Happy Thanksgiving, to everyone who celebrates it! And a very merry Thursday to everyone who doesn’t.
Because I haven’t provided a health update in a while (outside of the comments) I just wanted to reassure everyone that I am still here, and still trying to sort through a bunch of medical issues with the help of assorted doctors, some very competent and others not so much.
The issues I’m facing aren’t lifethreatening, but they are still debilitating enough to keep me from regular posting here. Sorry to be so vague; I’ll offer more details once some of these issues are sorted out a bit more. I’ll return to posting as soon as I am able but I cannot predict when that will be.
I appreciate everyone’s patience and continued support. Thanks!
@woe
about this catacombs – maybe you will reconsider? ?
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/7bd7ab/dying-in-ukraines-endless-labyrinth-of-catacombs-341#ampshare=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7bd7ab/dying-in-ukraines-endless-labyrinth-of-catacombs-341
Edit – spooky but i don’t like how they decided she is drunk without proof.
@ nothing is permanent
You ever been under Nottingham? Lots of fun catacomb type things there. Some interesting things under Portland too.
@Sheila
Sounds like you lived next to Patrick Kane on one side and Evander Kane on the other. What is it with unrelated Kanes and behavioural problems…? 😛
wow… just… wow….
@Valentin,
Odd that Masha’s family isn’t said to have at least filed a missing person’s report over her disappearance. That could’ve been proof she actually existed rather than just being an urban legend. On the other hand, that story probably serves the purpose of warning unprepared people to stay out of those catacombs or else die alone.
Then again, I’d think a few sets of iron bars across some of those entrances would work better than a scary story to keep the unprepared curious out better. Especially if there’s an urban area close by an entrance.
Any ghost stories associated with those catacombs you know of? You’d think there’d be a few, given what is known about them already….
+1ing the value of safety rails etc. over scary stories.
@redsilkpheonix
well I know people found bodies in there before. they found body of dead girl, but this body they did not extract. I don’t know if it is masha but possibly this is part of this story.
if you want to learn more you can visit museam of partisan glory.
http://catacombs.od.ua/articles/museum.html
Sorry this is not on English but maybe your web browser can translate. I think they take people on excursions underground but it is only very very small part of total area.
@Valentin
I’ve heard that story , though I haven’t seen the photo before (it’s pretty grim, I’ll give it that). Nonetheless, I’d like a look, and if I ever do get over there, I’ll get some local guides and a large of carbide for the lamp. The bit that worried me the most was the roof collapse – sandstone is horrible for that kind of thing (give me a nice flood anyday).
@Alan
Love the Nottingham ones. Doing a caving pub crawl is good fun, but there’s the big railway tunnel, the catacombs from Rock Cemetary, Rouse’s Sand Mine and plenty more. Haven’t done anything down Dorset way for a long time, but if you’re referring to the Forbidden City, I hear it’s good.
@woe
where they take tourists on excursions is quite safe so there is no danger there. but personally any catacombs is not where I would go. I like caves and mines but I hear plenty of bad things about every kind of catacombs under any city – more than about caves or mines.
@Valentin
Some are safer than others – to a large extent it depends what they were dug for, and what the rock type is . I dislike sandstone because it’s unpredictable – it tends to flake off the walls in sheets; there was a horrible case in the UK where some scouts were camping in an old hermitage, lit a fire (which caused the rock to expand) and the ceiling peeled off and fell on them. Grim. But near my house is Middleton Mine, which has 25 miles of massive passages in limestone – if I could get past the security, I would feel very happy camping down here for a few weeks.
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/middleton-mine-derbyshire-03-10.t48710
I’ve got very into drains the last couple of years – stalking about in some hidden river under a city is always good fun. That said, I read in the paper yesterday about a man whose house is going to be demolished because the cellar has fallen into the culvert below. I’d watch out for that…
@@woe
my parents both geolgostis so they taken me to many places. we played in sandstone mines or caves I don’t remember if it part natural and then ancient people dug more for iron ore etc. I enjoy being underground and I will go if I am with my parents and they familiar or with the guide.
my problem I say is more with urban exploration – because this is inexperienced people who go in places without the map and no one know where they go so no chance to be rescued. I know there are professionals – but because this is illegal too – risks are very high and truly you will be alone.
Pittsburg/Crawford County, Ks. has a maze of underground coal mines beneath the area, left over from the early 1800s, first white encroachment into the area. They were never documented or mapped, and they’re mostly fairly near the surface… consequently there’s a real danger of being half-way through the construction of some structure and having it fall into the ground!
In the mid-2000s, I had a 2-year contract job down there, and I rented a shabby (no, really, VERY shabby) apartment and stayed Mon-Thurs, then went home on the weekend. The apartment had a 4″ “step” mid-way across the front room where the building was sinking on one end… now, that half of the building is gone!
There’s a “Coal Miner’s Memorial downtown, and the story goes (rumor, this was before my time there), there was an office building being constructed there, and one morning the workers came to work and half the building had collapsed into an unmarked mine shaft!
Another danger is people partying in the old mines and getting lost!
@Valentin
Can’t argue with that – there are some right numpties underground. I once had to escort someone out of a cave in the Peak District who had gone in by the light from their mobile phone, and then got lost.
Generally the urbex websites tend to keep details about things like entrances or exact locations pretty light – if people can’t be bothered to do their own research, then they shouldn’t be going into these sorts of places at all. Not to say accidents won’t happen, but in 25 years I’ve only ever had to BE rescued once (and that was from a natural, accessible cave), though I’ve self-rescued plenty of times.
As for illegal… Well, I think that depends. It’s perhaps, usually, the least of my concerns. Sometimes it’s even part of the fun!
@Weird
I tend to steer clear of coal mines, because of gas, and round here they’ve usually been sealed anyway. For any UK readers or anyone visiting the Midlands, Apedale Drift Mine is really interesting. I had several student digs in Stoke-on-Trent which were sagging into the mines underneath.
https://www.apedale.co.uk/
Hurrah! It’s the weekend! 4.00pm in Derby. And it’s snowing, so I’m going home. Best wishes to all, and I hope David is doing okay as well.
@@woe
I don’t mean to say you are inexperienced. only when I think about catacombs – first thing I think is teenagers looks for thrills and mysteries or somewhere to smoke weed and get drunk and then they take risks and get hurt or lost
I think Roy Moore meant that America was great because we had slavery, not in spite of it. Pretty obvious dogwhistle to remind white voters that their racism should be a more important priority than his child molesting ways when they choose who to vote for.
Ick, ick, ick.
@Katamount
I was thinking about my last response to you and I was wondering if I was focused on the wrong thing. More social support of anti-bully messages would be a very good thing. I get hyperfocused on the wrong thing sometimes.
I think of this in terms of identifying the threatening social structure that needs some attention. Unless I’m mistaken that’s one person being swarmed beyond their ability to process and respond to. I would be good to for society to think about how we communicate in groups and what people’s tolerances are.
And, it does seem to be an instance where SJW is accurate. How they did social justice activism was more important than what they were communicating. It’s sucks because technically people can be irrational and illogical and unwise and unrealistic when they act for socially good intent for reasons of social justice. Most of the time it’s whining about criticism in general. Perhaps it has value after all.
Best thing about that Roy Moore quote? It only seems to be getting some traction now, even though he said it back in September. That’s so 2017: the year in which a prominent Republican making pro-slavery remarks barely makes the news because, holy shit, everything else.
Unlikely. The intervals between successive top-level posts are lengthening, not shortening. The obvious implication is that his condition is getting worse. 🙁
… can I PLEEEEEEEEZE WAKE THE FUCK UP, NOW?!?!?
from Slate, the author is angry over Clueless White People….
I’m not on twitter so I wouldn’t know, but perhaps some avian mammotheers have seen if David is tweeting?
David, I hope you are as well as may be.
@opposablethumbs
Sidebar says he is – not nearly as much as when he’s feeling on form, but there’s a few retweets/comments per day.
for those who worry – David tweet something 7 hours ago.
some info regarding ways to reach out to incarcerated people, send some love