Yes, they have a reputation for being pretty disagreeable, but it seems that they're not entirely beyond redemption.

Over at Tring Park, Walter Rothschild had a collection of exotic species and successfully broke a number of Zebras to harness.

http://s30.postimg.org/ppqtbgmoh/lor...0_107554_1.jpg

http://s28.postimg.org/q880l9xa5/wal...thzebras_1.jpg

I just wonder how long it took and how many failed to make the grade.


ETA:

It appears if they were born in captivity, they can be trained by a person who has a good relationship with them. But unlike horses, a Zebra caught in the wild is almost impossible to break. Like everything, there must be exceptions. :haha:

I've heard that for a number of years.

For the movie Sheena, they painted a horse to look like a zebra.
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I'm working with second hand wisdom here, I haven't seen any Zebras in my neighborhood since... ever. :haha:

I used to know a zebra...

...but, he hardly ever writes anymore.

I'm the panda looking through the bars. I'm a voyeur panda.

Sporting events seem to draw them

I would love to see something like that, but I doubt that's on the itinerary.

Every time I see a compilation of "pictures from ___", whether it's Omaha or Antarctica, I estimate how many years it would take the normal non-resident to accumulate the right combination of subject, season, weather, light, etc, to capture those pictures. It's usually a lot. :haha:

Don't forget research, Bruce. The 'normal non-resident' won't even know about the majority of these places.

Like my story about taking a picture of a mountain in NZ reflected in a specific puddle.

Fairbanks, AK, fire.

No, that's the sun.

WOW!!! That is truly awesome, what a picture.

You only get a Billion, don't waste them on infatuations.

Luckily I'm taking Metoprolol, at least for the time being, which slows my heart rate. My 1 billion beats will take longer, allowing me time to kick from morbid obesity.

I've heard that (the billion heartbeats thing) before.

Attachment 48564

'Shopped?

Hey Carruthers, here's one for you.

Thanks, Bruce:thumb:

A few of those airfields are still active but many returned to agriculture after WW2 and after the Cold War more were closed. Some became civil airfields, prisons, or were transferred to the army.

Each will have seen its share of tragedy but also will have witnessd great bravery. RAF Tempsford, in Bedfordshire, was home to 138 and 161 Special Duties Squadrons.

Their task was to support the Special Operations Executive in their operations in occupied Europe.

Typically, they would fly the single engined and unarmed Lysander at night deep into France, land in a field by moonlight then drop off and pick up SOE agents. Incredibly brave.

Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons

Tempsford Memorial Trust

The people these days, they got no idea what 'cool' is:

Attachment 48667

One of Shorpy's members sent in a box of pictures belonging to him late father. http://cellar.org/2014/dadslide.jpg

Another of shorpy's minions pulled a glatt and identified the street and block right away, but it took another day for someone to post this screen grab from Hitchcock's Vertigo.

http://cellar.org/2014/Vertigo.jpg
The filming started in September but the 2nd unit doing backgrounds for projection in the studio, and driving scenes, shot in August.

Wow. The parked cars are all the same. That's so cool. Did the guy's dad work for the studio and grab a picture of the site they were filming?

The shadows can't be more than 15 minutes apart.

No, the guy says they were on vacation visiting San Francisco and Monterey. If the 2nd unit wasn't obvious they wouldn't even know, but I suspect the 2nd unit film car probably had the camera and operator on an open platform outside the car.

http://s3.postimg.org/h7iw09jb7/Nort...e_Bus_Stop.jpg

Life imitates art at a bus stop in North Yorkshire.

The tuned in goat goes far, while the horny goat gets left behind.

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That Genghis Khan picture clearly shows why they rode horses and were unstoppable...

London...

Puffins, landing into the wind, and bringing home the bacon.

First: Flaring nicely, a few knots in hand, and 'grease it on'!

Second: A C of G recalculation possibly required here.

Thanks for that Bruce. The Puffin is one of my favourite birds, but not having been to the coast for years I don't get to see them.

Just to follow up on Bruce's pictures...

http://s13.postimg.org/sayidnw6v/Puffins.jpg

60 meters = damn near 200 feet!

Yumping Yiminy!



ETA: Metres, not meters...

I volunteered to try to put together a caving trip for our boy scout troop. And there's a recommended cave about 3 hours from here that is 4 miles long or so and takes days to explore. I was reading about it and it sounded pretty cool until I saw this picture. Now I'm questioning if I want to go caving at all.

This passage is called the airblower. It's 30 feet long and requires wiggling the whole way to get through. It's slightly downhill as you go into the cave, so you can't wriggle backwards uphill. Cavers going through have webbing tied off to them so if they get stuck you can pull them back out. It's ten inches wide at its narrowest point and requires you to exhale to squeeze through.

There is absolutely no way that I'm doing this. Would you?
Attachment 48797

In a word. NO!

Just looking at that picture makes me uncomfortable. I can't believe they'd allow untrained visitors to attempt it.

No fucking way. :headshake

No fuck king way.
No

Nope

Noey

I'm going out for a walk.

Gah.


It looks like a birth cah fucking nal

10 inches? There has to be a bunch of skin cells and body hair ground into the pores of that rocky vagima.

That sounds like the thing I would like to do the least. Honestly, i would rather break a bone in my foot.

Other than that, it sounds like a fun trip. Have fun, glatt. Take a lot of gopro footage.

But none of that nightmare part

Here's my answer too.


No fucking way. It's... geometrically impossible unless we have different definitions of this thing you call and "inch".

As for trips in general, is there some way you can make a reconnaissance trip to a given destination with a more limited group, maybe you and some other adult, or you and your son. That gives you a chance compare what the trip's like on the ground to what it's like in the guidebooks or on the internet. Sometimes it's substantially different. Also, maybe not for this caving trip, but you can go to a site and travel only part of a trail suitable for the skill level and adventure desire of the kids on the trip.

I did this for a hike last winter. I scouted out about 1 mile of a 5 mile hike because there just wasn't time that day to scout out the whole hike. It looked perfect for our needs for a first easy hike the new scouts could do to train for a bigger 10 mile one in a month.

So we went back to do the entire 5 miles, and after the 1st mile, the trail went down a hillside into the shade, where there was a little snow and ice by the side of the trail, and then a little more, and a little more, and it was really incremental the way it changed. So we kept going forward until it got to the point that it was so icy, it was a little bit dangerous with the now icy rock scrambling. But by then we were 80% of the way around the loop, and nobody wanted to backtrack, so I and the other leaders figured we'd just keep going forward and be careful. That's when one of the boys slipped and smashed his forehead on the ice. Fortunately, he was OK and his dad was even with us, but he did get two golf ball sized bumps on his forehead, and looked like a Klingon.

But if we do this cave, it will be with a guide who is an expert, and we don't have to go through this crazy passage. A couple of the troop leaders have been in this cave before and recommend it.

Good man.

Overall, cave, yes. That death-trap, not no, HELLNO!

Caves are very exciting trips, they're different than practically all of the other experiences the young people have. It's dark at night in some places, but never darker than in the cave. That is cool. Have fun man!

Not something I see every day
Attachment 48805

I'm actually kinda impressed with the 'truck'.

That, friends and neighbors, is ingenuity. Or, enginuity.

:D

My head wouldn't fit through that hole.

And, unfortunately, no, that's not what she said.

Hmm... I'm pretty little and somewhat limber still, so I think, physically, I could handle it. But how long does it take to traverse in that horribly unnatural way? If it is more than 15 minutes, I would probably say no.

Robin Williams...

Very pretty.

By 1944, women in Italy were desperate for consumer goods. :haha:

Is anything worn beneath the kilt?

No, it's all in perfect working order, madam.

she's just checkin to see if it really is the whole nine yards

God damn whippersnappers... the fridge has three doors and two drawers but do any of them get closed? Nooooooooo!

Saw this today and liked it

Sad but yes, great photograph.

Fighter pilot selfie.

A+.

Attachment 49599

Cool picture. Makes me wonder, the pilots have oxygen masks so they can breathe in the unpressurized cockpits. Are the cockpits heated? He's not all bundled up. They have to be heated, right? It is like a car with air vents blowing on him, or does he have a heated seat and heated stick and so forth?

Not 100% sure but I think some have heated suits.

Another two-fer:

Attachment 49868

Attachment 49869

Damn, is that second one a dramatic pic, or what? Telephoto compression at work. The description said the plane "is at least 300 meters (~1000 feet) from" the assploding lava.

First pic is paragliders at Mt. Fuji. Second is Holuhraun, Iceland.

I just went through this entire thread. There are some damn outstanding pics in this thread.