JayB

Whatever criteria they use to determine winners has clearly become vague and nebulous enough to render the prize meaningless. Microlending, Green-Belts, and now Al Gore's ruminations on Global Warming. Seems to me that a massive allocation of resources away from programs that could actually do quite a bit more to alleviate human suffering - from economic development, to clean drinking water, to reforestation, to malaria preventon, etc, etc, etc - and into measures which stand to have little or no effect on the ultimate outcome, while diminishing the pool of economic resources available to fund the aforementioned programs could just as easily lead to an amount of conflict and suffering that's just as great as any that might be caused by the warming itself.

Might be spot-on if the code requires a random-number generator...

Virendra v.1.0....

Codename: Maginot...

Operation: Gallipoli.....

Barbarossa

If all those men weren't lusting after Margaret Thatcher she'd never have made it into office, much less governed for any length of time.

I'd seek inspiration in Greek Mythology... "Project Sisyphus" Etc...

So true! And this is directly affected by the man's ability to simply do his chores without being asked. Being in a relationship where the expectation is that the total work necessary to keep the household going is one thing, being in a relationship with some chick that draws up a mental checklist of "chores" for her husband that she monitors continuously and enforces with nagging and terse comments is something else entirely. I don't know too many men who'd object to the former, or who could live happily with the latter.

This is supposedly a real exchange from Craig's list in NYC. "THIS APPEARED ON CRAIG’S LIST What am I doing wrong? Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy. I’m not from New York . I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all. Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level? Here are my questions specifically: - Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms -What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings -Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)? - Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there? - Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out? - How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY Please hold your insults - I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth. it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests PostingID: 432279810 THE ANSWER Dear Pers-431649184: I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it. Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful! So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you! So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage. Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout. By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation. With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way. Classic “pump and dump.” I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know. " Hahahaha...

WSJ has an interactive map that breaks the stats down by state and metro-area for the entire US between 2004 and 2006. Might come in handy if you want to keep tabs on where your money is going when you foot the bill for the bail-out. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/retro-SUBPRIME07.html Bob Kiyosaki and Carlton Sheets, what hath thou wrought...

Oh my. Behold the hardcore travel-insider's equivalent of a Larry Craig moment, complete with tales of electronic toe-tapping, resurfacing at the most inopportune time...

Carl - master of backhanded endorsements...

Whats the penalty? Deportation to the lEast Coast? Internment in the Bellevue forced labor camp? The East Coast will only work if you're willing to live in NYC without a car. Since your carbon emissions will be so much lower than the rest of the denizens on this board, you'll be allowed to board JetBlue once a month for parole visits to the mountains. You'll also be allowed twice a month to ride in a Prius driven by somebody wearing Vibram FiveFingers (made in Italy) to the gunks or the ADKs to climb ice or the best trad crag in North America. NYC. Visit for the boroughs, stay for the skiing...

Whats the penalty? Deportation to the lEast Coast? The move to an environment where all of the gear is effectively useless and *literally* serves no tangible purpose whatsoever might be just the tonic you need. The lEast Coast will put you closer to the goal, but for you, the bleak Cartesian infinity that is Iowa might be the only place where you could truly cleanse your soul. As things stand now, the move to Seattle is roughly analogous to a moth changing the angle of his orbit around the autoloatheorecreoconsumo flame inward a few degrees and flapping the wings with even greater vigor...

We need to start a "Carl's Confessional" forum where you can castigate yourself for succumbing to the same temptations that ensnare lesser beings who - whatever their faults - could at least claim ignorance when cross-examined and held to account for their sins. But not you, Sir. Fully conscious, hyperaware, eyes-wide open...you still succumb. For you there will be no mercy....

Ummm...yaaahh....I carry around those double axle cams for their good looks....same thing with that highly breathable single wall tent.... well, you epitomize the suburbanite fashion climber ... Never conceived of an excess of functionality being a fashion statement? Check out the Hummers at Bellevue Square some time. Ooops. Good thing for me that the preponderance of twin-tips on folks who are *all-about* riding and especially landing switch doesn't make your point either...

Ummm...yaaahh....I carry around those double axle cams for their good looks....same thing with that highly breathable single wall tent.... well, you epitomize the suburbanite fashion climber ... Never conceived of an excess of functionality being a fashion statement? Check out the Hummers at Bellevue Square some time. Oft overhead just after sinking a placement while quavering at the crux "God-DAMN that extra expansion range!!!!!!...."

Obama might as well swing for the fences at this point...

It actually wouldn't bother me if every single aspect of cam production took place in China, so long as the right QA/QC standards were in place. IMO the big value-add is in the design, developing the manufacturing process, the brand-recognition, having a roster of folks who know what they're doing in the mountains evaluating the products and translating their inputs into tangible improvements in quality and function, etc, and it would make perfect sense to ship out the low-value add stuff if you could hold quality constant while lowering costs. It's always struck me as odd that those who advocate simply giving the less fortunate people in the world money or its equivalent are granted the secular equivalent of sainthood, while those who advocate giving them something much more valuable that they can actually use to lift themselves out of poverty permanently - our business - are vilified. If you do something so routine and repetitive that it can be outsourced to China, it's also routine and repetitive enough to be automated - so even in the absence of outsourcing, the end result would be the same.

If the components are made the same way by the same vendors, and are assembled in a facility owned and operated by B.D., managed by B.D. employees, and are subject to the same QC measures as the cams assembled in SLC - what reason is there to doubt the quality of the final product vis-a-vis cams assembled in SLC, unless one assumes that the Chinese employees are less vigilant or capable than their peers in the US? I'm no engineer, but as someone who's actually been on the line doing the assembling, I can't think of any reason why the average Chinese guy would do that particular job, or the testing, or anything else at a lower level than their counterparts in the US. If you have other emotional or political reasons to object, fine, but unless someone can point out specific reasons why I should conclude otherwise, I don't buy the idea that the cams that BD makes in China are less reliable or have a lower quality than those that were made in the US.

Figures are in billions.

Just heard about a situation like yours about a friend from Portland from the wife, although in this story the dude *was* cheating and the marriage is a goner. The best part was getting some (half)-joking words of warning and admonitions as a result of some other guy's shenanigans. Not the cheating type, but even if I was I have to think that even a quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation concerning the cost and benefits of some out-of-wedlock action would keep me on the straight and narrow after I got married. Once you tally up the cost of all of the severed relationships, emotional keel-hauling, lawyer's bills, etc it'd be hard to conclude that any piece of ass in the world would justify even a 100th of the cost.

Seems like it might be worth sending an e-mail to the company, but I have a hard time believing that a company like BD would put stuff on the market that wasn't subject to the same QC battery that they employed with the stuff that they made in the USA. Especially after what's happened to CCH.

I think there's some old Kjell Swedin route at Index that'd fit the bill. Forget the name, don't think it gets climbed much. Looked at it a few years ago and climbed something else.