texascavers Digest 12 Sep 2010 21:11:57 -0000 Issue 1148
texascavers Digest 12 Sep 2010 21:11:57 - Issue 1148 Topics (messages 16005 through 16017): Re: Rain! 16005 by: Stefan Creaser Re: Longhorn Caverns needs lighting assistance 16006 by: ellie :) 16007 by: ellie :) Comanche Springs Cave 16008 by: SS 16014 by: SS 16015 by: Bill Bentley a backup LED flashlight 16009 by: David cave diving record set ? 16010 by: David Calling Katherine McClure or Paul Fambro 16011 by: speleosteele.tx.rr.com Re: Virus Outbreak 16012 by: Fritz Holt a cave related article 16013 by: David Cave Day next weekend 16016 by: Curtis Bullard PBSS September meeting 16017 by: J. LaRue Thomas Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-unsubscr...@texascavers.com To post to the list, e-mail: texascavers@texascavers.com -- ---BeginMessage--- That's coz you don't live in the center of the caving universe ;-) From: Bill Bentley [mailto:ca...@caver.net] What Rain? Dry as a bone here... - Original Message - From: mark.al...@l-3com.com To: texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 6:51 AM Subject: [Texascavers] FW: Longhorn Caverns and a Bit of Water Received this from the folks down at LCSP, in regard to all of the rain we've received, courtesy of Hermine. She also addresses NatureFest in Burnet that was supposed to be on October 9th, TSS, TCMA, and TSA, mainly. Mark Subject: RE: Longhorn Caverns Project, TCR Mark!! Yes, we did get rain and yes it did affect the water levels in the cave. The turn around room had water as deep as the 3rd step. The wishing well was full. We had several waterfalls throughout the cave. Trails are sticky, muddy, slippery. But if you are brave enough to walk in.. it is spectacular!! I love the sound of the running water and the water drops on the formations are breathtaking. FYI - I cancelled Naturefest this year. Too much on my plate and the whole festival fell into my lap and I lost the majority of my volunteers. We are planning on trying to do it next year. Michelle Devaney - 512-663-0543 cell Vanishing Texas www.vtrc.com 512-756-6986 Longhorn Cavern www.longhorncaverns.com 512-756-4680 Arbonne www.NotJustSkinDeep.myArbonne.com 512-663-0543 -- IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the information in any medium. Thank you. ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- I still am sore about Longhorn. Wish it was kosher to be nasty about it on air... but its not so I will just tell you. On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 11:37 PM, Logan McNatt lmcn...@austin.rr.com wrote: Speaking of Longhorn Cavern, they could use an agile caver for a couple of days to help a fellow who is working on the lighting. Perhaps one of you who has been helping at Cascade Caverns? Contact Longhorn and talk to Michelle. Maybe you can get a free wild tour! Logan On 9/8/2010 3:09 PM, mark.al...@l-3com.com wrote: All, Since TCR wil be held near the Marble Falls/Burnet area this year, I contacted Longhorn Caverns State Park about some kind of group rate for their wild cave tour (and, maybe, other parts of the cave some of you may know about and have toured and/or worked in). They gave me a price of $35 per person. Please let me know offline if you'd be interested in doing this tour. Thanks! Mark - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- Ooops!!! Sorry guys. Longhorn is a great cave...very beautiful. I have been there many times and think everyone should visit. I led a trip there where there were a lot of miscommunications, it was poor organization on our part and I like to gripe. Didn't mean to send that out to everyone. BTW. Mark's email address also starts with texascaver ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- So when is James Brown going to dive into the Comanche Springs lower caves and explore Texas version
[Texascavers] UT Grotto meeting September 15, 2010
Underground Texas Grotto meeting September 15, 2010 The meeting is on Wednesday from 7:45 P.M. - 9:00 P.M. University of Texas Campus in 3.02 Painter Hall NOTE: THE ROOM NUMBER CHANGE to PAI 3.02 http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/pai.html David Ochel will present Caving in South East Alaska David travels often and always trys to include caving in his adventures abroad. Come check out his journey to the great white north and some of the caving he experienced as well as the spectacular open scenery that Alaska has to offer. For information on Underground Texas Grotto activities, please see www.utgrotto.orgAll of our information including officer contact info, trips reports, new caver training, event calendar, and posting links to beginner trips or vertical rope training are available. Before the meetings, some may go to Sao Paulo www.saopaulos.net for happy hour specials. After the official meeting, we continue the tradition to reconvene for burgers, beer, and tall tales of caving at Posse East. www.posse-east.com The UT Grotto needs you, the caver with photos and a story to share about your adventures, scientific research, or something else really cool. Contact Gary v...@utgrotto.org
[PBSS] PBSS Meeting:
Well boys and girls I am back on night shift and will not be makings the meeting for a while. Drink one for me and keep me informed by e-mail. Walter ___ PBSS mailing list p...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/pbss_caver.net
Re: [PBSS] PBSS Meeting:
Well, Waah. We will miss you but night shift did seem to work better for you. I cannot guarantee someone will drink exactly a Guinness for you, but there will be something kinda like that, I'm sure. Do we have a vote from you yea or nay regarding supporting the NM NSS Convention? A favorite cooler weather weekend for 5 Mouth? Feel free to weigh in on anything and there will be meeting minutes within a couple of days of the meeting. Jacqui - Original Message - From: Walter Feaster wdfeas...@suddenlink.net To: p...@caver.net Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 9:23 PM Subject: [PBSS] PBSS Meeting: Well boys and girls I am back on night shift and will not be makings the meeting for a while. Drink one for me and keep me informed by e-mail. Walter ___ PBSS mailing list p...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/pbss_caver.net ___ PBSS mailing list p...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/pbss_caver.net
[Texascavers] Scientists find drugs that may fight bat disease :
Scientists find drugs that may fight bat disease By MARILYNN MARCHIONE (AP) – 5 hours ago BOSTON — Scientists may have found some ways to help the nation's bats, which are being wiped out by a novel fungal disease. Lab tests show that several drugs can fight the germ and that some antiseptics might help decontaminate areas where bats live or the shoes and hands of people who visit them, researchers reported at an infectious-diseases conference Sunday. Both of those are critical elements. The decontamination is in my mind the most immediate need, because people may be helping to spread the disease, called white-nose syndrome, said Jeremy Coleman, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's response to the problem. Coleman had no role in the research, which was done by New York state's Department of Health in Albany, the state capital. The department's scientists helped identify the fungus as the cause of the bat die-off, first seen in Albany, about 150 miles north of New York City, in 2006. Bats have a key role in nature — eating and helping control mosquitoes and other insects that harm crops and carry disease. One type, the little brown bat, was the most common bat in the Northeast and typically the most common bat in the nation, and they've been just completely decimated, Coleman said. In some areas, we're down to 3 percent of the original population. More than 1 million bats have died from the fungus, which has been found as far south as Tennessee and as far west as Oklahoma. Some caves on federal land have been closed to the public to try to stem the spread, but scientists don't know how the disease is transmitted or even how it is killing the bats. The fungus grows on the nose, wings and ears, and one theory is that it irritates these membranes, causing bats to wake often during hibernation and burn so much energy that they starve to death before spring. But there are signs the fungus is directly damaging wings, which are important for maintaining water balance and blood pressure control, Coleman said. It might not be as simple as they're waking up too much, he said. Which is why the work by microbiologist Vishnu Chaturvedi and others at the New York state lab is so important. They wanted to find treatments in case scientists have to take drastic steps to preserve the species or specific colonies. They tested six strains of the novel fungus against drugs already used to treat people and animals such as cats and dogs for ailments ranging from athlete's foot to life-threatening infections. We found that two major classes of antifungal drugs have very good activity against the bat germ, Chaturvedi reported Sunday in Boston at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The drugs include fluconazole, the most widely used antifungal drug, which is sold as Diflucan by Pfizer Inc. and in generic form. Four other drugs also seem highly effective, Chaturvedi said. Researchers also screened more than 2,000 compounds and found five antiseptics that greatly inhibit the fungus. Now comes the difficult part: how to use these tools in a safe and practical way. No one has ever tried anything quite like this before to treat a large wildlife die-off or to decontaminate areas where the animals live. When West Nile virus emerged in the United States a decade ago and caused a massive crow die-off, health experts focused on controlling the mosquitoes spreading the disease and treating some rare or captive birds such as zoo penguins. Treatments can backfire, too: Drugs used a few years ago to try to help frogs being decimated by a fungal disease in many parts of the world turned out to harm tadpoles, Chaturvedi said. Trying to handle surviving bats for treatment may stress them more than the disease does. And bats' habitats have other important plant and animal life that could be harmed by spraying antiseptics, Coleman said. You don't want to go in and bomb a cave with an antifungal because you could be impacting other species, he said. More research needs to be done to test treatment and decontamination, such as cleaning people's footwear before and after they enter caves. Measures might first be tested in abandoned mines rather than natural caves, and a national plan due out in a few weeks includes setting priorities for research, he said. Finding possible treatments and antiseptics opens up other testing that needs to be done, Chaturvedi said. If you want to do conservation, possibly this is a route. We don't know the outcome, but this does give an option. _http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGfKahq1ZZbnAI6_b4bgF5SRH HSQD9I6M9PO0_ (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGfKahq1ZZbnAI6_b4bgF5SRHHSQD9I6M9PO0)
[PBSS] PBSS September meeting
All, Unless I am mistaken or looking at the wrong year's calendar, this Tuesday is already the next meeting of the Permian Basin Speleological Society! So... The regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Permian Basin Speleological Society will be held this Tuesday, September 14th, at 7:00 pm, in the back room at Murray's Deli which is located at 3211 West Wadley in Midland. Among other caving- and cave-related topics, the 5 Mouth Cave Ranch landowners are hoping that we will schedule another dig for as soon as the weather cools. For further information contact: Jacqui Thomas jlrbi...@sonoratx.net , or Bill Bentley ca...@caver.net Regarding The Hole News (especially trip reports and articles. Any trip reports. Any articles): Kel Thomas ktho...@sonoratx.net PBSS web page: http://www.caver.net/pbss/pbss.html The Permian Basin Speleological Society was founded in October 1983 and was chartered as the 300th grotto of the National Speleological Society on January 18, 1984. The Permian Basin Speleological Society is an affiliated Grotto or Caving club with the Texas Speleological Association and the Southwestern Region of the National Speleological Society and supports the cave conservation ethics of the National Speleological Society. National Speleological Society web page: http://www.caves.org/ Texas Speleological Association web page: http://www.cavetexas.org Southwestern Region of the NSS web page: http://www.caves.org/region/swr/ ___ PBSS mailing list p...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/pbss_caver.net
Re: [Texascavers] Longhorn Caverns needs lighting assistance
Logan, do you have an email for Michelle? I've emailed their info address, but no response as of yet. Thanks On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 11:37 PM, Logan McNatt lmcn...@austin.rr.com wrote: Speaking of Longhorn Cavern, they could use an agile caver for a couple of days to help a fellow who is working on the lighting. Perhaps one of you who has been helping at Cascade Caverns? Contact Longhorn and talk to Michelle. Maybe you can get a free wild tour! Logan On 9/8/2010 3:09 PM, mark.al...@l-3com.com wrote: All, Since TCR wil be held near the Marble Falls/Burnet area this year, I contacted Longhorn Caverns State Park about some kind of group rate for their wild cave tour (and, maybe, other parts of the cave some of you may know about and have toured and/or worked in). They gave me a price of $35 per person. Please let me know offline if you'd be interested in doing this tour. Thanks! Mark - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
