The Cellar Image of the Day

On the northeast coast of Taiwan there is a rocky cape known as Yehliu. On the cape are many interesting rock formations known as hoodoos. This hoodoo is known as called “the Queen’s Head.”

Photo Credit: Kenny Teo

Found on Beautiful Places to Visit

Quick, call the Boy Scouts of America
... they will send a scout leader to take care of that dangerous rock before it falls and hurts someone.

Quote:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two men already facing possible criminal charges for purposely toppling an ancient rock formation in a state park have now been removed from their posts as Boy Scout leaders.

A northern Utah Boy Scouts council announced Monday that Glenn Taylor and Dave Hall will no longer be allowed to lead scouting troops due to what happened Oct. 11 at Goblin Valley State Park, which they filmed and posted on Facebook.

The move comes on the heels of the national Boy Scouts of America condemning the men's actions last week and promising a review of the incident. The Boy Scouts' Utah National Parks Council posted a statement on its website saying the men's actions are not in line with the principles the organization teaches about preserving nature.

"We encourage all leaders and Scouts to review the 'Leave No Trace' principles, as we are all a part of maintaining the integrity, character and the natural beauty of the outdoors for all living things," the statement said.

It's a juicy story. Boy Scout leaders destroy nature.

But as a BSA adult member, it pisses me off. They did exactly the wrong thing according to a century of BSA tradition and rules. The BSA actively teaches against exactly that behavior. It's a central aspect of what Scouts is all about. When they wore the uniform, they were frauds, and now that they have been kicked out, they are not associated with the BSA at all.

You might as well blame all men, because they were men. Or all Mormons, because from Utah, they are probably Mormons. Or all Republicans, for the same reason.

The BSA has been getting a lot of bad press lately. And some of it is well deserved, but it's not fair to criticize the BSA for the actions of those two criminals.

I won't pile on you, Glatt, because I understand your feelings,
and my intent was more from the direction of smart-alec humor
than direct criticism of BSA.

The BSA may have to live with this for a long time.

But then, a bad example, and even some public criticism,
can be a teaching moment for so many others
... the boys, their parents, scout leaders, and the organization, itself.

This pic is from the same IOD link to pics of the Yehliu area.

Attachment 45948

We see something like these "wash tub" formations in "freestone" rivers of the western US.
The current swirls a small rock around inside a depression, and over time the "tub" forms.

But look closely at the center in these formations.
It looks as tho there are rocks in there, but they each have cracks
... and each of these cracks is oriented in the same direction !

Anyone have some sort of explanation for these formations ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Well, if we're doing Rorschach's, what do you make of this... from the same OP link ?

It was ugly what he did - especially since he was getting disability at the time!

He's strong enough to hike his fat ass around with the scouts, and push boulders off their narrow pedestals, but he's too disabled to work?

On the other hand, I hate to see his actions put into the category of "destroying nature". He pushed over one smallish boulder, and moved it a few meters. The boulder i's no longer as appealing, but nothing except our aesthetic enjoyment of it, has been destroyed. Nature is just fine with it. The boulder had no special symbolic significance, (it wasn't the "Boulder of Liberty", or some such), and aesthetically, it couldn't be rated higher than "small".

If he had dumped out a bucket of DDT, into a stream, THAT would be quite destructive to nature. Pushing over a boulder is offensive, but not "destroying nature".

This "Queen's Head" is far more appealing than other hoodoo's I've seen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Quote:

...The boulder i's no longer as appealing, but nothing except our aesthetic enjoyment of it, has been destroyed. Nature is just fine with it.

Adak, Antoine Lavoisier would be so proud of you.

Eventually, "nature" cares about as little about the wildlife killed by DDT in a stream as it does about how long a hoodoo stands. Our desire to maintain ecosystems is to some extent aesthetic as well. There's the additional butterfly effect issue of whether a particular disruption to an ecosystem will eventually impact our survival, but I would think that the National Park system was primarily set up to preserve aesthetics, and the ecological aspect (which is more important, but less politically viable) piggybacked on that.

Oh he's in trouble with the park rangers, also. They were incensed over it, and planned to charge him. It was unusual because pushing over boulders isn't really a popular park activity by the guests, and making a video of it for youTube, with you plainly enjoying it. Well, the stupidity rises sharply here, doesn't it?

Maybe its the anti-royalist in me but I'm very disappointed that this thread failed to go in the proper direction.