August 12, 2010

See the tiny man in the scenery?

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(Larger).

It's Brownstone Falls. But what's that? Let's take a closer look:

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He's out beyond the railing, with his eyes on the screen of the digital camera he's waving about with delight.

Below him:

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22 comments:

Pastafarian said...

It's only stupid if he falls. (You had a "stupid" tag on this post).

If he doesn't fall, it's a bold move.

Phil 314 said...

Living in AZ well know of this all too well

john said...

Now find the guy in the red and white striped shirt, tossle cap, and horn rim glasses.

My kids always beat me at that.

Palladian said...

I think the "stupid" part is that he's wearing shorts. You know how she feels about that.

Anonymous said...

I think the falls look like poop.

Palladian said...

It's brown water! I'm paying seven-hundred dollars a month, I got rats with bongos and a, and a frog and I got brown water here.

knox said...

Ugh, we had brown water for a time last summer when I turned the soaker hose on some plants, and promptly forgot about it. For 2 days. We have a well, so that was not good.

Ann Althouse said...

This water is brown because of tannin from old, decaying trees. I'll bet some of your favorite foods and drinks are colored with tannin.

Hopeful miners wrongly believed they were seeing copper.

JAL said...

Here in the mountains of NC and east TN we regularly have "the rest of the story" follow ups to things like what this guy is doing

The county I live in has 250 waterfalls. Every year someone gets killed because they try to walk across the stream above them. Sometimes they survive.

What to say?

Palladian said...

"This water is brown because of tannin from old, decaying trees. I'll bet some of your favorite foods and drinks are colored with tannin."

Not only colored, but flavored. Tannins (polyphenols of various sorts) also provide a tart flavor, like the natural tannins in red wine.

The most widely-used form of ink in the Western world, called "irongall ink", was made by extracting tannins (tannic acid in this case) from oak "galls", which are hard abnormal growths that occur when specific oak species are infested with a kind of wasp larvæ. To make the ink you ferment the galls in a solution that eventually yields gallic and tannic acid, which is then reacted with "copperas" (FeSO₄) to produce a purplish-black ink. The ink grows darker as it ages on the paper, and "bites" the paper (or vellum or parchment) which makes it indelible. This quality also makes it eventually corrosive, especially to paper, which is why it was phased out in favor of aniline dye inks in the 19th & 20th century. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are written in irongall ink, as are the Dead Sea Scrolls. I have made this ink a few times and sometimes use it to draw with. Next time I make it I'm going to photograph the process.

So, like the ink, the brown water might be caused by the reaction of the tannins from the plant material with ferric or other mineral compounds in the water.

Anonymous said...

It could just be poop as well.

Fred4Pres said...

There is a great book called Death in Yellowstone. They sell it in the Old Faithful Gift shop. There are dozens of stories of vistors poaching themselves in the gysers and hot springs, getting mauled by bears, stomped by bison, and falling off cliffs. My wife bought it and read it as we drove from site to site. Her theory was the kids would be more careful when we got to various sites. Not sure if it worked, but the kids did not try to jump in the hot springs.

Palladian said...

"It could just be poop as well."

THE FOUNDING DOCUMENTS WERE NOT SIGNED IN POOP.

dhagood said...

@palladian: dunno dude, they may as well have been for all anybody seems to read/believe in/follow them anymore.

former law student said...

I can find oak galls, but not FeSO4.

But don't be hard on the guy. He's in Wisconsin wearing a shirt advertising Shiner Bock, sponsor of (don't say Frisbee) Disc Golf.

dbp said...

The guy with shorts is stupid, but not because of risky behavior or shorts wearing. To take a picture of yourself with cool scenery in the background, you need to be facing away from the cool views.

Paul said...

I used to trout fish in the Rochester Creek in Ulster County, NY, which was similarly stained with tannin. It was a very productive stream and I always caught my limit. Interestingly the water became crystal clear further downstream. I can only imagine that the stream bed, at that point being sandstone, was able to filter the water being porous enough to pass it all through the rock with enough time and distance.

Scott said...

"Like I said, son, it's in the water. That's why it's yellow. Bear Whiz Beer!" --Firesign Theatre

Dante said...

Wait, even this is an unacceptable "men in shorts" moment?

Can tennis and NBA players at least wear them?

(Concede this point and I will push for UPS drivers too)

Anonymous said...

There's just something about having a "railing" out in the woods that rubs me the wrong way.

Darwin recipients kill themselves all of the time, It's just the way it is.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

He's out beyond the railing, with his eyes on the screen of the digital camera he's waving about with delight

And then he falls and other people have to risk their own lives to get him out of the raging river at great expense to the tax payer.

Or

Then he falls and sues because the warning lablels weren't big enough or strong enough and the park has to close for lack of funds.


Or

Then he falls and dies and we all get to read about him as a contestant for the Darwin Awards and snicker at his stupid death.

Or

Then he falls and his wife gets to collect on the life insurance and marries someone with more common sense. Oh...and gets brand new car.

Or.....

Leland said...

Well for the tags, here's a picture that covers all but Wisconsin.