>> ^rottenseed:

mine was an actual downvote


Mine too.

HEY, I've been here! Looks like the secret's out, this is literally one of my favorite places in the world I can escape to with any regular frequency. Huntington Gorge kicks bushels of Green Mountain ass.

Been going here like clockwork every summer since I was about 5 years old. It's about a 25-30 minute drive from Burlington, 15 minutes or so from Essex. Beautiful place, a couple different spots to jump from depending on how bold/experienced you are. A little something for everyone's specific comfort zone.

The spot where all the deaths occur and will probably continue to occur is unsurprisingly the highest/trickiest place to jump from. There's not much clearance on either side of you as you try to clear two overlapping ridges and NOT land in the "dead zone".

Basically, the river current plunges under the bottom of the rock face a few feet away from where you would want to land and goes underground (the regulars refer to it as a whirlpool but I'm not exactly sure what the proper term for it is) for a good 30 feet before resurfacing; the vast majority of people sucked under don't come out the other end, getting pinned against debris (there's said to be a few good sized logs down there) or stuck in a pocket where the oscillating current keeps you in spin-cycle until you drown.

The "newbie" area, in video @ 2:19 with the guy back-flipping, is a 20-25 foot drop with a nice 12 ft circumference pool to land in, 10 feet deep with a soft sandy bottom. This is where you go to build up courage for "the jump". Here, the only thing you really need to worry about is hitting the water properly (clench those cheeks and streamline yourself!).

The slides/caves carved out by waterfalls further up/down river are also places to check out if you're not into the whole thrill-seeking thing, accessibility depending on how dry/wet a summer it's been.

What an utterly agreeable configuration of natural elements this place is, well, for me at least.

You are just jealous.

In reply to this comment by lucky760:
>> ^MycroftHomlz:

I totally carved this --->
Why does this not count?


This is a competition for "who can carve the best pumpkin this year" rather than "who has either a) carved the best pumpkin ever or b) found a photo of a great carving." Think of it as a block party where everyone gets together and compares actual pumpkins instead of just photos of pumpkins.

Plus, it (hopefully) encourages people to carve a great pumpkin just for the contest. I know I'm certainly motivated even though I'm not even eligible to win. :

>> ^MycroftHomlz:

I totally carved this --->
Why does this not count?


This is a competition for "who can carve the best pumpkin this year" rather than "who has either a) carved the best pumpkin ever or b) found a photo of a great carving." Think of it as a block party where everyone gets together and compares actual pumpkins instead of just photos of pumpkins.

Plus, it (hopefully) encourages people to carve a great pumpkin just for the contest. I know I'm certainly motivated even though I'm not even eligible to win.

I totally carved this --->
Why does this not count?

>> ^BoneRemake:

Are there any higher stipulations ? first thing I thought of is add-ons. Does the pumpkin have to contain the cutting and carving of a pumpkin and the use of those carvings on the pumpkin, or can we carve it and bedazzle it or put ribbons and bows on it ?
I need to know so I can bedazzle the shit out of it.


Hmm. Well, the instructions say "submit a photo of your carved pumpkin," so it has to be carved. Aside from that, the rest of the community will be judging, so they'll judge if your bedazzling is worthy of winning.

Are there any higher stipulations ? first thing I thought of is add-ons. Does the pumpkin have to contain the cutting and carving of a pumpkin and the use of those carvings on the pumpkin, or can we carve it and bedazzle it or put ribbons and bows on it ?

I need to know so I can bedazzle the shit out of it.

Ahhhh.... I carved this --------->

I was just about to post this. Here's the description from the Wonkette story:


"Rick Perry Will Freak The Crap Out of You With Zombie Movie Campaign Ad"

Here is the new trailer for the nightmare horror film about Rick Perry becoming President! It is difficult to tell what is happening, because there are no shots in this trailer longer than .024 seconds and there is A LOT OF NOISE (seriously, turn down the volume if you are watching at work), but the takeaway plot synopsis we have gleaned has Perry removing the last few shards of humanity from America’s depressed masses with the sharp edge of his boot heel only to replace them with zombie droids he shouts at while they anxiously carve chalk drawings of American flags into sidewalks between bouts of disease and slave labor, without complaining.

>> ^Mammaltron:

Awesome trumpet work!


And bongo work, and synth work, and... I swear I saw a guy back there answering phones... and another carving a turkey, but I lost count at about 15.

Here's more info from their official site (their clip is the same as above) - five late 17th- or early 18th-century Chinese carved rhinoceros horn cups.

I would assume they are keeping the whole clip off the internet so they can air it in full on TV next year.

You are misinterpreting my beliefs, @marbles.

My rights (life, liberty and protection of property) are granted to me by a social contract, which has been assembled earlier in the lifetime of the society I live in - it's not a distinct group of individuals that have power over me, it's everyone that's a part of the society I live in, including myself.

I, along with many others, have appointed people to keep the piece (the law, police and lawmakers) and they do so on behalf of me and the rest of society. Together we have decided that each citizen have certain inalienable rights within our society. This does not mean that they naturally occur - these "rules" are entirely man-made. Within that society, the group agrees which rights we all want in interacting with each other. Inside the society, we have agreed to have degrees of liberty, while limiting other liberties.

The liberty that's defined in the video above, is just a different rule-set. It's no more valid than the one we use, just because some people want it to be. In older societies, individuals would have to carve out their own rules. We've grown since then. We have liberty within our own societies.

So, no, I don't believe that anyone else should be able to decide whether I should live or die - HOWEVER I do subscribe to the laws of my society, such that I do not go out and kill anyone else, because then someone else would be justified in ending my life too.

I think it's more interesting when we see societies with different rule-sets collide, like the muslim world and our idea of freedom of speech (my avatar is a response to that).

You can't have a society, without mutually agreed upon rules. We accept the rules that our appointed politicians have agreed upon, since we don't want to do all negotiating individually, because it's a waste of time, or at least uses a lot of time.

It's intensely simple to see that rights aren't natural, when you look at earlier societies, where life was taken wantonly by priests, kings and anyone else in power or not. Still, we see it today with wars against terror and other ideas, which is just silly. In the states we see it clearly in Gitmo, where all rules are suspended (which many, many are against). Their reasoning is that they are not a part of the society, so no rules are applied to them. I'm against this, since I think that the rules of my society should apply to everyone, but there you go.

>> ^marbles:

>> ^marinara:
...why would the police hold a gun on a teenager like they did in this video if he really wasn't a threat? Were they just acting?

Maybe. Why did some turn their back to the suspect after the crowd came up if he was a threat? Why did the cops lower their weapons? Why did that cop roll him over if he had a gun?
Video here of a guy that was shot 4 times for carving wood. Cop lets him bleed out while waiting for backup so they can approach the lifeless body of the carving-knife wielding man in a group formation.

you really dont know the first damn thing about security do you? just stop talking, hell

>> ^marinara:

...why would the police hold a gun on a teenager like they did in this video if he really wasn't a threat? Were they just acting?


Maybe. Why did some turn their back to the suspect after the crowd came up if he was a threat? Why did the cops lower their weapons? Why did that cop roll him over if he had a gun?

Video here of a guy that was shot 4 times for carving wood. Cop lets him bleed out while waiting for backup so they can approach the lifeless body of the carving-knife wielding man in a group formation.

From Wiki:
"The lodge was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression. Workers used large timbers and local stone, and placed intricately carved decorative elements throughout the building."

If you ever go there, I really recommend the tour. All these Old World craftspeople, out of work due to the Great Depression -- they poured all the love of their craft into this place.