ScottP

Brad Driscoll Outnumbered His Guests By One, But A Good Time Was Had By All. Tammy Baker's Face Vomit Launch

Purty.

...it's pretty creepy: By TERESA HAMPTON Editor, Capitol Hill Blue Jul 28, 2004, 08:09 President George W. Bush is taking powerful anti-depressant drugs to control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill Blue has learned. The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician, can impair the President's mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately. "It's a double-edged sword," says one aide. "We can't have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally." Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay. "Keep those motherfuckers away from me," he screamed at an aide backstage. "If you can't, I'll find someone who can." Bush's mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President's wide mood swings and obscene outbursts. Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports as anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a "paranoid meglomaniac" and "untreated alcoholic" whose "lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad" showcase Bush's instabilities."I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed," Dr. Frank said. "He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated." Dr. Frank's conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School. The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first campaign for President. "President Bush is an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and megalomaniac tendencies," Dr. Frank adds. The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment on this article. Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and behavior are not known, White House sources say they are "powerful medications" designed to bring his erratic actions under control. While Col. Tubb regularly releases a synopsis of the President's annual physical, details of the President's health and any drugs or treatment he may receive are not public record and are guarded zealously by the secretive cadre of aides that surround the President. Veteran White House watchers say the ability to control information about Bush's health, either physical or mental, is similar to Ronald Reagan's second term when aides managed to conceal the President's increasing memory lapses that signaled the onslaught of Alzheimer's Disease. It also brings back memories of Richard Nixon's final days when the soon-to-resign President wondered the halls and talked to portraits of former Presidents. The stories didn't emerge until after Nixon left office. One long-time GOP political consultant who - for obvious reasons - asked not to be identified said he is advising his Republican Congressional candidates to keep their distance from Bush. "We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the United States is loony tunes," he says sadly. "That's not good for my candidates, it's not good for the party and it's certainly not good for the country."

Chuck, From what I could gather, there are native species in the Cascades, so, no, you don't gotta "smoke em".

Some species of Formica Rufa do that. They also attack and kidnap the larval stage of other ant species they then raise as slave laborers. Some of the larva they just eat. Also, another type of ant, the Dalmatie, chews and then forms it's food into patties which it then bakes in the sun. The largest ant in the world (Dorylus) lives in Africa and is 4 cm long. Okay, I'm done.

I did a little research: These ants are in the group Formica Rufa. They are also known as Red Wood Ants and "Thatching Ants". They are aggressive and produce stinging bites due to their production (and use of ) formic acid. They are beneficial in that they prey on defoliating insects. Different species are found in different parts of the world. Super colonies with up to 20 km of interconnected mounds have been observed. A couple of sites with pics of the mounds: http://www.wsl.ch/land/genetics/herbivores/ants.html http://www.antnest.co.uk/Nests.html

The thought entered my mind, but I was afraid they would reduce me to a pile of bones in a matter of minutes.

I was on the S Rib of Guye Peak this morning when I came across something I haven't seen in the 20 some-odd years I've been going up into the Cascades: The mound was nearly 3 feet tall and the base footprint was close to 5 feet in diameter. It was completely coveredwith ants to the density you see in the third, close-up picture.

Haven't done the Traverse route, but the other routes I've done have pretty good rock. TR with pics TR with pics Have fun.

IMO the best rock on the mountain is on the East face. I led the whole route and I placed one nut. If you're cozy soloing 4th class, it's really a breeze.

The Tooth: Two people on every belay ledge from top to bottom (10 to 12.) Those that weren't sitting in sullen, goretex wrapped silence, were bitching to each other as I tiptoed through and around their packs and heaped ropes and shit in approach shoes, shorts, sunglasses and a t-shirt. I descended the north ridge to avoid the negativity. The scene at Pineapple Pass looked like one of those REI garage sales with shit scattered and perched on every flat and semi-flat spot.

A guy working at the Arcata mountain shop (Adventures Edge?) told me about a limestone crag on 299 between Arcata and Weaverville. Mostly steep and hard was the description. The university had a climbing wall of sorts the last time I was through there, and this year they are planning on beginning an upgrade of the building (and wall.)

That would make you a cephalopod, hence, I suppose, all the past squid references. Got a 3rd degree ligament tear a while back that the doc said would require surgery to avoid the torn ends rolling over and forming a weak reconnect. I had it done and am glad I did. Despite injuring the ankle since then, it seems it is as strong now as it was before I completely separated the ligament.

Pilchuck

It's hard to tell, but the crack through the two roofs is about 4-5" and I'm pretty sure it's never been done.

I recently started using an Eclipse 42+5. The suspension is very comfortable and, despite my dislike of zippers, the pack zips open on the backpad side, which keeps the backpad relatively clean and dry. Re: the upside down look of the design : I noticed when descending while facing out, the bottom of the pack doesn't drag on stuff. I like the "straitjacket" compression system-it keeps stuff tight against my back. Also, the hydration system comes out as a separate 300ci summit pack.

As of June 8th...(anything more recent is obscured by clouds.) I'm going to take a wild guess (after comparing this photo and a topo map) and say snow line is about 5600 to 6000.

Liberty Bell to SEWS via all summits Traverse the county line and drop to Kangaroo Pass Kangaoo Temple and Little Finger to Wallabee Peak to Half Moon to Big Kangaroo summits. Traverse over to Snagtooth Ridge, tagging summits of interest. Silver Star to Wine Spires to Vasiliki Ridge spires and out Silver Star Creek. Along the way retrieving various caches of alcohol and other quality (read heavy) consumables previously placed at intervals along the route.

The difference being the height gained to exertion ratio...

It seems to me there is a company called Red Ledge that shares its name with a key passage on the Ptarmigan Traverse. Hmmm...coincidence?

Taft is the only person to have served as President & Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He considered his time on the Supreme Court more important. "Don't sit up nights thinking about making me President for that will never come and I have no ambition in that direction. Any party which would nominate me would make me a great mistake." -WHT

I climbed that concrete/rock crack in the rain with cams not long after Brian first opened E 38. Now it's got "a name, bolts, a grade, and a FA party"? What a riot!

Speaking of which, why do you suppose Taft shows up twice in MrE's picture?

How much do you think you paid in interest in that time? Let's say interest rates averaged 8% (just a guess) from '85 - '00 and your loan balance averaged $75k you probably paid around $6,000 per year in interest. You still came out ahead, just not as much as you were implying. Still need to deduct maintenance and stuff. The interest was deductible. Throughout the time I lived in that house, I was able to get back much of it in tax returns. The maintenance costs were pretty low. I never needed a new roof and any other work I did myself (Including a kitchen remodel), so the majority of maintenance expense (labor) wasn't an issue. There were some minor expenses I didn't factor in (which is why I included the 50% reduction provision you didn't include in the quote), but I still walked away with a considerable gain.