ScottP

All he got was a grapefruit! (I love that part.)

"We are, indeed, nothing in the greater scheme. Nought but a grand experiment in a rather large petrie dish." -Anonymous

And how is this superior to the Pb-Th system?

I can dig that.

Yeah, how about that radiometric data using thorium? (So, I guess your not into that kooky stuff where the earth happened on October 26, 4004 BC at 9:00 am.)

Just curious Trask: How old do you think the earth is?

Just curious Greg: How old do you think the earth is?

We're made of meat; that's a foregone conclusion.

FWIW "...we continue to base our NMD efforts on the assessment ...that North Korea probably will test the TD-2 this year... Iran could test an ICBM that could deliver a several hundred kilogram payload to parts of the U.S. in the latter half of the next decade, using Russian or other foreign technology and assistance." Walter B. Slocombe Under Secretary of Defense for Policy 13 October 1999 A 1998 report synapsis: The nine Commissioners are unanimous in concluding that: Concerted efforts by a number of overtly or potentially hostile nations to acquire ballistic missiles with biological or nuclear payloads pose a growing threat to the United States, its deployed forces and its friends and allies. These newer, developing threats in North Korea, Iran and Iraq are in addition to those still posed by the existing ballistic missile arsenals of Russia and China, nations with which we are not now in conflict but which remain in uncertain transitions. The newer ballistic missile-equipped nations' capabilities will not match those of U.S. systems for accuracy or reliability. However, they would be able to inflict major destruction on the U.S. within about five years of a decision to acquire such a capability (10 years in the case of Iraq). During several of those years, the U.S. might not be aware that such a decision had been made. The threat to the U.S. posed by these emerging capabilities is broader, more mature and evolving more rapidly than has been reported in estimates and reports by the Intelligence Community. The Intelligence Community's ability to provide timely and accurate estimates of ballistic missile threats to the U.S. is eroding. This erosion has roots both within and beyond the intelligence process itself. The Community's capabilities in this area need to be strengthened in terms of both resources and methodology. The warning times the U.S. can expect of new, threatening ballistic missile deployments are being reduced. Under some plausible scenarios-including re-basing or transfer of operational missiles, sea- and air-launch options, shortened development programs that might include testing in a third country, or some combination of these-the U.S. might well have little or no warning before operational deployment.

I didn't use the chair, but I skinned up the Alpental slopes to the bottom of Upper International and then traversed over to the Tooth. I left my skiis at the bottom of the coulior that takes you over the Denny/Tooth ridge. It's a good way to go.

I think where we are going to disagree is our definition of "less fortunate." It's not nearly as simple as you postulate. We are all "less fortunate" to someone. "Able bodied" doesn't always equate to "able minded". Sure there are those who take advantage of any system, but the "one size fits all" lumping of everyone on welfare being a freeloading bum is pretty simple-minded.

I guess we feel obligated since they invented it (GMT, not the Solstice.) The book "Longitude " is a pretty interesting story about it.

I'm sorry if you construed my questions as a shredding of this tale. I know little about the route, little about ice climbing, and little about the person who completed the route in unquestionably admirable style. I was just curious, having heard this story more than once. Since he was soloing the route, I assumed that he was carrying all six pairs of socks and had the skills to get up it in a day.

its harder to be a conservative because it is harder to tax break the hell outta the corporate class and give the poor the hard one up the ass than to do the considerate thing, which is "promote the general welfare" for all Americans.

"It's much harder to be a liberal than a conservative. Why? Because it is easier to give someone the finger than a helping hand." Mike Royko

Intrabreeding talks it's toll as well... "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that most stupid people are conservative." John Stuart Mill

Right. MmmHmm. Okay then... Next!

And you know this for sure how...? Touting opinions as facts lends little credence to your arguments.

After seeing this particular comment for about the 4th or 5th time, something has struck me as odd: Since the mentioned route is usually climbed in a day, why did he bivy? Also, why would he have six pairs of wool socks?

There is the potential for a rapid transition from walking on a glacier to climbing out of a crevasse that could be expedited more efficiently with 12 pointers.

Killed a tree for Jesus.

Subtle, yet poignant.

The composer was Irving Berlin. Both Ella and Billie sang it at one time or another. Billie first in 1936. If Ella is singing it with Louis Armstrong, it was in 1937.

I followed her to the station with a suitcase in my hand And I followed her to the station with a suitcase in my hand Well it's hard to tell it's hard to tell, when all your love's in vain All my love's in vain When the train rolled up to the station, I looked her in the eye When the train rolled up to the station, and I looked her in the eye Well I was lonesome I felt so lonesome, and I could not help but cry All my love's in vain When the train it left the station, 't was two lights on behind When the train it left the station, 't was two lights on behind Well the blue light was my blues and the red light was my mind All my love's in vain Ooh... All my love's in vain "...Everyone should know Robert Johnson" - Keith Richards

I can dig that. Washington Post Headline: "One Very Tough Day for Cheney:" "Richard B. Cheney likes to tell audiences how much he was enjoying private life before Texas Gov. George W. Bush asked him to be his vice presidential running mate. There were times today when Cheney may have wondered why he ever said yes to the request. The day began with a report in the Dallas Morning News that Cheney, who has lived in Dallas for five years, did not vote in 14 of the state's past 16 elections, including the March 14 primary in which Bush was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Later in the day, the Associated Press reported that Halliburton Co., the giant Dallas-based energy services firm that Cheney headed from 1995 until last month, maintained separate bathroom facilities for Americans and foreign employees at its extensive overseas facilities." [Washington Post, 9/9/00]