ScottP

That Merit Badge shit is hard core: "To earn this merit badge doing cross-country (Nordic) skiing, a Scout must: Tell the meaning of the Wilderness Use Policy. Explain why each skier must adopt this policy. Explain why every skier must be prepared to render first aid in the event of a skiing accident. Tell the first aid measures for shock. Show how to apply splints. Discuss hypothermia. Tell about symptoms and what action must be taken in the event of hypothermia. Show your ability to select, use, and repair, if necessary, the correct equipment for ski touring in safety and comfort. Discuss the basic principles of snow craft, including avalanches. Demonstrate the basic principles waxing for cross-country ski touring. Discuss the differences between cross-country skiing, ski touring, ski mountaineering, and Alpine skiing. Explain the parts played by strength, endurance, and flexibility in Nordic skiing. Demonstrate exercises and activities you can do to get fit for skiing. List items you would take on a one-day ski tour. Present yourself properly clothed and equipped for a one-day ski tour. Discuss the correct use of your clothing and equipment. Demonstrate the proper use of a topographic map and compass. Show a degree of stamina that will enable you to keep up with an average ski touring group your age. On a gentle, packed slope, show some basic ways to control speed and direction. Include the straight run, traverse, side-slip, step turn, wedge stop, and wedge turn maneuvers. On a cross-country trail, demonstrate effective propulsion by showing proper weight transfer from ski to ski, pole timing, rhythm, flow, and glide. Demonstrate your ability, on a tour, to cope with an average variety of snow conditions. Demonstrate several methods of dealing with steep hills or difficult conditions. Include traverses and kick turns going uphill and downhill, side steps, pole drag, and ski-pole "glissade."

que? After rereading that, it seemed kinda harsh. I guess what I meant is that KFC registers pretty low on my healthy food meter.

That's a strange statement: You couldn't stomach the whole book, but you didn't think it was a waste of time (till the last chapter, at least)? By the way, you should read the last half of the last chapter, I've heard the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken is revealed! I'm sort of busy, can some one give me a quick snyopsis of the book? Ten sentences or less. It's more like clipping a bungy to the back of your harness that's tied to a big tree and walking forward: The further you get the harder it is to continue. The book started out okay, but got succeedingly more ridiculous and predictable as time went by. Kentucky Fried Chicken sucks. Laytons more verbose than I am...he'd give a better 'snyopsis'.

I read through to the 2nd half of the last chapter and decided I'd had enough. No regrets.

First ascent of Crest Jewel Direct, June 2002.

Photographer was "karlbaba". aka Karl Baba

The utility pole is out.

Sharp-toothed key: Place the side of the key against the bottle neck. Place a tooth under the serrated edge of the cap. Place thumb against key. Twist the key toward you like you are opening a lock. It takes two or three placements to get it open, but if you get it right, the cap flies off and lands in someone else's lap.

Give him his refund in the form of 3000 loose pennies.

This bear scat contained cigarette butts, a sanitary napkin, plastic bags and aluminum foil gum wrappers. No nuts.

I work with a guy who will, during department meetings, suddenly burst out with laughter over something going on inside his head. Creeeeepy.

Yeah, the stupid ones.

Flash drive iPod

I can think of several people on cc.com (including myself) who fit nicely into one or the other of the categories in that list.

"We social scientists love to categorize the phenomena we study. So allow me to indulge my professional inclinations. One way to categorize avatars would be to use well-known personality types as a guideline - for example, McWilliams (1994) system for psychoanalytic diagnosis. Although these types described by McWilliams are for clinical diagnosis, when translated to a non-pathological dimension, they also are very useful in categorizing "normal" personalities. The theme, characteristics, or interpersonal impact of an avatar may be closely associated with one of these specific types. narcissistic - themes of power, status, perfection, grandiosity; draws for admiration and praise; feelings of being "special" and "privileged" schizoid - themes of interpersonal detachment and indifference, perhaps combined with evidence of abstract or intellectual thinking; little evidence of warmth and tenderness; the "loner" themes paranoid - distrust, isolation, hypervigilance, blaming or finding fault with others; cold, humorless, argumentative characteristics depressive - gloom, darkness, loss, low self-esteeem manic - energtic, grandiose, impulsive masochistic - self-destructive, themes revolving around the "bad self" or "woe is me" obsessive/compulsive - seriouis, formal; themes of control and perfection; shows evidence of a concern about details and rules psychopathic - antisocial, violates rules; little evidence of shame or guilt; takes advantage of others; possible superficial friendliness or charm histrionic - attention-seeking and seductive in flavor, dramatic, emotional, vain; themes involving dependency schizotypal - themes of being aloof, indifferent; evidence of magical thinking or superstitious beliefs; peculiar characteristics" source

"The Complete Hank Williams" compilation. I should have included Merle Haggard's tribute to Bob Wills ("Tribute to the Best Fiddle player in the World" or something like that.) and Buck Owens' "Streets of Bakersfield"

"Charles Gerba, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, reported on the work of a team that checked on one of the greatest fears attending use of the disposables: that they could preserve, alive, hordes of disease-causing organisms. Certainly many live germs leave the human body via feces, but no one knew how they fared in diapers buried in landfills. The team exhumed more than 200 soiled diapers from landfills in New York, Florida, and Arizona. They tested fecal samples from each diaper for an array of common disease organisms, from viruses to parasites (including Giardia, a nasty little beast that lurks in some of Alaska's clear streams). They found not a single live pathogen... Franklin Associates, of Prairie Village, Kansas, undertook an environmental audit in which they attempted to compare all costs associated with disposable diapers against those for cloth diapers. They looked at diaper manufacturing, packaging, disposal or washing, and associated products, such as plastic overpants and pins. They tried to put good numbers on everything they could verify. Disposables came out, so to speak, on top. Over the course of a year of diapering one baby, disposables take about half as much energy as cloth diapers (the equivalent of 53 gallons of gasoline). They use up one-quarter as much water (still a substantial 2,570 gallons), generate half as much air pollution (16 pounds of combustion products), and produce only one-seventh of the water pollution (3 pounds)."

"Whenever I watch TV and I see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I would love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff." - Mariah Carey

"Lick 'em, Place 'em, X 'em, Paste 'em, Rock 'em, and Sniff 'em. If it stinks, get off it!" -Instructions for placing copperheads I read in an old A5 catalog.

A poorly stitched trio of the Jumpoff Ridge to Baring Group: A banner day for sure.

"Put this on door. No one will rob." WTF!?!

No soup for you! Grouper Head Soup Put the heads in a big pot & boil them down to get a fish broth, pick all the meat to make a fish chowder. Its easy to pour the entire mess through a seive to start with a good broth, add milk, seasonings, onions, potatoes, carrots, corn, tomatos, or what you like. Comes out more a fish stew than a soup. You'll be amazed at how much meat is in a big grouper's head. You can substitute cabazone or cod for grouper, but there isn't typically as much meat.

"My name is Michael Layton and I’m with the FBI." "Frank Bowman had been Michael Layton’s friend for as long as he could remember." "Special Agent Michael Layton had been promoted to the rank of sergeant in return for the "excellent information" he had received on Hannibal Lecter. "