Fun times at Old Faithful
Improbable
been hearing about everyone's Yellowstone experiences. One in particular
sounded especially intriguing. It seems the National Park Service hires
college students from around the world to work at hotels, restaurants,
etc. during peak summer time. (I know this part is true because I was
there.) According to the story, some of these students went out to Old
Faithful one day, way off to the side, but still within view of the
tourists, with a bicycle wheel and a length of pipe. They pushed the
pipe deep in the ground and mounted the bicycle wheel on top of it.
Several seconds before the scheduled eruption time, one student called
an order to the other one, who started turning the bicycle wheel on top
of the pipe very slowly and laboriously, creating the impression that he
was opening a large valve. The geyser blew its load right on schedule,
and then he cranked the wheel the other way again. The story goes on to
say that they were fired for this little incident.
I could easily believe that some overbored college kids would do
something like this, but the hard part is believing that they got fired.
If I had been their boss, I wouldn't have been able to stop laughing
long enough to do the paperwork. The only scenario that might lead to
this is if they were trespassing on some sort of restricted
environmentally sensitive area. Anyone have any input on the voracity of
this one?
Intersting thought: If a chemical factory dumped into the ground the
same mix of toxic chemicals that exists at Yellowstone, they would be
accused of committing the environmental atrocity of the century.
Bob Ward
<nob...@FakeEmailAddr.net> wrote:
>-:Having just gotten back from a trip to Yellowstone National Park, I've
>-:been hearing about everyone's Yellowstone experiences. One in particular
>-:sounded especially intriguing. It seems the National Park Service hires
>-:college students from around the world to work at hotels, restaurants,
>-:etc. during peak summer time. (I know this part is true because I was
>-:there.) According to the story, some of these students went out to Old
>-:Faithful one day, way off to the side, but still within view of the
>-:tourists, with a bicycle wheel and a length of pipe. They pushed the
>-:pipe deep in the ground and mounted the bicycle wheel on top of it.
>-:Several seconds before the scheduled eruption time, one student called
>-:an order to the other one, who started turning the bicycle wheel on top
>-:of the pipe very slowly and laboriously, creating the impression that he
>-:was opening a large valve. The geyser blew its load right on schedule,
>-:and then he cranked the wheel the other way again. The story goes on to
>-:say that they were fired for this little incident.
>-:
>-:I could easily believe that some overbored college kids would do
>-:something like this, but the hard part is believing that they got fired.
>-:If I had been their boss, I wouldn't have been able to stop laughing
>-:long enough to do the paperwork. The only scenario that might lead to
>-:this is if they were trespassing on some sort of restricted
>-:environmentally sensitive area. Anyone have any input on the voracity of
>-:this one?
Google finds:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/email/current.html
Old Faithful
In Yellowstone park a park a Park Ranger narrates the history of the
park and Old Faithful to a group of listeners seated on benchs
awaiting the almost hourly eruption of OLD FAITHFUL geyser. One year
when we were there, well behind the park ranger giving his speel a
group of young college kids sneaked into the background with a huge
dummy valve of the type used at large hydro stations. Waiting for the
crucial moment when Old Faithful would erupt, the kids pretended to
turn the huge wheel atop the dummy valve, creating the image of
opening a valve permitting the eruption of the geyser. While not a
hoax as such on the audience, it sure got a big laff.
and
http://www.seanet.com/~billr/bloop97c.htm
Portrait of the con artist as a young man
MAY 21: "Independent" (i.e. not Republican) talk radio host Mike
Reagan regales us with the boyish pranks he pulled on gullible
tourists while he was working at Yellowstone Park (presumably before
it was taken over by the UN). He charged tourists to spin a valve
wheel to "turn on" the Old Faithful geyser and sold tickets to
tourists in the lodge to watch Old Faithful erupt. The skills Reagan
developed at Yellowstone in conning credulous boobs are still used by
him every day in his radio show.
and
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000pzy
Here's a story that is actually true: One of the guys who did it was a
good friend of Johnny Carson and used to be a regular guest on
Carson's show. He was also the author of several books including the
hilarious (but probably long out-of-print) THE COMPLETE PRACTICAL
JOKER:
Two practical jokers were visiting Yellowstone National Park and came
up with a bright idea. The found an old car steering wheel which was
still attached to the steering shaft. While the spectators on the
stands waited with their cameras for Old Faithful to blow, one of the
guys was positioned off to the side of the geyser, just out of sight
of the rangers, but in sight of many of the people on the stands.
When Old Faithful began to sputter, the other guy yelled out, "Let 'er
rip, Bill." "Bill" began spinning the wheel furiously and Old Faithful
let loose.
These guys said that they laughed for years afterwards whenever they
thought about all the spectators there that day who went away thinking
that Old Faithful is just a hoax.
--
The time for action is past! NOW is the time for the senseless bickering
Hatunen
<nob...@FakeEmailAddr.net> wrote:
>Having just gotten back from a trip to Yellowstone National Park, I've
>been hearing about everyone's Yellowstone experiences. One in particular
>sounded especially intriguing. It seems the National Park Service hires
>college students from around the world to work at hotels, restaurants,
>etc. during peak summer time. (I know this part is true because I was
>there.) According to the story, some of these students went out to Old
>Faithful one day, way off to the side, but still within view of the
>tourists, with a bicycle wheel and a length of pipe. They pushed the
>pipe deep in the ground and mounted the bicycle wheel on top of it.
>[...]
>
>I could easily believe that some overbored college kids would do
>something like this, but the hard part is believing that they got fired.
>If I had been their boss, I wouldn't have been able to stop laughing
>long enough to do the paperwork. The only scenario that might lead to
>this is if they were trespassing on some sort of restricted
>environmentally sensitive area. Anyone have any input on the voracity of
>this one?
[...]
When I first read about this gag way back around 1950 in Reader's
digest the kids had stuck an old Ford Model T steering wheel in the
ground.
************ DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) ***********
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
******* My typos are intentional copyright traps ******
james mcgill
Improbable <nob...@FakeEmailAddr.net> wrote:
>I could easily believe that some overbored college kids would do
>something like this, but the hard part is believing that they got fired.
Maybe the firer had expected the firees to be loading feed sacks
on a truck at that time?
Not enough details, and the causal relationship is merely implied in the
telling.
James "but who will work the valve now?" M.
--
R H Draney
> http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000pzy
>
> Here's a story that is actually true: One of the guys who did it
> was a good friend of Johnny Carson and used to be a regular guest
> on Carson's show. He was also the author of several books
> including the hilarious (but probably long out-of-print) THE
> COMPLETE PRACTICAL JOKER:
"The Complete Practical Joker" was written by well-known afu avatar H
Allen Smith, and he does in fact tell the geyser story in that
book...I was unaware that Smith was a particularly good friend of
Johnny Carson though, and I wonder if the reporter of this item has
conflated him with either Goodman Ace or Jim Moran, both of whom were
early Carson regulars as well as inveterate practical jokers....r
Kevin D. Quitt
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#include <standard.disclaimer>
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Kevin D Quitt USA 91351-4454 96.37% of all statistics are made up
Per the FCA, this email address may not be added to any commercial list
Hatunen
wrote:
>Bob Ward <bob....@verizon.net> went to the trouble of looking up:
>
>> http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000pzy
>>
>> Here's a story that is actually true: One of the guys who did it
>> was a good friend of Johnny Carson and used to be a regular guest
>> on Carson's show. He was also the author of several books
>> including the hilarious (but probably long out-of-print) THE
>> COMPLETE PRACTICAL JOKER:
>
>"The Complete Practical Joker"
Um. "The Compleat Practical Joker"
webe.t...@gmail.com
Michael LeVine
seeing it at one time
but cannot seem to readilly locate a copy on the net.
--
Michael LeVine
mlevine...@redshift.com
Politics is the art of looking for trouble,
finding it everywhere,
diagnosing it incorrectly,
and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
David DeLaney
> On Monday, August 26, 2002 at 8:02:19 PM UTC-5, Improbable wrote:
|
Clue phone's ringing!
... oh dear, he didn't have anything to say. Guess someone else will win the
clue!
Dave, mr. noah body
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://gatekeeper.vic.com/~dbd/ -net.legends/Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
Lewis
--
'The trouble with my friend here is that he doesn't know the difference
between a postulate and a metaphor of human existence. Or a hole in the
ground.' --Pyramids
