Rick_Sharpless

Definitely cannot do the early june dates - my brother is marrying a lady from thailand and the feng shui man says the wedding has to be June 6 - so I'll be elsewhere a week or so either side of that date. Late may is problematic because of a professional comittment but maybe it will resolve. The late June date is a possible.

so you are a mod.... tell us who is behind it, from what IP address used by a frequent poster Do tell - Inquiring minds . . . Has Ms. Behavin returned?

What's pathetic is that it still works

Tyler, If you want to meet in the nc mountains sometime and practice escaping a belay, climbing out, etc with real, live weight, or just go cragging, pm me. June may be out for me unless it's late but we can train - whatever.

Tyler: What bug said. Depending on route and conditions the technical problems may not be that significant but it is a BIG hill and coming from flatlands to 5000' to 10000' and over the top is a serious aerobic challenge. You will enjoy it way more (as will your partners) if you are in the best aerobic shape you have ever been. Been there twice - one summit (first time). Best analogy I can come up with is it's like doing two mountain cycling centuries or two marathons on back-to-back days. Enjoy. Depending on how my summer shapes up I might join you.

Rat in a drain ditch caught on a limb you know better but I know him hes gone . . . .and nothin's gonna bring him back

we could call Mexico and tell them that we have realized that they won at the alamo so it's only fair that they take texas But banning vibrators in TX could have some interesting electoral consequences - is there a vibrator constituency

Check this out - the Christian Right knows no limits

The cute alaska girl makes me wonder why no one has yet started a photo-post website www.greatassonskis.com or something like it. Seems like there might be good traffic and commercial possibilites

what do you say jon and timmy? Cal it the "seance" forum

Jim: PURPA only requires payment at avoided cost - in NC that's (Now - as opposed to 1981) likely to be so low as to be a joke (most likely less than .01 / kwh compared with current consumer rates of .08-.09/kwh. PURPA looks like something on paper but has ZERO practical value for a wind producer, at least here (or in any state that has not adopted some unusual local interpretation of avoided cost, and FERC has pretty much shut that down). For the most part, only producers who jumped on the PURPA gravy train very early received contracts for enough to make money (and some made a lot - which is why PURPA may be repealed yet - it's good for established producers but bad for the ratepayers). Not to mention that a PURPA application by RobBob would result in the company proposing such a low rate as to be either not worth the time to do the work, or guarantee him a long fight in front of the Utilities Commission. I don't think there has been a non-cogen PURPA application here in years (a search found NONE since 1996). Lets see - to pay back a 30,000 wind turbine making 20000 excess kwh per year at even .02 / kwh - RobBob would get a check for $400 per year, for a return on investment of 1.3%/year. Except the turbine would cost more and the utility would pay less under PURPA. Hmm - not all business is good business. If the green power rate were .10/kwh the check would be 2000 /year, or 6.67%, which begins to make sense. NC does not have net metering in ANY form and even the site to which you referred acknowledges that. The NC Green power program is it, for now. If RobBob can get in on it it MAY pay well above market rates - depends on how other potential producers bid on wind and solar. It's not a bad program if it works. PURPA is now a joke for a new producer. It's bad joke for the ratepayers for those who jumped in on it early.

RobBob: Contact these folks - Duke and Progress previously had a tariff for buying solar but not wind. Other than whatever the "green power program" will do, I don't think any of the utilities will (anymore) buy back anything other than solar power (though you can reduce what you buy down to 0). Although the initial deadline for small green power generator proposals passed, the NC green power folks claim that they have an "ongoing" program and really need wind and solar producers. Wind, esp if you want to tie to the grid while running your turbine, is not for the faint-hearted. There are some ongoing maintentance and monitoring issues. If you are on the coast, though, you might have enough consistent wind to get some sort of sensible payback. DK which util you are on but the link has a list of participating "green power" folks. Good luck

Boarders sideslipping on the steeps or worse yet, sitting down just below the lip, make excellent "gates." A close turn at speed does more to exncourage them to board elsewhere than any invective, which they ignore, anyway. Leaves them What I want to know is why when in 100 feet of a lift they feel they MUST board over all nearby skis.

Actually Scott's explanation of "justification through faith" is classic 1st Century (Pauls letter to the Romans) - also Augustinian (came a little later). But . . . to bring back some past thread drift: Advanced humans will not arise in Georgia. The raw material for further evolution may be in short supply. If the Georgia business community has any cojones - which remains to be seen - they will squelch this "creation science" voodoo real quick - as happened in Kansas ( I think Boeing - for example - and Garmin - passed Kansas politicos the word that about 50,000 jobs might just leave unless . . .). Those who know better need to stand up on their hind legs when this kind of thing comes along and play hard, dirty and for keeps with the christian right - when they start trying to take over the educational agenda the gloves need to come off. Just because we live in the south does not mean we need to operate at the Deliverance level.

Marriage is a lot of work (or mine is) for which there is a lot of reward. What Bug said - it takes a lot of committment to the marriage by both to make it work, and both have to want it to work. For me, after 21 years "we've had our ups and downs but were still playing together," and I think we love each other even more than when we were married. I know we know each other a whole lot better.

CJ - I am the employer. The difference is in BCBS ratings - they charge the spouse more than they would charge for a single employee of same sex and age. This is what the insurer charges, regardless of what I subsidize for my employess (and myself). I pay almost 9000 a year to insure my family (4 of us). Me alone would be about 2100.

A day without adrenaline is like a day without sunshine.

The knees are fine. The frost nip is almost gone - only one fingertip and the great toes remember anything about it. The 4 days of climbing are now a rosy glow, and I'd gladly trade this heated office to be back out NOW. Someone said that the most important asset for a mountaineer was a short memory.

The NYT article starts with a fallacy - that the law confers nothing but benefits upon married couples. Even if this is so, the article ignores the question it asks, which is whether we, as a society, "ought" to confer such benefits. It is true that in some areas (sometimes tax, some entitlement programs, some private transactions like insurance) that the married enjoy some economic benefit not available to the single. Conveniently ignored are the benefits available to the single and not to the married. Example - at my company an employee who purchases "family" or "spousal" health insurance coverage pays far more additional than the rate for a single employee. Those who are married are also in a legal status that they are not free to change without a significant degree of interference from the state. Anyone who has ever been through a divorce, even one not fought out, can tell you that the state will be in your business in a significant way, for quite a while, especially if there are children. Married persons may, depending on the situation and on state law, be responsible for debts and other actions of the other. Marriage is a legal "status," one of he last left in the law, that comes with both benefits and burdens. The current whining from some (like the NYT author) seems to me like men complaining that they have to pay more for life insurance and isn't that unfair, while women complain about paying more for health insurance or for a pension annuity. Both want to talk about the situations in which they are disadvantaged while insisiting on preservation of advantages. Even if it were true that the married are "advantaged" by the law, a dubious proposition, would there not be good reasons for encouraging marraige and the pair-bonded family? With the utmost respect for my single-parent friends, who do much for their children, raising kids is a two-person job and both men and women bring unique features to the process. I am disturbed by the possible scandanavization of our society, where conceiving and raising children is accomplished by single women and men are only temporarily and not significantly involved (except maybe as payors of support). This is not to pass a moral judgment on single parents or having children out of wedlock, but I firmly beleive there is a good for society and for the kids in having two-parent families. There is probably a reason that successful human societies have been organized on that basis for a very long time. None of that addresses the issue that lurks behind this article, whether "marriage" should be allowed between same-sex couples. Though many clamor for it on the basis of perceived economic advantages, I think when some of those couples later decide that the relationship isn't working they may not be so entranced with the idea of marriage. Alhough those who ask for same-sex marriage talk about economic and legal advantages, I think the real agenda here is to seek a social stamp of approval or legitmacy (dare I say "equality") on such relationships, and that is why those who wish for same-sex marriage are not entirely content with a "civil union" that addresses the legal and economic isues while still denyng them the "label." Obviously others think that the label ought be denied. But that is what this is really all about, isn't it, is a moral judgment and a "label" or stamp of approval on a relationship. And the NYT article pretends otherwise, which is why it is fundamentally bullshit. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out over the coming years in the several states and I predict this is going to be a "hot button" in the coming election, too. I just hope people can be honest about what is really going on here, which is fundamentally a discussion about a moral judgment and the meaning of some pretty important labels, or symbols, and not, like the NYT author, try to pretend that this is simply an economic fairness issue, or try to pretend that all forms of social organiazation for raising children are equal and are equally valid. They aren't.

a mental self-conversation this weekend while on run of vertical ice, 20 feet above the last pro, which is my second who is at the the belay station. "Falling would really suck - this would be factor 2 shit." "Putting in gear would also suck, only 5 more feet to easier terrain." "So stop thinking, climb and don't fall."

Heard at Pitcher Falls, Saturday Jan 24, 11:00 AM. Temp about 5 below, Wind 10-20 mph. Ice is absolutely bulletproof. We two dumb southerners are climbing and freezing. 4 local climbers show up - gear up - bitch about how freaking cold it is, and wonder who forgot the propane heaters. Suddenly, from about 40 feet up I hear: "Ice climbing is a stupid sport" and the sound of gear going back in packs. They leave for beer indoors. We stay for another hour and leave, too. That same morning at least 6 parties attempted the summit of Mt Washington. Air temp -38, Wind about 80mph - gusts to 100. I think all turned back at treeline. So . . . is "Ice climbing a stupid sport???" Does this extend to winter mountaineering? Discuss!

Partners who all go Xmas shopping, travel, are unable to get passes, etc. on weekend day with ice nearby suck. Today I shall run domestic errands instead of swinging picks.

As of 12/7 it was coming back. It's been cold since. I've asked the guru of SE ice for an update, but the ice gods are smiling at the moment. Thanks for the beta RobBob??????

Need partner for Whitesides - Starshine - one day - saturday only - Ice in the south One of you Carolina lurkers (you know who you are) PM me or email me fks@sharpless-stavola.com or ricksharpless@bellsouth.net

Juliette alone is a first-class and a high-class milf. Who needs plot?