The European Space Agency has sponsored several caving videos that are available on YouTube. Below is one of the latest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tcH3udQPug There was a fascinating newstory today about researchers finding a way to possibly freeze human organs. I do not know how to make that sound caving related. But in the future, cavers who have serious accidents might just luck out and have a nearby frozen organ available to save their life ? Or maybe we could freeze the beef for the 2025 TCR years in advance ? I purchased the flashlight below at Ross for $ 15 plus tax. http://lghttp.19110.nexcesscdn.net/8093B0/campingstation/media/catalog/product/cache/7/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/0/2000000733.jpg That is kind of expensive for a flashlight these days. It is the heaviest flashlight I have ever owned. The beam pattern is very odd, but somewhat practical. The light pattern has a bright spot in the center and almost no light above or below the center, yet to the left and right of the center there is usable light farther than any flashlight I have ever seen, which gives the flashlight its name, "Coleman Widebeam." The hook on the end of the tail-cap is heavy duty and works like the curved part of a lock like you would put on a fence-gate, and seems to be designed to use hanging from a loop of 1" nylon webbing. It opens by turning the red ring on the tail-cap. That is some fancy engineering, but not sure how useful that feature is. It seems to me that several times a year a Texas caver in good standing finds themselves in some sort of pickle, and they need help from their caving friends. It would seem like there could be a more efficient way to spread the word or to help the caver in question. A caver could volunteer to manage some sort of fund, that is distributed privately when there is an emergency, as to keep the speleo-politics out of the equation. One way to do that is to use something like Chase QuickPay which allows deposits to be made using just an email address. My best banking experience has been with Frost Bank and my credit-union. But Bank of America now has ATMs that have live tellers available after-hours. ( get ready to see more of that and less human-tellers ) Some cultures have a concept used often by groups of people pooling their money together. It could work something like that, and not have to be anything too fancy or formal. I can offer a caver a sofa to sleep on for one night in an emergency if they have some reason to be near downtown Houston. Once the new light-rail service starts next month, the Houston Medical Center will be just minutes from my front door. I am not yet set up to have more than one guest for more than one night, but my plan is to have a guest room sometime in 2014. My wife and I have not reached an agreement on how our separation will work. My idea is to have more time for myself and zero time to the ex-wife, so in theory, I will have more time to get back into caving, I am guessing at the rate things are going that she has already consulted an attorney. This doesn't seem to bother me, but I am very worried about our 9 year old daughter. My parents divorced when I was 7, but it was a different situation, but it doesn't seem that long ago, even though it was 42 years ago. I now only get messages from my ex-wife thru my daughter, and have zero control over my visitation rights. In my present state of mind, I could not recommend marriage to anyone. David Locklear
