dryad

Let me know what you decide. I wanna get out and DO SOMETHING!!! ANYTHING!!!! AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!

Eh, I'm enough of an idiot anyway, I may as well be an idiot outside. In honor of Halloween, I can wear my idiot hat!

I'm looking for a partner to go do something involving snow this weekend, but if you're too skilled I'll just cramp your style. One idea is to play around Paradise, but I'm open to other ideas. I'm a (very) beginner tele skier, moderately competent crosscountry skier, and can usually walk without falling down. Or if nobody wants to go play in the snow, I wouldn't mind going to Vantage either.

Right on!

Well, everything about human evolution is pretty contentious, starting with whether it happens at all! But the general trend is for greater diversity, more species, more subspecies, etc. And the more variants there are, the more likely it is that some of them had to coexist. So I'm willing to believe that Neandertals and Cro-Mags coexisted for some time. For example, this family tree shows overlap between H. erectus, H. sapiens, and H. neanderthalensis. This one is somewhat different. The book is definitely not anywhere near being closed on this.

Dru: Exactly! This is important and exciting because it adds to the diversity of the human family tree. But it shouldn't be all that surprising because there was already a lot of diversity, and already precedence for different humans coexisting for pretty long periods of time, such as Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals.

That's exactly the kind of linearist crap I'm talking about. To call one species more advanced or more evolved than another is a meaningless value judgement. A species is as evolved as it needs to be to survive in its environment, whatever that happens to be. There is no such thing as evolving toward some ultimate goal, some epitome of fully evolved awesomeness. Evolution has no direction.

I'm reading more about the Flores man find in the Nature articles that Dru linked to, and what I don't understand is why everybody is so surprised. Neoteny is a very common means of evolution. There are modern small humans in existence (ie. pygmies in Africa). Regarding brain size, a modern child is the same size and has the capability to pick up a rock and beat things with it. So it's not like this has no explanation or logical precedent. I'm not suggesting this isn't a significant find - of course it is. I just don't understand why some biologists are clinging to the linear theory of human evolution when there has been so much evidence to the contrary. This is just one more branch of a complex and interesting tree. There was a quote in one of the articles that said, "The species' diminutive stature indicates that humans are subject to the same evolutionary forces that made other mammals shrink to dwarf size when in genetic isolation and under ecological pressure, such as on an island with limited resources." Well duh! Why would humans NOT be subject to the same evolutionary forces as other animals? I understand religious fundies clinging to the idea of the specialness of Homo sapiens, but scientists should know better.

I'd be up for some of this vantage action this weekend too.

I think that bird is pretty dessicated/mummified by now. I was pretty careful not to touch it. Eeeeewwww!

The pancakes were awesome!

yup, most of NJ

I'm running away from the rain and out to Vantage again this weekend and seeking to expand my culinary horizons beyond the Mexican joint in Cle Elum that we always go to. Suggestions? The ideal place will have easy freeway access and cheap ghetto dive ambiance with good food.

and also...

Some more in the moderate camp: Hood Cooper Spur SW Rib South Early Winters Spire Beckey Route Liberty Bell W Butt Blueberry Hill Outer Space

A late-breaking addition to this wonderful thread... the classic "head jam" maneuver.

All the pictures of me on lead suck so bad! You don't want them. Headless chimney body jams and blurry butt shots. Plus I'll always look like a dork because I refuse to lead without a helmet on.

What crowds? I was up there maybe a month ago on a Sunday under sunny bluebird skies. Other than our party, there was only 1 other guy there soloing. Everyone likes to diss on da Toof, but dammit, it was a fun little climb that really got the newbies excited.

So there I was at the marmot shop getting the frayed end of my rope fixed, and on the counter I see a chick climbers calendar. I look at it and it turns out that except for a couple of boulderers, all the calendar girlz are clippin' bolts. So I think WTF? Aren't trad girls considered sexy? So I thought I'd bring up this question to the masses.

At one point it sounded like they were arguing over who had more faith in god. Ugh, gag me with a pitchfork! Where's the projectile vomiting graemlin when we need one?

OK, I suspect this thread is destined to be crapped on, but here goes anyway... My rock shoes are getting seriously funky, both in the olfactory and tactile sense. How do I clean my beloved shoes without damaging them? Soap? Some special shoe de-funking spray?

Well in that case, advertise away! BTW, good luck hiking to the crag in those 6" platform heels.

Gee, Snowbyrd, thanks for hijacking my thread! You should start your own thread to publicize your belay prostitution services. Anyway, if anybody actually wants to go climbing, please PM me!

Looking to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts and go do something chill. Exit 38 easily comes to mind, but I'm open to other ideas - climbing elsewhere, some hike, whatever. I have all gear and car. Ropeguns and newbies equally welcome.