Recycled

No, it's the guy in the background looking at her that's scary.

Does this mean that we're suppose to add curvy women to the list of good Omega-3 foods to eat? Hannible Lector would be delighted.

Waste not, want not.

I obviously don't know how old you are (or how old your mother is for that matter), but three possibilities come to mind: (1) Its time to move out and be on your own. (2) Your mother needs some help, either for an acute issue or for the onset of dementia (3) She's right. Regardless, your rant on your blog seems disrespectful - regardless of the source of her problem. If she is having some problems, try to be supportive and help her.

This is particularly true in Western Washington. VERY few single famly rental houses have positive cash flow if bought within the past few years. In fact, the return on investment on many of these houses is well below what you could earn putting the same amount of money in a CD. Let's see: take a $500k asset that nets you $20k/yr after expenses and you're at 4% pretax income. It's more complicated if you factor in a loan, but the fact is, residential rents are comparative low for asset prices. Property taxes are a very small part of that picture.

If you set aside arguments about the total amount that should be raised through taxes and how it's spent, the range of taxing options is pretty limited: 1. Income taxes 2. Taxes on assets (including but not limited to property) 3. Taxes on imports 4. Inheritance taxes 5. Carbon taxes 6. Consumption taxes (mostly sales or VAT-type taxes) So, if one doesn't like taxes on assets, which other taxes should go up to raise necessary revenues? Ideally, taxation should be administratively efficient and equitable. Income taxes fail those objectives miserably (think how much $ is spent on accountants just to figure out Federal tax code). Taxes on imports are usually erected as trade barriers and are ultimately self-defeating. Taxes on inheritance raise relatively little money, and can be avoided in many cases. Carbon taxes - well, that's another discussion. Consumption taxes could be a bit higher, particularly if collected as a VAT, but not too much higher and many argue that they are regressive unless basic needs are exempted. Frankly, I think our property taxes are pretty efficient. Everyone pays them (including renters, obviously), and they are equitable. We have a far better and more equitable property tax system than California.

I love how the "repressive tax will hurt the poor" gets trotted out whenever there's a discussion about aligning taxes with rational goals. Like taxing consumption (a resource "bad") more heaviy than income (a "good" if saved/invested). Tax impacts by income level can be varied by how the tax is levied (as discussed) or by straight income transfers. It is not an unsolvable problem. The main point is to not insulate "the poor" from making rational decisions about energy use. For example, if you provide a $500-1000 tax/benefit offset per family, they can decide whether they want to use less fuel (through an efficient vehicle, alternative transportation or whatever they want) and keep the $ for other uses or blow all the money on a gas hog and pay the increased tax on fuel. At least the economic incentives will be aligned the right way. If increased fuel/carbon taxes are revenue-neutral, the net effect to consumer prices is hard to predict. Sure, moving products long distances will cost more, but other products may cost less, depending on which taxes are reduced to keep things revenue-neutral. The point of this is that there are so many distortions in the marketplace one can't make blanket statements about the effects on consumers. Except that the price of recycled biodiesel will probably go down.

Damn, I could swear I've seen that picture somewhere before, but I can't quite place it.

Wait a minute, I like Margaritas and I sure as hell not Metro.

CAFE standards are a goofy way to try to encourage efficiency and are based on a outmoded and failed regulatory model. For the past 25 years or so that I've been buying and using vehicles, I've observed that almost nobody asks "how many MPG" as one of the prime questions when buying a vehicle. It's my first question. Just look at the threads on this board regarding "climbing vehicles." Fuel efficiencies rarely enters the picture. The fact is that the car industry delivers what people want to buy. If you look at Euro cars, many are very efficient (e.g. the VW Lupo gets about 70+mpg) and they sell because that's what people want for their style of driving, parking and fuel expense. As long as fuel is so cheap in the US, not much will change. And yes, $3-4/gal gas is too cheap. If I were king, I would: (1) put revenue neutral infrastructure and carbon taxes on fuel (2) eliminate CAFE entirely; and (3) eliminate the Section 179 depreciation for businesses for vehicles under 10,000 GVW. (they can use the straight mileage deduction instead which would favor more efficient vehicles). That would address the basic perception of what people think they need and car makers would respond accordingly.

Breakfast: Old Town Cafe (on Holly), Little Cheerful (Holly & Railroad). Or.. grab a Great Harvest cinnimon roll and a cup of coffee. Lunch: Bandito's Burrito's (on Holly), LaFiamma Woodfire Pizze (Chestnut & Railroad), La Vien Rose (on Holly) or Avenue Bread (Railroad) for baked goods/sandwiches, etc. Dinner: Pepper Sisters (State street) is excellent, though their southwestern style food is a bit of an acquired taste. Lot's of good cheap Thai places: On Rice, Busara, etc. DeAnna's (on State) has very good Italian, though it's not cheap with entrees running about $12+

Go back and search for "Trask" from a few years ago. You can see for yourself the downward spiral and personal disintegration that CC.com inspires.

I second Blake's motion. Great show Wayne! Well worth the epic Skagit rain.

Fair disclosure: I'm one of Dru's described dark balls of compressed rage if the sun's not out. There ARE quite a few of us in B'ham.

It's been said before, but B'ham's great for alpine climbers but not so much for gym/sport climbers. If you're planning on bringing a boat be aware that Squalicum Harbor has over a one year wait and they are pretty much the only show in town for moorage. I had to moor my boat in Blaine for over a year until a slip opened up in town. And yes, this is a strange town. Non-outdoors people bitch and whine continuously about how boring it is and how hard it is to meet people. Why the hell they move here is beyond me. I'm originally from Bellevue ('60s)/Seattle('70s) and I haven't found a better combination of salt water, alpine and access to a relatively cosmopolitan city (Vancouver) anywhere else.

If solitude is the main objective, you might be better off taking one of the back routes in to the Spickard/Redoubt area along the border. Maybe go to Silver Lake via Galena Lake on the N. end of Ross Lake. You can scramble/climb to your heart's content.

If solitude is the main objective, you might be better off taking one of the back routes in to the Spickard/Redoubt area along the border. Maybe go to Silver Lake via Galena Lake on the N. end of Ross Lake. You can scramble/climb to your heart's content.

Butch? You obviously haven't seen the red dress...

The current theory is that you play dead if charged after surprising a black bear. If they bear doesn't stop batting you around pretty quick, then fight back. If you're followed or attacked in a tent, fight back because it's likely a predatory attack from the onset. Before about 10 years ago, predatory attacks by black bears were considered rare and the advice was always to play dead. Predatory attacks seem a lot more common, or perhaps just now people have better information. And yes, I think a 9mm with 15+ rounds would stop a 300 pound black bear. BTW, never play dead if a couger comes after you ...

Strange that the article does not acknowledge that it appears to be a predatory attack. It certainly sounds like it to me, particularly considering the earlier encounter by the same bear. I'd feel really bad if I were the earlier person who was attacked and had the means to kill the bear, but didn't - only to have it come back and kill a child.

First, rotate your tires and see if the problem persists. Sometimes tires used on a lot of logging roads can suffer internal delamination that causes stranger problems. I've driven myself nuts trying to figure out a VW front end problem that turned out to be a delam tire. Missing tire weights can also cause wobble problems that can aggravate failing struts. Based on the age and likely mileage of your car, I'd guess that you're probably in for new front stuts and possibly a wheel bearing if you haven't done these yet. Those things usually start to show up on VWs at about 125-150,000 miles. Wheel bearings usually rumble more than knock, but you never know. It could also be a CV joint, but that usually shows up first when turning, not going straight. Failed tie rod ends usually don't show up until a bit later on VWs unless you have a lot of log-road miles and abuse on the car. Good luck.

It appears that the wrong 19 year old was stoned.

Middle school or high school? I thought Ivan was a HS teacher. My high school years are a ways back (class of '79), but I sure as hell don't remember such a passive attitude toward "authority." As a matter of fact, I think my age group was the first to be tapped for the newly reinstituted selective service registration and it looked to a lot of us like we were about to invade Iran with a draft to support it.

scarey indeed - i had a class of seniors last year, the majority of which were theoritically fine w/ the government posting cameras in all the rooms of their house so they could be observed at all times the spirit of servility is sizzling in its vitality - the benefit of legalizing drugs for these fawks is that it'll facilitate their voluntary culling from the herd That terrifies me. Do you think their response was due to the perceived acceptability of voyerism as entertainment or really understanding the personal liberty implications?

Old steel crampons from the 80s. Still in great shape. I bought new straps a couple years ago and haven't used them since. Great for basic glacier slogs. $30 Located in Bellingham