Jim

As you'll be in my 'hood and I no longer have Tuesday evening class I'll have to stop by for introductions. Good place, friendly folks.

Hyak - XC trail up to top of ridge, trend west, head down any of runs east of Siver Fir chair. Take the cutback if needed. Quick loop workout and safe.

It was great to try out some new gear. Special thanks to the BD and Marmot folks that were very helpful. My 6 year old skis now look lame-o compared to what I was on last night. And there was some 8 inches of pow to be found on the ungroomed.

While completing my research in western Maryland and W. VA for a few years I had the privilege of becoming acquainted with a number of folks in the mining community. Some of them were brighter than others, like any group of folks. Sure they had less education but given the issues they dealt with you would choose mining as a career given the limited choices. If the economy ever does a total tank I would trust that these folks could fend for themselves better than your or I. They could fix anything - if they didn't have a part they would make it - including screws. These folks worked harder than almost any job I've known about. I was taken into a couple of deep mines (bat stuff) and whoa! - I would never want to do that work. What impressed me the most was their graciousness. A howdy, pat on the back, and always an invitation to dinner. W. VA is a poor state with little resources and limited opportunities. If you've ever had to work with you hands and back you appreciate that you've managed to move beyond that type of work but have a great deal of empathy for those less fortunate.

Here you go: To use the codes: Place your cursor in the location where you wish to insert a special character. Activate the numeric key pad on the right of the keyboard by pressing Num Lock (upper right of keyboard). The Num Lock light on the keyboard will indicate that the numeric key pad is on. NOTE: You must use the numeric key pad; if you use the number keys on the top of the keyboard, the characters will not appear. If you are on a laptop or computer without a separate numeric keypad one of the other methods is recommended. While pressing down the ALT key, type the four-digit code on the numeric key pad at the right edge of the keyboard. The codes are "case sensitive." For instance, the code for lower-case á is ALT+0225, but capital Á is ALT+0193. NOTE: If you have the International keyboard activated, you will only be able to input codes with the ALT key on the left side of the keyboard. Release the ALT key. The character will appear when the ALT key is released. NOTE: You must include the initial zero in the code. For example to insert á (0225) you must type ALT+0225, NOT ALT+225.

Duh! Read the instructions on the site guys.

Interesting though that Venezuela has had a growth of 9% over the last couple of years (mostly due to oil), has paid the IMF the vast majority of the debt it owes, and invested in the bonds of neighboring countries. Given that other countries are stuck with the "spike clauses" from the internatinal oil folks that give them a much smaller percentage of short term oil price increases, I'd say he's doing his folks a service.

Indeed! The Chicago Boys did a bang-up job of showing Russia how to do it!

We got hired by a federal agency to conduct some research and environmental documentation. Somehow in a conversation with the feds I asked them do they ever contract with the UW as the profs have a cheap labor pool. He said they did but it's the usual story. The last time they met with some researchers there for a $250k contract the profs actually said they did not want to be held to any rigid schedule for deliverables(?). Talk about bubbles.

E-L-Y-S-I-A-N is a good place, used to stop by after woodworking to wash down the sawdust.

But not w/o brake fluid.

“The United States does not transport, and has not transported detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture,” the secretary stressed. Human-rights organizations and legal groups, both in the United States and abroad, have accused the United States of allowing a practice known as “rendition to torture,” in which suspects are taken to countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia where harsh interrogation methods are used. Ms. Rice did say the United States has long participated in the movement of terror suspects between countries. The reference to sovereignty implies that any European democracies that may have provided secret prisons did so willingly. In Berlin, a government spokesman said Monday that Germany has a list of more than 400 overflights and landings by planes suspected of being used by the CIA about which it plans to ask Mr. Rice during her visit to the German capital

Stud muffet!

I liken this to the debate regarding digitally produced music vs music played on an instrument. It is a very different skill. For me, I appreciate the skill in playing an instrument and artful knowledge of the camera. Less so the use of a computer.

Ditto. And note his wide presence in the NY Times, PBS, and NPR commentaries. Liberal media my butt.

That's not an issue here. The National Parks interpret the Wilderness Act to allow chainsaws for trail clearing, which is ok. USFS interprets it to only allow hand tools. This rule writing opens the door to vehicle use on trails, and other idiotic ideas.

Sorry for the long post. I received this from a friend in the National Park Service. Please voice your concerns if you have them after reading this. As many of you know, our national parks are under a serious threat from the Bushies. The Department of Interior (DOI) is re-writing the rules that govern how national parks are administered and changes the very mission of the National Park Service (NPS). High Country News has had a couple of articles on this, mostly focusing on the "financial sustainability" language that would allow much higher and more intensive use of the parks for profit (think rock concerts and jet skis). Since DOI has made the comment process on this issue incredibly difficult (no executive summary, no redline-strikeout of the new changes, 250+ pages of bureaucratic stuff to read), it is hard to tell the exact nature of what is going on without reading the whole thing. So, that's what I set out to do this weekend. As Eric drove us to Pocatello for Thanksgiving with the folks, I read the new rules. I'm not done yet--four more chapters to go--but I can tell you that this is one of the most sneaky, underhanded, and generally misguided policy rewrites in the history of democracy. To illustrate, I'd like to tell you about Chapter 6, which deals with wilderness within NPS boundaries. Instead of calling "wilderness" simply "wilderness," it's redefined as "NPS Wilderness" and made subservient to the NPS directive from the Organic Act to not only "protect and preserve for future generations," but also for "the enjoyment of the people." Under these rules, it is suddenly okay to allow motorized vehicle access and temporary roads for various purposes, including administrative uses, grazing (even if there was not road access before the area was added to NPS or designated as wilderness), construction of safety equipment (cell phone towers are an example of "safety equipment" provided in the rules), and for needs relating to "homeland security." I think we all know what that last bit means. This administration is determined to continue to use fear as a tactic to strip away our rights, including our right to a wilderness "untrammeled by man...a visitor who does not remain." Here's the really creepy part. If you read Section 6.4.3.3, "Use of Motorized Equipment", there is no mention of these potential motorized uses. It says, "any form of mechanical transport will be prohibited in wilderness except as provided for in specific wilderness legislation." You have to read all of the other sections to see that in nearly every one, there is some provision for motorized use or access. To be honest and disclose the truth, all that is needed in this section is a sentence like this: "Motorized use may be allowed in NPS Wilderness in certain circumstances, as described in sections blah, blah, blah, blah, so, and so." But no. It's hidden in all the other sections. I wish I could believe that this is just really crappy technical writing, but alas, WMD, Iraq, and dismantling of environmental protections across the board have turned me a bit cynical. I believe this is a deliberate attempt to undermine protections in National Parks in the name of short-term profit, and that it is written deliberately to keep the truth of it from the public. This type of writing plagues the remaining chapters as well, including Chapter 4, Natural Resources Management. I can hardly wait to read Chapter 7, Interpretation and Education. I sure hope they provide some guidance on allowing discussion of intelligent design in the creation of the Grand Canyon. Hoo-weee! Ahem. Deep breath. Back to the subject at hand. Fortunately, there is a voice of reason out there that is trying to help people make intelligent comments that (hopefully) won't just be blown off. The National Parks Conservation Association has a portion of their web site dedicated to this, including a brief management analysis detailing the worst of the changes. They also have an index of what's going on in the media, and ways that you can take action. Check it out at http://www.npca.org/policyrewrites/. From that page, you can link to Dennis Galvin's excellent testimony before the Senate (http://www.npca.org/media_center/testimonies/testimony110105.asp). The Coalition of NPS Retirees are also pretty upset about this (http://www.npsretirees.org/). Coalition director Don Castleberry said: "The proposed changes to National Park Management Policies provide one of the clearest examples of why this coalition, which never seemed necessary until two and a half years ago, has come together. Believe me, there are few among us who would not prefer to be writing our books, tending our roses, enjoying grandchildren, or volunteering at a National Park. We have coalesced because this is a critical time for the treasures to which we devoted our careers. It is a time when this nation may decide whether to retain the benefits of victories painfully won over 130 years of National Park history or to risk losing them to narrow, short-term, and private interests." This re-write of the rules requires more than just a postcard campaign. It requires all of us who care to take the time to tell them specifically what is wrong. To bog them down in more paperwork than they can handle. To out-write the bastards (which, trust me, won't take much--even for those of you who don't think you're great writers). As you know, I disagree with darn near everything that has gone on nationally since Bush took over. So, you might ask "why now?" With so much to get fired up over, why rant on this issue? Growing up, most of our summer vacations were spent in Yellowstone. I worked there for a summer in college. In the same way that the cast of South Park sings "Blame Canada" for things gone wrong with their youth, I sing "Blame Yellowstone" for turning me into the nature-loving, outdoorsy, eco-freak you all know. This time, it's personal. The deadline for comment has been extended to February 18, 2006. Even if all you do is send a one-line letter saying, "Cease and desist this silly rule re-write" and don't prepare a similar obsessive-compulsive tome to what I am writing, I want you to know I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for taking action on this.

Very disappointing, Grade D. The seem to have lost something they had back in the late 80's - early 90's. An eternal optomist I keep going, however.

I wonder if he get CNN in Craford or if Uncle Dick just gives him the news he needs to hear.

See: current record deficits and debt.

There's a couple kids in my wife's school that are known as the "peanut boys". If they touch a counter that had peanuts or peanut butter on it they go into anaphylatic shock. So no food of any sort can be in the classrooms, no home-made snacks (in case of peanut residue), and there is a constant regime of wiping desks. One set of the parents is cool, the other threatened to sue the school when one teacher (after school hours) brought a cookie to another in her classroom while the parent was there. She had baked it at home and it had no nuts. Very odd allergy. Seems like a Dawinian clause.

Case in point: Shi Shi Beach is hailed by outdoors enthusiasts as one of the most beautiful, pristine beaches in America. But a worst-case scenario now looms over this Olympic Peninsula gem: that it will be opened up to private mining interests. Shi Shi is essentially being held for ransom by the heirs of a man who bought the mineral rights beneath the beach’s surface back in 1928 – 58 years before it was deeded to Olympic National Park. http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/5351660p-4844325c.html The heirs, the Watson brothers of Mount Vernon, want the U.S. Park Service to pay them $30 million for their rights to the gold, platinum, oil and natural gas under the beach. If they don’t get it, they’re threatening to sell the rights to a mining operation that might be much more serious about trying to exploit those rights than the Watsons have been.

Distel who?

Very interesting meeting Bush had with Chinese leaders. Bush was pushing for changes in the currency valuation and import goals. They said no thanks. China's role in the world is rising and ours is diminishing. Instead of wasting billions over in Iraq and in terroism grants to places like Oklahoma City we should be investing in our future. China is certainly investing in theirs. I'd say that China was rising already but 8 yr of Bush will drop us further below them.