Recycled

Who's going to order some for me to try? http://www.superdairyboy.com/poweriser.html ($500) or the german originals http://www.powerskip.de/mainpage.html

So that's what they're called. I saw these being used by some street performers (the Orange Men?) in Toronto a couple years ago. They are incredible - one can go really fast on them. Where do I buy a pair? BTW, is that at Burning Man or so knock off?

Hey, I make a serious effort to get spray back on track and look at this hairy-palm shit. Guess the book thread was all spawned out.

Late posting as usual, but here's a good list for the tent bound: Highbrow/literate: Mortals and Mating by Norman Rush (not for the dim witted, very sharp observations) Cunning Man and the 3 trilogies by Robertson Davies Possession by A.S. Byatt ("Babel Tower" is OK too) Baudolino by Umberto Eco Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Lowbrow: A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe is pretty good

Fear is good if it's based on actual threats. Not so good if it is used to distract and guide us sheeple. I fear that we are spending outselves into such a hole that the $ will no longer be the world's reserve currency. If that happens we're just another medium-sized country in a very big world.

Diva Best movie ever, though Repo Man's up there too. They're the only 2 movies I actually own.

Most wealthy people I know are not particularly happy, but sure it beats being poor and miserable. The best of all is being a dirtbag climber in your early 20s with just barely enough $ to buy what you really need, few committments and lots of time to head for the hills. Ah, those were the days! 'course you don't see dirtbag climbers resorting to webpages with $10k finders fees just to find companionship.

Hey, what's wrong with my chest hair and shirt? I paid a lot of money to have that site put together, what with ghost writing and going to the salon and whatnot. Got tired of Craigslist. Sending out pictures of me in front of my BMW and waterfront house were just attracting shallow women, so I went the webpage route so everyone could see how genuine and deep I really am. Geesh!

The root cause of terrorism is not hard to figure out. If angry young men (and sometimes women) can be mobilized through religious or nationalistic notions to see striking out at civilians as a "just cause," and heroic martyrdom has religious payback, then you can probably gather a pool of willing participations. For the terrorist leader, the desired outcome is to provoke a disproportionate response to the act to galvanise his apathetic middle-of-the-road people into supporting his cause. I don't believe for a moment that Bin Laden's objective was any other than to provoke the US into Middle East invasions to galvanize support for a caliphate. He doesn't give a shit about whether we are scared to go to the mall or take a bus. We are just an evil foil that is dancing to his tune. He's had no reason to direct a US attack, because we're doing what he wants us to do quite well, thank you. I'm all for going after Bin Laden and having his head on a stick, even if that would make him a martyr. But while we're at it, we should disengage from Middle Eastern allances that conflict with our constitutional precepts, and provide leadership by setting a good example of the benefits of law, political and economic freedom, and democracy.

I agree with pretty much all of those goals. But they are NOT the actual goals of any Neocon administration. If our policies really aligned with those goals, we’d be far better off. Much of recent US foreign policy has directly conflicted with those goals. I would suggest that our de facto policy has been to support unsavory regimes when expedient to ensure continued access to other country's energy resources and to protect our export markets. The last thing our administration wants is a democratically elected Islamic or Socialist country with popular support. Democracy’s only fine as long as they’re with “us” and follow our model. Our security has not increased with recent events, our alliances with the Israel and the House of Saud have blown up in our faces and our administration has repeatedly supported protectionist measures to the detriment of our economy (think steel, softwood, sugar, textiles). Our aid policies have been designed to indebt developing countries for our leverage as well as to provide revenues to American consulting and engineering firms. See “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins for a surprising take on our economic relationships with other countries.

Nah, Americans are just pussys. Canadians, though, are the real deal. Tough, stoic and hooked on Tim Hortons.

The scary thing is the not-so-subtle shift in the perceived "rules of engagement". We should all be very nervous when police shift from an orientation of respecting due process (arrest them and let the courts decide) to more of a battlefield orientation where elimination of perceived threats is accepted. This is a bright line that I believe we simply can not cross. The response to this is that the life of a busload of people is worth more than the occasional mistaken execution. I'm not so sure. Better to deal with the root causes of terrorism than to slide down that slope.

I'd rather have a sky burial on the summit of Waddington [Warning: graphic link] http://www.ogrish.com/archives/tibetan_religion_sky_burial_Jul_05_2005.html

What's with Issaquah and Sammamish people making fun of my deity? Religion is serious shit, at least outside of Bellingham in Whatcom County...

A she? Hell no, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is beyond gender. It's Noodly Goodness has transcended those confines and is Supremely Trans- and Multi-gendered.

I had a great day yesterday up on the S. Side of Baker overlooking the Deming glacier. However, on the way down, I ran into all kinds of people grinding their way up to Park Butte or the meadows at 3:00 in the afternoon. They were sweating puddles, being consumed by flies and in general looking completely miserable and grouchy. I can just imagine their impression of the backcountry: "Oh hiking? yeah I tried that. It's awful, hot, too many flies, etc." My question: why do so many people start so late in the day? It's nuts!

Time to stir the intelligent design pot. http://www.venganza.org/

Insurance companies can "brand" cars they write off as totalled. It goes into their shared databases (to which I believe carfax has been given access). A State Farm insurance adjuster told me that they can also brand the title in Washington State, though I've never come across one. If you privately repair your car, nobody else has any business knowing what you had done. I'd go with what the shop told you.

I crossed the glacier (unroped) last week. The crevasses are starting to open up. There is one obvious and one less so - you need to keep your eyes open to follow the fracture line. There's a fairly clear path across the glacier, though I thought it wise to hang a bit further left at the first crevasse than the path indicated.

I'm too neurotic to deal with more than 2 or 3 of the little weasels at once. I have a lot of respect for those who can handle it though. Mostly, I just really good at whining.

I remember some late night adventures pissing on other groups' campfires, then running as they were fogged out of their tents. I never had much to do with the regular boy scouts past the cub scout stage, but I had great experiences with the Scout's Explorer program. I was in both Explorer Search & Rescue and the Coast Guard Sea Scouts and both were excellent programs. No bible thumpers in sight and lots of intense times in both programs. Now that my son is 8 years old, I'd like to get him involved in something like the scouts, but the bible thumpers have scared me off. Seems to me that a lot of the people who would make good leaders for teaching wilderness skills and self-reliance are in short supply, particularly in that organization.

Thanks Dru. Yes, I know which drainage it's in. I'm just trying to figure out whether there's a cross-over route that skirts CBP or whether I should use the Silesia creek access from Twin Lakes (lot of elevation drop) or the Slesse Creek access from C'wack. (road problems).

Interesting place to get your US news.

Anyone pulling out a map will see how much border there is, I don't think this thread is going to give anyone ideas that they don't already have. I'm legit and my main concern is that I've gotten different instructions from different officials and I want to save myself a nasty surprise if the "rules" we've become accustomed to suddenly change. I'd rather make a phone call before I go then have the black helicopters after me. My wife make a call to the BP yesterday to tell them she was going to be doing a wetland deliniation directly on the border and it took her a long time to find out who to call, and then the person she talked with got overly excited. Anyway, I was just interested whether anyone else had better information.

Not INTO Canada. A couple years ago, a whole van load of Koreans got busted just north of Bellingham. When I ran into the Border Patrol agents up Ross Lake they mentioned that (last year?) they caught a couple Koreans being smuggled down the lake. I've noticed since then that there is often a USBP Expedition parked at both the Ross Lake trailheads. I suppose it was only a matter of time before dubious characters started using Ross Lake enough to be noticed.