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I've always liked this iteration of that well known image:

I say someone hacked his account.

Strictly as a city, not a location? I'd put Portland over Seattle. I really like that town. Easier access to the North Cascades is a pretty good trump card though.

You're probably right about the selective bit, I'm specifically remembering the week long honeymoon in 1988, and I do recall that it was far ickier than prior visits. I haven't been to Squish much in the last decade. I've only stayed in the official climbers camp once, and that was in a van. It seemed nice to walk through, but the total ban on fires would prevent it from ever being a world class climbers camp. What are folks opinions of the camp? I'm a big fan of dirtbag camping myself, it's just that I'm perpetually amazed by how some folks can trash a place up.

I've considered Scott Harpel's persuasive foreign strategy arguments, Fairweather's clear case for a sane domestic policy, and JayB's ringing endorsement of the Invisible Hand, and I'm convinced. I've had enough, I'm voting Republican. FiQJ9Xp0xxU

Ahh, then perhaps you'd most want to contact Joe Puryear, either via PM on this site or via the contact info on his site, Cascade Images. He's the point man for the crew responsible for most of the routes there and has lots of experience with that rock. I know he remarked in a thread here about Ride The Lightning that some of the bolt locations are due to where there was suitable rock, not necessarily where the stance was. There's a ton of rock on that formation, seems to me that putting up a route there seems like a sizable commitment. I'm not sure which specifc rock that is, but it's not the same as the stuff lower down in the canyon.

For instance, a doctor I know happens to be on Mt Rainier right now. A quick phone call to his son determined that he's in fact on the other side of the mountain, hunkered down, and recently phoned home and is okay. Between the likely dead person being a doctor and the party of three doctors at Camp Muir, I stood a pretty good chance of being uncomfortably close to this even. While I'm relieved my friend is not involved, I'm pretty damned sad to hear about this and join others in urging some respect and circumspection, especially given the little information actually available.

Big Lou is pretty skeptical of your tawdry antics. He chides, "Show a little dignity, Dawg."

No, even with EVERY OPTION in both Auto Format and Auto Format As You Type unchecked, the dastardly thing still auto updates.

Yeah, maybe I just haven't fumbled with the options enough, I've poked at them with no relief so far. No Zombie Clippy thank you very much, Clippy must stay dead.

Garbage Can if you ask me, but I'm certainly unreasonably irritated at the moment.

Anyone know the uber secret how-to-turn-off-automatic-style-update beta for Word 2007? When I indent one line I don't want the whole fucking document to indent. Don't suggest a hammer, already tried it and it didn't help.

How can Tahquitz be rated stiff, since that's where the YDS rating system was first developed, isn't it by default the gold standard?

Back in the day it seemed like nothing would clear the old mucus plugged cranium like a good brisk game of Robotron down at the convenience store. I'd swear I could feel the tug of the moon creating tides in the rubber cement filled crannies of my noggin sometimes. Doesn't seem to happen anymore, I guess I got better. Just takes a little generic Claritin to do away with the itchy eyes during peak grass pollen season these days. That bit where the guy pours the whiskey in his nose reminded me of the vid of the dude snorting Wasabi powder. Sheesh.

Yeah, I'd have to say that I'd take women over guns and motorcycles.

The former free camping zone below the Chief springs to mind. Now it's regulated, has proper sites, shelters, outhouses, and costs money, but in the late eighties it was squalid free camping with a fair bit of garbage, the surrounding woods covered in toilet paper blooms, and piles of foul smelling char and wire from steel belted radial bonfires. The free camping along the south shore of the Tieton River is often a garbage strewn wasteland, I spent a solid half hour cleaning up garbage at the last site I stayed in there on Memorial Day weekend. Free things are cool, but usually only if most people don't know about it. Humanity en masse can be a pretty ugly thing.

Yeah, I heard Conrad Anker was going to ruin it for us all before Big Lou stepped in to assert his turf rights to be the one to do it first.

I don't think the Yoder/Ford guide is out of print. Here's one place with it for sale online: link

Oh, I don't think he's talking about you personally (with regards to being protected or worshiped here), but rather the meta-conversation about soldiers and the whole "support the troops" mantra (in the US in general). I don't really know what your specific job is or what exactly it entails, but from what I recall when you joined up, you're some sort of ranger/seal/elite unit sort, not a basic enlistee. I don't think you're all that scrutinized, at least from a public or media standpoint. I have no idea what your oversight from your service is like though, it'd be interesting to know more about that though. Are you subject to more review and scrutiny than a contractor working for a private security firm? edited to try and make my first paragraph more clear

Oh, and I'll second Bug's succinct opinion. Some people gripe about this thread, but I think you've started one of the more interesting threads on this topic in a long time. While you do throw in an "idiots" here and a "cum dumpster" there, I do think you're arguing at a pretty high standard and I find the things you're writing well worth reading.

what? do they gain 30 IQ points before they are killed? be more carefull what you say. You're misinterpreting. Prole isn't implying that soldiers are morons in special ed, but rather that one isn't to say anything critical, pointed, or in any way less than respectful about them anymore than, say, the participants in the special olympics. His rant is about the fetishization of the military, the notion that one's job choice somehow puts one into a special category that is beyond reproach. The myth that joining the military is ennobling is really just a swell recruitment tool. If you take care to not take any of his jibes personally, the gist of his argument is valid and worth considering, especially since you're willing to take the time to consider anyone's points if they're arguing sincerely and with thought behind it.

Let's be honest. Scott is trying to make his point, just like Nancy Pelosi.

I dunno, sounds to me like the man is willing to believe the dog and pony show represents everyday life. How many Saturday markets in Indiana have been bombed in the last few months?

Yeah Sobo, for any of us who've spent significant time in this little drama club, that's a wickedly funny clip. Greg Wall posted it over on A.com as a humorous take on life in banned camp, and I think coffee might have actually come out my nose the first time I watched it.

Yyes, the damp sandstone is more likely to have holds break off, and most routes don't have any holds to spare. The rain was more than just a casual shower, so I think it would be prudent to not climb today, though I'm rather impatient to do some climbing. ah well.