catbirdseat

That shit freaks me out. I'd have to say that if I have a phobia, it would have to be getting stuck and not being able to move. I could be hanging from a fingernail a mile off the ground and it wouldn't be as scary as one of those squeezes. Yikes!

According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, a 46 year old North Bend man fell 600 ft and died while climbing unroped at the 5,000 ft level on McClellan Butte with his 41 year old partner, a man from Snohomish. The identities of climbers were not disclosed. Does anyone know anything about this?

I spent Saturday playing my horn and building a fence. Sunday I went for a hike. Tomorrow, I'll be in sunny Florida just as the clouds arrive in Seattle for PittCon an analytical chemistry conference. I don't imagine there is anywhere to climb in Florida, is there? I believe this is my 7,000th post.

Tsunamis are rather rare at any one location. By the time the next one hits, everyone has forgotten all about the last one. It reminds me of that Isaac Asimov story...

There are lots of junkies out there with $200 a day heroin habits. The money for the drugs has to come from somewhere. Do the math. That's approximately $70,000 per year they have to steal (or drugs they must sell). Given that, maybe $31,000/yr is a deal.

Even land that has been raped and pillaged, if protected for a sufficient period of time, will return to a wild and natural state. Your assertion is that basically once a piece of land has been logged, it can't be protected and I don't agree.

Not having skin material all of the way to the edge could conceivably reduce traction on traverses in hard snow. I guess it depends on what you can afford.

Removing the product from the market couldn't possibly have been because it wasn't selling. Maybe people were not keen on the idea of eating candy that looks like roadkill.

Great story! What an amazing survival instinct. An on the ball gal.

Yea, that fortress, known as Nodder, remains and shall remain unbreached, buttressed as it is by adamantine walls of mindlessness.

I'd bet that person would look clumsy and jerky in his movements.

If you were at Shilshole you'd have a convenient nearby hill to clamber up. In parts of Indonesia it was a long flat distance to the nearest hill.

You are right. They had no where to run to. I probably would have done the same thing. Reminds me of the guy who filmed the explosion of Mt. St. Helens. RIP.

I read the citizens advisory committee document. There are very few assertions that are supported by reasoned arguments or facts. Paranoia runs throughout the document.

From Waves. Amazing pictures.

The story isn't so much about Spam as it is about AIDS. One of the reasons why we still have Spam and we still don't have an AIDS vaccine is that both mutate faster than anti-spam software and the immune system can adapt. The key is learning how to detect the "message" within the garbage. Our brains are very good at it and that is the one think Spammers rely on. There was a story just today about how the three dimensional shape of the GP120 protein in the unbound state has just be elucidated. GP120 is the protein the HIV uses to bind to and enter the T-cell. Apparently, it changes shape drastically upon binding. The shape of the bound protein was known. GP-120 has been the target of numerous vaccines, but none have worked. It may well be that although the genetic sequence of GP-120 is variable, the shape may be conserved. This may be useful eventually.

The leader must not fall. That prickly pear landing zone looks murderous.

If thou attach long planks to thy feet, it maywell nigh be possible.

It is a secret passage way known only to myself and JHamaker as well as the one known by two names (one a state and the other Steve). It is a way of perilous switchbacks, gloomy forests and precipitous ridges.

I've had tendonitis in both arms for months from computer use. I started taking ibuprofen and that helped, but what really helped was taking a cod liver oil supplement. CLO has Omega-3 fatty acids in it. Some people, in fact many people, have diets that are deficient in this essential fatty acid. I've read that many inflammatory conditions will respond to Omega-3. Maybe it was coincidence and maybe it is in my head, but I'm going to keep taking the stuff.

Add another name to the Tommy Caldwell Thread.

Okay, I get it now. After a day and an evening at Pub Club.

It is less than a mile up the Middlefork Trail from the bridge at Taylor River. There is a big parking lot there with two pit toilets. You can't miss it. If you were to continue on up the Middlefork Trail you would come to first Dingford Creek where there is another bridge and eventually Goldmyer Hot Springs after about 12 miles. I've done the hike. It is pleasant, if not awe inspiring.

Most interesting news story of the day. Microsoft is going to adapt AntiSpam technologies to help develop an effective vaccine for AIDS. Apparently, the virus mutates rapidly so as to disguise itself from the immune system, much in the same way that Spam messages do. Spam Filter Story

Great turnout. I saw a lot of familiar faces as well as some new ones. Martin (MCash) has moved out to Auburn from Spokane. There was Elaine Maxwell and Peggy Goldman.