Subject:
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Re: Sale announcements (Was Beware more SPAM...)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Mon, 2 Oct 2000 02:33:59 GMT
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Viewed:
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1150 times
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Larry Pieniazek wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Frank Filz writes:
> > Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> > >
> > > In lugnet.market.auction, Eric Joslin writes:
> > >
> > > > Before you ask, yes, there was a time when a major ISP payed me to • determine
> > > > things like this.
> > >
> > > c/payed/paid/ unless your investigations involved being lowered by rope
> > > vertically downward over the edge of buildings or cliffs, and to peer into • the
> > > dens of spammers and see what they were up to (1). (2)
> >
> > Thinking of hanging from ropes and looking into windows, several years
> > ago, I observed that the window washers were using caving originated
> > rapel gear to lower themselves down the wall to do the windows.
>
> Caving or climbing? I thought climbing was a bigger hobby (not *better* mind
> you, I know you're a caver through and through).
Caving. Rappel equipment certainly did originate with climbers, but the
rappel rack is definitely a caver invention (and what I saw the window
washers using is definitely a rappel rack like the kind invented by
cavers). I think some climbers are using rappel racks these days also.
The rappel rack was specifically designed by cavers for doing long
rappels (climbers usually use a figure-eight, which unfortunately twists
the rope, which is not too much of a problem if you are on a cliff face,
but will give you a bad case of dizziness if you are on a free rappel,
also the figure eight is not really suitable for the long rappels cavers
do, 500+ feet, the main problem being that you need to be able to adjust
the amount of friction [500 feet of rope weighs a LOT]).
Caving has generated a lot of special equipment, much of which has been
adopted by rescue personnel, since what they are doing is closer to what
cavers are doing than to rock climbing. I also suspect a much larger
percentage of cavers are involved in search and rescue than climbers. A
big reason is that cave rescue is very specialized whereas rock climbers
mostly either need strong people to carry body bags, or just need to be
located in the wilderness (but occasionally climbers do get stuck in
places where they need highly technical rescue, I heard about one
climber who died on a cliff and no one was willing to take the risk to
recover the body, so it was just left hanging for several years until
someone finally got up the courage to do the recovery). Another factor
is likely that the caver (as opposed to the spelunker as described
below) is much more likely to take responsibility for themselves, being
more environmentally conscious, and realizing that they need to cover
their own rescues (though cavers certainly do not fully cover the
expenses of their rescues, but they will cover a lot higher percentage
of that cost than probably any other outdoor enthusiast), at least as a
community. The variety of climbing and rappelling gear is astounding.
Several years ago, I saw a display of gear that one person has
collected, and it filled quite a few 4x8 panels of pegboard.
> Caver or Spelunker? The latter term is out of favor, no? Why?
I'm not sure exactly why cavers dislike the use of spelunker. Part of it
I think is that it sounds too nerdy (and cavers are frequently a little
bit nerdy). Another little bit may be sort of an inside language.
Matthew is correct in that cavers often joke "Cavers rescue spelunkers."
Spelunkers being people who don't know what they're doing, and get
themselves stuck in a cave because they realize that they can't hand
over hand climb 100' (I remember how hard it was to climb 20' or so in
gym [I bet they don't do that anymore - can you imagine the liability if
someone actually fell, and didn't land well on the padding?]), or don't
take sufficient light source (either they drop their flashlight or have
the batteries die on them [it's amazing the number of folks who go in
with 2 barely working flashlights between them]).
> Rapel or Rappel? (just can't stop looking for t7pos, I want everyone else to
> be misteak free too)
Rappel... :-) Just looked in my dictionary. It has an overly specific
definition, talking about how to wind the rope about your body (we
usually call this a body rappel, and the military folks who do it off
the sides of buildings stupid [or dead...]).
Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Sale announcements (Was Beware more SPAM...)
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| (...) determine (...) the (...) Caving or climbing? I thought climbing was a bigger hobby (not *better* mind you, I know you're a caver through and through). Caver or Spelunker? The latter term is out of favor, no? Why? Rapel or Rappel? (just can't (...) (24 years ago, 27-Sep-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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