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graupel

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Posts posted by graupel

    to pay or not to pay...that is the question

    in Spray

    Posted

    If you live in an urban area with a good library system, the library may continue to get it. For example, King County Library system allows you to get access to many subscription archives for newspapers if you access through their website and enter your library card number. You can do it from home, so you don't have to go to the library to access it.

     

    One of these providers to the library is ProQuest http://www.proquestcompany.com/home2.shtml

     

    Ask your local library if they have it.

     

    (If you already had a KCLS library card number you could get in here: http://www.kcls.org/cgi-bin/ipcheck?proquest)

    The boiling point.

    in Spray

    Posted

    All you accomplish by not voting is allowing everybody else to decide for you.

     

    By the same token, if you have two candidates that are too "establishment" that you are trying to avoid, so instead vote for a third party candidate that hasn't a chance in hell of winning, odds are you just selected the worst of the establishment candidates by your actions. If you follow that up by never contacting a representitive or elected official, your opinions will never be heard, nor will ever result in change.

     

    The only countries where protest non-voting doesn't really matter are places where the elections are so rigged that the citizens take up arms to make their opinions known.

    Singlespeed MTB?

    in Spray

    Posted

    For more trials like riding, where you are dealing more with uphill or precision slow travel, single speed is pretty much standard. It also holds up better for running over logs and general bashing.

    Does anyone need anything?

    in Spray

    Posted

    yes. an answer to the following: since you'd be a librarian/historian, aren't you concerned you might disturb an experiment in progress and thereby change forever the course of history or do you actually consider yourself part of the experiment?

     

    Wouldn't Heisenberg contend you were both?

    Alpine Touring Stuff

    in Newbies

    Posted

    AT boots are always a compromise. If you stiffen them up, you may be paying for it on the tour. If you are a good skier in the resort, you will notice the difference, in part because of how snug you tend to fit boots for taking laps at the lifts. If you are a moderate skier at the resort, you might not miss the precision that a dedicated alpine boot would provide.

     

    The Adrenalin might be closer to a do everything boot, but since I haven't skied in it I can't say if it feels close to an alpine boot in performance at the resort. You will be happier if you choose the boots appropriate for what you do with them most, but if you have to, you can probably get by with the activity for which they are not optimized.

    Idiots

    in Spray

    Posted

    Privatization of personal daylight savings will leave us irresponsible types in the dark.

     

    Did someone turn the lights off?

     

    It is just the dim bulb that has been in the White House for 5 years.

     

    This "energy bill" and the omibus bill from last November were just opportunities to stuff as much pork into that sausage as possible. More tax breaks for industry!

    Backcountry Border Encounters

    in Climber's Board

    Posted

    Don't even bother asking the border folks. Officially, when you cross the border, you are supposed to go straight to the nearest border authority to report in. That means before you get the chance to do your climb. Then, after you reported in, you go to try to cross the border again, then have to report to the authorities, again, never actually reaching the goal that encouraged you to cross the border to begin with.

     

    This is how it was before increased scrutiny brought about by 9/11.

     

    Prior to 9/11, the only official way for you to cross without this Catch-22 was places with monitored crossings, like the Pacific Crest Trail and I imagine Hozomeen since there are rangers that patrol there.

     

    I don't know what the official rule is now, but even those places might not be endorsed anymore. One thing seems consistant though, if you ask a border person they will likely tell you that you can't do it.

    Ready to Pay for NoCa Visits?

    in North Cascades

    Posted

    Blake, you sure you have that right? Didn't Rainier drop fees for backcountry camping (while still retaining the summit fees)?

     

    Just the notion of $10 for camping regardless of whether in advance or not sounds like a huge change in policy. I would understand it if they were mimicing the advanced permit system like for Rainier.

    Aluminum Crampons

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    I wouldn't say "trouble", but you can tell the difference if the ice is hard. They flex a little, so what might take one strike with steel, might feel less secure with one strike with aluminum. That and the fact you don't feel comfortable trashing them walkin on rocks. The "flexiness" becomes less of an issue if everything is flat footing.

    digital cameras?

    in Newbies

    Posted

    In the end... if you are going digital, go for an SLR.

    If you want an SLR. If you want a camera that's portable and that you might actually use while climbing or skiing - get a P&S! I've owned SLR's, I'm looking to buy a D-SLR, SLR's sit on a shelf most of the time for me. What good are better pictures you don't take?

     

    In truth, you probably want both. Just to note the contrarian view:

     

    What good is more pictures that you take if they aren't any good?

    PACK ANIMALS

    in Climber's Board

    Posted

    At least in Washington, it appears that the commercial outfitters go to pretty safe and sane locations. That means most of you hardman climbers are unlikely to ever see them.

     

    After talking with an outfitter in Bolivia that had access to both mules and llamas, I don't think you want to try to lead llamas yourself. It sounded like even the outfitter wasn't too keen on using them, but he wasn't taking into account any sort of environmental issues. Llamas, at least in Bolivia, liked to wander off so required more handlers to keep a pack train on track. They carry less than horses or mules too, but I think there are aesthetic reasons that would make them more interesting to travel with than horses or mules.

     

    There are a number of places where pack animals are still used in the western US. Some reasons include travel with small children, photographers carrying large format gear, and yes, folks setting up basecamps. They even still deliver the US mail and supplies in Havasupai village in the Grand Canyon to this day.

    STP!

    in Spray

    Posted

    The potatoes are the thing that goes down really good when you are riding.

     

    Be careful of sharp turns onto bridges and if you cross train tracks with folks alongside or hot on your tail. If you do a last minute swerve, that can cause issues with others. Also, if you get close to going down, someone alongside or behind you can compound the problem.

     

    It is best if you can hook up with other folks that are about your same pace. I ended up following a paceline of folks that were more aggressive than I could maintain, which ended up leaving me in the dust with nobody nearby to share in the windbreaking duty.

     

    Just because you feel good, don't blow by the first refueling station. They put the major ones about 50 miles apart, so before you reach the second one you'll be hurting.

    Naked women, tents and 195mph winds?

    in The Gear Critic

    Posted

    Anybody else think it is lame that Todd named the fabric "ToddTex" considering it isn't like he invented it or anything? It sounds dorky. IGs use the exact same fabric and they didn't name it BobTex or JoshTex or SteveTex or something.

     

    Supposedly the "ToddTex" stuff is the first generation Gore-Tex which became available to manufacture by other fabric companies after the patent ran out. The actual branded Gore-Tex had progressed in development with improvements in breathability and resistance to oil contamination amongst other traits, so for many reasons calling the older configuration Gore-Tex would be innaccurate.

     

    A number of companies put their own label on a fabric that a fabric mill offers to them which enables the marketing folks to make up their own tale to tell about it. With all the marketing behind it, most companies elect to call current generation Gore-Tex by that name, but that hasn't always been the case.

     

     

    Oh, and Early Winters turned into a mail order company headquartered somewhere in Oregon. Apparently they have now changed their business name to now call themselves Sahalie now with a mailing address listed as Portland http://www.sahalie.com/. They also appear to be part of a family of mail order companies affiliated with the mail order outfit Norm Thompson.

    The problem with inpeachment

    in Spray

    Posted

    Let's face it, Cheney already is president and was from the beginning. Bush is just the spokes-puppet.

     

    Cheney needs to be taken down, just like Agnew under Nixon. Perhaps finally revealing that the "energy policy" was actually written by the industry the policy was meant to control, like Enron? Sadly, as objectionable as that is, there might not be a crime in there that would put Cheney away. Since Agnew got in trouble for tax evasion, maybe some sort of "follow the money" exercise on Cheney might dig something up.

     

    Heck, if you want to keep Cheney from running in 2008, just have him stroll by a microwave oven. fruit.gif

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