slothrop

Sweet. Some of those butt shots are even pretty good.

Awesome! Nice job, guys.

Will I get this reward if I start climbing for Christ? Praise Jesus!

Ivan, can you be more descriptive? I did find some slings, but cut them off and used them to set up a fixed handline all the way across the ledges.

Lose something on the East Ledges descent off Forbidden? PM me with a description and I'll get it back to you.

Just makin' a little joke, Matt. Clipping someone to a rope and telling them to "trust God" is just as ridiculous as thinking you should learn to rappel on the UW Rock's slab with a belay. I sure wouldn't do either. Back on topic. If you think the new Erie guide is bad, you should see the previous edition. It's less than useless, it's misleading.

Learning to rappel while on rappel is a good way to get to the front of the line to meet God. The best part about Mt. Erie is the dueling protests at the main intersection in Anacortes.

Which sizes Lowe balls?

Are these the slabs you mean, Rad?

Went backpacking to a popular lake. Was shocked by the number and cluelessness of dog owners on the trail.

The basement of the Sogo department store at Yokohama station is a bacchanal of beautiful and delicious food. Acres of precious rice crackers, bento boxes, confections shaped like birds, piles of drippy kimchee, barrels of sake. Wish I were back there. If you're in Yokohama, I know a few other great places to eat... Do post some pictures if you can.

Great Northern Slab at Index is the only thing that comes to mind.

Kamakura is even better for temples and shrines. They're less spectacular than Kyoto's, but you can spend a couple days just walking around in the small city. There are even little hiking trails between some temples that go along a ridge overlooking the city.

Asshole.

Your toes should not hit the front when you kick the ground toe-first (to simulate front-pointing/step-kicking). Your heel should stay down when standing up on your toes. Otherwise, you'll get heel blisters.

You could always move to Florida, where you can shoot someone whenever you want, as long as you kill them so they can't argue against your "self-defense" argument: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/us/07shoot.html

To get the cops to send a car when you catch them in the act, can you tell the 911 operator that you shot the thieves? Or is that some kind of crime itself, like "disruption of donut break"?

It might be a good idea to make a police report of any thefts so you can establish a record of them. That way, when you lasso and hogtie the thieves next time after waiting up all night with your night-vision goggles on, the cops will believe you. Video's not a bad idea, either. Get a couple webcams. If you go the Axis of Evil ballistic missile route, I'd recommend against the "No Dong B" model. Just not intimidating enough.

Aliens may still be for sale on mgear.com, also ascenders.

Didn't that Clintoris guy join RMI or something? I betcha he's got some stories about bangin' chicks in the hut. Wasabi!

If Israel's response is seen as disproportionate, that's probably the point. They don't want to respond tit-for-tat, because Hezbollah is more willing to sacrifice "their" lives than Israel is. Let's say someone detonated a nuclear weapon in the Promised Land. I bet the major cities of Syria and Iran would be turned to molten glass in 30 minutes, no questions asked.

To Hezbollah, there are no civilians. They take "you're either with us or against us" to a new level. Not responding would have been an interesting reponse, though. Might have thrown Nasrallah off his game. Israel could have let the outrage at the unprovoked Hezbollah raid marinate for a while, at least. But no, Iran/Syria/etc. read the political situation very well and took advantage.

What does Israel possibly have to gain by deliberately targeting civilians? I think they just have so-so intelligence and an itchy trigger finger. It's too easy to provoke them into shelling/bombing/bulldozing something and Hezbollah has taken advantage of it.

Knitting for Nuclear Annihilation

Look at how we've destroyed this thread. It's breathtaking. I'm disappointed that the only dirt on RMI we'll get is scottgg's lackluster half-remembered hint of a story, though. Outer Space rulz, by the way.