JayB

" "You can say that it's great that Saddam is gone and I'm sure that a lot of Iraqis feel it is great that Saddam is gone. But a lot of them gave their lives. And their living standard is a whole lot worse now than it was before." What did Mr. Dean meant by this statement? I didn’t want to write about it from the beginning despite what I felt and the questions asked by some of the readers. I said, “this is an American affair and I might offend some of my American friends through expressing my opinion”. But the statement was too irritating and insulting and as I said before there’s no such thing as an internal affair anywhere in the world, not to mention the USA, the country in which the tiniest change in policy might well have a great impact elsewhere in the world. Anything that happens in America concerns everyone on this planet, and moreover as an Iraqi who his whole country’s future relies considerably on how the things go on in America I have additional reasons to care about such things. To summarize my response I was not surprised, but it added to my confusion about the justification of the position of some Americans regarding this issue. To have such approach from some Arabs and Muslims, it’s more than expected, still nauseating though. To have such an approach from some European countries is also (natural). But to come from Americans? Well, this is just more than I can understand. I’d like to (debate with) Mr. Dean and his supporters on few points. I’m not going to comment about the rightness of the statement with more than saying that only a (blind) man would believe it and only a man blinded by his ambitions would dare to say it, but when you say such words, don’t you mean in other words that the sacrifices made by the American soldiers are all in vain? And that these soldiers are not doing a service to the world, nor to Iraqis and not to America. In fact you are saying that since they didn’t do the world, America or us a favour then they’re only doing a favour to GWB and his administration. Don’t you agree that by saying those words you accuse the American soldiers of one of two charges each of which is worse than the other; You are saying that, either they are stupid enough to sacrifice their lives for the sake of GWB political future, or they are evil people who love fighting and killing and they are doing this only for money, in other words they’re no more than mercenaries. Saying that you only disagree with the way this issue is handled will also not change the fact that you are only harming your men and women on the battlefield. By statements like these you deny any honourable motives for the great job your people are doing here. How in your opinion will this affect the morale of your soldiers? Feeling that their people back at home don’t support them and that they’re abandoned to fight alone in the battlefield. And all of this for what? For staying in the white house for 4 or 8 years? Is it worth it? And this is not directed only to Mr. Dean, it’s for all the Americans who support such allegations without being aware of their consequences. What’s it that you fight so hard for, showing your soldiers as s occupiers and murderers, the soldiers who I had the honour of meeting many, and when talking to some of them, I didn’t see anything other than gentleness, honesty and good will and faith in what they’re doing. Your words and those of others were insults to the Americans, Iraqis and moreover to yourself, and I’m certain you don’t represent the number of Americans you fanaticise about. I’m sorry for being so rude, but I really tried hard to restrain myself from being more direct, and thus nearly as rude as you were. If I wanted to respond just as an Iraqi who is so offended by your words, my feelings wouldn’t have been expressed without using a language nastier than what I’ve committed myself to on writing on this blog. Please consider this for a moment, does winning the elections and getting rid of GWB and the republicans worth the damage you’re inflicting on your men and women’s morale? My heart goes with those brave people and the widows, orphans and mothers of the American soldiers who died while doing this great service for their country, ours and humanity. I can’t imagine what their response would be to such thoughtless words motivated with nothing more than selfish ambitions. -By Ali." Source

Enough of the slagging on bouldering already. It's not like the guy couldn't slog up volcanoes or lug his way up the moderate trad routes with long approaches that seem to occupy most people on this site if he wanted to. He's figured out what he likes most in climbing and is focusing on that, which is spending his time cranking on incredible rock in beautiful settings and warm surroundings while road-tripping all over the country with a mini-harem of fit young climber chicas. Not a bad alternative to the frozen/multiday/death-slog/sausagefest that most alpine outings consist of if you ask me. Anyhow - the original idea here was to get a bunch of point-and-shoot hacks like myself and maybe even some decent amateur photographers - judging from all of the tech-talk on cameras that goes down here there must be a few out there - to post some photos. Post more diss less.

Just tilt your head in the opposite direction when you are looking at the screen to correct this problem. Didn't want to make him look too macho since he is already climbing runout slab in shorts....

Bronco in the mine shaft on the approach to East Wilman's Spire Frostbite Ridge Slothrop on Mt. Stuart's North Ridge Satan's Sidewalk, Mt.Shuksan (Paco's Photo) Paco Heading up the the Second Belay, Satan's Sidewalk Smoker Heading for the crux, Online, Static Point:

I am already popping 50,000 mg of Aleve a day to get a head start on the inevitable bout of tendonitis that seems to plague me after any trip to Smith. Should have the system pretty well saturated by March.

Too bad ClimbXmedia is toast or there would probably be some footage of this guy sending on the net. If there's footage out there somewhere else post the links.....

Some data to consider in light of the statements you made Bug: - When it comes to Christianity, the most devout are the most divorced. Fundamentalist/Born Again Christians have the highest divorce rate amongst all Christian denominations. -Atheists and Agnostics have a lower divorce rate than all major religions in the US (if you include all Christian denominations as a whole). If you parse Christians a bit further it turns out that Atheists and Agnostics have the same rate of divorce as Catholics and Lutherans, who are tied for the lowest rate of divorce amongst all major Christian denominations. Interesting stuff. Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm

Seek vengence on that Gorge-Route Distelator. I am down with a Smith Trip in March.

Oh brother, not another blame it on the '60s culture thing. There's a lot of other social trends going on outside the classroom, disparaties in school funding, movement of wealth out of some neighborhoods, increase in single parent households, decrease in wages (inflation adjusted), increase in shipment of jobs overseas, reduction in social spending. Pick one. Likely any of these are more of a factor than that 60s tripe. All of that is true, but in my opinion there was a pretty profound cultural shift that has nothing to do with macro-economic trends like the decline of the manufacturing sector. Just to take a couple of anecdotal examples from my experience, we have the abandonment of track-and-field day in favor of a day of “sharing excercises” specifically designed to prevent the thwart any sort of competition, ranking by merit, etc, etc, etc. Ditto for the elimination of tracking by ability, “social promotion” onto the next grade regardless of competence, etc, etc, etc, etc – these are all changes rooted in a particular philosophy/belief about the nature and function of public education that don’t seem to have anything to do with more textiles being produced overseas, etc, etc, etc.

MattChuck/ChuckMatt: My post really had nothing to do with the micro-policy issues in the sub-microcosm that Seattle Public Schools represent in the broader universe of American public education. I was just stating my personal belief that both the manner in which people raise their children and the ways that schools govern the behavior of students in the classroom were influenced by ideals which had their popular genesis in the sixties – and that both children’s behavior and the learning environment in the classroom have declined as a result.

Cool TR. Sounds like that thing will be there for a while. P.S. Hey Alpinfox: Wankers? If you were a real CPB protege' it would have been clownpunchers .....

I've heard about the stuff too but it was before my time. You seriously just pounded the ends in and rapped off of the middle?

This may be true, but how stupid do you have to be to think that claiming that someone was too intelligent for the job is going to create problems for you? Any administrator with an ounce of sense would make up a more palatable reason to reject an applicant, and also realize that anyone on the receiving end of such a rejection would most likely respond with both disbelief and a strong desire to publicize the rationale? Anyone with an ounce of sense would also be able to project forward and realize that if something like that ever got out it would piss off all of the teachers on the staff, who by default are all automatically unintelligent and uninspired enough to fit in at that school. Amazing.

Interesting. Could you point me to the data on that? Sure--as someone above mentioned: mainstreaming. Let's not forget cancelling funding for separate courses for gifted kids either. You can pretty much pinpoint the beginning of the decline of American public schools to the day when parents lost control of their kids and started trying to be their friends, and when the schools let vague political nostrums trump common sense in the classroom. Both casualties of some of the voguish nonsense spewed forth in the 1960's. "I'm not your teacher I'm your learning enabler" "Johnny, let's talk about why you just smacked Mommy across the face with your Power Ranger. That's not how friends treat each other - mmmmmkay?" Hurl. Both experiments against reality with incredibly predictable results.

The one really brilliant, inspirational teacher I had in high-school (left a successful career to teach) got hosed by the union and left in disgust. She was incredibly popular teacher with both staff and students. She was also clearly Senior/AP English teacher material and got sent to junior high to teach borderline delinquents basic literacy when the HS had to lose one teacher due to declining enrollment. She was the newest teacher so she got the boot. The disrguntled/quasi-literate POS who also happened to be the school's union rep took her spot. Mediocracy in the truest sense of the word (e.g. rule by the ....). Incredibly lame stuff.

Excerpt: "I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology. I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president..... Recently, I interviewed with a school in one of the metro Atlanta counties, only to receive an e-mail from the principal stating, "Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck." " Source

Who's really gone for good and who will we see again, perhaps reincarnated in the guise of another avatar? Most Likely: Redmonk/Fence_Sitter/Scot_Harpell - Anytime a topic even tangentially refers to something in/around/pertaining to/rhyming with/bearing a vague similarity to one of the former Eastern Block Countries. May also return to show off the manifesto renouncing grammar, spelling, and punctuation as vestigal encumbrances to the advancement of human thought and progress that he's submitted for his Senior Thesis. Pope/JKassidy: Next Bolt thread. Even money on this one. Followed by a tear-soaked confession and accompanying photos in which he admits he was a sport climber all along and much like Hester Prynne's tormenter in "The Scarlet Letter," the unremitting diatribes that issued forth from him were really the passionate manifestations of the bolt-clipping related guilt that's been churning within his soul for far too long. Frequent and ever-more-desperate pleas for partners to join him at Exit 38, Vantage, and/or the Big-Toys © structure in his backyard will eternally plague the "Climbing Partners" message board after the said announcement hits the screen. Fairweather: Partial TR that's abruptly cut off by his attorney describing the incident that insued when he and his son run into Al Gore and one of his sons on the summit of a PNW Volcano. Subsequent accounts of the incident will appear in the local press, Secret Service Briefings, and ANAM. Will parlay the notoriety that the incident brought him into a stint on the next episode of Survivor and a late-night talk show on "Hot Talk 570" on your AM dial. RobBob: Much to Jim's horror, he will resurface to post photos of his new Chevy Subdivision SUV, and pics taking the said SUV with aftermarket mudders, lift-kit, and snorkel mods on a joyride through sensitive coastal wetlands. Two months later he will resurface to post one more photo of himself kicking the almighty bejesus out of callow, sunken-chested, soy-fed anarchist who festooned his new ride's bumper with the "I'm changing the Climate" stickers, followed by MPEG footage of of him running over the same dude while legions of mullet-clad onlookers from the Carolinas pop PBR's, cheer wildly, and compliment him on the suspension travel he's achieved with the aftermarket mods. One lucky mullet in the passengers seat will report that "not even a mother*$#@ing drop" of his Schitz Ice in the ThirstyTwoOuncer cup on the dash-mounted beverage holder spilled during this incident. He will also report that the stereo and the Best of Skynrd tracks were "bitchin." 1.4 seconds after RobBob completes his post, JoshK will duly note that you can run over people and destroy wetlands just as well with an Audi, and get much better mileage while you're doing it. Who have I left out?

The actual content has been quite good lately, especially in the Ice Conditions forum and THE NEW ROCKCLIMBING Forum. If there's a better resource for keeping up to date on the ice conditions across the PNW, I'm not aware of it. The discussion about the route on Garfield has actually been pretty good as well, as well as the thread about why people putting up bolted routes may or may not decline to post here, right next to a thread(!) started by a Mr.E, where he announces a new route at Smith. Despite all of the whining about moderation, the tone of all of the threads in there has been pretty constructive and civil - (this is a plus in my book) largely because of the efforts of the moderators in there. Plus the pics in the photo gallery have been pretty sweet as well. And there was Smokeshow's killer TR, etc, etc, etc.... I guess it depends on what you come here for. There's plenty of other places where you can load up on the mindless, the profane, the juvenile, and the vulgar if that's what you find yourself missing here.

FWIW I've just been too busy lately to enlighten the wayward masses. Hopefully you'll stick around.

Moore's endorsement is the K.O.D for Clark's campaign. Second only to Al Sharpton's endorsement in as a liability in the eyes of the national electorate.

There is a flip side to this coin. People who have a steady job and a reasonable income who invest a considerable amount of time and energy in cultivating the dirtbag look so they'll look hardcore. They are climbing's answer to Trustafarians, and they are every bit as poserish and lame as the wankers who sport pricy-high end gear in an effort to secure the credibilty and respect that their abilities cannot. Same game - different angle.

I had my AT bindings mounted there and had no problems whatsoever.

I heard a killer dance-mix made from samples of Dean's Iowa speech on NPR this morning....

Somebody just post the fawking pictures already...

Looks cool but it's hard to place it in the context of the photo. Maybe some of the dudes who are in the loop could help out. Again - props to the fellas who snagged this one.