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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 23, 2022 21:28:06 GMT -5
All of that sounds like a blast. And Ya Gotta Luv Bigfoot!  Some might say I have an obsession with Bigfoot.  Even if if turns out to be crap, I would like to go the Honobia Bigfoot Festival just once. I completely understand and agree. There is some evidence that the last mammoth in North America died around the time that Columbus sailed west. Might be the same thing with Bigfoot. There are a lot of claims that large skeletons have been found and those could have been Bigfoot. Many claims that those skeletons have been covered up. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 23, 2022 21:38:45 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer I know a Bigfoot guy. A guy into the cryptids, not an actual sasquatch. I think the whole phenomenon is pretty cool, frankly, although I never got deep into it myself. I do a Internet Search for cryptid info every now and then. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 24, 2022 10:50:12 GMT -5
Those were great times for me as well! We used to get on our bikes and pedal over to Neal's house to meet up. Then we would take off into the nearby woods. We might take some sandwiches or MREs we bought at the Army Surplus; most of the time probably nothing because we were too worried about having our adventures in the woods. One or two of us had one of those Rambo like survival knives so we were always trying to see if we could rig up a fishing pole or use water purification tablets. I fondly remember using the small compass on the end of the knife as we trekked through the woods. One part led back to the river, and we used to go back there and spend all day splashing around. That Stephen King movie STAND BY ME might have been based before my time but I can definitely relate. We always had knives or might take a hatchet and we would cut small trees for spears, bows, swords, etc. We would make little huts and all kinds of stuff. We built dams in the tiny side streams off the main creek that ran through one end of the farm. Dad built a farm pond and stocked it with fish, but that was two years before I got out of high school. This sounds awesome and much more physically involved than the stuff I remember doing. I guess I should count myself lucky that I lived "at least" ina suburban area where there were still hidden places for kids to do things in and that you could run around and basically no one knew what you were doing. Has anyone on this thread read that study...I can't find it now. A guy did a study of children's places in some town -- the secret places and their secret activities, how far they went from home and for how long, etc. Then repeated it decades later. I can't remember the details, but the results were what you would guess. Less time on their own, less far from home, fewer interesting places. The parents are more controlling of them, claiming that "you never know what people will get up to" although there is no more crime in the town than there was. I need to find that. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 24, 2022 14:30:50 GMT -5
We always had knives or might take a hatchet and we would cut small trees for spears, bows, swords, etc. We would make little huts and all kinds of stuff. We built dams in the tiny side streams off the main creek that ran through one end of the farm. Dad built a farm pond and stocked it with fish, but that was two years before I got out of high school. This sounds awesome and much more physically involved than the stuff I remember doing. I guess I should count myself lucky that I lived "at least" ina suburban area where there were still hidden places for kids to do things in and that you could run around and basically no one knew what you were doing. Has anyone on this thread read that study...I can't find it now. A guy did a study of children's places in some town -- the secret places and their secret activities, how far they went from home and for how long, etc. Then repeated it decades later. I can't remember the details, but the results were what you would guess. Less time on their own, less far from home, fewer interesting places. The parents are more controlling of them, claiming that "you never know what people will get up to" although there is no more crime in the town than there was. I need to find that. Growing up on a working farm is awesome, I wish every kid could do it. The chores and other farm work are a great thing. You learn early that work is part of life and doing your best is important. The freedom to explore and do things independently from a young age are great and IMO very important too. I would be in the woods or on the road with my bike for 4-6 hours at a time and my parents never worried. My cousin and I had one summer day that we were free, no farm work other than chores, we took a sandwich and were gone on our bikes for 10 hours before we came home at 12 years old and no one worried or said a word. Kids need rules and boundaries, they need responsibilities from a young age and they need freedom to explore the world. There are places where the last is legitimately not safe and those places need cleaned up and made safe, although that is easier said than done. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 24, 2022 17:52:17 GMT -5
This sounds awesome and much more physically involved than the stuff I remember doing. I guess I should count myself lucky that I lived "at least" ina suburban area where there were still hidden places for kids to do things in and that you could run around and basically no one knew what you were doing. Has anyone on this thread read that study...I can't find it now. A guy did a study of children's places in some town -- the secret places and their secret activities, how far they went from home and for how long, etc. Then repeated it decades later. I can't remember the details, but the results were what you would guess. Less time on their own, less far from home, fewer interesting places. The parents are more controlling of them, claiming that "you never know what people will get up to" although there is no more crime in the town than there was. I need to find that. Growing up on a working farm is awesome, I wish every kid could do it. The chores and other farm work are a great thing. You learn early that work is part of life and doing your best is important. The freedom to explore and do things independently from a young age are great and IMO very important too. I would be in the woods or on the road with my bike for 4-6 hours at a time and my parents never worried. My cousin and I had one summer day that we were free, no farm work other than chores, we took a sandwich and were gone on our bikes for 10 hours before we came home at 12 years old and no one worried or said a word. Kids need rules and boundaries, they need responsibilities from a young age and they need freedom to explore the world. There are places where the last is legitimately not safe and those places need cleaned up and made safe, although that is easier said than done. I agree. One thing I haven't seen much of as an adult - I'm glad for it - kids playing on frozen ponds. I'm not going to lie a bit about it. We had fun messing around on the ice but we also had some close calls. I might get some eye rolls, but I am thankful that's one activity that doesn't seem to happen much around here. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 24, 2022 18:39:48 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer Not gonna disagree there. That stuff is dangerous in a way that walking around and building forts is not.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 24, 2022 22:25:53 GMT -5
Growing up on a working farm is awesome, I wish every kid could do it. The chores and other farm work are a great thing. You learn early that work is part of life and doing your best is important. The freedom to explore and do things independently from a young age are great and IMO very important too. I would be in the woods or on the road with my bike for 4-6 hours at a time and my parents never worried. My cousin and I had one summer day that we were free, no farm work other than chores, we took a sandwich and were gone on our bikes for 10 hours before we came home at 12 years old and no one worried or said a word. Kids need rules and boundaries, they need responsibilities from a young age and they need freedom to explore the world. There are places where the last is legitimately not safe and those places need cleaned up and made safe, although that is easier said than done. I agree. One thing I haven't seen much of as an adult - I'm glad for it - kids playing on frozen ponds. I'm not going to lie a bit about it. We had fun messing around on the ice but we also had some close calls. I might get some eye rolls, but I am thankful that's one activity that doesn't seem to happen much around here. We played on ice a lot on ponds and creeks; however, adults always checked the thickness of the ice first. But there are hazards, my one grandfather lost a brother on ice growing up. It has to be competently supervised by adults. On creeks, the wider areas are safe at a certain amount of freezing, but when it narrows and speeds up, stay away. Fun, but nothing to mess around with. Now it tends not to get cold enough for long enough for it to be safe, in the 1960s and before (at least in southern OH) you could count on a long enough run of cold weather that you would have ice up to 14 inches thick for weeks. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 24, 2022 22:35:04 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer Not gonna disagree there. That stuff is dangerous in a way that walking around and building forts is not. There were times we definitely didn't use good judgement about the ice or should have gotten an adult to check it out. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 24, 2022 22:40:13 GMT -5
I agree. One thing I haven't seen much of as an adult - I'm glad for it - kids playing on frozen ponds. I'm not going to lie a bit about it. We had fun messing around on the ice but we also had some close calls. I might get some eye rolls, but I am thankful that's one activity that doesn't seem to happen much around here. We played on ice a lot on ponds and creeks; however, adults always checked the thickness of the ice first. But there are hazards, my one grandfather lost a brother on ice growing up. It has to be competently supervised by adults. On creeks, the wider areas are safe at a certain amount of freezing, but when it narrows and speeds up, stay away. Fun, but nothing to mess around with. Now it tends not to get cold enough for long enough for it to be safe, in the 1960s and before (at least in southern OH) you could count on a long enough run of cold weather that you would have ice up to 14 inches thick for weeks. You nailed it. The few times we had issues were when we should have gotten an adult to check it out first. We knew better and proceeded anyway. Lesson learned. True. I've noticed it doesn't get nearly as cold as it did in my youth. I haven't seen a really good snow in these parts in years. We used to sit on a round sled holding on to a rope behind someone's truck and go down the neighborhood roads.  Great times! |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 24, 2022 22:44:43 GMT -5
We played on ice a lot on ponds and creeks; however, adults always checked the thickness of the ice first. But there are hazards, my one grandfather lost a brother on ice growing up. It has to be competently supervised by adults. On creeks, the wider areas are safe at a certain amount of freezing, but when it narrows and speeds up, stay away. Fun, but nothing to mess around with. Now it tends not to get cold enough for long enough for it to be safe, in the 1960s and before (at least in southern OH) you could count on a long enough run of cold weather that you would have ice up to 14 inches thick for weeks. You nailed it. The few times we had issues were when we should have gotten an adult to check it out first. We knew better and proceeded anyway. Lesson learned. True. I've noticed it doesn't get nearly as cold as it did in my youth. I haven't seen a really good snow in these parts in years. We used to sit on a round sled holding on to a rope behind someone's truck and go down the neighborhood roads. Great times! We really did have a lot more snow in the 1960s in southeast OH than we do in Columbus, but even today we have more snow in Southeast OH than we do in Columbus. The difference is that it warms up now and melts off between snows and it did not do that back then. I love sledding and we had hills to sled on in Southeast OH. |
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Post by boarspear on Jan 24, 2022 23:47:29 GMT -5
I like to go to large parks and hike. I use a 6 feet long inch and a half diameter walking stick, almost a quarterstaff. Always been glad that I've never had to use it to fend off a bear or mountain lion, but kinda wonder if I could if I had to. Their noses are supposed to be a tender spot if you had to strike one. But it would likely just make them mad. I love to hike, these days taking along that walking stick is probably a good idea anywhere. On that note about bears, I wonder how they would react to really tall people that are over 7 feet tall and dressed to look massive. Hmm, that is a good question, with some animals you want to look as big as possible, not sure that would be a good thing with a bear though. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 25, 2022 9:30:42 GMT -5
I love to hike, these days taking along that walking stick is probably a good idea anywhere. On that note about bears, I wonder how they would react to really tall people that are over 7 feet tall and dressed to look massive. Hmm, that is a good question, with some animals you want to look as big as possible, not sure that would be a good thing with a bear though.  |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 25, 2022 14:56:07 GMT -5
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Post by simrion on Jan 25, 2022 18:55:48 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer There are lots of abandoned towns in Russia, too, and probably Ukraine as well. Many were "artificial" towns for the people who worked at some large factory complex (plus schools for their kids, parks, doctors' offices, the works), then when the state collapsed and lot of those factories had nothing to do, so literally every person left. To my knowledge most of them aren't even forbidden or anything. You can just go and see what a 1980s town is like thirty years after the last resident got on the bus. Also I have read, in China there are whole cities that have never been lived in, they built them as part of their building craze, but they are incomplete, like no plumbing or electrical. Just 80% finished building of all kinds for a complete city that is just mothballed. I saw a PBS special a few years back about the "Ghost Cities" in China's interior. Built for tens to hundreds of thousands and having only a few hundred residents. Apparently built to inflate their housing market? Interviewer visited a massive shopping mall that only had a few stores in it and most of the proprietors said they were lucky if they had a customer every couple of weeks. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 25, 2022 19:03:41 GMT -5
simrion Extremely bizarre. How exactly does that inflate the housing market? Does anyone know? Maybe a silly question... Maybe unrelated, Duke University some years ago opened, in connection with Wuhan University in China, a university / campus called " Duke Kunshan". Maybe this is in some dim way related, I don't know.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 25, 2022 19:32:44 GMT -5
simrion Extremely bizarre. How exactly does that inflate the housing market? Does anyone know? Maybe a silly question... Maybe unrelated, Duke University some years ago opened, in connection with Wuhan University in China, a university / campus called " Duke Kunshan". Maybe this is in some dim way related, I don't know. I spent a year in South Korea when I was in the Army. North Korea has what is called "Propaganda CIty". It's near the border with South Korea and it's supposed to show how glorious North Korea is BUT the whole thing is for appearances only. A look inside Peace Village |
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Post by hengest on Jan 25, 2022 19:37:08 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer I clicked on that link and the first ad I saw (I mean, the real article was there, too) told me "Create your custom dice here. Make you a fancy statement with every roll." So I guess they knew who I was... This completely...wow. Thanks for the link. I guess that's all I can say. Every wacky thing a person can do can be blown up to giant-size when a whole country does it. Maybe if countries got involved in Murkhillian gaming it might have a positive result...
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 25, 2022 20:10:28 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer I clicked on that link and the first ad I saw (I mean, the real article was there, too) told me "Creator your custom dice here. Make you a fancy statement with every roll." So I guess they knew who I was... This completely...wow. Thanks for the link. I guess that's all I can say. Every wacky thing a person can do can be blown up to giant-size when a whole country does it. Maybe if countries got involved in Murkhillian gaming it might have a positive result... Hmmm....maybe they are watching?! It's a whole other world over there. It makes you really appreciate what we have here, even with the flaws. You got that right! It's also been discovered that North Korea attempted to dig 13 (or more) tunnels under the DMZ to launch invasion efforts into South Korea. There were some scary times over there. Getting put on alert. Things happening that never get reported to the USA news networks. There was a submarine that beached itself one day and everyone disembarked and ran into South Korea. Were they defectors? Were they invaders? I still don't know. Murkhillian Gaming: It's Good for What Ails You!  |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 25, 2022 21:01:33 GMT -5
I gave you both an Exalt for the Murkhillian Gaming comments.
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Post by boarspear on Feb 6, 2022 22:51:20 GMT -5
Hmm, that is a good question, with some animals you want to look as big as possible, not sure that would be a good thing with a bear though. Go for the nose! |
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Post by hengest on Apr 22, 2022 16:15:37 GMT -5
When I was a kid, I was visiting family. Walked the dog with my mom and she suggested I cut back by going up a hill and down an alley or little back street (don't remember why). I did so. Pretty much as soon as I was in that alley, a defensive dog appeared and stood there snarling for what seemed like hours but was probably ten minutes. I was afraid to move in any direction. I remember the scene vividly although I rarely retain such things.
In the end the dog backed down.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 22, 2022 21:31:21 GMT -5
When I was a kid, I was visiting family. Walked the dog with my mom and she suggested I cut back by going up a hill and down an alley or little back street (don't remember why). I did so. Pretty much as soon as I was in that alley, a defensive dog appeared and stood there snarling for what seemed like hours but was probably ten minutes. I was afraid to move in any direction. I remember the scene vividly although I rarely retain such things. In the end the dog backed down. Dogs stories always make me think of this scene from Stand By Me... |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 22, 2022 21:42:13 GMT -5
It's a commercial but barring any real-world complications I will be going this year.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 24, 2022 18:22:57 GMT -5
It's a commercial but barring any real-world complications I will be going this year. Oh, that would be so much fun. I know I cannot go this year. I need to start planning out 2023 and try to go to anything that I can make work. This and a few others I have heard of belong on the list. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 24, 2022 18:24:05 GMT -5
When I was a kid, I was visiting family. Walked the dog with my mom and she suggested I cut back by going up a hill and down an alley or little back street (don't remember why). I did so. Pretty much as soon as I was in that alley, a defensive dog appeared and stood there snarling for what seemed like hours but was probably ten minutes. I was afraid to move in any direction. I remember the scene vividly although I rarely retain such things. In the end the dog backed down. Wow! |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 24, 2022 18:29:10 GMT -5
When I was a kid, I was visiting family. Walked the dog with my mom and she suggested I cut back by going up a hill and down an alley or little back street (don't remember why). I did so. Pretty much as soon as I was in that alley, a defensive dog appeared and stood there snarling for what seemed like hours but was probably ten minutes. I was afraid to move in any direction. I remember the scene vividly although I rarely retain such things. In the end the dog backed down. Dogs stories always make me think of this scene from Stand By Me... Something I have not seen much of in apocalyptic stories or movies is the huge amount of feral dogs that will be present. While millions of dogs and cats would die in an apocalyptic situation, millions would also survive and then be whittled down to the best of the best as the food shortage hits them. House cats in that situation would be vermin of the worse sort. Feral house cats currently decimate bird populations. Feral dogs running in huge packs would be really hard to deal with and once ammo for guns are gone you had better hope they have been whittled down a lot. |
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Post by hengest on Apr 24, 2022 18:35:55 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer This is a very good point. I wonder if plans have been made for this in films and then scrapped because it would be too hard to film. You aren't going to get a good feel with CGI creatures, even now, and I imagine that using a whole pack of dogs, even well-trained actor dogs, would be very difficult, although I don't know anything about this so I am just guessing. Many domestic animals are neutered but I guess many are not and they would not need long to start reproducing and become what you describe. With due respect to that dog, to my knowledge it was not a feral dog and it did not attack me. I was definitely scared though. Now I could take a dog that size, but then I was a kid and not so experienced. I guess it just thought it was doing its job, although I am pretty sure I was on public property.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 24, 2022 18:43:04 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer Post-Apocalyptic movies and games are some of my favorite things and I honestly hadn't thought of the feral dogs. Whenever I get Gamma World again or Mutant Future, I'm going to make sure I add encounter possibilities for feral and mutated dogs. hengest That's a very relatable story. I think many of us had similar encounters in our youth.
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Post by hengest on Apr 24, 2022 19:03:12 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer Post-Apocalyptic movies and games are some of my favorite things and I honestly hadn't thought of the feral dogs. Whenever I get Gamma World again or Mutant Future, I'm going to make sure I add encounter possibilities for feral and mutated dogs. hengest That's a very relatable story. I think many of us had similar encounters in our youth. Feral dogs could be serously ugly. It might be interesting to have the possibility of re-taming some of the feral population. This is the Wikipedia entry on the Pleistocene wolf, a purported ancestor of the modern dog. Fascinating stuff here. Also on the general entry about the origin of the domestic dog. Frightening to think about. We have it very easy these days in terms of wild animals. It was not always so (and I guess still is not so in many places). The novel My Ántonia by Willa Cather has a character from Bohemia who tells a horrible story of a wedding party attacked by about thirty wolves. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 24, 2022 19:16:59 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer This is a very good point. I wonder if plans have been made for this in films and then scrapped because it would be too hard to film. You aren't going to get a good feel with CGI creatures, even now, and I imagine that using a whole pack of dogs, even well-trained actor dogs, would be very difficult, although I don't know anything about this so I am just guessing. Many domestic animals are neutered but I guess many are not and they would not need long to start reproducing and become what you describe. With due respect to that dog, to my knowledge it was not a feral dog and it did not attack me. I was definitely scared though. Now I could take a dog that size, but then I was a kid and not so experienced. I guess it just thought it was doing its job, although I am pretty sure I was on public property. Often dogs are loose where they are not really supposed to be and some are dangerous, while others you stand your ground and don't look at their eyes and make eye contact. Don't turn and run unless it is to easily get on top of something before they can get too you. Estimates of 69% to 80% of dogs are neutered and about 80%-85% of cats are neutered according to Google. I would have guessed under 50%. Out in the rural areas where I grew up in the 60s it was very low. So that would help weed the numbers down faster than I thought. Even so, I dog is one danger level, 10 are another and 20 or more you are in deep. Just like people in mobs are mindless and dangerous, dogs and other pack animals are the same. |
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Even if if turns out to be crap, I would like to go the Honobia Bigfoot Festival just once.
Great times!
