Comments on: Ten Pieces of Inspiration #63

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:31:01 +0000

We camped (in a tent) for two weeks in Yellowstone last August. It was an incredibly affordable vacation and the most rewarding trip we have ever taken. We definitely want to go back and see everything we didn’t have time for.

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:24:52 +0000

@ deRuiter I hate to say it, but when you said, “a machine, one of millions, all which perform the same mechanical task”… that could just as easily be applied to a soldier as a computer and that task is, of course, protecting and killing.

In my eyes, I probably couldn’t be a soldier or build a computer, so they are both incredible to me even if there are a lot of them.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:21:19 +0000

Joan #5, We can agree to disagree! To me a machine, one of millions, all which perform the same mechanical task, is mundane. “Incredible: too extraordinary and improbable to be believed” is how the online dictionary defines “incredible.” Triplt, Mapquest, these sort of things are not incredible. They’re useful tools. Using the word “incredible” instead of the word “very” is poor writing, and it dilutes the meaning of the word, it demeans those things which really are “incredible.” Being precise in one’s use of words seems like what a person with a “passion” for writing would strive to do. Yes, of course, the cell phone is very useful. If you are equally wowed by a cell phone or Triplt and a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to sacrifice his life to save his comrades, well, that’s you. To me the cell phone is a useful gadget, the sacrifice of the soldier is incredible, and incredibly brave. To you they are equally incredible, fine.

By: Joan

Joan — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:36:03 +0000

#4 deRuiter I am probably much older than you, because I can remember seeing pictures of a computer taking up a room. So these handy devices or (to you) mundane things are incredible to me. I sometimes wonder what incredible items will be invented for my grandchildren, who are all computer literate at a very young age. I thing the greatest invention to date is the cell phone (It is incredible)(and incredibly useful).

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 10:55:22 +0000

“I’ve found TripIt to be incredibly useful for doing this.” Golly dang! Here’s another mundane thing the author finds incredible! Sadly what the author intends to say is “very useful” but thinks that isn’t fancy enough, or he really is a rube because every handy device or mundane event is incredible to him. You’ve got to get out more son, and learn that “incredible” means the Grand Canyon, the heroism of our brave soldiers in the face of death, the bravery of a soldier home from war whose house burns and he goes into the burning house attempting to rescue his two daughters and he and the children perish because he can not reach them, the bravery of a mother animal defending her young with her life, a person who donates a kidney so another may live. Those are “incredible” things. That a computer device or system works is very useful but hardly incredible.
You’d think a person with a “passion” for writing would learn to use words correctly.

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:39:08 +0000

D’oh! I should read the introduction instead of skipping straight to the pictures! Good for you Trent! I can’t wait to hear all about it!

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:37:50 +0000

Is this a hint that you’re going to Yellowstone? I hope so.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:31:07 +0000

Your 3rd image of the terraced Mammoth of Yellowstone is white and grey because it has died. One of the realities about hot springs is that they do tend to move.

When i was a child we lived near Yellowstone and went there often. Those terraces all had hot water flowing over them and they were vivid with the colors of different bacteria growing. But the water doesn’t flow there any more, and the grey and white terraces created by the minerals are what is left after the water stopped flowing.

I love Yellowstone. Thanks for sharing.