Alpinfox

The book

I'm reading this right now Only about 40p into it, but pretty "dry" so far. It's supposed to be "the definitive history of water resources in the American West, and a very illuminating lesson in the political economy of limited resources anywhere."

The following is from David Frum, a former speechwriter for Bush: The president began to talk about the problem of Iraq from his very first days as president, at the same time as he talked also of the danger from Iran. But he always talked about it as something that he was going to do before the end of his term. A lot of the books that have been written about the president's thinking subtly mislead or misdirect the reader. President Bush always intended to deal with Iraq someday, but that is not the same as intending to deal with it today. It was one of his long list of things he intended to accomplish as president -- to negate the danger from Saddam Hussein. How precisely he was going to do it, I am sure he did not know; whether it would take a military invasion, whether some other method would work. Source

The american taxpayer has footed the bill for the war while Haliburton and other american corporations have profited handsomely. This is simple stuff Scott. Wake up.

So we invaded Iraq in 2002 to stop the genocide that occurred in 1988? In 2002 Saddam was in a box, had no WMDs, and had nothing to do with 911. Furthermore, there was not an ongoing massive genocidal campaign against the kurds going on in 2002. The US did NOT step into Iraq to save the Kurds. We had economic and political sanctions in addition to military and physical confinement. THERE WAS NO THREAT! We went to war for OTHER REASONS which the administration has never clarified. I believe money and pride were probably the reasons.

I believe he said: "Don't taunt the alligator 'til after you cross the crick." Yeah, he started that weird shit last election. It was very late (especially on the east coast) and he looked really tired and started saying goofy "colloqialisms" like, "this race is tighter than grandpa's britches on thanksgiving day". He must have gotten some fan mail or something and decided to do it again this year. He had several good ones.

The way it looks now: 274 Bush 256 Kerry

Sofa King Sweet!

The Luxor would make for a spicy lead. Crampons skittering on the glass, newlyweds and nearlydeads yelling at you, rent-a-cops shining maglites in your eyes, picks cammed in the window glazing... Sounds like a blast!

I should have posted this earlier. I'm leaving Seattle sometime tomorrow (Friday) morning or early afternoon and heading down to Portland for the weekend. I'll be coming back to Seattle late Sunday or early Monday (I'm flexible).

This weekend is for dressing up like an idiot and drinking an Irish platoon's monthly allotment-worth of booze. Get with the program "climber".

I buy most of my groceries "in store". Especially dairy products. I once had a bad experience with an envelope full of cottage cheese that got delayed in transit.

Looks like my PDX climbing options for this weekend will be limited to trying to get myself off the bathroom floor on Sunday morning. Or maybe I'll check out the new and improved PRG. Maybe I'll spot DFA!?!?

Discuss.

"If-Nh" What the hell is that!??!? That was supposed to say, "The Tooth". I think there is a glitch in the Matrix.

I don't think Rap Wall is worth the drive, but to each his/her own. Bill, Rap Wall is a dry tooling area near the If-Nh, Alpental Valley, WA.

I'd knockout the poop.

This thread has plenty of leg left. I mean, no one has mentioned GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SNAFFLES yet. Or how about: HORSECOCK made from BSE-knockout cows/pigs/chickens/mystery meat. Oh the places this thread could go! p.s. TRANSGENIC GIANT SQUID!!! Wave of the future!

I believe we will see genetically modified NODDERS before we see genetically modified OTTERS.

Transgenic fish with the gene for "green flourescent protein" (GFP) have been available for a while. Supposedly they look pretty good under a blacklight. Someone also made a GFP-expressing, hairless mouse which glowed under a blacklight, but that one wasn't destined for the marketplace. Quick definitions: Gene - A small piece of DNA that encodes a particular protein. It is the blueprint that tells the cellular machinery how to make a particular protein. Gene Expression - In order to have an effect, genes must be transcribed into RNA by the cell's machinery and then translated into protein. The proteins in a cell are the functional products of the DNA "blueprints". Transgenic - A small piece of DNA encoding a particular protein is introduced into a cell's nucleus during mitosis (cell division). The cell "sees" this DNA as a problem with it's own genome and tries to fix the problem by gluing the DNA into some random spot in a chromosome. Depending on where the gene was inserted, it may or may not be expressed. Knockout - Making an animal with a gene knockout is much more complicated than making a transgenic animal. One must create a "gene-knockout vector" consisting of a piece of DNA that is SIMILAR to the native gene, but contains a deletion or some other mutation that renders the gene non-functional. This gene knockout vector is then introduced into the nucleus of an embryonic stem cell (a cell that can divide billions of times and become a functional embryo). The DNA repair machinery of the cell sometimes (about 1% of the time) will recognize the vector as a fragment of its own genome and try to repair the damage by swapping the vector for the native gene through a process called homologous recombination. Embryonic stem cells that have undergone this homologous recombination are screened for and purified from the non-altered cells. The positive cells are then injected into a early stage embryo called a blastocyst where they become part of the developing embryo. When these baby mice are born, their bodies will be composed of some genetically modified cells, and some of the normal cells from the host blastocyst. With luck, the genetically modified cells will have been in the proper place in the embryo to become sperm/egg cells. If so, the offspring of that animal will be 100% genetically modified. Long process. -AlpinCloner

attachment

3750lbs is approx. 19kN Based on that, they should be fine for climbing. However, if you aren't comfortable with them, then maybe they weren't such a great deal.

Me iz. I'll be driving down to PDX for Hallowbooze festivities next weekend and could stop by NFH for a quick scamper.

Will, I checked these out today at REI. Any of the standard canisters (MSR, Snowpeak, Primus) will screw onto the Jetboil stove, but only the smaller Snowpeak canisters will nest inside the cookpot. Those smaller canisters aren't widely available, so that's one concern. I think this jetboil system is probably the lightest*, most efficient, smallest-packing stove system around and could easily be converted into a hanging system with the addition of some strings/clips. Though I haven't used it in the field, I give it for in-store testing. *Actually, I guess those Nesbit solid fuel stoves or a pepsi-can-type alcohol stove is probably lighter weight and smaller, but their functionality in the alpine environment is questionable.

Ah.... that's better. Beer in hand. Cheers everybody! (except Klenke )