries!

The Luxor bomb disappointed the media in every way -- it wasn't terrorism OR a mob hit. Just an odd murder case, but not one of national importance. But I missed a solid payday by being away. By the time I reached my layover in Denver, I had messages from Newsweek and Reuters asking for coverage. Oh well.

Meanwhile, the Denver airport was full of mysteries that I need your help to unpack. First, take a good look at the image to your right. OK, it's really hard to see. But what it is is a phrase I found embedded in the floor. It says "TSE YE GO AN YEH DAA NYOT." I've Googled that and all I came up with is another traveler perplexed by it. So, anyone who can come up with something really enlightening here is welcome to any prize on the prize list at TheStripPodcast.com. Come on, folks.

Next up, what the heck is this to your left that I found in the middle of a series of interminable terminal hallways? Some sort of queer-meets-Chinese public art display? All around major Chinese cities you'll find rainbow strings of neon lights much like this. Why is this here? Is it supposed to be decorative?

And finally, not so much a puzzle as a fascination. The bathroom doubles as... a tornado shelter! I'm baffled by this because, as I suspected, there aren't many tornadoes in Denver County. Just 13 since 1966 and not a single one in 14 years. So why? And wouldn't that have to be just a monster of a tornado to blow clear into the middle of a building that, presumably, is fortified to withstand an awful lot of force.

I might have blogged this earlier but both DEN or MSP charge through the nose to get online. Another underappreciated reason to love McCarran: Free Wi-Fi. Gosh, I miss home.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm confused by this post. If neither "charges through the nose," then that would imply the price was reasonable? Also, you can fly direct from LAS-MSP and avoid DEN altogether.

THE STRIP PODCAST said...

Hey - good catch. I fixed it. Sorry, it's late here.

Re: going thru DEN ... the fare was right, so I put up with the layover. I'm on a direct flight back tomorrow night.

Amy said...

I found some links to conspiracy theorists' web pages. I didn't find specific mention of the carving you saw, but it looks like there might be a connection to the Navaho.

Anonymous said...

The tornado shelter in the bathrooms is not so much due to structural safety as it is to protect from flying glass. With floor to ceiling windows, skylights, and basically all open spaces, the bathrooms are about the only areas large enough that don't have windows.

THE STRIP PODCAST said...

But they haven't had a tornado in Denver in 14 years.