Off_White

That was a good time. I was in bed by 1:15, asleep by 1:17. The restraint that an hour and a half drive home imposes tends to limit the crispy hangover potential.

source My point Fairweather, is that Jesus was a dangerous revolutionary, and his redefinition of old blood-and-guts kill-all-your-firstborn Yahweh into the present (albeit merely lip serviced) God of Love was both radical and a distinct threat to the powers that be. It's no wonder they killed him. It's disheatening that you salute GW Bush for being a smorgasbord Christian, striking a pose and adopting a few bits for the sake of self promotion, but lacking any appreciation for whole message or commitment to the ideals of the prophet he claims to adore.

Hey! Ed Abbey was a freedom fighter! Granted, Jesus wasn't a violent insurgent, but what he promoted was pretty damn revolutionary, and would be just as unacceptable to the powers that be today. Turn the other cheek, love your enemy? Fuck that, did you see what they did to the Trade Center? The assertion that you shouldn't charge interest on a loan? A lot of people profess love for the long gone jewish carpenter, but there's no way he'd ever get elected.

In the big picture, Seattle area residents pay more in transportation taxes than they get in infrastructure. In fact, all you liberal Seattle latte slurpers help pay for roads in all those red counties, not the other way around, so if they've got to pony up a little more, it's only fair. It's a pity you don't get more credit for all you pump into the state economy. That viaduct scares the shit out of me anyway. I had a friend who missed being pancaked in San Francisco by two minutes, and I've never looked at Alaskan Way the same since.

If you want to get the Christians all riled up, all you have to do is give Jesus the dark skin and a hooked nose he likely had. Think of him as an Arab proto insurgent at odds with the occupying force.

don't worry - the Republicans can perform vehicular manslaughter and deny responsibility just like the Dems, except at least Janklow had to serve a trivial amount of jail time. Hmm, and I was assuming you were referring to Laura Bush's unfortunage killing of her ex-boyfriend, ran a stop sign at 60 miles an hour and tee-boned him about a half mile from his house, he was dead on the scene. No charges though. Word about town was that she had told him she was pregnant and he dumped her. It's okay, turned out she wasn't pregnant, so at least she doesn't bear the stain of unwed motherhood.

Is that the hammering sound your heart makes when you view Necro's topless form?

The fact that this sort of racism is almost universally considered unacceptable is only one of the many expansions of society's definitions of equality that you can thank the Democratic party for.

Glad you're living the good life. Have you tied your pocket knife to a stick and gone boar hunting yet? Aren't Ohia one of those trees that colonize recent lava flows?. They've got nice flowers, but whack one for me.

Well, and I saw the thread title and thought "Ahh, that Carolyn, she's such a sunny individual" before I clicked on it. But bummer about the highway jive, glad you and the vehicle are okay.

It's been years since I've been down, but I've kept up a little bit. There are hundreds of routes down there, somewhat similar to Joshua Tree but with Pinon Pine instead of Joshua Trees. Lots of both face and crack climbs, the development has mostly been trad in orientation, though that may have changed a little in the last decade. The area is the rim of an escarpment, and while Trono Blanco drops over the edge, there are a lot of domes and formations on the rim yielding a stack of one and two pitch climbs. I'd guess there may be as many as a dozen routes on Trono Blanco itself these days, with a number of long free routes. One of the cool things about the place is that despite having been visited by climbers for over 30 years, there is no guidebook. It's all word of mouth, including directions on how to find your way there over a maze of woodcutter roads. There's been a recent battle fought over the guidebook issue, a guy named Kennedy (author of the current San Diego County guide) declared his intentions to write a Tajo guide, even though he had almost no experience climbing down there. His self stated reasons were financial in nature. You can find a long tortured debate over on RC.com on the subject. John Smallwood, longtime stalwart of the area, pulled some legal shennanigans to copyright the information in order to prevent publication. I think there's something special about a great area within 3 hours of a major metropolitan area where your best source of information is still exploration and a conversation around a campfire. I don't know what the current banditry scene is though. If anyone is thinking to head down there, I'd recommend getting ahold of Smallwood (he's not too hard to find on RC.com, or I've got an address floating around somewhere), he's willing to share info and you might even score a tour. Don't think of it as a reliable winter destination though, the old nickname was "poor man's patagonia" and a combination of mud, wind, and snow can make it downright inhospitable.

I was always fond of this place, but Canon Tajo is probably too close to the border for your purposes. Guadalajara is pretty cool for a big city.

YOu should also consider checking out the Stonehouse Buttress in Tuttle Creek, a couple canyons south, on the south side of Lone Pine Peak.

It only took me 10 minutes to call all the folks on the House list, as well as the two local folks. Don't hesitate, do it now.

Thanks for the report, I've long had that one in the back of my mind, sounds like a splendid opportunity for some pristine N Cascades alpine rambles.

I could have gone my whole life not knowing that.

I missed this thread before today. I knew Gary from days back in Tucson in the mid 80's, and met his mother up here in the days following the accident. Gary was a wonderful guy, and a great photographer, I miss him. to all the connections made to bring this part to completion. With regards to the accident, as I recall, they were at the top of the arete, resting and getting ready to shift onto the glacier. The serac collapse and following slide buried Gary in the moat, where he'd been sitting, while Curt was able to scramble up the rock and escape the brunt of it. I know I've been leery of that situation ever since.

Having gotten a good dose of Leuko, Bees Knees, and Visqueen last night, I'll argue that my metal health is just fine, thank you very much. Heh, I even got a souvenir set of earplugs.

With all due respect Chuck, I'd like to add "cheat and thief" to that lovely portrait's caption

Conrad, you're an ignorant dipshit dittohead troll. Please note, I am not lying. I'm sure you're well aware that the spew about Kerry's senate voting record with regards to military and intelligence services dates from the end of the cold war, and his votes on those matters echo the recommendations of Dick Cheney from that time. The bit about Kerry's war record is partisan drivel that has no basis in fact, but lots of people who weren't there will swear it is true. One's opinion of Michael Moore is strictly a matter of political preference. For instance, I'd gladly feed the man dinner, no matter how much he eats, but if I catch you eating the dogshit in my driveway ditch I'll have you arrested for trespassing. What are you cheastbeating about anyway, your chimp won the race. The working poor will get the shaft in the years to come, but I'll wager you'll eat crow before this is all over.

I've been holding out for line-of-sight teleportation.

thanks for the translation Alex.

Lie, cheat, and steal. Near as I can tell, that's the modern definition of moral values. Oh, and "don't get caught", that's #1.