Jim

WalMart is the big guy on the block these days and is affecting retail in general. Because of their size they can demand, and get, price breaks from vendors that the little guy can't get. The don't allow unions so the staff can't organize regarding pay and benefits - this is affecting the wages in retail and the grocery market, putting a lot of downward pressure on the wages. They been hauled into court in 37 states, and have lost most of these, regarding unfair labor practices, forcing folks to work off the clock, and race and sex discrimination. I guess you could argue that this is how the "market" works. I'd prefer a mix of small businesses that treat their employees as an asset instead of dirt. Walmart also uses an interesting strategy in rural areas. They will set up three stores over a wide area in a triangle, force out the local compitition, and then abandon the three stores and build one "super-store" in the middle where they figure folks will drive to. Ingenious waste of land and resources, not to mention the local community outfall.

i'm not trying to defend her, but in all honesty sometimes we don't see you guys. and it's not that we aren't paying attention or looking. i've had cyclists sneak up on my blind spot and try to pass straight through on the right in a right-hand turn lane. I would agree that honest mistakes are made and I ride conservatively. But in this case she started behind be and I was signalling my turn. She was just in a rush and wanted to zip around me. Why she came back in my lane and brushed me is beyond me.

Elegant response as usual

I'd have to agree that these are stupid choices for a bike rider - there are options to stay out of trouble. On the other hand there's the BMW encounter I had this morning. Turning left onto 3rd Ave from Stewart I stay close to the centerline to let the two lanes of traffic pass me, then immediately get to the right to let any cars following me pass. And I signal. This chick in the BMW decides to zoom around me while turning left with me, then she starts leaning back into the left of the two lanes and squeezing me. I jam on the brakes (if I didn't she would have bumped me), go down and get a good road rash on the elbow. She carries on. I think I was being extremely aware of not blocking traffic and courteous. She was not. I caught up three lights later and asked what exactly was she doing. She was dumbstruck and I thought she was going to start to cry. I left it.

Recent edition of Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology: Maybe you really are what you eat. This would solve the long-time mystery of why so many of Guam's Chamorro people - up to a third per village -- suffered a devastating neurological disease. A new study suggests that they gorged on flying fox bats that in turn had feasted on neurotoxin-laden cycad seeds. "Through the consumption of cycad-fed flying foxes, the Chamorro people may have unwittingly ingested large quantities of cycad neurotoxins," say Clark Monson of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Sandra Banack of California State University, Fullerton, and Paul Cox of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kalaheo, Hawaii, in the June issue of Conservation Biology. Guam's indigenous Chamorro people historically had a high incidence of a neurological disease with similarities to Lou Gehrig's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Called ALS-PDC (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonian dementia complex), the disease's symptoms range from muscle weakness and paralysis to dementia. The rate of ALS-PDC has been as much as 100 times higher in Guam's Chamorro people than in the continental U.S. Monson and his colleagues hypothesized that the answer might be another thing unique to Guam's Chamorro people: they love to eat the local flying foxes. These bats, which have a three-foot wing span, are served at Chamorro weddings, village fiestas and religious events. The preparation is simple: wash and boil whole, and then eat the entire bat -- wings, brains, fur and all. http://www.conbio.org/SCB/Services/Tips/2003-6-June.cfm#A1

No problem there. Won't find me on roads that are 40 mph and no room to pass.

Bike commuters cycle in town or just outside. Every where I bike there is plenty of room to pass. If not, it's only for a second or two. Folks in cars sometimes just get amped and take out their life frustrations on the cyclist. La-mo redirected aggression

Ouch - that's grim. My first job in Seattle was a messenger for 6 months. Compared to D.C and NYC Seattle is a pretty tame city for biking. But I kinda mix rules on my daily 30 mi commute. You have to to survive. Even if you obey all the laws the aholes will get after you. It's always heads up. I recently was in the right lane coming to a red light, usually I stay to the side by the close to the curb was full of water so I stayed in the middle. Some jerk leaned on his horn and bumped my bike from behind (at a red light!). I flipped him off he got out of his car, I dropped my bike, he got back in his car and locked it. Jerk.

It's one of the USGS glacier research points. Every see the permanant station out there on the moraine?

There are some moderates in the shadows down there. Cerro Solo from Camp Bridwell near the CerroTorre group is a good one, just need glacier equipment. And Cerro McMillian (sp?) is a fun scramble from Fitzroy camp with a couple of 4th class moves to get on the table-top sized summit. I'm sure there's others but that's all I've done. The big guys are outta my league though I still contemplate the American route on Fitzroy.

We took a rope once when riding up the road and then down the gulch. The routes are unremarkable and short. Seemed to be 5-7 (?). I'd like to know more too. I hope you rode the road for the full circuit.and didn't winnie out and do the car shuttle thing.

Very good book on the subject of Bush's activities in Florida. It ran in the UK press, but you'll see little of it in the mainstream US press. http://www.ubcpress.ubc.ca/company/press/palastPR.pdf

Leaving from Cascade Pass is generally more popular because you can scout the north-facing glaciers before going up. Going in from Dome Peak can be a bit trickier in later season going down the north-side glaciers trying to route-find. Though if you're experience it's not that big a deal. I would advise you to take you're time while doing the traverse and camp up high when possible. We spent a few nights at the high passes and it was beautiful. We saw these two guys going from Dome to Cascade Pass with minimal gear, just a tarp, a little climbing gear. They were a bit green but were having the time of their lives. Personally I would not go without a tent - especially after being tent bound for several days on earlier attempts. IMO minimal gear is needed. I don't remember the need for a rope (once offf glaciers) on Magic, Spider, Formidible, those two in the middle I can't remember, and Dome. Good luck.

Hel-loo - Newt got in trouble because he negoiated a deal with Rupert Murdock's lobbyist - someone who was lobbying him. Hillary's deal was an open bid process, no sneaky deals. Newt was also jumped on because he led the charge to get the old speaker of the house - Jim Wright - tossed out because of his book deal. Pot calling the kettle black. How soon we forget the details.

Oh yea, he's great: In May 2002, Bush Administration representatives at the UN Children's Summit opposed the use of condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention. In July, Bush withheld from the UN Population Fund $US34 million in funding for birth control, maternal and child care and HIV/AIDS prevention. In August, he withheld more than $US200 million in funding programs to support women and tackle HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan. Last month, the US killed a deal agreed to by 143 World Trade Organization members to allow developing countries without the ability to produce cheaper generic drugs for HIV/AIDS and other diseases to import generic drugs at lower prices from countries such as India, rather than the more expensive patented drugs from the US and Europe. The US pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is one of the top 10 industry contributors to federal US political campaigns. Prescription drugs cost twice as much in the US as in other developed countries, and the industry makes three times the profit of other industries. According to Dr Martha Campbell from the Berkeley School of Public Health, "the Bush delegation was young, pro-life, bright, well trained, legally savvy, deceptive and threatening . . . In the corridor we witnessed the US delegation threatening at least one high-level Asian delegate with his country's loss of US foreign aid and the loss of his own career". In the wash-up, every country represented at the meeting defied the US, but all their time was taken up, according to Campbell, in "preventing damage by a 500-pound gorilla from Guam". The US delegation demanded the deletion of a recommendation for "consistent condom use" to fight AIDS, even though a Berkeley study found condom distribution to be astonishingly cost-effective, at $US3.50 a year of life saved. In contrast, antiretroviral therapy costs more than $US1000. This expensive option is obviously more acceptable to the religious fundamentalists who give the Bush Administration its moral dimension, and to the pharmaceutical manufacturers who want an even bigger return on their political investment in Washington.

Here's some latest news: Paul Wolfiwitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense and main architect of the war plans is interviewed in the latest Vanity Fair. He says he's not suprised that WMDs have not been found in Iraq. He is quoted as saying that this was the bureaucratic justification and was used because (get this) no one could agree on a reason (!!!). It was the only reason the power guys and PR people could agree on. Wolfiwitz goes on to state that the real reason to wage war was to get our troops out of Saudia Arabia.

Ski Shuksan. Yippie!

Sad, but likely the true assessment of much of the public.

Hey dog- One other item. Don't confuse any criticism of the politics with my view of the grunts. As usual, the guys on the lower end of the orders are doing their job the best they can. Hope you get back to enjoy the mountains soon. It's typical spring here 50 deg and cloudy. See any interesting snakes or reptiles? (sorry, had to ask)

Way wrong. This was the Bushy's (wild) estimate of what Iraq had - Iraq said they had nothing (which was likely not true). The point of Bush's state of the union address was to scare people into supporting his war. Notice how now you hear no talk of WMD or terrorist links. They lied about it to drum up support among the public and media. And it worked. The media tagged along for the ride without any critical analysis, which is typical.

Hey dog - hope you're somewhat comfortable over there. The news media here has really backed off the coverage of what's going on over there now that the shooting is over. They're fickle and are shifting towards the politics of tax cuts, future elections, etc. Can't speak for anyone but myself so here's what I see lately. The Iraqis, for various reasons have looted their country of needed resources. Things that were needed for building an infrastructure of any government. It seems like a lot of good planning was in place for the war but not for the peace. Because of the looting and lack of security it's going to take a lot of our time an money to prop it back up. There's been no evidence of WMD, chemical weapons, neuclear capability, or evidence of support of terrorists so the reasons for going in in the first place are, well, what? Seems the neoconservatives in the Bush Admin have been pushing for this for a while. Are we any safer now that Iraq has fallen? I doubt it. Are the Iraqi people better off? Hopefully, but there will be some tough times in the short term. What I am sure of is that this adventure is costing us a huge chunk of change. That and the tax cuts recently passed will have us in the largest national debt for quite some time. Good luck to you and be safe. Sounds like things are not quite settled over there yet. Any word on how long you have to be there?

I spent 3 weeks in Greece a few years ago. You're up there pretty far north - I spent most of the time in central and then southern Greece. Meteora may be a place you want to check out, there's interesting climing on these funky towers, some with Monestaries atop them. Of course you can't climb some of them. The routes are bolted but I thought they were run out. Down on the Peloponnese Peninsula there's some interesing limestone right on the coast at Napflio in the shadow of a Byzantine fort, with some moderate routes. Watch out for the odd cactus sprouting from the cliff. I've heard that Mt. Olympus is a fun scramble. We also did Mt. Ilias, which is the highest peak on the Peloponnese. Sometime in July (18th or so?) there's a festival for the patron saint of the peak and a hundred or so die-hards come up from surrounding villages and bring up water, food, and icons up for an overnight celebration. Missed that by two days.

Last year of graduate school back east and climbing at Seneca Rocks.

Lester isn't on that one Jim. Good though esp on vinyl. Oh good catch - you must be a fan. Always seem to tie them together. The 30th anniversary CD was recently released.

If you're looking for folk singers: Pete Seeger, Woody and Arlo Guthrie, Freddie Hellerman, Odetta, and Joe Hickerson are a good start. The best (IMO) of old time bluegrass collections is the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's colloboration with the masters like Doc Watson, Vassa Clements, Maybell Carter, Roy Acuff, and Flat and Scruggs. Timeless music.