texascavers Digest 23 Jun 2013 03:07:26 -0000 Issue 1783
Topics (messages 22040 through 22051):
Re: Raising a glass in remembrance of Bustamonte
22040 by: Gill Edigar
Sinkhole Conference proceedings available for download!
22041 by: George Veni
Sinkhole Conference proceedings
22042 by: Mixon Bill
22049 by: George Veni
Re: (Texas Cavers) concatenation
22043 by: Logan McNatt
22046 by: Bill Bentley
22047 by: Gill Edigar
22048 by: Ted Samsel
cave article in today's Austin American-Statesman
22044 by: Logan McNatt
22045 by: Katherine Arens
Kiwi Sink
22050 by: David
Conference Announcement: International Workshop on Ice Caves, Idaho Falls, USA,
August 2014
22051 by: George Veni
Administrivia:
To subscribe to the digest, e-mail:
<[email protected]>
To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail:
<[email protected]>
To post to the list, e-mail:
<[email protected]>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Begin Message ---
On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 12:47 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
> **
> The great cave of Bustamonte looms large in the overstuffed memory of many
> of us who have spent time in Mexico. ... In fact, I'm not even certain we
> are talking about the same place. It is in the desert north of Monterrey
> and was accessed by means of a spectacular funicular, right? Or am I
> thinking of the huge cave in the anticline? Damned if I know.
>
>Yes, of course, as Charlie pointed out to you, the Funicular is at Gruta
de Garcia, some 100 kilometers distant. The rest of your drivel pertains to
Bustamante.
> Whichever cave it was, no one was around so I simply went in by myself
> then down the long sloping passage strung with a dead lighting system
> reminiscent of the galvanic system used to revivify Frankenstein. Beyond
> the end of lights I kept on going until I reached a grotto wherein there
> was a shrine to Hey Zeus (Which is no doubt how he got his name.
>
>That was Bustamante during most of the '70s & 80s. The image though not
the imagination of HeyZeus was removed by Texas cave conservators during
the '90s.
>
> There were countless votive candles of the sort you can buy in WalMart
> only Mexican,
>
>How many candles were there?
> There were offerings of all sorts scattered about, money, ribbons,
> cigarettes, dead flowers, and dried up shots of rotgut aguardiente.
>
>Some of the offerings can get pretty gross. There were small plastic bags
tied with a knot containing some unidentifiable blackish syrupy
not-quite-liquid substance.
>
> There is something about a sacred space that inspires the Weazel to loot
> the place, so I selected two of the tall candle glasses, one of which was
> entitled "Sagrada Corazon de Jesus", and the other, "Mano Poderosa".
>
>Somebody had merely abandoned them there after all. And you can never find
a sacred candle glass that burns out at the same instant all the magic in
them goes away. Almost always a little bit left over; best to snag them
just in case you can coax out a smidge more of the hocus-pocus.
> I later showed them to several fluent Spanish speakers and they assured me
> that the inscriptions didn't make a bit of sense because the person who
> made them was illiterate.
>
>And there's a good bit of juju in the mysteriousness of the title or text
being not quite sensible.
>
> The votive candle glasses were empty of wax but full of money. I figured
> that Jesus needed the money more than I did, and besides, this was during
> the days of the devaluation of the peso, so I poured the pesos into a pile
> and tucked my trophies into my pack.
>
>Good move. The coins were probably some left over "old pesos" that had
once had enough value to buy you a bistek ranchero but now a wheelbarrow
load of them was barely worth pushing to the scrap iron dealer. Their
primary worth is as votive offerings because they figger Gawd can't read
any better than the candle maker. Best to check those alters closely: they
often have old coins from a century or two past which would make good
collectibles.
>
> Back at home I cleaned them up. Since they were sacred objects I put them
> to the use which god intended, to serve as holy vessels for the serving of
> "Girl drinks", thus named for the ability to knock the panties off a Nun.
>
>That may have been a mistake. Many Holy Relics don't react well to
cleaning. The magic imparted into them by the blessing and Holy Water (and
the illegible Holy Text) becomes degaussed by the low surface tension
present in the soap. Don't ask me how that works. Religion is all about
tension...(oh, and mystery).
>
> Here is how to make a girl drink:
>
>"...drink". Is this a noun or a verb?
> First a goodly measure of good rum,
>
>NO! Not good rum. This is only a girl you're dealing with.
> I personally recommend Flor de Cana.
>
>Flor de Cana is for sipping with the boys.
> Then an equal measure
>
>You can just pretend to measure with about the same results.
> of tonic since malaria is an ever present threat to those who travel south
> of the border.
>
>In the cooler, higher, non-mosquito areas a good, strong, sugary Coke will
help with the palpitations. Proceed to the Squeezing Step.
> Squeeze in half a fresh Persian lime (limon in Mexico) then stir. Fill the
> very tall glass to the top with crushed ice, stir once more, then let the
> drink mellow while you roll up some Michoacan madness. Hand the drink to
> the Nun in question. The sequence of events will be similar to those
> immortalized in the country music song, "Tequila makes her clothes fall
> off".
>
>I've always wanted to see what nuns wore under their habits. My several
chances were always thwarted by lack of light in the room.
>
> There is no way to even begin to estimate the number of girl drinks that
> have been thus served over the years.
>
>Unless you can provide references we just assume it's all Bull Shit
anyway. Make something up.
> Suffice it to say that the inscriptions are barely legible, all the lead
> from the paint having long since been ingested or rubbed off by fingers
> clutching the sweaty glass.
>
>"Clutching," I think, is the operative verb here.
>
> At this very moment both tall glasses take pride of place next to my bong
> on the shelf reserved for sacred relics.
>
> Properly arranged on the shelf with the bong they can form The Trinity:
oOo
> I bring them out whenever there is a special occasion, but any occasion
> will do. In fact I plan to fix myself a stiff drink tonight for I am but a
> lesbian trapped in a man's body and thus fully entitled to the honor of
> sipping from the sacred glasses pilfered from the bowels of Bustamonte.
>
>As Bustamante was my first wild cave and indeed a mind-altering experience
I think I shall take down my drinking glass emblazoned with the Holy Image
of the Nude Virgin of Guadalupe and mix a stiff drink to share with you
from afar. Surely the residual magic in our respective glasses will link us
along the line of the 30th Parallel. --G Ediger, part owner of Texas
>
> Sleazeweazel
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Dear Friends,
Last month's 13th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering
and Environmental Impacts of Karst, more commonly called the "Sinkhole
Conference," was a great success with 52 excellent papers presented. The
proceedings from past Sinkhole Conferences are highly sought and expensive to
buy if you can find them. That will no longer be the case with last month's
conference and future Sinkhole Conferences. Digital copies of the proceedings
are now provided at no cost. You can find them on the Karst Information Portal,
www.karstportal.org<http://www.karstportal.org>, by searching on "sinkhole
2013" or other similar terms. You can also go to NCKRI's publications page at
http://nckri.org/about_nckri/nckri_publications.htm and under the
"Publications" tab you'll find it listed as "NCKRI Symposium 2."
Currently the proceedings are available as a single PDF file, but the papers
will soon be available on the Karst Information Portal as smaller, individual
files too.
The next Sinkhole Conference will be held on 5-9 October 2015 in Rochester,
Minnesota, co-hosted by the Minnesota Groundwater Association. Look for more
information about that soon.
Feel free to share this message with anyone you think may be interested.
George
********************
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue
Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: 575-887-5517
Mobile: 210-863-5919
Fax: 575-887-5523
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Thanks, George and NCKRI. I've always been frustrated that the
proceedings of the previous conferences in the series were allowed to
fall into the hands of commercial scientific publishers who priced
them for libraries and professionals, with the result that I own few
or none of them. The free PDF is great, and the layout is, for the
most part, fully commercial-quality. It's not just a concatenation of
files provided by the authors. I'll be having made a bound black-and-
white printout, but of course I'll also keep a copy of the PDF on
disk, because some fraction of the numerous color images really
require seeing the color for understanding. There are quite a few
papers about Texas.--Mixon
----------------------------------------
Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more.
----------------------------------------
You may "reply" to the address this message
came from, but for long-term use, save:
Personal: [email protected]
AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Bill,
Thanks for the good words. At NCKRI we're trying to support open access to
publications as much as possible. That is one of the big reasons we're working
on the Karst Information Portal as a giant virtual international cave and karst
library. I've seen too many people, who really need information to do good
works, blocked from receiving it because it is too expensive to buy. It is a
tough choice to do this because selling publications can provide us small but
needed funding, but providing open access publications is just the right thing
to do. I won't swear that we'll never print another publication, but the next
six publications we have on the horizon (not counting our annual report which
be available in both print and digital format) are all planned as digital.
George
********************
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue
Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: 575-887-5517
Mobile: 210-863-5919
Fax: 575-887-5523
[email protected]
www.nckri.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Mixon Bill [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 9:30 AM
To: Cavers Texas
Subject: [Texascavers] Sinkhole Conference proceedings
Thanks, George and NCKRI. I've always been frustrated that the proceedings of
the previous conferences in the series were allowed to fall into the hands of
commercial scientific publishers who priced them for libraries and
professionals, with the result that I own few or none of them. The free PDF is
great, and the layout is, for the most part, fully commercial-quality. It's not
just a concatenation of files provided by the authors. I'll be having made a
bound black-and- white printout, but of course I'll also keep a copy of the PDF
on disk, because some fraction of the numerous color images really require
seeing the color for understanding. There are quite a few papers about
Texas.--Mixon
----------------------------------------
Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more.
----------------------------------------
You may "reply" to the address this message came from, but for long-term use,
save:
Personal: [email protected]
AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail:
[email protected]
For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
On 6/21/2013 10:30 AM, Mixon Bill wrote: "It's not just a concatenation of files
provided by the authors."
Thanks to Bill Mixon for our Texas Cavers "Word for the Day"
For fun, try using it in a sentence discussing caves!
e.g. Mammoth Cave is merely a concatenation of passages from multiple
entrances.
CONCATENATION
*1.* a series of interconnected events, concepts, etc.
*2.* the act of linking together or the state of being joined
Middle English, from Late Latin /concatenatus,/ past participle of
/concatenare/ to link together, from Latin /com-/ + /catena/ chain
First Known Use: 15th century
There is even a website using the word!
www.concatenation.org
/*The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation*/ is the
seasonal review of science fact and science fiction. Formerly the (1987-1997)
annual (paper) magazine distributed at the British national SF convention and
European SF
convention, today its three principal internet editions come out in the
northern hemisphere's
Spring, Summer & Autumn.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
The return signal path will be concatenated from each fiber node.....
----- Original Message -----
From: Logan McNatt
To: Mixon Bill
Cc: Cavers Texas
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 11:27 AM
Subject: [Texascavers] Re: (Texas Cavers) concatenation
On 6/21/2013 10:30 AM, Mixon Bill wrote: "It's not just a concatenation of
files provided by the authors."
Thanks to Bill Mixon for our Texas Cavers "Word for the Day"
For fun, try using it in a sentence discussing caves!
e.g. Mammoth Cave is merely a concatenation of passages from multiple
entrances.
CONCATENATION
1. a series of interconnected events, concepts, etc.
2. the act of linking together or the state of being joined
Middle English, from Late Latin concatenatus, past participle of concatenare
to link together, from Latin com- + catena chain
First Known Use: 15th century
There is even a website using the word!
www.concatenation.org
The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation is the
seasonal review of science fact and science fiction. Formerly the (1987-1997)
annual (paper) magazine distributed at the British national SF convention and
European SF
convention, today its three principal internet editions come out in the
northern hemisphere's
Spring, Summer & Autumn.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
How is that related to catenary?
--Ediger
On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Logan McNatt <[email protected]>wrote:
> On 6/21/2013 10:30 AM, Mixon Bill wrote: "It's not just a concatenation
> of files provided by the authors."
>
> Thanks to Bill Mixon for our Texas Cavers "Word for the Day"
> For fun, try using it in a sentence discussing caves!
> e.g. Mammoth Cave is merely a concatenation of passages from multiple
> entrances.
>
> CONCATENATION
> *1.* a series of interconnected events, concepts, etc.
> *2.* the act of linking together or the state of being joined
>
> Middle English, from Late Latin *concatenatus,* past participle of *
> concatenare* to link together, from Latin *com-* + *catena* chain
> First Known Use: 15th century
>
>
> There is even a website using the word!
>
> www.concatenation.org
> *The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation* is the
> seasonal review of science fact and science fiction. Formerly the
> (1987-1997)
> annual (paper) magazine distributed at the British national SF convention
> and European SF
> convention, today its three principal internet editions come out in the
> northern hemisphere's
> Spring, Summer & Autumn.
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
The cat ate the canary?
On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 5:54 PM, Gill Edigar <[email protected]> wrote:
> How is that related to catenary?
> --Ediger
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Logan McNatt <[email protected]>wrote:
>
>> On 6/21/2013 10:30 AM, Mixon Bill wrote: "It's not just a concatenation
>> of files provided by the authors."
>>
>> Thanks to Bill Mixon for our Texas Cavers "Word for the Day"
>> For fun, try using it in a sentence discussing caves!
>> e.g. Mammoth Cave is merely a concatenation of passages from multiple
>> entrances.
>>
>> CONCATENATION
>> *1.* a series of interconnected events, concepts, etc.
>> *2.* the act of linking together or the state of being joined
>>
>> Middle English, from Late Latin *concatenatus,* past participle of *
>> concatenare* to link together, from Latin *com-* + *catena* chain
>> First Known Use: 15th century
>>
>>
>> There is even a website using the word!
>>
>> www.concatenation.org
>> *The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation* is the
>> seasonal review of science fact and science fiction. Formerly the
>> (1987-1997)
>> annual (paper) magazine distributed at the British national SF convention
>> and European SF
>> convention, today its three principal internet editions come out in the
>> northern hemisphere's
>> Spring, Summer & Autumn.
>>
>>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Today's Austin American-Statesman has an article on page B1 titled "Caves' face-lift to allow rainwater into aquifer", about Blowing Sink
Preserve in south Austin. There is a photo of Nico Hauwert , "a senior environmental scientist for the city's Watershed Protection
Department". The City Council awarded the contract to Zara Environmental (Jean Krejca and Peter Sprouse, et al.) to "spend about two months
building what are essentially concrete chimneys anchored as deep as 50 feet into the caves."
Unfortunately the full online article is available only to subscribers, but
that might change in a day or two.
http://www.statesman.com/s/news/local/
City Council approves $246,000 for cave repairs in South Austin
By Farzad Mashhood <http://www.statesman.com/staff/farzad-mashhood/>
American-Statesman Staff
Five caves tucked in a South Austin preserve will get a $246,000 face-lift to allow more rainwater to pass through them and into the aquifer
that feeds Barton Springs.
The Austin City Council approved the spending on Thursday.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I have it as a full pdf, let me know if you want it -- the list doesn't like
attachments, if i remember rightly.
The wood structures were mostly built by Bill Russell, for considerably less
than a quarter million dollars.
katie
On Jun 21, 2013, at 12:11 PM, Logan McNatt wrote:
> Today's Austin American-Statesman has an article on page B1 titled "Caves'
> face-lift to allow rainwater into aquifer", about Blowing Sink Preserve in
> south Austin. There is a photo of Nico Hauwert , "a senior environmental
> scientist for the city's Watershed Protection Department". The City Council
> awarded the contract to Zara Environmental (Jean Krejca and Peter Sprouse, et
> al.) to "spend about two months building what are essentially concrete
> chimneys anchored as deep as 50 feet into the caves."
>
> Unfortunately the full online article is available only to subscribers, but
> that might change in a day or two.
>
>
> http://www.statesman.com/s/news/local/
>
> City Council approves $246,000 for cave repairs in South Austin
>
> By Farzad Mashhood
>
> American-Statesman Staff
>
> Five caves tucked in a South Austin preserve will get a $246,000 face-lift to
> allow more rainwater to pass through them and into the aquifer that feeds
> Barton Springs.
>
> The Austin City Council approved the spending on Thursday.
>
>
************************
Katherine Arens Office Phones: (512) 232-6363
[email protected] Dept. Phone: (512) 471-4123
Dept. of Germanic Studies FAX (512) 471-4025
2505 University Ave, C3300 Bldg.Location: Burdine 336
University of Texas at Austin Office: Burdine 320
Austin, TX 78712-1088
-. .-
_..-'( )`-.._
./'. '||\\. (\_/) .//||` .`\.
./'.|'.'||||\\|.. )O O( ..|//||||`.`|.`\.
./'..|'.|| |||||\`````` '`" '` ''''''/||||| ||.`|..`\.
./'.||'.|||| ||||||||||||. . |||||||||||| ||||.`||.`\.
/'|||'.|||||| ||||||||||||{ }|||||||||||| ||||||.`|||`\
'.|||'.||||||| ||||||||||||{ }|||||||||||| |||||||.`|||.`
'.||| ||||||||| |/' ``\||`` ''||/'' `\| ||||||||| |||.`
|/' \./' `\./ \!|\ /|!/ \./' `\./ `\|
V V V }' `\ /' `{ V V V
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I am about to set up camp near the cave at Terry's back gate on Billie
Brooks.
Then I am going swimming to celebrate my 49th birthday.
This evening, I will dig and fill up a barrel, if someone is willing to
watch.
I hope to dig hard tomorrow.
The Rolling Oaks crew removed the 6 barrels and more. But I will let Gil
explain that..
Lots of fun digging remains.
My phone does not work in Rolling Oaks.
David Locklear
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Dear Friends,
The International Workshop on Ice Caves (IWIC) is a series of workshops devoted
entirely to ice cave research. IWIC is the only conference focused on
state-of-the-art in ice cave research, where international experts discuss
ongoing research efforts and promote global cooperation in ice cave science and
management. These meetings have happened every year since 2004, and all in
Europe. The next IWIC, IWIC-VI, will be held next year on 17-22 August 2014 in
Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA!
For Europeans this will be the first opportunity to see cave ice in a
completely different setting-lava tubes! For North Americans and many others,
this is an excellent opportunity to meet with the world's leading cave ice
experts. Major themes of IWIC-VI include:
* Cave glaciology and ice dynamics
* Cave meteorology and climatology
* Cryo-mineralogy and cryo-crystallography
* Paleoclimatology and global change
* Chemistry and geochemistry of ice caves
* Ice cave management and technology
In fact, IWIC-VI welcomes papers on any topic involving cave ice.
IWIC is a conference of the Glacier, Firn, and Ice Caves Commission of the
International Union of Speleology, and IWIC-VI is being hosted by the National
Cave and Karst Research Institute of the USA. For more information, visit
http://www.iwic-vi.org/index.html. Save the dates and look for more information
to be posted within 3-4 months on registration and submitting papers for the
conference.
I hope to see you there!
Please share this message with anyone you think may be interested.
George
********************
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue
Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: 575-887-5517
Mobile: 210-863-5919
Fax: 575-887-5523
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org>
--- End Message ---
