Natural Wonders wrecking people

Nerd.

 

Don't give 'em any ideas... All those batteries have got to go somewhere.

 

Bison don`t kill, they maim....they know where the value is!

 

2 stories...

1. me and buddy climbed the 3 big mountains around LA just cause it was close and we could years and years back. San Jacinto took 2 tries. Its a pretty easy day hike, but first time we tried was on a whim in early March. still totally covered in snow up high. was 90* down at the base and probably about 20* once we got to about 8k feet. was fine up until about 9k feet because we had been following the tracks of snowshoe people, but after the last campground area, they had turned off to camp, and all of a sudden no more pack. each step was sinking in to crotch high like 2-3 feet, and it was clear going like less than 1mph that we'd never make it at that pace with the sun up, as well as then it started actually becoming strenuous. we had plenty of layers, water, GPS, lights, etc... but still, no snowshoes only boots, and just not gonna make it. so we turn around to go back and decide to just take the gondola from whatever height that stops. randomly, we come across this young couple, wearing like north face fleeces and nothing much else and no packs, who casually tell us they are lost and wonder if we can point them in the direction of the lodge/gondola. i was like, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT." of course we could, and did, but they probably had like 3-4 hours until darkness would have set in with nobody else really around at all, and didn't seem to really have a care in the world.

2. when i was in Yellowstone, we hiked whatever that super tall waterfall is. at the top, decided to cool off and dip into the river feeding the falls. obviously (or not to some people) that shit is fucking nuts. like full on rapids. so we went upstream from the trail/bridge a good 100 yards and found a little "pooling" area off to the side which was like fully isolated from the current. dipped our heads and shit and just chilled for a bit, not a problem at all. 2 weeks after we were there, we read that these 2 dudes, in the exact same spot we were in, wanted a better picture, and decided to wade out into the center of the river to get it, of which the current goes from like nothing to raging in a span of about 6-8 feet, and were immediately swept over the falls and died.

people are a bunch of fuckin idiots. and every time a bison tramples some fat sodies lady tourist, i smile inside. my dad grew up out west for a bunch of his childhood. he told me as a young kid how bison were kinda mean and he got chased by one once. when i was in Custer State Park the first time, i walked out in the field a bit to see them closer. they give you a TON of warning, like, all of a sudden the kinda stop chewing their grass and side stare you and shit. you know that's far enough. i tried to generally keep something large like a tree between us just in case, but if you give them space they want nothing to do with you. i hate everyone, its really not hard to just be an observer of nature and not do something retarded.

 

If you can get past the visual absurdity, the underlying premise is this; Each moment of your life, you make choices. Those choices lead to outcomes. You choose to turn left instead of right, and get in an accident. You choose to go to college and become a well known scientist. The question it poses, is all the other choices that are available to you...what happens to them? The movie posits that they all still exist, and the timelines that those choices create also simultaneously exist with the one that you're aware of in your current life. Perhaps it's a bit sophomoric when it's using things like hotdog fingers and butt-plug trophies, but I kind of liked the thought experiment.

 

[sidebar alert]

So we finished the film last night and your summary is spot on. In typical Hollywood fashion, they took a scientific theory (in this case the probabilistic nature of the universe as described by quantum mechanics) and ran with it. If you liked the movie's thought experiment, you might enjoy Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. It touches on multiverses, but is focused on the idea that our universe, and reality, has a non zero probability of being 10 dimensional. This leads to a whole host of possibilities, but one that is touched on in the film, is the idea of having twin in other dimensions (or universe). An intriguing consequence of is that these twins would appear to have superhuman powers if they transcended down to lower dimensions. For example, a being coming from a 4-D world would appear to have the power of a god in a 3-D world; e.g., seeing through walls, etc.

 

Or the guy by himself walking to the North Pole in -40 degree temps.

 

sounds like Billy Carson stuff… man… that media he had going at first that was interesting and intriguing and his entire, look it up bullshit quickly turned into buy my shit look at me buy my shit…. He’s no Graham Hancock for sure…

 

You don't need multiverses or other dimensions. Mankind is so narcissistic to assume that we're the superior species on this planet, just because we've developed some tools. Ok, so we can see in ultraviolet, or hear at great distances with technology, or any number of 'superhuman' powers that animals have evolved naturally. Does that make us better? We think everything that we perceive is reality, when the truth is we don't have the ability to perceive all of the nuances that reality likely consists of.

 

No doubt.

 

Never heard of these dudes. Had to google them... they're a bit out there and on a different wavelength than Kaku and his cohort. Not saying one is better; just different.

 

Where were you the day before I watched that?

 

this is exactly how i got to climbing up those 3 big guys in socal, but we stalled out when it started becoming apparent that going any further than something in CO or BC would turn into a multi-day, acclimatizing thing, with a lot more gear and expenses and time and training for things like, crossing giant crevices with spike shoes on and shit and repelling, of which i would have needed training/practice. we were just generally in pretty good shape back then, but not like, training to climb mountains. i still wouldn't mind doing like a 3-day of Whitney or something, but even still... old and fat and busy and other things to spend money on now so it got back burnered. doing one of those awesome base trail hikes around Everest might be real neat. all the fresh air and scenery without the dying or massive expenses of a real expedition. or maybe do the Appalachian Trail one day. i dunno.

neatest random fact i learned in that time was the the rotation of the earth actually bulges the equator some, and that at a given altitude, there's more oxygen/air density near Everest than there is at Denali, by like a noticeable amount. kinda wild. nature be naturing.

 

Hancock is legit imo…. He doesn’t claim to know only question as has been put through hell for it… Carson claims to know things nobody could know… and sells his shit…

 

I hear that.

It's cliché, but the notion of "it's out there" and the craving for extreme experiences is powerful. Maybe not as intense as the 3 big climbs have you ever gone up Nate Harrison grade on Mt Palomar? It's a long day, but no risk of getting lost, stuck, snowed in, or altitude sick.

 

You check out 14 Peaks yet?

 

It's in the queue for Friday night movie night! Will report back. Thank you again for the suggestion.

 

Heard an interesting podcast with a guy named Ed Yong, who does a great job of explaining at least the natural side of things.

 

To save you the trouble, or explain what it was about? Tell you what, I saw it in the movie theater, and I've never heard utter silence from a crowd walking out of a movie till that one. I think everyone was just like....wtf did I just see?