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My point: people think virtually all information is available on the net - it's far from the truth. A lot of stuff is not there, or next to not there. The only pages of ours that show for that search are fieldnotes that mention it. The other site has even less. I'll have to write a decent page that addresses it in detail - maybe also add it to Wikipedia.
Our group received info several weeks ago about a cave that apparently has a very deep shaft in it. A recon visit two weeks ago, by members of our group (I wasn't there, will be for the main visit) suggests that the shaft is well in excess of 300m (1000 ft). This should be, by far, a new depth record for our island (won't be too specific, pushing it as it is). The morphology suggests a continuing stream passage at the bottom. All in all, this is major. The descent team will be three of us - myself included (probably first down, cause they all seem to like to feed me down the holes first). We hope to be successful, and live through the whole experience. But, if you never see any more posts by Stefan after Mar 19, it didn't work out as well as we planned.
Walk good, Jah guide,
Stefan
[edited by: lawman at 10:04 am (utc) on Mar. 6, 2006]
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[edited by: lawman at 10:07 am (utc) on Mar. 6, 2006]
Echinolith is found in caves that have rapidly flowing water (seasonal, rainy-season flow, usually). It consists of very sharp, highly-eroded blades of limestone that are carved on walls, floors, and breakdown boulders. Not so common in temperate zone caves, such as US and Europe - more common in tropical caves. It can slice your hands like a knife, cut right through your boots, and makes cave-diving deadly.
Fortunately, it doesn't happen in shafts, just passages, so we should be ok on that front :-)
[edited by: lawman at 10:07 am (utc) on Mar. 6, 2006]
Anyway, I shouldn't have been so dire. It won't be a problem, or else we wouldn't do it (of course, we could be thoroughly insane, and about to launch ourselves merryily off to oblivion).
Just out of interest, why DO you do it?
Because someone has to do it - it might as well be us ;-)
Being less facetious: it makes me feel very alive, and it's true exploration - a hard thing to do these days above-ground. There is a science aspect to much of what we do - it's not just for the thrill of it. I'll be plucking legs off cave-crabs for later DNA analysis, if we find any (long story - has to do with using crab genetics as a tracer for hydrological connectivity). That said, this baby is primarily for the adventure of it.
Anyway, a second recon visit last weekend (I wasn't there), had the participating crew actually lowering a weight on a fishing line, and measuring it afterwards. This indicated that the main shaft is only about 250 metres (the first visit, they just dropped rocks and timed it). Somewhat disappointing, but we should still have a new depth record for the island.
Our main concern at this point is that word has spread far and wide in the district about what we're doing, and there is wild speculation about treasure (we should be so lucky). We're sorting out security at the cave entrance so we don't have people stumbling in and falling into the depths. We'll probably put 3 or 4 of us down the pit, where we very much hope to find a continuing river passage leading off to parts unknown, and will have another 4 or 5 of the crew up-top fending off the hordes, doing some mapping, and in place to haul out any of us idiots who are going down the hole, if there are problems (which there won't be, because it would be bad form).
Needless to say, before anyone gets on rope, we will dump in a bottle of white rum to put the Duppies to sleep, so that we'll have no problems on that front. I know it sounds odd, but the last time we did a very deep cave (about 180m), we neglected to do that and I had a very bizarre experience with a large, black bird attacking me on the main ascent (wide, open sinkhole for the top part). The bloody thing was trying to tear my eyeballs out, I swear. This time, I take no chances :-)
If I want excitment and death defying danger I just walk through Basildon high street after kicking out time on a Saturday.
You dont have worry about Duppies, what ever they are.
Duppies? What are they?
There are two forms, really: First, there are the lost remnants of the dear departed. These are not usually a real problem. Secondly, and more dangerously, there are the ones that are "elemental spirits". Amongst their native habitats are caves (Cotton trees, and a few other places too). Fortunately, they like their rum and can be dealt with that way. Give them a good dose before you go in, and you're away to the races.
If I want excitment and death defying danger I just walk through Basildon high street after kicking out time on a Saturday.
Sounds grim. Do you wear a helmet when you do that?
(the first visit, they just dropped rocks and timed it)
I surely hope they called out first to make sure there wasn't another exploring party down there at the time!
I would be interested in knowing where the rumors of treasure are coming from. If you should happen to find an old chest full of doubloons or pearls, will you post pictures for the rest of us to see? ;)
I surely hope they called out first to make sure there wasn't another exploring party down there at the time!
No worries there - we're the only ones on the island with the gear, let alone the expertise. The only time we found someone down a deep pit, he'd been dead for over 3 months (had to go back down a few days later with a body-bag and shovel the stinking mess into it - it was a very particular kind of decomposition, three months at 20C with no surface critters to consume things - quite nasty, all in all, but it got us on TV and in the papers).
I would be interested in knowing where the rumors of treasure are coming from.
We've run into that a lot. There are many old folk-tales associated with caves on the island describing "golden tables set with golden dishes" etc (just speleothems, no doubt). Also, because few people of sound mind would want to poke around in caves in the first place, it is usually assumed that we're after something valuable. Explaining that we consider undescribed invertebrate species to be valuable doesn't convince many.
If you should happen to find an old chest full of doubloons or pearls, will you post pictures for the rest of us to see? ;)
No, man, but I will post a picture of my new Mercedes four-wheel drive :-)
The only time we found someone down a deep pit, he'd been dead for over 3 months
Let me guess...you found him a little over three months after you tested the depth of the hole by tossing rocks in, right? ;)
Couldn't agree more - but it's a big secret, so don't tell anyone else, ok?
Let me guess...you found him a little over three months after you tested the depth of the hole by tossing rocks in, right? ;)
:-)
He either jumped in, or was tossed in, depending on who you talked to (or rather who talked at us - I didn't want to know any of the details). It's a long story on how we came to be there, but people knew he was down the hole before we arrived.
Couldn't agree more - but it's a big secret, so don't tell anyone else, ok?
Yeah, point taken, but all the same - with all the razzle-dazzle of Google, and all the hype, I cannot recall reading one recent article on how much is missing on the internet. When you do in-depth searches on non-popular subjects, you find that not only do you still need access to a reference library, you can't even find the basics properly covered in many subjects (maybe the info exists and is just buried under MFA's, who knows, and thank goodness for Wikipedia). The internet, at this point, just doesn't cut it in the slightest. If you want to buy consumer goods/services, you have ten billion pages available - for everything else, a pittance. It isn't at all what it's made out to be by the .com crowd, unless you consider success to be a big heap of advertising posters and flyers.
So back to the original point of this thread - where are the articles/discussions on how shoddy the net is and how it needs to improved? Are the non-commercial webmasters/institutions not interested in making it somewhat more comprehnsive, or are they are just buried in the serps? Will MFA and G eventually turn the internet into pure drivel, rather than the 75% it is now?
[And lest anyone think I'm frustrated because of Big Daddy, etc - my two sites pull in much traffic, better than ever in that ridiculously named Big Daddy algo, and cause enough funding to flow in to support what our group does. My frustrations are as a user, not a webmaster.]
[edited by: lawman at 4:50 pm (utc) on Mar. 10, 2006]
[edit reason] Site Name Does Not Make It Past The WW Swear Filter [/edit]
