The Monday Morning Sidewalk Rundown
“Close after dawn and armed with a local map I take a stroll in empty fields, canyons, woods, but preferably near a creek or river because since childhood I’ve loved the sound they make. Moving water is forever in the present tense, a condition we rather achingly avoid.” – Jim Harrison “Off to the Side”
Did you see that guy jump out of that capsule yesterday? That camera view from above his capsule looking down on his helmet and the earth made me wonder … what if he had fallen up? “Whoops, we’re too high to come down!” were his last words. Talk about Culture on the Skids … from 24 miles up.
And yesterday’s stunt lead this morning, to the question of maximum velocity. Here’s what I found, “maximum velocity is the highest possible speed an object can travel before the forces acting on it reach an equilibrium and it is no longer able to accelerate. For example a parachutist will fall and accelerate rapidly until the air resistance pushing upwards against her downward force becomes balanced and her speed is steady, its more commonly known as ‘terminal velocity’ not maximum.” For Baumgartner that speed was 833 miles-per-hour.
To wonder what the maximum velocity of fly fishing sites like this one is, is only natural. Research continues on exactly what turn the internet has taken this year, but the ground under websites offering unique content on specific topics is shifting. Think not? Take a look at discussion boards and do a quick survey of activity on, say, Texas Fishing Forum. New topics, new posts on topics, new participants, all are dramatically down – across the board(s). Theories abound, but if you think a basic dynamic has changed, I would love to know about it. One theory is that Facebook is actually sucking in discussion and information that once was diversified over outside sites like Texas Fishing Forum, or Texas Fly Reports. I always appreciate when readers “LIKE” the facebook version of Texas Fly Caster, but the reality is that facebook is in it’s infancy when it comes to incoming content.
While I appreciate the exploratory needs of Texas Fly Caster readers, participatory guidance is also paramount. There is certainly a lot of water to cover in Texas, and we’ve only seen a fraction of it from the comfort of reading Texas Fly Caster. It’s time now to take a few bigger swigs of fresh fishy waters.
As you freshen up the morning beverage in your workplace this morning, step away from the monitor for a minute, and when you walk back, feel free to chime in on some water you’ve experienced, or heard about, or heard rumors about, and let me know about it. I accept fly fishing invites as well as inviting you all along for the ride through Texas Fly Caster adventures. Last week certainly showed itself to be diced and chopped by working on the Airstream (future riverside fly shack), and a family anniversary lead to a quick trip to Houston.
And don’t forget that we have a fly giveaway (no mono attached) still going on until this coming Friday. Alas, it does require some degree of “participation.”
Category: Culture on the Skids, On The Road, Reader Contribution, Science and Environmental, Writing
Thanks for the “Free Fly” that I won last week.
I have never used this site before or for that matter I’ve never given comments on a site either. So bear with me. I interested in checking out your OK. fly report and will try registering again later, silly me I put tulsa instead oklahoma city as the state capital then it tells me i tried to register to many times for this session. So I will try again later. The teas one would not be of much use since we trout fish and live in north east TX [Paris] and to my knowledge there is not anywhere close, within a couple of hour driving. I hope this is where I put in for fly give away [a free fly]. I’m alway looking for new and neat flys