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Utah Monolith Presages Biden - Trump Fight

Couldn't have happened soon enough. There are already hundreds of morons tramping out there into preserve land, no prep. In the summer it'll be the damn Magic Bus all over again, no one bringing sufficient water, needing to get rescued, screwing around in the adjoining slot canyon when there are rainclouds on the horizon, fucking with the bighorn population that is supposed to be recovering there...
 
Politesse said:
Couldn't have happened soon enough. There are already hundreds of morons tramping out there into preserve land, no prep. In the summer it'll be the damn Magic Bus all over again, no one bringing sufficient water, needing to get rescued, screwing around in the adjoining slot canyon when there are rainclouds on the horizon, fucking with the bighorn population that is supposed to be recovering there...
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That last couple is more corpse location and removal...
 
Aww, bighorns are sweet, mostly. But the whole point was to help their population to recover. Humans are assholes, we see something with horns and our first thought is to stuff and mount it. Just four thousand or so of them in Utah these days.
 
There's a copycat monolith in Romania now. So you can expect to see a bunch more copycats.
 
Turns out the monolith was dismantled by some good chaps with a like mind to myself on the matter:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/12/01/utah-monolith-disappearance-photographer-captures-removal/6474630002/
4 guys rounded the corner and 2 of them walked forward. They gave a couple of pushes on the monolith and one of them said “You better have got your pictures.” He then gave it a big push, and it went over, leaning to one side. He yelled back to his other friends that they didn’t need the tools. The other guy with him at the monolith then said “this is why you don’t leave trash in the desert.” Then all four of them came up and pushed it almost to the ground on one side, before they decided push it back the other when it then popped out and landed on the ground with a loud bang. They quickly broke it apart and as they were carrying to the wheelbarrow that they had brought one of them looked back at us all and said “Leave no trace.” That was at 8:48.

If you’re asking why we didn’t stop them well, they were right to take it out. We stayed the night and the next day hiked to a hill top overlooking the area where we saw at least 70 different cars (and a plane) in and out. Cars parking everywhere in the delicate desert landscape. Nobody following a path or each other. We could literally see people trying to approach it from every direction to try and reach it, permanently altering the untouched landscape. Mother Nature is an artist, it’s best to leave the art in the wild to her.
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More power to them. I've seen too many beautiful, formerly isolated corners of Utah ruined by the Instagram crowd. The soil cover in that kind of terrain is often a delicate biotic crust that takes decades to develop; even the figurative foot print will stay around for ages if its in the wrong spot.
 
Politesse said:
Turns out the monolith was dismantled by some good chaps with a like mind to myself on the matter:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/12/01/utah-monolith-disappearance-photographer-captures-removal/6474630002/
4 guys rounded the corner and 2 of them walked forward. They gave a couple of pushes on the monolith and one of them said “You better have got your pictures.” He then gave it a big push, and it went over, leaning to one side. He yelled back to his other friends that they didn’t need the tools. The other guy with him at the monolith then said “this is why you don’t leave trash in the desert.” Then all four of them came up and pushed it almost to the ground on one side, before they decided push it back the other when it then popped out and landed on the ground with a loud bang. They quickly broke it apart and as they were carrying to the wheelbarrow that they had brought one of them looked back at us all and said “Leave no trace.” That was at 8:48.

If you’re asking why we didn’t stop them well, they were right to take it out. We stayed the night and the next day hiked to a hill top overlooking the area where we saw at least 70 different cars (and a plane) in and out. Cars parking everywhere in the delicate desert landscape. Nobody following a path or each other. We could literally see people trying to approach it from every direction to try and reach it, permanently altering the untouched landscape. Mother Nature is an artist, it’s best to leave the art in the wild to her.
Click to expand...


More power to them. I've seen too many beautiful, formerly isolated corners of Utah ruined by the Instagram crowd. The soil cover in that kind of terrain is often a delicate biotic crust that takes decades to develop; even the figurative foot print will stay around for ages if its in the wrong spot.
Click to expand...

I dunno how this will come off, perhaps condescending and judgemental?

But I despise instagram. I despise it because life is meant to be lived, not bragged about. Instagram enshrines a behavioral toxicity expressed in the cherry-picking that of life you actually share, creating an unattainable illusion of perfection while drawing focus away from the acts, spoiling the magic in the moment for the sake of social accolades. Why not just LIVE?
 
Jarhyn said:
Politesse said:
Turns out the monolith was dismantled by some good chaps with a like mind to myself on the matter:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/12/01/utah-monolith-disappearance-photographer-captures-removal/6474630002/
4 guys rounded the corner and 2 of them walked forward. They gave a couple of pushes on the monolith and one of them said “You better have got your pictures.” He then gave it a big push, and it went over, leaning to one side. He yelled back to his other friends that they didn’t need the tools. The other guy with him at the monolith then said “this is why you don’t leave trash in the desert.” Then all four of them came up and pushed it almost to the ground on one side, before they decided push it back the other when it then popped out and landed on the ground with a loud bang. They quickly broke it apart and as they were carrying to the wheelbarrow that they had brought one of them looked back at us all and said “Leave no trace.” That was at 8:48.

If you’re asking why we didn’t stop them well, they were right to take it out. We stayed the night and the next day hiked to a hill top overlooking the area where we saw at least 70 different cars (and a plane) in and out. Cars parking everywhere in the delicate desert landscape. Nobody following a path or each other. We could literally see people trying to approach it from every direction to try and reach it, permanently altering the untouched landscape. Mother Nature is an artist, it’s best to leave the art in the wild to her.
Click to expand...


More power to them. I've seen too many beautiful, formerly isolated corners of Utah ruined by the Instagram crowd. The soil cover in that kind of terrain is often a delicate biotic crust that takes decades to develop; even the figurative foot print will stay around for ages if its in the wrong spot.
Click to expand...

I dunno how this will come off, perhaps condescending and judgemental?

But I despise instagram. I despise it because life is meant to be lived, not bragged about. Instagram enshrines a behavioral toxicity expressed in the cherry-picking that of life you actually share, creating an unattainable illusion of perfection while drawing focus away from the acts, spoiling the magic in the moment for the sake of social accolades. Why not just LIVE?
Click to expand...
Some people like to share pictures of their life. While there is some of what you describe (and lot LOTS of commercialization...it's all about the money), a lot of people just use it as a similar platform to facebook to keep in touch with friends.
 
Politesse said:
More power to them. I've seen too many beautiful, formerly isolated corners of Utah ruined by the Instagram crowd. The soil cover in that kind of terrain is often a delicate biotic crust that takes decades to develop; even the figurative foot print will stay around for ages if its in the wrong spot.
Click to expand...
You misspelled the Internet. Waterfalls are a target of Internet related destruction. Around me there was a small quaint falls that had a small parking area in the woods for four cars. I got to enjoy the relatively small secret for years. Then the Internet! Parking area was expanded to 800% capacity across the street. And then people treated the area like a play ground, climbing around wherever they wanted, tromping on the fauna. I saw one guy trail blazing on what he thought was "the old trail", it wasn't. The parking is now closed off and you have to hike up hill to get there. That was the Internet, making people aware this gem existed.

People don't mean to, but they have a tendency for ruining good things.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Politesse said:
More power to them. I've seen too many beautiful, formerly isolated corners of Utah ruined by the Instagram crowd. The soil cover in that kind of terrain is often a delicate biotic crust that takes decades to develop; even the figurative foot print will stay around for ages if its in the wrong spot.
Click to expand...
You misspelled the Internet. Waterfalls are a target of Internet related destruction. Around me there was a small quaint falls that had a small parking area in the woods for four cars. I got to enjoy the relatively small secret for years. Then the Internet! Parking area was expanded to 800% capacity across the street. And then people treated the area like a play ground, climbing around wherever they wanted, tromping on the fauna. I saw one guy trail blazing on what he thought was "the old trail", it wasn't. The parking is now closed off and you have to hike up hill to get there. That was the Internet, making people aware this gem existed.

People don't mean to, but they have a tendency for ruining good things.
Click to expand...

My least favorite examples are Horseshoe Bend down in Arizona, which used to be an obscure delight only locals tended to know about but is now so swamped with people that they've had to turn it into a highly structured civic park just to handle the crowd control, and the Angel's Landing hike in Mukuntuweap, which was already a problem ethically due to its despoilation of a sacred site but is now in danger of being closed off to tourists altogether not for that reason but because crowding has made it manifestly unsafe.

Actually, throw the sunset hike to Delicate Arch onto the list; never an obscure bucket list item to be sure, but the internet scourge has encouraged crowding and experience-ruining behaviors.

It is the internet in general, but Instagram is my least favorite of the offenders, as it encourages my most despised tourist behavior: hiking for hours to get somewhere, taking a picture like they're getting a video game achievement, and leaving a few seconds later never having actually visited the place and likely being rude to all and sundry while they're at it. Then they post it on their account... attracting the next hundred morons who see it to do likewise. The "trophy hunting" of being outdoors.
 
Politesse said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
Politesse said:
More power to them. I've seen too many beautiful, formerly isolated corners of Utah ruined by the Instagram crowd. The soil cover in that kind of terrain is often a delicate biotic crust that takes decades to develop; even the figurative foot print will stay around for ages if its in the wrong spot.
Click to expand...
You misspelled the Internet. Waterfalls are a target of Internet related destruction. Around me there was a small quaint falls that had a small parking area in the woods for four cars. I got to enjoy the relatively small secret for years. Then the Internet! Parking area was expanded to 800% capacity across the street. And then people treated the area like a play ground, climbing around wherever they wanted, tromping on the fauna. I saw one guy trail blazing on what he thought was "the old trail", it wasn't. The parking is now closed off and you have to hike up hill to get there. That was the Internet, making people aware this gem existed.

People don't mean to, but they have a tendency for ruining good things.
Click to expand...

My least favorite examples are Horseshoe Bend down in Arizona, which used to be an obscure delight only locals tended to know about but is now so swamped with people that they've had to turn it into a highly structured civic park just to handle the crowd control, and the Angel's Landing hike in Mukuntuweap, which was already a problem ethically due to its despoilation of a sacred site but is now in danger of being closed off to tourists altogether not for that reason but because crowding has made it manifestly unsafe.

Actually, throw the sunset hike to Delicate Arch onto the list; never an obscure bucket list item to be sure, but the internet scourge has encouraged crowding and experience-ruining behaviors.

It is the internet in general, but Instagram is my least favorite of the offenders, as it encourages my most despised tourist behavior: hiking for hours to get somewhere, taking a picture like they're getting a video game achievement, and leaving a few seconds later never having actually visited the place and likely being rude to all and sundry while they're at it. Then they post it on their account... attracting the next hundred morons who see it to do likewise. The "trophy hunting" of being outdoors.
Click to expand...

I think this really contains some truth. The fact is, Instagram puts the destination before the journey. It makes life about trophies and accomplishments rather than the work and enjoyment and LIFE that happens in between.
 
marc said:
California monolith was torn down by a bunch of guys chanting 'christ is king', and replaced with a wooden cross.
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The vandals live-streamed their whole merry adventure. They were apparently from Orange County (shock), and took the space alien thing seriously, being as they were not only white nationalists but believeers of conspiracies concerning extra-terrestrial sleeper agents in the federal government.
 
Politesse said:
marc said:
California monolith was torn down by a bunch of guys chanting 'christ is king', and replaced with a wooden cross.
Click to expand...

The vandals live-streamed their whole merry adventure. They were apparently from Orange County (shock), and took the space alien thing seriously, being as they were not only white nationalists but believeers of conspiracies concerning extra-terrestrial sleeper agents in the federal government.
Click to expand...

They'll be back to burn the cross.
 
blastula said:
They'll be back to burn the cross.
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Nah, that's all Alabama. In California's South they don't burn crosses on public land, they press lawsuits to try and get them recognized as "art installations" or "memorials" exempt from first amendment prohibitions.
 
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