Fairweather

"Trust". Yes, it is important in any marriage. But it is not a firewall that will sheild either of you from human nature. To deny that we are all programmed with certain "desires" is not realistic. Sure, a strong relationship/love will override extramarital desires 99.99% of the time, but why expose yourselves to such temptation? (Especially where alcohol is involved.) My wife and I are both on the same page with this one. The only female friends I keep are those who are also good friends of my wife's. My wife does not sleep in a tent with another man, nor do I with another woman. Play by any rules you want, but don't preach at me.

It may surprise many here to learn that the constellation Pleiades was once known as "The Seven Hot, Naked Sisters." While you all gaze upward tonight at the man-god of war, and ERock probes the sky for super-massive black holes, and Nerco explores the chin-string nebula, I'll be in heaven with my harem.

Thread drift... A wire bundle that actually ran inside the center fuel tank shorted/sparked and ignited the fuel vapors inside the half empty tank. The explosion that resulted severed the foreward section off of the 747, and the back 2/3 of the decapitated aircraft continued to fly for several minutes. I think the missile theory has been debunked, but over 1000 eye witnesses, including pilots in the airspace at the time, swear they saw something streaking into the sky toward the plane. I watched this horror unfold on the TV monitors as I waited to board my plane in Juneau.

I've been married to the same wonderful woman for 18 years...together for almost 20. She does not climb, and never did. Tennis and skiing (alpine) are the only sporting interests we share. She likes camping and dayhikes, and that's ok. We have always given eachother lots of "space" but I've tried not to take advantage of her liberal outlook re: my climbing activities. I've never tried to pressure her to come along even though she's in awsome shape and would probably kick ass. (...and since someone asked, climbing with an unattached member of the opposite sex is strongly discouraged.) Our kids are definitely the "glue" for us, and the focus of our lives together, but we have childless friends who have been married just as long. Both my kids were introduced to the mountains at a very young age, but only my son has continued with an interest in climbing and he travels with me often. Just my .02.

HOLY SHIT! Are they rioting again over at The "WTA"? ...Thanks for considering the book and taking the time. As promised I have picked up a copy of "Blinded by the Right" and will read it just as soon as I plow through "Spy On The Roof of the World". You're right about the "whining" in Bias. Especially in the Foreward of the paperback edition. But regardless of your final conclusions, maybe a seed of media-skepticism is now germinating in your thought.....or not. Hope your expedition went well! I'll give you my thoughts on your "literary recommendation" soon.

I suspect that, like you, the BMW/Hummer driver has no agenda either. Nerco. You, sir, are a prick.

....Let me guess. You drive a Subaru?

A SUBARU or a VW MICROBUS is to an enviro/liberal as a HUMMER or BMW is to a yuppie. ....It's all about fittin' the image/validating the stereotype. ....and one group is no different (or better) than the other.

The "older ones" are rusting away in junkyards, their horizontally opposed pistons long ago fused to their low grade aluminum blocks. So exactly whom does that leave?

Cancelled my Olympic Mountain plans and took the kid over to the Goat Rocks. We planned to climb Curtis Gilbert via Meade Glacier but upon our arrival at Rimrock Lake we discovered the So Fork Tieton Road was blocked 14 miles from the trailhead. ("Closed due to fire danger" ) We then drove around to Chambers Lake trailhead and hiked to just below Snowgrass Flats with our goal of climbing Curtis Gilbert unchanged. (Yes, I know Bypass Camp is closer, but we wanted the views.) Friday morning we hooked up with the PCT and hiked in a steady rain to Cispus Pass. The "trail" down from here shown on Beckey's map is mostly obliterated and difficult to follow, but after a 600' descent from the pass we crossed two spur ridges, two beautiful alpine basins, and climbed up a 1000' steep gully to Klickton divide in improving, but windy weather. We followed the broad ridge along the edge of the Meade Glacier and scrambled 3rd class (maybe some 4th) up the summit block. Nice views of other Goat Rocks summits from the top, but Rainier was lost in clouds, and only the lower half of Adams was visible. Warm and Surprise Lakes looked inviting below....and a lot closer than our camp back at Snowgrass. The descent took almost as long as the climb, carefully dropping down the gully, and climbing back up to Cispus Pass, then dropping again to 5800', and climbing back up to 6400'. We packed up Friday night and hiked back to the car under headlamps. Nice trip with my son!

Thanks for the info JayB, My understanding of the supply manipulation is that it's indeed the "just in time" refining. The gasoline suppliers almost hope for a problem with capacity as this spikes profits dramatically. I never claimed OPEC was involved. (By the way, I'd like to see that communist, soon-to-be-dictator Chavez in Venezuela, rotting in jail where he belongs.) Supply and demand are clearly at work here. The question is manipulation of supply and tacit collusion between refiners who all know how this game is to be played. And it obviously has little to do with a free market.

Absolutely. The role of govt is to make sure we all play by the established rules that ensure a free market thrives. Please don't conclude that I support new onerous government regs, just enforcement of existing law. But then, how does the USA (or The Crown) enforce their rules on a multi-national?

not a free market

anti-trust

=

supply manipulation

TV too often gets a bad wrap. If you can sort through the 98% that is pure garbage, what's left is a beautiful window to the world capable of taking us to parts of the globe/universe we are unable to see with our own eyes. The History Channel Discover Channel PBS (Frontline rocks!) UW TV C-Span OLN (Outdoor Life Network) ....and of course, FOX News. (They report. I decide.) Of course, I am occasionally drawn to "Comedy Central" and "The Sci-Fi Channel" (Those B-Grade movies are great!), but I think these two fall into the afore mentioned 98% category.

Anyone who would actually pay for a hummer probably has issues..........oh wait, we're talking about that truck aren't we.

Uh, Catbird, I believe the big north slope merger (BP,ARCO) took place and was approved under WJ Clinton/Ron Brown. Democrats. Any fact to support this blame-the-Republicans claim? Or are you just goin' by what your friends at school told you 'bout those evil Republicans?

My last trip to the ER was in March. Influenza;105 temp, blood pressure 85/38, severe dehydration. Waited 4 hours in lobby before getting almost 3 liters of drip in two hours....and all this for $1387. (OK, "only" $275 out of my pocket.) Did you hear about the patient who is suing his doctor for keeping him waiting for 3 hours?

Well said Dwayner! The devil is in the details!....and the interpretation of the fine print is still open to debate. Aren't some things just better left unwritten?

you think you can write stuff like this and then pretend wanting a peaceful resolution to the palestine conflict. with whom do you think it's going to fly? you are basically a xenophobe of everything foreign and different, as is painfully obvious in what you write and then you want to give lessons in political correctness? give me a fucking break. so let's recap what happened here: someone posted rejoicing at the death of a muslim dictator, i posted a piece on the rise to power of said dictator, you started saying i was an antisemite because israel apparently had a role in it, gohawks came up with some crazy garbage, and now you continue your baiting with some more outlandish things you made up in your extremist little mind. and you are doing this for 'freedom', i assume? here is another piece about idi amin and his rise to power. i hope you like it. note the sources for the arcticle: the monitor and the british public record office http://www.afrol.com/News2002/uga004_amin_uk.htm A Xenophope? I believe Isreal is a foreign country. (Your zionist/American puppet state conspiracy thoeries notwithstanding) Does supporting one foreign entity over another now make one xenophobic? Political Correctness? Unlike you, who claims neutrality while repeatedly giving palestinian crimes a "pass", I have never professed by-stander status. I know this kind of decisive thought might be unsettling for you, so I'll spell it out: I support Isreal. I think they are the agreived party in this conflict. If peace can only be acheived through military victory, and I now believe this to be so, I hope Isreal wins. Third; my attempts to label you a "racist", and "nazi", were meant to illustrate and impress upon you the visciousness of such labels...labels which liberals like you throw out on an all-too-frequent basis. How did it feel?

no you don't. my sympathies lie with the innocent victims of violence on either side of the conflict. this should be enough to show how naive you are to believe the gloves were ever on. (if it is indeed naivety) That's strange. You never seem to express any outrage at all vis a vis Palestinian crimes, and regular outrage at those supposedly commited by Isreal. Given your one-sided indignation, it is quite easy to read your sympathies. In case you didn't realize it, there was something resembling a peace process going foreward, albeit slowly. That is now likely dead, and it should be evident to all which side is responsible. I'm just waiting for you to post the latest Jewish conspiracy...that this bombing was orchestrated by Isreali agents, or something along that vein.

Good article in the Tacoma News Tribune today. Looks like the multi-national oil companies have figured out how to manipulate the price by limiting refined inventories. They call it "just in time" supply. What a joke. This shit is not free market, it is price fixing albeit without the smoke-filled room and backslaping overt collusion.