JayB

Wow. Just got the 73-01 set. Thanks for posting this Thinker.

Christ. That's terrible news. Sorry you had to see that Ralph, but kudos to you and Fleb for doing what you could to help. Sometimes that makes all the difference, but unfortunately there may have been nothing anyone could have done to save this climber after a fall of that magnitude. Anyone close to the deceased has my sympathies.

BTW - I have no problem with the idea in principle but given the enduring popularity of the "New Female Climber" troll and other zany hijinks that.just.never.seem.to.get.old in the sausage zone I think it would be mighty tough to get going....

I found a Luna Bar in my Jacket while skiing on Friday and noticed that the flavor was "Nutz over Chocolate"..... Can't help but wonder if there's a subversive voice at work at Cliff Bar Inc who's mocking the "Women's Empowerment through Marketing" schtick they've got going on there. I am personally waiting for the next phase of this movement to manifest itself in even more bizarre and incongruous ways. "Finally - An acetylene torch made for a woman's unique needs." "When I'm arc welding, nothing nurtures my soul like the Femweld 4000's sensuous curves..." "They told you you'd have to use plumber's tape made for men forever. Well Athenatape has just proven THEM wrong...." Add the soft focus shots, a few floral scenes, Natalie Merchant tracks in the background and plenty of shots depicting the soulful, fully-harmonized, and utterly empowered state of bliss that using the AhtenaTape Plumber's Tape for Women © will surely inspire and you're in business.

So who is down for 13th-14th. Vantage is tempting as it's closer but if those guys who jumped through the Ring of Fire in their bikini briefs will be there...

This of course explains the existence of tens of millions of non-union workers that are paid considerably more than minimum wage. Without unions, the law of supply and demand would cease to exist, and employers would not compete for workers with the skills they need to produced the goods or services that they sell for a profit. In point of fact, the closest the scenario that you described ever came to existing was/is in Communist countries. Pretty well sums up the situation in North Korea, provided you substitue "food" for cars. Anyhow - how did the Nobel Committee overlook an economic mastermind like you? You've been robbed, kemosabe.

This particular situation has more to do with human nature than the scruples of the average union member charged with selecting an administrator for the union's retirement plan assets. Put 1000 people from any background in a situation where someone has a powerful incentive to bribe them and a certain percentage will succumb to that temptation and accept the bribe. Where unions may be unique is that they may on the whole have worse-than-average safeguards and controls against this sort of thing. Obviously there are a fair number of corporations that had very poor governance as well, but I would bet that on the whole union's finances and the manner that they are administered are quite a bit less transparent than the average public corporation's.

Originally posted by Gary Y. "Anyway, sorry if the instructions seem complicated, but because we have limited seating (126 people) and we want to give preference to AAC and UWCC folk, we're asking that everyone email climb@u.washington.edu to claim a seat. We'll give AAC and UWCC folk first priority and then take care of everyone else. Likely everyone who wants to see it will get a spot, but this was the easiest way we could figure out how to pull it off. "

No doubt it has - but less scrupulous persons than yourself have succumbed to the temptation apparently. Any union with considerable assets to invest and half a clue should have measures written into their bylaws to prevent this sort of corruption in order to protect the interests of their members.

Yep. I actually was the one who put together our 401(k) plan. What's your point/question/issue? This is how I did ours: did some research, made some decisions, discussed it with the membership, signed the paper. Our decision was based on a number of factors. Now why on earth would I be interested in verifying/proving your claim for you? If you're going to trash unions, try to do it based on factual information. The potential for kickbacks and corruption should be absolutely clear to anyone who has "put together" a 401(k) plan. Investment companies make their money by charging fees to administer the plans, and/or by withdrawing a fixed percentage of the assets invested in the funds within the plan from the funds every year to cover expenses and make a profit. The more assets they manage or administer, the more money they make. These companies will compete aggressively to get their hands on any significant pool of assets - and if the person or persons responsible for determining who gets to manage the money hints that they would bring their business to the said investment company in exchange for a bribe.....

That's why it's all about Sharpton in 04. I think I have seen better lists elsewhere though. Some of the stuff on this one is just a tad limp. -Presided over the most prolonged shortage of soft-serve ice-cream of any president in history. -During my term, ChemLawn lawncare services failed to rejuvenate more moss-laden, weed-infested lawns than at any time in history. - I am the first sitting president who failed to honor National Pipe Fitter's Appreciation Day with a State Ceremony. -etc, etc, etc, etc.....

I would be into hitting Smith next weekend (13th-14th) for some Tuff Love - but only if the Nihilists are making another guest appearance. Have you knocked off Chain yet Distel?

That would suck if they ruined the Taco - though I am much more likely to spring for major repairs and drive the thing until it implodes than buy a new rig in the next several years. So what happened with the 4-Runner anyway? I have seen one that looked heavier, had less clearance, and generally looked a bit more pedestrian but I thought that they were still selling "sport" editions that were mostly stripped down and still looked like the old 4-Runners.

Cool. Thanks. Will have to check those out.

I was buying tickets for the garage sale and the dude at the till said they just got dropped (in the mail) and should start arriving by Monday. I haven't made any significant gear purchases at REI for at least 7-8 years, but I am always amazed at how much cash I unload there each year on fuel canisters, replacement hoses for bladders, iodine tablets, etc, etc, etc.

I've always racked bread-and-butter cams like that, and added slings as needed while climbing.

The hangers for the anchors behind the pillar at the top of Ya Snooze Ya Loose were gone as of 2/28. I think the bolts there are 3/8". I would replace them myself but I doubt I'll be back there for at least a month or so - so if someone else wants to spend $6 and five minutes replacing them that would be cool. You might also want to bring along a hammer to peen the ends of the bolts to make things a bit more challenging for the next POS that wants to steal them. In the meantime there's a chock-filled crack to the left of the column and a block or two that you can use to make a decent anchor out of.

Yeah - if there's actually money to be made in that kind of arbitrage none of the hedge funds will have taken positions and moved the futures markets by now. The parable of Joe Kennedy and the shoeshine boy comes to mind...

Gotta bump this.

I am a skier at heart and always will be a skier, but I picked up boarding four years ago and absolutely love it -so it is not like I have any senseless animus against boarders but...Dave has a point here. Anyone who side slides on a board and shears off the new snow should be subjected to a hostile barrage of insults and profanity whenever they engage in such a practice. You sideslide, you suck and that's the end of the story. On a related note, I will add that anyone who can't ride their board through the troughs on moguls also sucks in a big way. I've noticed a steady deterioration in the quality of moguls since boarders came on the scene, and I think that the same ethic should apply to riding them - if you can't turn on them, you need to stay away from them and preserve them for those that can. I spent 20 days beating myself to a pulp on my snowboard in mogulfields, but I managed to get the hang of it. I've seen boarders who are obviously way more talented than I am sideslide the hell out of mogul fields that I was able to turn through, so it seems that this is more a problem of standards - e.g. sidesliding through moguls is okay no matter how good you are - than ability. So feel free to hurl invective at the next boarder you see trashing a mogul field as well.

Hey - I think I saw that line across the valley while climbing Syncro. Nice Work Janez, Don, et al! I will have to add this to the long list of "Cool Looking Lines that I Will Never Even Think of Leading." that I've been compiling for a few years. BTW - thanks to everyone for the updates on the ice up there. I may try to head up there the weekend after next for one last trip to LW - then its off to find some easy north-facing stuff in Cody for a couple of weeks in March.

Yeah. If AK is talking about the editorial page only he'd be right on, but on the whole the Journal has an enviable record with respect to news reporting, and has yet to suffer any of the rather embarrassing episodes that have beset the NYT periodically, most recently the Jayson Blair episode, and most memorably the Pulitzer Prize winning fraud in which a NYT reporter assured the world that all was well in Russia while the government was deliberately starving tens of millions of Ukranians to death.

Great article Cracked. Thanks for posting that. I've said it before but it bears repeating, that I'm absolutely amazed that the folks who have accused anyone in power who supported invading Iraq of having only the basest motivations for doing so, but have remained stone-silent in the face of clear evidence that many of the leading figures who opposed removing Hussein by force were taking direct bribes from the regime, funded by profits that were taken directly out of the pockets of the Iraqi people. Amazing.

I am primarily in favor of spending our children's future on Colt45 TallBoys and Pull-Tabs, but sustaining the millitary industrial complex is a close second. Are you sure that you don't have a talking Paul Ehrlich plush doll somewhere in your house that dishes out lines from "The Population Bomb!" when you squeeze it?

The real question is - how much fan mail have you sent to Paul Ehrlich since 1968?