More than 20 years ago, I went to Yosemite National Park..There is a trail up to the top of a waterfall. As you go up the last part, there are steps up to the top of the waterfall. Perhaps you know this...Anyway, of course the steps are always wet because the waterfall sprays water on the steps. (It is the "wet part of the climb up the falls"....So I was walking up the steps to the very top of the falls, and a woman in her 20s was lying down on the path.
....This "brilliant lady" was wearing household "slippers" to walk up the trail and the wet steps, and slipped and hurt her leg. She could not walk anymore. Yes, there was enough room to walk around her, but the rangers had to call in a helicopter to remove her. I got out of there before they took her away...

..........Walking up a major trail, on the side of a mountain, going up to the top of the waterfalls, the trail is wet, and she is wearing "slippers." Not even real shoes...but thin slippers..so guess what??? she slipped.
If you think that the dummies are only in the above video..they are everywhere.. Too dumb to know that they shouldn't be in certain places at certain times...!!!!!

who do incredibly stupid things--like the man who smeared honey on his 3-year-old's face to get a picture of a bear "kissing" her! (The word is a mashup of "tourist" and "moron," of course.)

Then there was the father who put his 3-year-old on a bison's back and then turned around to take a selfie!--

https://www.theworkingmomstravels.com/yellowstone-national-park/

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Hard to believe but this also is a true story. As a new employee in Yellowstone, I attended mandatory orientation sessions. One class was all about park safety, including wildlife encounters. We were told a story of a man who placed his 3-year-old on top of a resting bison so he could get a picture. Understandably, the bison became agitated. The bison stood up which caused the child to fall off. The child was not hurt, thankfully, but the father ended up being gored by the beast. The story was so disturbing to me that, 20 years later, I haven’t forgotten it. I also thought it so disturbing that it HAD to be a solitary incident. Not the case. There have been more similar acts of stupidity with people trying to get pictures of and with bison, especially. Turning your back to a massive animal that’s barely six feet away to take a selfie is a really bad idea. Those employee orientation and safety classes should be mandatory for visitors, too.

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...Tourists from San Francisco know this park is only 4 hours away. Yep, 4 hours from San Fran...It can't be "wilderness" or "dangerous" ."..Look at all the people who are here." How dangerous can it be?. Everyone walks on the trails...So What?...

Yellowstone is a bit different..It is way far away...but..Anyone who does not think it dangerous,,Is either stupid or nuts or both..

who come to rescue them.

from on top of the falls, you can look down the river, or walk up another trail to the top of some other falls.
When I was there, I did not take that trail up to the top falls, but spent about an hour or so at the top of Vernal Falls. To me the most incredible view of the place..is a place called.."Glacier Point"
...Yes, I have been around..all over the U.S.A. The view at "Glacier Point" is one of the most magnificent views in the entire U.S.A. If anyone goes to Yosemite, please go to Glacier Point. Yes, it is out of the way..but truly worth it...

The route we took takes you up Vernal and close to Nevada Falls (but not to the top of it) ... took like 10 hours total, we did the cable/ladder thing, it's a bit unnerving but I tell you what, you think the view from Glacier Point is awesome ... and it is ... the view from top of Half Dome is INSANE ... no way in hell could I get anywhere near 'pulling that off' nowadays, this was the 80's.

Hiking down to the valley from Glacier Point is a brilliant hike as well, it's almost all downhill (but not all) suitable for anyone in reasonably good shape capable of hiking 8 or so miles in a stint ... lots o' great views all the way down.

Been to Yosemite probably 20 or so times in my life, probably more if you count like Christmas Brunch at the Ahwanee Hotel, then leaving w/o doing much else. My folks (inherited from my grandparents who moved their in the late 80's) and my Aunt both have homes about 1 hour outside the Valley just off the Hwy 120 so that's a big reason I've been so many times.

LOVE LOVE LOVE that place.

Floating down the Merced through the middle of the valley on a raft in Late May/Early June is also an AMAZING thing to do while there. The route they let you raft has beautiful views of many Icons of the Valley such as Upper/Lower Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Falls & El Capitan. There's a boat rental company that makes it really simple to do the trip.

They used to not care if you drank while doing it (in younger days we'd tow a little blowup raft with a cooler for the trip), but iirc last time I went they'd made that illegal ... too much littering I'd guess, and messes with the 'family' vibe they want there.

What is it for? I think it takes so much away from the actual video as a distraction.

Those people needed to leave the area area. There is no reason to be there at that point.

So instead of having "windowboxing" around it with black bars they soften it up and duplicate it.

It now makes sense. I would rather have the black bars on the side. I understand that is more of a personal preference.

But I'd far prefer they just turn their phones to the right to landscape mode to take film of the landscape

Can't they see that when they shoot video in portrait mode, you can't see the whole scene. I hate hate hate when people do that! Whenever I see my friends doing it, I walk over and turn their phone 90 degrees for them. It never occurs to them to do it.

Or I just email them this video:

They couldn't understand that widescreen movies showed more of the actual movie after years of just seeing pan and scan films on TV.

"But I want it to fill my whole screen!"

ugh

The movie could be recorded in it's original format and the pan-and-scan information could be included for the DVD player to decode as an option, just as subtitles are an option. Few DVD producers took advantage of this capability, choosing instead to make separate "standard" and "widescreen" DVD versions, sometimes on a two sided DVD.

I don't care if phone videos are recorded in portrait mode or landscape. YouTube and other video services ought to easily accommodate both, especially for videos that are typically embedded in web pages. For full screen viewing of either orientation you can always turn a phone or tablet 90 degrees. There are also television wall mount systems that accomplish the same, allowing you to flip your television.

Giving up portrait mode just because "everyone" has stationary widescreen televisions or computer monitors is wrong. Nobody tells me I have to hang all the pictures on my wall in landscape mode.

If I was commonly posting video on the internet, I'd do half of it in portrait mode just to piss off the conformists. Square aspect ratios are fun too.

automatically turn their phones sideways for videos.

But even worse than portrait mode videos are the ones were the person is so excited that he zooms his camera around like a hyperactive three-year-old, never pausing in one spot for more than a nanosecond. It's not even just that you cannot see much when the camera is swinging around so wildly--I actually get motion sick from some of those videos!

What are you going to do???

😈😂

grammar and usage errors online.

http://grammartips.homestead.com

Forgive me, but you need a new website design. (Desperately) Have you considered it? The one you've got seriously detracts from your guru-ness.

haven't had time or energy (or health) to get it done yet.

Someday I hope to get it all taken care of.

But the articles, the content, are what my readers are most concerned about.

health and energy part. But I'd like to nudge you toward getting it done. It's important and getting more so. Good luck with it.

Wednesday, I was driving through Tacoma and Puyallup, WA for the first time, with magnificent views of Mount Rainier. That's when I discovered that signs reading "Volcanic Eruption Evacuation Route" are a thing.
Did not inspire confidence.

I think all we can do is hope you don't reproduce? Please don't say it's too late.

(It is magnificent, isn't it, and sobering. We once considered buying a home with a view of Ranier off to the right. Still wish we had, but very definitely in spite of it.)

seriously