catbirdseat

Actually this is a great story. The republicans in the Texas legislature want to ram through some very unpalatable bills. Since they have a majority, the only way the dems have of blocking the legislation is to prevent a quorum. They have taken it on the lam. Last seen in Oklahoma, I hear. The Reprobate Repubs are using homeland security to track down the Dems and drag them back to Texas. Gotta love it.

What are you getting all excited about DFA? You don't need a cordalette when you've got handy chain anchors. Just throw a couple of draws on and you're good to go.

I'm with you Josh. You can do many, many different things with an ordinary cordellete that you could not with that Trango thingamajig. Plus I am a cheapskate.

Fern, that is a personal anchor. I don't think it is meant for belay anchors. It's kind of weird.

Yes, Erik, 'splain the twist.

Here's a dumbass question. Are there people who do NOT tie a figure eight or overhand knot in their cordalettes when setting up an anchor, thereby creating a self-equalizing anchor, but one subject to extension?

You are limited to two or three placements. If you want four, you need to add a separate sling.

I want to know what you all think of this thing, the Trango Alpine Equalizer. Is it a boon or a gimmick. It is a substitute for a cordalette. They say you can use clove hitches on each piece of pro if you want to avoid extension.

I once contributed to a friend getting a DUI. I had no idea that he was an alcoholic at the time. We went out for a pitcher, after which I headed home. He, on the other hand, went to another bar and had another pitcher, then got pulled over by the cops. I felt badly about it because he lost his license for a time. After that I was the wiser and always had a cold Pepsi to offer him when he dropped by.

I remembered someone saying how they disliked having the bent gate biner (to which the rope is clipped) trapped by the draw so that it doesn't flop around (aka dogbones). The advantage of having it trapped is supposedly that it makes it easier to clip the rope. The disadvantage is the biner has less freedom to rotate, which means more drag and if you use it on gear, makes it more likely that the piece gets jiggled out. For sport climbing, would there be any safety advantage to being able to rotate the biner gate up after you clip in the rope?

Alzheimer's gives you aluminum. That theory has been discredited. We tested my aluminum pot versus my buddy's titanium pot on identical MSR stoves to see who could melt a liter of water from snow in the shortest time. The aluminum pot won, hands down. There are only a few metals that conduct heat better than aluminum. Among those are copper, silver and gold and those are extremely heavy. Metal Thermal Conductivity Copper 3.937 Aluminum 2.165 Iron 0.669 Stainless Steel-410 0.240 Titanium 0.157 Stainless Steel-321 0.146 The main reason heavy cast iron pots cook well is not because of a high thermal conductivity, but because they are thick and do a good job of distributing heat so your food cooks evenly. If all you are interested in is melting snow for drinking water as fast as you possibly can, then aluminum is the way to go.

A drug that is currently used to treat epilepsy has been found to reduce alcohol craving. Before starting the drug participants were taking 9-10 drinks of alcohol a day. After 3 months, the placebo group was down to 3 a day, while the drug group was down to 1.5 drinks a day. Interesting that the placebo effect was larger than the drug effect, which was quite large by most standards. Read the Seattle Times Article.

Just bring a good book with you to the laundromat and get the job over with.

Ade

Ouch.

As Mike Myers used to say, "I did not know that". Cool.

I believe it is aspirin that is the worst for bleeding. It inhibits platelet aggregation irreversibly. The other NSAID to too but in reversible fashion. Fairweather mentioned the antihistamine Benedryl. I second that. It can be used in case of allergic reaction, as in the case of bee stings, and it can help stop high altitude coughing (at least it had that effect on me). It also helps you get to sleep.

Gu is a mixture of simple (fructose) and complex carbohydrate (maltodextrin). The simple give a quick burst of energy, whereas the complex release it somewhat more slowly as it breaks down into a simple sugar, glucose. Starchy foods do the same thing, so if you don't like shelling out the $$$ for Gu, there is always bagels and water.

It is also referred to as a High strength Tie off in rescue community. This is to maintain the full strength of the rope in certain situations where high forces will be applied. The only problem is that the other end of the rope will eventually have to be tied to something such as a biner and for that you need, ta da, A KNOT. So after you have tied a figure eight loop, or perhaps a figure nine loop, you've introduced a weak link. That's not to say the high strength tie off isn't swell. It happens to be quick and easy to tie as well as strong.

I have a good idea why many don't like the bowline. It's because THEY CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO TIE IT!

Titanium sucks bad. It isn't any lighter than aluminum. It is more expensive and it takes longer to boil your water.

Wasn't it Einstein who once quipped, "God does not play with dice"?

There is a bolt ladder on the wall next to the parking lot at the Mountaineers Club building. Have at it. You might want to ask permission but it is handy. Alternatively, you could use Marymoor Rock. The bolts are close enough together, I suppose.

It is very simple really. It's "terrorism" if the other guy does it to your people. It's "patriotism" if you do it to his people. Got it?

Check this out. I can't vouch for the source. RELATIVE STRENGTH OF KNOTS No knot, 100% Clove hitch, 60-65% Figure eight, 75-80% Overhand, 60-65% Bowline, 70-75% Two half hitches, 60-65% Double fisherman's 65-70% Square knot, 43-47% Water knot, 60-70% Gordian knot, N/A Fisherman's, 60-65% http://www.amc-ny.org/rec_actv/canoe/pstx0797.html#knots3 Did you know that there is a hitch called a No Knot? It consists of four wraps of rope around any object, such as a BFT or a BFR (Big F'in Tree) or (Big F'in Rock). Note they are not talking about a REWOVEN figure eight, but rather as a stopper knot.