texascavers Digest 12 Oct 2011 15:49:32 -0000 Issue 1408
Topics (messages 18763 through 18784):
Yeti believed to be in Russian cave
18763 by: Louise Power
Tales from the ASS
18764 by: Zach Broussard
18767 by: Scott Boyd
18769 by: Nico Escamilla
18771 by: David
18772 by: Stefan Creaser
18773 by: Nico Escamilla
18774 by: scott grimes
18782 by: Zach Broussard
18783 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com
Free tickets to Ale Fest
18765 by: Andy Gluesenkamp
book review: Maya caves
18766 by: Mixon Bill
TCR is just about here!
18768 by: Allan B. Cobb
18770 by: Stefan Creaser
TSA election - vote for Michael Cicherski!
18775 by: Speleosteele.aol.com
TCR Contests!
18776 by: Allan B. Cobb
TCMA at TCR
18777 by: Linda Palit
Off Topic --- new UT surplus auction
18778 by: Jim Kennedy
Coffee at TCR!
18779 by: Joe Ranzau
18780 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com
18781 by: Allan B. Cobb
Mapping workshop
18784 by: Ron Ralph
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047528/Siberian-evidence-proof-yetis-exist-Abominable-Snowman-close-caught.html
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Howdy fellow cavers,
This past weekend ASS enjoyed a trip to Govt Canyon State Natural Area to
help Marvin out up there.
I could not personally make the trip due to prior engagements (make sure to
catch the next Texas Caver for deets) so the trip report that follows was
written by a fellow ASS, Scott Grimes. See you all at TCR, enjoy!
Zach Broussard
Aggie Speleological Society- President
[email protected]
ASSes Present:
Kyle Leonard- Vice President/ Trip Leader
Monica Faith
Scott Grimes
Matthew Perryman
Cruz St.Peter
Chelsea Small
Erick Jackson
Rachel Saker
We met in the parking lot at 7pm on Friday, and departed at ~9.30 due to
unfortunate circumstances which involved the procuration of 2 tickets by our
fearless leader Kyle. Our caravan got separated on the way and it took
several attempts at re-connecting the 3 cars together before we were
successful. I blame the lack of CB use, and motion for ass funds to be
allocated towards the purchase of a communal cb- or for bawlz to fix his. 4
hours and one obligatory walmart stop later we arrived at the park. After
fiddling with the lock we left to find the correct entrance gate. We drove
up to our designated camping zone for karst workers to find only one other
tent- we had an entire section of the camp to ourselves. We set up camp and
drove the cars back to some pavement (was too dry to allow parking in grass
due to risk of fire). We stayed up drinking for a few hours and went to bed
between 1-2.
At the crack of 9 we woke up, and broke into 3 groups. one group went caving
+ ridgewalking(?), one group with all new cavers went into a pretty cave
which had lots of wildlife (bats, bugs, a snake, etc) and got awesome
pictures. The last group went to a cave dig- think whirlpools birth canal
whilst digging over your head. The dig group met up with the prettycave
group after a jaunt* (read got-hopelessly-lost) in the forest. We then met
the third group at a cabin where we unloaded our tools and a few cavers used
an outdoor shower station with hot water (unashamed glamping if i ever saw
it).
We all cooked our dinners early at 4.30, and were joined by the karst
manager and his little girl- who was a badass/had treked with us all day and
gone caving with one of the groups. We shot the breeze for a while, then
broke out the 4loko's and assorted other goods for a full night of
intoxicant fueled hedonistic merriment. Drinking games, races, trident
throwing (technically a bi-dent cuz it only had two prongs), glowstick
twirling, karaoke, cactus avoiding etc etc. After about 8 hours of hard
partying it had devolved into an naked, dubstep fueled, strobe light lit
danceparty.
Unbenownst to us our style of getting down also doubled as a raindance.
Having greatly pleased [Tefnut, Freyr, Otzotl, PickYourOwn], the skys poured
forth. We went to bed just as the storm had begun, and over the course of
the night several tents were flooded and the entire camp turned into a swamp
of mud, caving equipment, food, and assorted party favors. We had had the
foresight to construct a tarp lean-to the day prior, and so we huddled in it
during the morning- burning a stove for warmth and baking
nutterbutters/lobster pate for sustenance. We sloshed around in the rain to
pack up everything / clean up, and a short 2 hours later departed the park
in search of delicious food. We found a greasy hole in the wall place
mexican restaurant that served puffy tacos and a delicious unpronounceable
milk/rice/cinnamon drink, stuffed ourselves, then returned home (with a
brief detour through san marcos for some reason that was never entirely made
clear to me).
Fie on those who couldnt make it- but be sure to come to thursdays meeting
where will discuss plans for this weekends (14th-16th) trip to TCR!!!! the
biggest baddest caver party around, a trip you will totes not want to miss.
- Scotty "my-shower-is-now-black-with-mud" G
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Ummmm.... have y'all ever heard of cell phones??
On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 5:58 PM, Zach Broussard <[email protected]>wrote:
> Howdy fellow cavers,
>
> <snip-snip>
> I blame the lack of CB use, and motion for ass funds to be allocated
> towards the purchase of a communal cb- or for bawlz to fix his.
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milk, rice and cinammon drink sounds like agua de horchata.. its awesome
when well made, and pretty much sucks when its not.. like every other
mexican food/drink
. We found a greasy hole in the wall place mexican restaurant that served
> puffy tacos and a delicious unpronounceable milk/rice/cinnamon drink,
> stuffed ourselves, then returned home (with a brief detour through san
> marcos for some reason that was never entirely made clear to me).
>
> Fie on those who couldnt make it- but be sure to come to thursdays meeting
> where will discuss plans for this weekends (14th-16th) trip to TCR!!!! the
> biggest baddest caver party around, a trip you will totes not want to miss.
>
> - Scotty "my-shower-is-now-black-with-mud" G
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You can officially call yourself an old-timer now, if you didn't understand
Mr. Grime's trip report, or recognize
the cultural generation gap between new young cavers and yourself.
There were a few trip reports similar in nature to that one in the Texas
Caver back in the 80's, or at least in grotto newsletters.
I bet you might find something similar in an old S.U.C.K.S. newsletter, from
way back in the 70's.
While most of my generation finds writing with grammar errors, and spelling
errors atrocious, it seems to be
absolutely unimportant to anybody under 30 in e-mails, but especially in
tweets, or social messaging.
For example, it is "Whirlpool's Birth Canal", not whirlpools birth canal, as
the name of the cave and the
name of the passage are capitalized and the apostrophe shows the passage is
that of the cave,
( in order to be more clear to readers who are not familiar with the subject
matter. )
I will admit that lately when texting professional customers, I have
resorted to bizarre abbreviations.
Mr. Grimes deserves some credit for being the first caver to mention
dubstepping in a caver
post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep
I have no earthly idea , what is "fie." I first thought he meant FYI,
but that wouldn't read right. So it must
be a typo for "For." ( probably typed on a touchscreen device ? )
This was more of a road-trip report, than a caving trip report. He barely
mentions being in a cave.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading it.
David Locklear
V.P. of A.S.S. 1987
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Cummon, they're Aggies ;-)
________________________________________
From: Scott Boyd [[email protected]]
Sent: 11 October 2011 21:54
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Tales from the ASS
Ummmm.... have y'all ever heard of cell phones??
On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 5:58 PM, Zach Broussard
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Howdy fellow cavers,
<snip-snip>
I blame the lack of CB use, and motion for ass funds to be allocated towards
the purchase of a communal cb- or for bawlz to fix his.
-- IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments are
confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient,
please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to any
other person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the information in any
medium. Thank you.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
And theyre going underground unlike David... yes, I typed theyre with no
apostrophe on purpose
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 12:03 AM, Stefan Creaser <[email protected]>wrote:
> Cummon, they're Aggies ;-)
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Scott Boyd [[email protected]]
> Sent: 11 October 2011 21:54
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Tales from the ASS
>
> Ummmm.... have y'all ever heard of cell phones??
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 5:58 PM, Zach Broussard <[email protected]
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Howdy fellow cavers,
>
> <snip-snip>
>
> I blame the lack of CB use, and motion for ass funds to be allocated
> towards the purchase of a communal cb- or for bawlz to fix his.
>
>
> -- IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments are
> confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended
> recipient, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the
> contents to any other person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the
> information in any medium. Thank you.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
> For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
>
>
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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fie
it is definitely true that punctuation, capitalization, etc are essentially
useless when emailing or using social media for younger folks. it just slows
things down- had i known that my report was going to be reposted here i may
have cleaned it up a bit and posted more about the caving :p
cheers!
scotty grimes
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I would like to point out that ASS does take caving seriously. Buidness is
buidness. However, we enjoy cutting loose at the end of long days and our
trip reports are often written for entertainment purposes rather than
describing caving details. If you are a dried up caving curmudgeon with no
sense of humor, then please don't read e-mails entitled "Tales from the
ASS." I suppose that is too serious of a title after all. I hope that our
tales of youthful bliss, about people who still enjoy life, may one day tear
down the compounded guano walls built up by years of heads being stuck in
holes and we can all party together. 'Til then, I suppose, you do you and
we'll do us.
Zach
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 12:41 AM, scott grimes <[email protected]>wrote:
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fie
>
> it is definitely true that punctuation, capitalization, etc are essentially
> useless when emailing or using social media for younger folks. it just slows
> things down- had i known that my report was going to be reposted here i may
> have cleaned it up a bit and posted more about the caving :p
>
> cheers!
> scotty grimes
>
>
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Keep posting the reports as you have been doing, Zach!
The oldsters out there don't realize (or want to admit) that they won't
be around forever and we all need to do whatever we can to
recruit/retain new blood in the Texas caving community.
That's what I have been doing when I volunteer to give 6 to 10 cave
talks a year (sometimes travelling several hours to do so), take youth
on caving trips multiple times a years, and reach out to younger cavers,
like y'all, in getting new projects up and running.
The A.S.S. grotto, the UT grotto, the GHG, and other young folks out
there were ESSENTIAL in getting Longhorn dug out and ready for ICS.
Trips to this cave during ICS would have been impossible without the
assistance of you "youngsters". Plainly said, Longhorn would not have
been an option.
I love y'all's humor, energy, and participation, either caving or here
on CaveTex.
Don't change and we need more like you!
Mark
From: Zach Broussard [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:48 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Tales from the ASS
I would like to point out that ASS does take caving seriously. Buidness
is buidness. However, we enjoy cutting loose at the end of long days and
our trip reports are often written for entertainment purposes rather
than describing caving details. If you are a dried up caving curmudgeon
with no sense of humor, then please don't read e-mails entitled "Tales
from the ASS." I suppose that is too serious of a title after all. I
hope that our tales of youthful bliss, about people who still enjoy
life, may one day tear down the compounded guano walls built up by years
of heads being stuck in holes and we can all party together. 'Til then,
I suppose, you do you and we'll do us.
Zach
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 12:41 AM, scott grimes <[email protected]>
wrote:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fie
it is definitely true that punctuation, capitalization, etc are
essentially useless when emailing or using social media for younger
folks. it just slows things down- had i known that my report was going
to be reposted here i may have cleaned it up a bit and posted more about
the caving :p
cheers!
scotty grimes
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I have two tickets to Ale Fest in SA. Gates open at 1pm on Oct 15. Free to
good home.
Sent from my iPhone
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Exploring Maya Ritual Caves: Dark Secrets from the Maya Underworld.
Stanislav Chládek. AltaMira, Lanham, Maryland; 2011. ISBN
978-0-7591-1987-1. 5.5 by 9 inches, 228 pages, hardbound. $49.95.
In many parts of the Maya region, caves, or at least cenotes, were the
only reliable source of water, and everywhere they were the portal to
the underworld and its gods. The first half of the book is a general
description of current thought about the relationship of the Maya to
their caves. The second half describes visits the author made to many
of the best known archaeological caves of the area, especially in
Belize. There are numerous black-and-white photos throughout. They
generally could use more contrast, and in at least one case I was
unable to imagine the face allegedly carved into the stalagmite. These
carved faces are always so crude compared to the elaborate carving on
steles and building facades that I often wonder how many of them are
imaginary altogether.
Chládek is a retired chemistry professor, and his previous outdoor
experience was primarily in kayaks before he became interested in Maya
cave archaeology. His bibliography is extensive, and he acknowledges
assistance from some of the big names in Maya cave archaeology today
and "two anonymous reviewers," so the basic information in the first
half of the book should pretty well reflect current thinking. But then
within a few pages at the start of the second half I read of the three
types of cave bats, "insect, food, and vampire," of Cenote Dos Ojos
with over six hundred kilometers of passages (they wish), and of the
blind cave fish Ogilbia pearsel (for pearsei), which somewhat sapped
my confidence.
Exploring Maya Ritual Caves is expensive for such a small book aimed
at the general reader, but it is a fairly painless introduction to the
important role caves played in the beliefs and activities of the Maya.—
Bill Mixon
----------------------------------------
I believe there are
15,747,724,136,275,002,577,605,653,961,181,555,
468,044,717,914,527,116,709,366,231,425,076,185,
631,031,296 protons in the universe and the same number of electrons.—
Sir Arthur Eddington
----------------------------------------
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]
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Howdy y’all,
Just a reminder that TCR is just around the corner at Flat Creek Ranch near
Johnson City. Find directions at www.oztotl.com.
Because of the Burn Ban, there will be NO ground fires. This rule will be
strictly enforced. You can use propane stoves but not charcoal. We suggest
that every car have at least one dry chemical fire extinguisher. We luckily got
rain over the weekend and that helped but there is still a danger of wildfires.
The Bexar Grotto is not doing a Fish Fry on Friday night so, if you depended on
that for supper, you need to make other plans. The Big Feed is on Saturday
night. Please bring your own plate and utensils. Bring a mug for liquid
refreshments. Sunday morning, starting around 7:30, TCMA will be hosting a
fundraising breakfast. Bring your own plate and utensils and a coffee cup.
Breakfast has a suggested donation of $5 which goes to the TCMA Cave
Acquisition Fund.
There will be the usual contests going on on Saturday. Bring your vertical gear
for the climbing contest and a helmet for the Speleolympics. Come prepared to
take part in the survey contest and possibly win a set of survey instruments!
The Terminal Syphons will be playing on Saturday night after the awards and
door prizes. We already have over $1000 worth of prizes to give away!
Sunday morning at 8 AM, the TSA will have a Members Meeting followed at 9 AM by
the TCMA’s Members Meeting.
There will be vendors on hand on Saturday and some will be around on Sunday
morning.
Come prepared to have fun! The weather looks great with a high in the mid 80s
and lows in the mid 50s!
See y’all there!
Allan
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Is anyone from Austin available to haul the cooks trailer out to the site on
Thursday, or Friday afternoon?
Thanks! Stefan
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 11, 2011, at 11:07 PM, "Allan B. Cobb"
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Howdy y’all,
Just a reminder that TCR is just around the corner at Flat Creek Ranch near
Johnson City. Find directions at <http://www.oztotl.com>
www.oztotl.com<http://www.oztotl.com>.
Because of the Burn Ban, there will be NO ground fires. This rule will be
strictly enforced. You can use propane stoves but not charcoal. We suggest
that every car have at least one dry chemical fire extinguisher. We luckily got
rain over the weekend and that helped but there is still a danger of wildfires.
The Bexar Grotto is not doing a Fish Fry on Friday night so, if you depended on
that for supper, you need to make other plans. The Big Feed is on Saturday
night. Please bring your own plate and utensils. Bring a mug for liquid
refreshments. Sunday morning, starting around 7:30, TCMA will be hosting a
fundraising breakfast. Bring your own plate and utensils and a coffee cup.
Breakfast has a suggested donation of $5 which goes to the TCMA Cave
Acquisition Fund.
There will be the usual contests going on on Saturday. Bring your vertical gear
for the climbing contest and a helmet for the Speleolympics. Come prepared to
take part in the survey contest and possibly win a set of survey instruments!
The Terminal Syphons will be playing on Saturday night after the awards and
door prizes. We already have over $1000 worth of prizes to give away!
Sunday morning at 8 AM, the TSA will have a Members Meeting followed at 9 AM by
the TCMA’s Members Meeting.
There will be vendors on hand on Saturday and some will be around on Sunday
morning.
Come prepared to have fun! The weather looks great with a high in the mid 80s
and lows in the mid 50s!
See y’all there!
Allan
-- IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments are
confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient,
please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to any
other person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the information in any
medium. Thank you.
--- End Message ---
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Not only is Michael an ace at keeping good financial records, but this is
his kind of caving:
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4QfCqvJd-M_
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4QfCqvJd-M)
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TCR has plenty of contests to show off your caving skills. Come and compete in
the rope climbing and speleolympics to win some really great prizes. Bring your
vertical gear, helmets, and knee/elbow pads. Don’t forget to show off your
survey skills so you can win survey instruments. Bring your favorite survey
gear or borrow some there!
We have a new contest this year! This one is a creative contest and not a
caving skills contest. WE WANT YOU TO DRESS LIKE A PIRATE! (Talking like a
pirate is optional.) We have some great gift certificates for the winners.
The judges of the contest will be YOU! We will bring the contestants on stage
Saturday night and let the audience vote for the BEST pirate costume (please,
no Somali pirate or software pirates, we want the more traditional type!).
Avast, me hearties, see ya thar!
Allan
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TCR is almost her, and the weather looks grand.
It will be a busy weekend, but fit in a few TCMA events while you are there.
Saturday the TCMA tent and table will be up, and we'd love to have you come
by, visit, buy a t-shirt or two, and renew your membership. We also have
continuing donations if you are willing to support the ongoing work of TCMA,
A new edition of *Passages* will also be available.
Sunday morning we will be having the TCMA breakfast for a $5 donation.
Please bring your own coffee cup and plate; we will have a variety of
breakfast tacos.
After breakfast, there will be a TCMA Members Meeting at 9am, Our elections
are by email or snail mail this year, but the candidates will ask for your
support and talk about what they see as the future for TCMA.
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Volleyball equipment!
Trucks!
Radial Arm Saw!
Office equipment!
Ice Cream Machine!
Boat!
And more‼!
Go to http://www.swicoauctions.com/viewAuction.php?auctionid=284 for details.
-- Jim
(Brought to you as a public service. Please do not respond to CaveTex.)
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TCMA will provide coffee at TCR starting Friday morning! Look for the
group of dazed addicts milling about somewhere on vendor row, that
will be the spot. I try to have the coffee on by 6:30am for the early
birds...
We will have cream, sugar and assorted chemicals that enhance
sweetness. Only the coffee sweetness, none seem to make me any
sweeter :-)
Three large urns, no waitin!
Joe
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You are my hero, Joe, and a great American!
Thank you!
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Ranzau [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:39 AM
To: Cavers Texas
Subject: [Texascavers] Coffee at TCR!
TCMA will provide coffee at TCR starting Friday morning! Look for the
group of dazed addicts milling about somewhere on vendor row, that
will be the spot. I try to have the coffee on by 6:30am for the early
birds...
We will have cream, sugar and assorted chemicals that enhance
sweetness. Only the coffee sweetness, none seem to make me any
sweeter :-)
Three large urns, no waitin!
Joe
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Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
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--- Begin Message ---
Don't forget your own coffee mug! It holds up the line when you have to
drink out of the spout on the coffee urn!
Allan
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Ranzau
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:39 AM
To: Cavers Texas
Subject: [Texascavers] Coffee at TCR!
TCMA will provide coffee at TCR starting Friday morning! Look for the
group of dazed addicts milling about somewhere on vendor row, that
will be the spot. I try to have the coffee on by 6:30am for the early
birds...
We will have cream, sugar and assorted chemicals that enhance
sweetness. Only the coffee sweetness, none seem to make me any
sweeter :-)
Three large urns, no waitin!
Joe
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]
For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
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--- Begin Message ---
Cavers,
The workshop at the Texas Speleological Survey office was a success and will
be repeated hopefully this next spring. Below is a report produced by
instructor Leslie Bell.
The TSS Survey Mapping Workshop was held on Saturday, September 24, 2011
from 10:30AM to 5:30PM.
Jim Kennedy and Leslie Bell taught the workshop, and Rod Goke and
Christopher Francke helped with the setup and IT support. The digital
projector used during the workshop was provided by Jim Kennedy.
The workshop had three attendees:
Rick Corbell from San Antonio, TX
Gary Franklin from Austin, TX
Karen Masters from Austin, TX
The first half of the workshop covered scanning paper maps and taking them
into GIMP to clean up the scanned maps. GIMP is a free software raster
graphics editor. Corresponding actions in Adobe Photoshop (a popular but
more expensive raster graphics editor) were also shown to the attendees. As
all of the TSS computers have been set up with GIMP, each of the three
attendees used the information given to them to clean up scanned Williamson
County maps.
The workshop then broke for lunch at Pho Hoang.
The second half of the workshop covered entering survey data into WALLS,
exporting a line plot from WALLS and then taking that line plot and creating
an official profile or plan map using Inkscape, a free software vector
graphics editor.
Although there were only a few attendees, each of those attendees did get to
learn valuable information that they can use in the future and will now have
the tools in their arsenal to draft their own maps and submit them to the
TSS. Jim Kennedy and Leslie Bell both agree the workshop was a general
success and would like to see more workshops in the future.
Although there were no donations given, attendees did pay for their own
lunches at Pho Hoang.
Tutorials for GIMP and WALLS were drafted for the workshop and future
workshops will be able to include and build on these tutorials.
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