Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Spelunking in Las Vegas

Posted by michael on from the speak-friend-and-enter dept.

LowellPorter writes "There's an article here about some reporters who check out the sewers in Vegas after a known criminal escapes a police dragnet through them. They expect to find lots of people living in there, but only end up interviewing a couple of bums."

3 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Odd choice in equipment... by Thag · · Score: 4, Informative
    Firstly, neither of them mentioned the most important thing: a backup flashlight.

    MAG-lites are wonderfully durable, but their bulbs and batteries are still prone to damage in an abusive environment like a cave. I know: on my one caving trip in college, my primary mag-lite gave out halfway through. Fortunately I had a AA backup. Better yet would be an LED flashlight: they're incredibly tough.

    Secondly, a kukri? Please. I own one, and it's mostly useless except as a heavy-duty machete. And it might get you arrested. And was he carrying it stuck through his belt without a sheath?

    Important stuff for caving:
    • Some kind of helmet. We used Army helmet liners, which were protection enough without being too heavy.
    • Multiple light sources. The best would be an LED light on a headband, so you can use it hands-free. Bring extras in case you lose your primary, or your buddy does.
    • Your buddy. At least they got this one right.
    • Overalls, or plan to change clothes when you get out. Caves are filthy even when they're not a sewer. You're going to come out dirty from head to toe.
    • Work gloves. Protect your hands.
    • Tell someone where you're going, so if you run into problems they can send help eventually.
    • Anywhere you might need rope for, you shouldn't be going.

    Jon Acheson
    --
    All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
  2. Dark Days by Salsaman · · Score: 4, Informative
    For anyone who is interested in this kind of thing, I highly recommend the film Dark Days .

    It's a documentary about people living in the Amtrak subways in New York, and is both fascinating and moving.

  3. Re:Hope they took a flashlight.... by cybrpnk2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those of you young whippersnappers who have never heard of a grue, download and play Zork or any of the old, great Infocom games... from the "good old days" of computing, when anything over 16 kilobytes was a tremendous amount of free memory...