"Between the two of us, we make one whole diver"

That seems to be a running theme with Scott and I. When I first got starting in class for diving, Scott didn't have an octo on his gear. " What could go wrong?" he grinned. He got one though, for the ginnie trip and slowly since we have begun to look like real divers. After ginnine springs, I had a wicked ear infection for three weeks, bad. Ended up at the ER at 4am. After the healed we were already planning a trip to paradise springs. Paradise is a small hole in the ground in ocala off 441.

Scott and I arrive there around 10am and meet the owner of the dive park. It is a private spring on this guys land that he opened up to the public for diving. He had us watch a video and sign our lives away, wished us luck and off we went.

We drove over to the parking area next to the gazebo and got out. "Do you see a spring?" I asked. Looking around there was not much nearby, a horse paddock and the gazebo and a small patch of oak trees. " Do we jump in the horse trough? " I asked. We walked over to the oaks and found a small trial down to a 10 or 15 Ft wide pool. Cool. We geared up and stared down the trail.

We begin our decent and swim down in to darkness. I switch on my dive light and shine it around, the cavern is so large that I cant see the walls. I find the guide rope and use it to pull myself down. I can see scotts light about 10 feet below me. The small light piercing the inky blackness. We descend further. We reach the sign at 100ft. I stopped and look back to the surface, I turn off my light and float. I can see the opening, small like a quarter, the pale diffuse blue grey light like the reflection of the moon in the ocean at night. Floating there, feeling the darkness surrounding me, the water is cold and silent, only the rythmic sound of my own breath. Scott is exploring further down, the flash from his camera sending echoes of light from behind me. I give a slight kick and slowly rise toward the upper wall. There are large sand dollars, the size of dinner plates, embedded in the ceiling. Other fossils and whale bones are there also, a view of life frozen in death. In this cold dark place, time seems to have stopped. I am looking on things that haven't seen the daylight since the dinosaurs relinquished control of the planet. I stare at them and imagine the world then, raw and wild and new.

I push off the wall and drift back down to the bottom, Scott is done photographing the area and we slowly begin our accent. As we move back up through the cavern toward the surface, I see more signs of old life, things from a bygone era, lining the walls, like a museum. We exit the spring and pack our gear. It is bright and warm outside, it's is friendly, but I have to say, I like it better down there.






The spring/sink opening




Same




Top view





Same




Taken at 65ft looking back toward the cavern opening.

Some quotes for the movie " V for Vendetta"

Remember, Remember The fifth of November, The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason Why the gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.

This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vangquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition."

"The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici - By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.

I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence.

And thus I clothe my naked villainy, With old odd ends stolen forth from holy writ, And seem a
saint when most I play the devil.

A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!

God is in the rain...

V is for Vendetta: A view of things to come?

This has to be one of the most well made, most provocative films I have ever seen. I haven't been left in awe over a movie's impact since American History X. It is a spectacular triumph of story telling. The casting, acting and dialog were all excellent. The quality I found most appealing, was the mirror it held up to american society, the not so subtle way it reflected what could be, a vision of the future. Several newpaper and magazine articles were written in uproarus disapproval of this contraverical film.

After reading several of these articles from different sources, I found an underlying theme that is really interesting,... And disturbing. The same fascist rhetoric and propaganda used to control the characters in the movie, is being deployed in real life. A case of art imitating life, imitating art. The voices condemning this film are from the right wing religous and conservitive political partites. In the movie, the government and the church were the make up of the body that controls the police state. In real life it is the government and the church claiming this to be a vile attack on them. I have added the article below and placed in italic some of the words and phrases that stood out to me while reading it. Phrases like "God hates it" and " We should all fear". Why does the authour insist that I should be afraid. Slogans like these always stand out to me as means of control over people using fear as a tool.


This Article has been abridged, to see the entire article visithttp://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49317
--------Begin article---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time Warner promotes terrorism and anti-Christian bigotry in new leftist movie, 'V for Vendetta'Posted: March 17, 20061:00 a.m. EasternEditor's note: Dr. Tom Snyder contributed to this commentary. It has only been two weeks since the Oscar ceremony celebrated left-wing politics and anti-Christian bigotry with such movies as "Brokeback Mountain" and "Syriana." Today, Time Warner is continuing that policy by releasing "V for Vendetta" – a vile, pro-terrorist piece of neo-Marxist, left-wing propaganda filled with radical sexual politics and nasty attacks on religion and Christianity.

The ending of "V for Vendetta" celebrates terrorism when the movie's three most sympathetic characters carry out an evil plan to blow up England's Parliament building, one of Western Civilization's most enduring symbols of democracy and republican government with a small "r."

The rest of "V for Vendetta" not only depicts Christians as evil people who oppress and torture "innocent" people, it also depicts homosexuals as a persecuted, harmless minority of "nice" people. Both of these portrayals are hate-filled, false stereotypes, but the second one is actually contradicted by the secret stash of homoerotic pornography that one of the homosexual characters in the movie hides in a secret room in his house. If all homosexuals, and all homosexual activists, are such goody two shoes, how come so many of them resort to unsafe sexual practices that spread deadly diseases, and how come so many of them promote pornography, support the murder of unborn children through abortion and molest underage children?

Where does all this abhorrent, pro-terrorist, atheist, pseudo-intellectual left-wing politics in "V for Vendetta" originate? It stems from the communist influence of the Frankfurt School. The Frankfurt School was started in Germany in 1923 by a group of Marxist intellectuals, and modeled after the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow in the Soviet Union. When Hitler came to power in 1933, these Marxists fled to the United States to teach at famous colleges like Columbia University, Princeton and the University of California at Berkeley. Eventually, they became founders and powerful leaders of the counter-culture revolution in the 1960s. This revolution started the movement for "political correctness" in America. Paul Haggis, the writer/director/producer who picked up two Oscars for "Crash"– exposed this neo-Marxist, PC agenda on international television during the Oscar ceremony. Haggis quoted the Marxist playwright, Bertolt Brecht, saying, "Art is not a mirror held up to society, it is a hammer by which to shape it."

Of course, the Christian view of art, and the view of art in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament documents of the Bible, is that art should celebrate and promote the Good, the True and the Beautiful. The Good, the True and the Beautiful do not promote such evils as blowing up civilian buildings, immoral sexual practices conducted outside the bounds of heterosexual marriage, political terrorism and atheist, pro-homosexual bigotry that creates vile, hateful stereotypes of Christians and their leaders.

The Christian view of art sees God as the ultimate ruler of all creation and all communication and also sees Jesus Christ as the ultimate standard of all artistic excellence.Armed with this basic theology of art, we can fight the evil influence of such movies as "V for Vendetta." Knowledge of theology can lead to understanding, but the fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom. In other words, God hates it when institutions and people like Time Warner and the filmmakers behind "V for Vendetta" pervert mankind's ability to create art. When we behave so sinfully, we should all fear His righteous judgment.

To quote President Teddy Roosevelt, however, "If you educate a man's mind but not his heart, you end up with an educated barbarian."Thus, our theology and philosophy of art must be informed by frequent reading and serious study of the Bible, which is the Word of God. Only God's Word can educate the heart to follow the Good, the True and the Beautiful that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, who redeems us from our sins and energizes our faith through His true and perfect love.


-----------End article---------------------------------------------------------------------


After removing the "Propagandga" from this article. It has told us that this film is opposed to all that is "The good, The true, and The beautiful", according to their point of view. That only seditious revolusionists and homosexuals bent destroying their way of life, will watch and enjoy this film. It tells us the homosexuals are responsible for the spread of disease and the molstation children. That they are to blame for abortion. Where do they come off with the idea that homosexuals are to blame for these atrocites. I find this to be the most insulting, degrading, vile thing ever said about a social group. I guess they can't keep blaming black people for everything that is wrong in the world, they won't tolerate it anyone. So they found a new scapegoat.


If certain religous and political groups think the film is so dangerous, maby they should be asking why the creators find the issues in the film important enough to bring to the big screen. If they think that this is an attack on christianity, they should refreash their history and remember the true percusion which christians have faced. No christians were harmed during the making of this film. This was not an attack on faith in christianity or loyalty to judicious goverment. It was an attack on the abuse of that faith, that loyalty.

It is a movie about ideas. To label it an " Terrorist recruitment film," is of course infinitely idiotic, ignoring the allegory and pretending that the movie is propaganda. Like all great dystopian works, V for Vendetta is a call for awareness and collective introspection. The world it depicts is far removed from our own in some ways and very close in others. The message it brings to light is simply, pay attention.

We should always question the authority. People have the right to descide truth for themsevles without censorship. Any body of power ,reglious or govermental that suppress's infomation, citeing it " seditious" or "unpatriotic" should be examined closely.


Quoting Frank Rich's - The greatest story ever sold.

"In what may have been the single most reavealing paragraph anyone has reported about the bush adminastration, the author Ron Suskind, writting in The New York Times Magizine two weeks before the 2004 election, recounted a conversation with a presidentail aide who spoke sarcasticlly of the media and their, "reality-based community." The aide informed Suskind with great condescention that, a " judicious study of discernible reality" is "not the way the world works anymore." The aide explained, "We are an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you study that reality, -judiciously as you will, -we will act again, creating other realities, which you can study too. and that's how things will sort out. We're histories actors...and you, all of you, will be left to study what we do."

The world is a different place now then it was fifty years ago. There are some frightening things taking place and we must be mentally prepared for it. The problem is not that no one will tell us that things in this country are changing. The problem is that they will teach us to be afraid of it and tell us whose to blame for it.. It's the Gays or the Blacks or the Mexicans. The Jews or the Muslims or the Terrorists. They're the ones who have made this country change...get them!

The sad truth is...we did it. We all did it. And I understand why. There are a lot of things going on. Disease, poverty, terror. The counrty was changing and we were afraid. And in our panic we let our fear rob us of our common sence. We allow hatred and ignorence to control our descsions. People are so quick to blame the countries problems on anyone different. No one wants to accept the responsibility. The simple truth is this, no social group ruined american, american's ruined america. No amount of finger pointing will fix that.

This country was supposed to be the first world country. The world came here, and now it whats to tear it's self apart.

I asked a friend today, if he thought that this country was due for a revolt in the next 30 or so years? Would we be drawn into a civil conflict to prevent this country from becoming what we have worked so hard to prevent, an evil empire? His answer was...quick, and so completely correct it was terrifing. He said, " Nope, we're too lazy. It will happen without a fight. He was right.


After all the hype and propaganda being shouted in the world today, all the hate being spat by religous and govermental leaders, I wonder, are we that far away from the world protrayed in V for Vendetta? A country controled by fear and brutality. A country where racial minorities, jews, musilams, homosexuals, along with any "potential security threat" to society are taken from their homes, imprisoned with out trial, tortured, and killed in the name of homeland security.


I am reminded for a quote I read a long time ago.
First they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me,... and by that time there was no one left to speak up.

(Rev. Martain Neimoller-1936)


I'm certain some of the population out there is hopeing this will happen. They feel the that these "disedents" represent a plauge on the world. A cancer, that should be cut away from the body and burned. It is easy for people to feel this way, when they let their fear overrun their compassion.

They would do well to remember from the words of Rev. Martin Neimoller. If we give them the power to come to take people away, they won't stop when we want them to. What if, after we give them this power, they suddenly descided that the italians, or the irsh, or the baptists represent a threat to national security. It's easy to condem a social group when it dosen't include your mother. your brother or your grandfather. The only way to prevent this type of horror is not to let it begin, because once it begins there is only one end, and it shames us all.

This people are not cancers. They are not a plauge. They are living, breathing, loving, people.
They are not the enemy. They were not sent here by the forces of evil to destroy us. They are us. They are you and me. They are your mother, your brother and your grandfather.

If, in our collective fear, we allow ourselves to forget our humanity, evil has already won.
Fear is the tool evil will use to keep us a bay. We must learn to let go of our fear. It is the cancer that will kill us all. Fear is a plauge on the world, changing the different into the dangerous, turning passion into prejudice and paving the road for hatred to run rament.

After reading this page. I hope you will remember how to read between the lines. I hope you will remember how to cut away the rhetoric and propaganda and find the truth of the world. All that's needed is to find the courage, the heart, not to deny the truths you uncover in the world and in your life.

I have revised Rev. Neimoller's statement. I wrote it for those left who will not go gentle, for all those still capable of free thought, and for all those who have died in past and in hope for the future.

I am not a Homosexual, but if they come for them, I will speak up,
I am not a Jew, but if they come for them, I will speak up.
I am not a Muslim, but if they come for them, I will speak up.
I am not a racial minority, but if they come for them, I will speak up.
I am not a terriost, but if in their search they will steal our liberty, I will speak up.
And when the day arrives that they come for me,
Maby I won't be the only one left to speak up.


Our lives our measured by inches, don't give up a single one.

sungod357

Truth & Beauty

" The road less traveled" by Robert frost.


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden back.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.









Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.






sungod357

Mom's cat died this morning.

One of Mom's cats died this morning. "Pookha" had been born here and was happy as could be till a few days ago. Mom noticed she stopped eating and was getting thin. She brought the cat inside Friday night to keep a closer eye on it. I've been wake since Thursday, insomnia is a bitch, So after mom went to bed I was still up on the computer. I stopped to get a drink and saw the cat on the floor. She was gaunt, anemic and serverly dehydrated. Underneath her eyes was white as paper. I stopped and sat down to have closer look. She looked ill but wasn't behaving like she was in any pain. I sat with her for a while, thinking about what to do. I woke mom up and told her what I thought, I'm definifly not a vet, But I do know that if an animal doesn't want to eat to the point she was, something must be seriously wrong. I gave it a few more minutes of though while looking up her systems on the internet. I found nothing of any real value and decided to call the emergency animal clinic in Daytona, It was 12:05am, It was a long shot, but I didn't think she was going to last till Tuesday, to see our regular vet. She would be dead from starvation by then. The idea of a nighttime animal hospital really a good one. They were there and said to come on up. Mom put her in the pet taxi and off we went.

I think all vet offices have the same bench in the lobby and the same type of concrete floor. They all same the same too, like flea dip and pinesol. We were not the only people there. A lady in a publix shirt was with her cat, though I cant remember why... We got there at 12:25am and waited quite awhile. I sat outside smoking and chatting with Brian on the phone. He was working the night shift and was bored. I went back in at 1:15 and they where already back in the exam room. They had already taken urine and finished the initial exam, The rn came in and told us the doc waited to do some x-rays and urinalysis and see where that takes us. The was going to coast 295$. Ouch! Do it we both said. Sometimes you have to bite the bullent for your small fury children. They took Pookha to the back and we went for a smoke. I don't think either of us had a real idea how this was going to end. I really thought she might have developed feline diabetes or at the worst have some sort of throat infection that was making it painful to eat.
We waited in the exam room for the doc. She came in and brought the x-ray. I can vaguely interpret an x-ray if give some time...It didn't need to here. It showed a massive bowel obstruction from the lower GI to the epi-gastric area. The other thing was that it was as hard a stone. The doc had palpated the abdominal area and pelvic region, and though she knew something wasn't right...This blew her away. This 6.5 pound cat was 3.0 pounds of obstruction. The vet was amazing that she was still alive and that she wasn't showing any external signs of severe pain. The problem here was this. Pookha had been struck by a car two years prior. She healed well and seems to be back to normal in a few months. The regular vet thought everything was cool. What had happened was this. The trauma to her pelvis had caused a condition call Feline Megacolon. Here is a brief run down ...



Cat Megacolon is a bowel disorder. The colon of the cat is chronically dilated or enlarged because the nerves in the colon do not function properly. The causes of feline megacolon can be acquired through trauma for instance, congenital, or idiopathic(unknown). Clinical signs of feline megacolon in the cat can be simply chronic constipation. Other signs could be distended abdomen, not eating, weight loss, vomiting, nausea, straining to defecate(tenesmus), painful defecation (dyschezia), and rectal prolapse from constant straining. Megacolon usually shows up in middle aged and older cats but can appear in cats as young as three and four years old
Feline megacolon is a syndrome rather than a specific disease. Consequently, identifying the underlying cause of the megacolon, if feasible, and treating that cause, if possible, is important. Treatment of megacolon per se may include conservative medical therapy or surgery. Sometimes medical treatment alone is sufficient; however, in many cases medical treatment fails and surgery will be required to save the catÂ’s life. In some cases surgery is the treatment of choice,,,,Surgery involves removing most of the colon (lower bowel). This procedure is called subtotal colectomy.
What is megacolon?"If the nerves to the colon do not function properly, the muscles of the colonic wall will not contract properly. If this happens, the muscles stretch and the colon enlarges in diameter. In addition, the fecal material is not moved out of the body and severe constipation may result. This massive enlargement of the colon and the resulting constipation is called megacolon. The colon may have a diameter 3-4 times that of a normal cat. " "
Megacolon is a condition that is not uncommon in the cat. Most cases are idiopathic (a cause cannot be determined), and these seem to be a result of colonic inertia. Pelvic fracture malunions are the next most common cause and result in a pelvic outlet obstruction.

For cats that present with signs of gastrointestinal disease, obstruction is a primary differential. There are numerous reasons of gastrointestinal obstruction in small animals, yet there are several specific causes that are more commonly associated with the cat. These include linear foreign bodies, trichobezoars, focal intestinal neoplasia, feline infectious peritonitis, and megacolon. Clinical signs related to gastrointestinal obstruction consist of vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, tenesmus, anorexia, or weight loss. The course and onset of disease depends on the rate at which the obstruction develops and whether the obstruction is partial and complete. The diagnosis of obstruction is typically suspected based on clinical presentation and palpation of an abdominal mass. Diagnostics tools are used for definite diagnosis and determination of location within the gastrointestinal tract. Surgical treatment is dependent on the etiology of the obstruction and various techniques are employed to remove the obstruction and prevent recurrence.
There are many recognized causes of constipation in the cat and the management of the condition depends on the clinician's ability to recognize the appropriate aetiology in each case. Most surgery therapies for constipation in the cat are related to the management of idiopathic megacolon, although causes such as pelvic outlet obstruction, complications of neutering surgery, perineal herniation, and malunion pelvic fractures may also require surgical intervention. Currently, the surgical management of megacolon consists of subtotal colectomy with the recommendation that the ileocolic junction be preserved. The procedure, in general, is associated with a few life-threatening complications.
Pelvic fractures are commonly observed in cats after automobile-induced trauma and frequently affect other organ systems. An organized systematic approach should be followed in the evaluation of pelvic fractures. Common pelvic fracture patterns observed in cats include pubic fractures in combination with unilateral ilial fractures, unilateral sacroiliac luxations, bilateral sacroiliac luxations, and contralateral ilial body fractures. Narrowing of the pelvic canal may preclude normal passage of feces and result in megacolon.


Pookha's pelvic trauma had caused a pelvic outlet obstruction. This in turn had caused the lower bowel obstruction, which, after developing over the time since the accident, produced a excess of waste in the colon causing the megacolon, which according to the vet, most likely had swollen and pushed the remaining pelvic outlet closed. This complete closure had most likely occured only a few days prior, thus explainingg the sudden weightloss.

This was bad news. We sat speaking with the doctor for a few moments about our options. To begin she would need a unrinary and rectal cath. This would be to try to begin to remove the blockage. This would require two days of hospitalization. If the obstruction could not be removed via the cath, it would require surgery. Then, she would have to have the subtotal colonectomy, removing the greater part of her diseased colon and reconnecting the remaining portion to the lower GI. After that there was the possibility of having to reconstruct her previous pelvic trauma, which is to prevent a recurrence. Then came the bad news. Because of the amount of weightloss, the size of the obstruction, and the amount of infection in the colon, the vet advised us that the chances of her survival were not good. Even if she did somehow survive the possible three surgeries, Her quality of life would seirously decline. She gave us a few minutes to think in private.

I looked at mom, who was looking at the cat. "I don't think we should do this to her, she said. " "I don't want her to have to suffer." "What good is it to be a cat if you can't run around and play." she thought to herself." The tears she had been bravely holding on to, began to break through. I touched her shoulder and said ," you're right." This was not how I had seen night going. Mom sat with her till the doctor came back in. "We're not going to make her suffer." she said patting Pookha's head one last time. "I can't be in here for it" she said. Mom made her goodbye and left the room. I stayed in the room stroaking her head and talking to her. She was quietly purring and sitting very still. The RN came back in and I signed the order. The doctor was actually splitting time between us and surgery on a small dog. She had to finish suctureing the other animal, so it gave me a little more time. I kept her company, although I believe she somehow new what was happening, and was ok with it.
I know this will sound strange to some people, But I took out my camera-phone and took a picture of her. I don't know why I though of this, I just seemed like the thing to do at the time. We sat there for a while, long enough for me to think about going to get mom so she could spend a few more minutes with her. I descided against it, saying goodbye once was hard enough, having to do it again would be awful. The vet and an assistant came in. The doctor sat and said "This was a tough call...I'm sorry it had to go this way." "Yeah..Me too." I replied. Even though she wouldn't say it, I could tell by the look on her face that she was..Not to say happy..But glad that we chose correctly. I think that the doc was really afraid that we might cling to hope and prolong Pookha's suffering.

The assistant came over and held her gently but firmly. The doc cleaned and preped for a mainline injection. She had brought a three cc syringe in with her. The injection was a combination of phenobarbital sodium (anestheticc)and phenytoin sodium (anticonvulsant). This the actually a premixed drug called oddly enough "Euthanasia-3". It comes packaged in 100ml multidose vial. Each milliter contains 390 milligrams of phenobarbital and 50 milligramss of phenytoin. The recommended dose is one milliliter to ten pounds of body weight. The doctor made her stick and I saw the flash, I just kept stroking her head. It was over three seconds later. I closed her eyes and they took her to the back to be packaged for the trip home. I put her back in the pet taxi and we drove back to the house. Mom picked a spot to put her, in the garden near the Staghorn. I places some large stones over the site and we called it a night.

I think I will second guess the decision for a while. You can "what if" your self to death if you're not careful. During my search for the details of the megacolon syndrome I came upon an article that made me feela littlee better. In thatarticlel I found one small phrase that I think might possess both truth and beauty.

"Euthanasia can, if thought through and used as the last resort, be the most pure and unselfish way to say, "I love you." When an owner loves a pet enough to suffer heartbreak and say good-bye, to set their pet free of pain, that is love."






































Sungod357...