Gravity's Rainbow

Bear With Me, This Will Take A Little Explanation

In fact, I may throw in an actual bear to illustrate another point about escalation.  Although in this case it would be the opposite of escalating in the sense of 'ascending' and more like 'violently and fatally descending', which is where gravity comes in.  Art!

     There you go.  To port, a rainbow.  To starboard, the effect caused by gravity on water flowing over an abrupt termination in the river bed, more cogently known as a 'waterfall'.  

    Sorry, nothing to do with Thomas Pynchon and his meisterwerk.  Gosh, isn't it an amazing coincidence that today's title is also one of his?

     ANYWAY today's Intro is inspired by another ghastly tale of poor choices from the "What's The Worst Decision You've Seen Someone Make?", where the Haunted Poster mentioned a church group being at the top of Vernal Falls, one of whom went swimming in the 'Emerald Pool' and whom was promptly swept to their death over the waterfall, which stands at 317 feet tall.  Their body was not recovered for days afterwards.  Art!

     This is the Emerald Pool, so-called because of the algae that live on the bottom.  Note the absence of either plant life or rocks in the pool, because the speed and low temperature of the current doesn't encourage one or allow the other.  This picture is from the summer season, when the flow of water is much reduced, and stupid folks use that stone apron to starboard as a water slide.  Art!

     The only way signage around the hiking trails at Vernal could be more explicit is if they slapped people around the chops.  These hazards do not stop those seeking to become Darwin Award winners, though, as you can see by this shot.  Art!

     Bumbletucks like this, who treat the fences and guardrails as if they were interesting found-art installations, are risking imminent death, especially in the winter season when meltwater drops the river temperature to only a couple of degrees above freezing and boosts the current, too.  If you slip and fall in that's the end for you; there's nothing to get hold of and the river bed has been worn smooth by thousands of years of erosion.  Art!

     That's the river in spate, at the same point those two sunbathers were paddling their feet in the pool.  The current isn't the only problem that faces idiot paddlers; the water is so cold it can cause severe muscle cramps, meaning it's entirely possible to fall over into the current.

     Back to the Haunted Poster.  I think they're actually conflating a real event that took place back in 2011, when there was a large church outing at the top of Vernal Falls.  One nameless idiot climbed over the guardrail with his infant daughter so his teenaged daughter could take a picture.  This encouraged three other bimbletucks - like bumbletucks but more active - to wade into the pool, just eight yards from the lip of the falls.  The rest of their party, and any other onlookers witnessing their stupidity, shouted that what they were doing was ridiculously dangerous and to get out of -

     Ooops.

     One of them slipped and fell in, to be followed by a second who tried to grab the first and the third whom tried to grab the second and all three were swept along by the current.  Total lifespan was about 5 seconds after falling in plus another 8 seconds to hit the bottom of the falls at ooooh about a hundred miles per hour.  Art!

The Merced River in low flow

     The bodies of the second and third victims were recovered quite quickly in July; the first person to go over was not found until December, five months later, which is not unusual in cases like this.  The body can be snagged by rocks or trapped in a circular underwater current, until water levels fall and it can be retrieved, which must have made the coroner's job an utterly miserable one.  A corpse underwater for five months is not going to be a pleasant sight, even less so if it's been doing the equivalent of a one-hundred and fifty day spin cycle in the company of a collection of boulders.

     So, three victims, not one, and they were only paddling, not swimming.  Which is not much of an epitaph, frankly.  Guardrails are there for a reason!

 "Blood And Steel" By Donald Graves

I have just finished reading this work, which means the Book Mountain has now dwindled by two, since I've also finished "Wolf Hall", which is a real misnomer as this building is only ever mentioned a handful of times and never visited, let alone described, si

     ANYWAY back to BAS.  The work consists of various documents compiled by Canuckistanian intelligence officers from debriefs, interrogations, captured documents, order and so on, all sourced from the Teuton army in Normandy in 1944.  Art!

     I got my edition for only £3.00 instead of the £19.99 it should have been, so it must be from my catalogue purchases from 'Naval and Marine' and has been hanging around the shelves for possibly a year or more.

     Two of the consistent themes across all fifteen chapters are that the Teuton soldiers and officer hated hated hated the Allied air forces and artillery.  Their conception of modern warfare seems to be that it's deeply unfair to use firepower and technology instead of blood and flesh.

     One of the more amusing sections is a very jaundiced Teuton NCO reporting in his diary about what his unit is really like, rather than the propaganda image.  More of this anon.  Art!

His divisional symbol, honest

Michael Mann And His Film-Making Plan

This is tip 4 of Michael's creative process, as compiled by "Outstanding Screenplays".  Art!

     This is the opposite of a conventional narrative, because Ol' Mike says that he begins with the end of a film, and, having that made concrete, is where he works backwards from.  How did the characters get there?  What is the story along the way?  How did things begin at the very start?  The only practical example I can recall of an author doing this is in "Slaughterhouse Five" where time runs backwards in the narrative.  O and that short story by Roger Zelazny, where it's a supposed mental artefact caused by grief and a breakdown.  Ah  "Divine Madness".  Then there was a s

     ANYWAY Ol' Mike recommends this as a starting point, where you craft the story in reverse to the inception.  No!  Not the film 'Inception' which is more parenthetical than -

     Never mind.  Let's move on, hmmmmm?

Grin And Bear It

One of the various forms of wildlife that we here in This Sceptred Isle do not have to cope with is the bear, which became extinct in these climes about 1,400 years ago.  Thanks to the English Channel there is no likelihood of them ever returning.  

     Not so in other nations of the EU and South Canada or British America.  Art!

     I know, I know, this is a John Deere, not a member of the Ursus species.  Bear with me.  Note that the tractors prong-projectors - stop me if I get too technical - are lifting the lid on that industrial bin.  Art!

     Binnie the Pooh, violently disturbed in his grubbing around the rubbish, makes a splendid and graceful dive that would impress an Olympic swimmer on the thirty-metre board.  Art!

     A nearby dog joins in the fun, causing Binnie to demonstrate that bears can accelerate up to considerable speeds over short distances.  Art!

     Shockingly, neither observes road safety and ignore the 'STOP' sign.  Dog Buns, chaps, did you not read the Intro to this blog!

     There you go, an example of a Black In The Box.  I say this because black bears are quite cowardly and tend to flee when surprised, as opposed to brown bears, which are quite prickly and take offence unless the other party is also prickly.  Art!

Finally -

I was commenting on this week's episode of 'Invincible' being the last of Season Three, and was complimented on my good taste in television, which is almost as nice as being told I ought to be reading Audiobooks for a living.