Posted on 05/17/2014 5:18:03 PM PDT by windcliff
Facebook killed my high school reunion .
In a way, the high school reunion is as unashamedly American as apple pie and Chevrolet. Go on — ask your parents if they had one. I’d wager that the majority of them would say that they did, and in fact, they probably retain quite a few memories. Someone was shockingly large; someone was stunningly beautiful; someone had completely fallen off of the wagon. The high school reunion’s primary allure was the possibility — nay, the probability — of a few shockers, coupled with the underlying desire to show up and impress the folks who ragged on you with devilish persistence back in the day. Seeing anyone, let alone someone you once spent a great deal of time with, after a decade of absence is sure to be an interesting occasion.
Unfortunately for this generation, such a spectacle is nearly impossible to still find.
For as wonderful as Facebook is at keeping us connected to souls we’d otherwise lose contact with, it also removes the allure of “catching up.” For friends who refresh the site as frequently as the majority of users, it’s fairly easy to keep track of highlights from all of your friends’ lives. Facebook has made it impossible to see a connected friend 10 years later and feel as if any time has passed. Some would argue that’s a boon, but it single-handedly destroyed my high school reunion.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"Ever notice that in the movie KING SOLOMON’S MINES with Stewart Granger, the entrance to the cave is Sitting Bull Falls and the interior of part of the cave is a remote area of Carlsbad Caverns."
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Curiously, I ran across this old FR post when I was Googling Sitting Bull Falls --- to see how much it had changed since I lived in Carlsbad in 1959-60.
Actually, I searched for "Sitting Bull Falls, NM" + "King Solomon's Mines" -- because I was wondering if that path cut up to the cave behind the falls for the movie is still there.
Small world! Bought my first car in Carlsbad (red 1960 Valiant) while I was working on construction of the gas pipeline compressor station on the north side of the highway halfway between Carlsbad & Hobbs.
Used to run the Valiant in the drags at Roswell -- and shoot jackrabbits at night in the alfalfa fields along the Pecos south of Carlsbad... (My ears are still ringing...)
I lived in Carlsbad back in Dec 1960- May 1962. Went to the High school in 1961-62. Then we were dragged kicking and screaming to the tick infested Ozarks.
Sine you mention ticks in the Ozarks, the reason we were shooting jackrabbits around Carlsbad was because of fleas.
At that time, Bubonic Plague had gotten started in the NM jackrabbit population, and it was being spread from rabbit to rabbit by their fleas. The government decided the best way to slow/stop the spread of the plague was to drastically thin the jackrabbit population.
One of the ways they reduced the herd was to "push" the brush on huge tracts of land into a central pile, issue an open invitation to hunters -- set the piles on fire -- and have the hunters shoot the jacks as they ran out. (I never did that.)
Their other approach was to ask the public to go out and shoot as many jackrabbits as possible. I did, and that's why I'm nearly deaf today! (Think about it: when four people are shooting .22 handguns out all four [open] windows of a car -- everyone has one ear right near the muzzle of another shooter's gun. And, we had no idea where to get ear protection in those days...)
Oh, well, it was something to do in Carlsbad -- after the girls went home and the drive-in closed for the night... '-)
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BTW, do you remember that path cut across the cliff face at Sitting Bull Falls -- for the filming of King Solomon''s Mines?
***BTW, do you remember that path cut across the cliff face at Sitting Bull Falls***
Back in 1961 we went inside that cave. It was not very deep. Now it is closed off.
(From Google Earth) it looks like there is now a paved road all the way to the falls. In 1960, much of the drive was over the rocks in the dry streambed, IIRC...
Next to the Caverns, Sitting Bull Falls was (literally) the coolest spot anywhere near Carlsbad; I really enjoyed the place...
You're posting on Free Republic. You are not off the grid.
And since you are not off the grid, you might want to educate yourself on modern social media instead of looking like an idiot by posting "what is Facebook?" queries on Free Republic.
We left there in 1962. I always felt I should have graduated from Carlsbad High instead of some hick school in the Ozarks.
I still have Dad’s cartoon certificate for his work on Project Gnome.
We also lived at HOPE, in the middle of nowhere in 1959, and Tatum in early 1960. Roswell twice. Then in 1966 I was transferred to Walker AFB till it closed.
How does one live thirty miles from where they live now? Is that some quantum physics thing? :=)
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By 1961, whoever dreamed up Project Gnome should have known that it was going to vent. See the hundreds of collapse craters above underground nuke shots on Google Earth at
Latitude 37.110322°
and
Longitude -116.048870°
at the Nevada Test Site , southwest of Area 51 in Nevada...
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By 1961, they already had plenty of data proving that every underground nuke test ever done, "vented" radioactivity (and would leak steam) to the atmosphere.
"Gnome" was a failure before it even began...
It was meant as a joke when I posted it TWO YEARS AGO !
But thanks for your prompt humorless response. Hopefully, others won't be so judgmental towards it.
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