murraysovereign

Not sure I follow ... remembering those who have died at war doesn't strike me as a particularly "vague" concept. In fact, it's pretty starkly defined - if you didn't get killed in the war, it's not about you. Those who survived take the time to remember those who didn't. It's all summed up quite nicely in the words of "The Act of Remembrance": "They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember them." By contrast, "veteran" could apply to anyone who has ever worn a uniform regardless of whether they ever saw combat, or it could be expanded to include civilian employees of the military, or it could be expanded further to include anyone who has made any kind of contribution to the war effort like the merchant marine, or munitions factory workers, or "Rosie the Rivetter." Maybe that's why Veteran's Day doesn't command quite the same degree of respect as Remembrance Day - nobody's quite sure who or what it's supposed to be about. By including all "veterans" the intent of the original Armistice Day, as expressed in the Act of Remembrance, has been lost.

I was thinking about this yesterday, trying to figure out why the different attitudes towards Remembrance in our two countries. It seems strange to me that a country that makes such a big deal about Duty and Service and that has such a proud military history seems to have largely abandoned the simple act of taking a day each year to pay tribute to their fallen. There's a fair bit of rhetorical lip-service, but then everyone heads to the Mall. Is there any kind of formal, public observance at all? Here in Squamish, with a pretty small population, there was a huge turn-out at the local Remembrance service - standing-room only at the arena - and I know from past experience there would have been similar gatherings in every community in Canada. In channel surfing yesterday afternoon, the Canadian networks all were running documentaries on the Great War (saw a really good biography of John McCrae and the events that prompted him to write "In Flanders Fields", and why that particular poem out of so many struck a chord that resonates still almost a century later), WW2, Korea, various Peacekeeping operations, even the Boer War, except from 10 AM until noon, during which time they all broadcast live coverage of the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria. By contrast, I saw very little such programming on American channels - just lots of ads for "Veterans Day Blow-Out Sales". It appears that in the U.S. November 11 has become just another celebration of consumerism - is that true? As a store owner I've never been quite sure how to deal with Remembrance Day. On the one hand, I've always felt that it was something other than just a "holiday" - that there was something sacred about it, deserving of more respect and reverence than Labour Day or Thanksgiving or even Christmas (which, let's face it, has been pretty much shot to Hell as a religious Holy Day). But my father, who served as a navigator in Bomber Command, always grated at the idea of having the whole country completely shut down for the entire day every November 11. His feeling was that it was important for everyone to pause for a moment at 11 AM and remember all those who died, but to then get on with our lives. So I compromise between the two extremes, staying closed until after the memorial services are over, but opening for the afternoon. As for having a "Remembrance Day Blow-Out Sale" - forget it. Not only would I consider it to be in horribly bad taste but so would most, if not all of my customers. But in the U.S. it seems it's pretty broadly accepted practice. I think it was in "Breakfast of Champions" that Kurt Vonnegut observed that the change in attitude seems to have happened when the name was changed. He wrote that "Remembrance Day was sacred; Veteran's Day is not." Was he right?

Saw lots of those round contrails over Squamish on 9/11 as aircraft from all over the hemisphere circled, waiting their turn to land at Vancouver.

This whole "No Protestors, Please" thing reminds me of GWB's invitation to address the European Parliament in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Apparently the invitation was accepted, but only on the condition that GWB be greeted warmly and enthusiastically. Specifically, the deal was: No Standing Ovation - No Speech. The European Parliament wouldn't guarantee a standing ovation - or any applause at all, for that matter - preferring to hear the speech first before deciding if it was any good, so the White House declined the invitation. GWB and the people around him are, collectively, behaving a bit like a spoiled 4-year-old.

CBC Radio used to do a summer comedy series, and a perrenial favourite was a recording of Gerard Hoffnung reading "The Bricklayer's Letter" at the Oxford Union. Hysterically funny delivery, just seemed to keep getting funnier every time you heard it. I think the recording was made some time in the late 60s or early 70s (?) so this story has been around for quite a while. You can order a BBC recording of various Hoffnung bits, including "The Bricklayer's Letter", here , or just set your radio to the CBC and wait for them to play it again.

Hard to believe we've made it through three pages of discussing bizarre movies, and no-one has mentioned "Beloved."

And since you're climbing as a party of three, you can take turns carrying the extra 'biner so no-one gets too tired.

'specially in my case - I get neither as it is, so can't really give one up.

Try the Trango B-52, feedback so far is that it works better than the Reverso, and is less prone to excessive wear. I've sold a ton of Reversos, and they continue to be very popular, but I am also hearing back from a lot of people that they wear quickly (this in Squamish, where dirty ropes are not as big a problem as Smith or Skaha).

It's pretty common at Whistler/Blackcomb, because so many people are doing so much of their skiing out of bounds, and using the lifts to speed things up. Even a lot of the in-bounds stuff involves some hiking/climbing/long traverses and being able to release your heel can save a lot of muscle strain. The Fritschi Freerides were developed precisely because people were skiing the Diamirs waayy harder than they were designed for, and something much more bomber was needed. For sure if you're pounding the moguls hard all day, you're going to discover some limitations, but for general recreational skiing with no "Warren Miller"-type film crews to show off for, you'll probably be just fine.

Just to be thoroughly pedantic - the Bank of Canada does not take deposits: it's a regulatory body, equivalent to the US Federal Reserve Board, responsible for setting interest rates and managing the money supply. And it doesn't have a President, it has a Governor. His name's David Dodge. I've never met him, but I'm sure he's a very nice man. You're welcome

I wonder what they must have been doing to blow his knee out?

Just for the record, in addition to the gear stores in Banff there is also at least one on Main Street in Canmore. "Valhalla Pure Outfitters", I think it's called...something like that.

DMM makes shoes now, too? Jeez, I can't keep up anymore...

This could be a first - cc.com has actually helped me get work done. I had completely forgotten that my DMM order for next Spring had to be done by midnight tonight, but this thread reminded me - thanks dru .

Just comparing assholes. If we're going to discuss this asshole employer, it's always useful to have some sort of standard of assholeness against which to rate them. I would argue that Newt's behaviour demonstrated a degree of assholeness at least equivalent to, and perhaps exceeding that of the employer in question.

That's it - Gingritch. Whatta sanctimonious prick that guy was. Wonder what he's doing now?

What's his name - you know the "Contract With America", Mister-Moral-Majority dipshit whose name escapes me - served his wife with divorce papers while she was in hospital undergoing chemo- and radiation therapy for cancer. There's an Asshole for you. I think that came under the "traditional family values" part of the Contract, didn't it?

I've got a pair of size 14 Garmont Dakotas in stock - not a rigid boot, though, more of a backpacker. Special orders can be done, too, if you have a particular boot in mind. P/M me with specifics and I'll see what I can do.

I find it interesting that you, knowing absolutely nothing about me, automatically insult me and call me white trash. You know nothing of my upbringing, education, life experience, etc. Whatever, nice debate skills. I see your examples refuting the theory, but what have those people done to EXPAND, PROLIFERATE, AND EXCEL? Only European Aryans have seemed to go forth and expand to a great degree. I didn't read that as calling you white trash, Greg. I read it as trolling for white trash. Tough call, I agree it could be read either way. And as for expanding and excelling and blahblahblah, I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that a) white Europeans can afford the time and resources to go traipsing around the world climbing mountains, while other races are spending their time and resources eking out a living in some of the world's more inhospitable environments. And b) white Europeans care enough about climbing mountains "because they're there" to make it their lifelong pursuit. Other cultures quite sensibly regard the whole business as silly and pointless, so they don't bother.

16. The female ones always insist on leaving the seat down. How the Hell are we supposed to get a drink with that thing in the way?

There is a possibility that some sections of the BCR right-of-way will be paved in order to allow single-lane alternating traffic to by-pass some sections of highway in order to minimize delays during construction. Vehicle traffic would only be allowed passage in between trains, which will continue to run uninterrupted. The pavement would probably be left in place through the Olympics in order to allow for emergency by-pass, but it isn't seen as an integral part of the overall transportation plan for the games - if it's there, great, but they're not planning on needing to use it. The only thing that will stop the trains running through Squamish will be a corporate decision on the part of whomever buys the company (we should know who in the next 4-6 weeks). If CN is successful, they have many reasons for not running trains south of Lillooett, and very few reasons for continuing to run them. If that were to come about, then yes, the main reason for the closure of the Lower Malamute would disappear. But, there are applications pending to run tourist/passenger rail services between Vancouver and Whistler, and if that operator has safety concerns regarding climbers on the right-of-way, then we could be right back to square one again.

But McLane may be trying to answer the wrong question. He is assuming that the Chief was always bare, and the forest only recently started to grow, so he's trying to explain the seemingly sudden appearance of forest since the 40s. I think the more likely explanation is that there has always been forest on the Chief (this is the West Coast, after all), but for some reason it was briefly interrupted in the early 1900s and is now re-establishing itself. Fire is the most likely explanation, and there is evidence of exactly that. McLane overlooks that evidence, and chooses to speculate instead. And far from wanting to beautify the Chief, the Squamish Chamber of Commerce of the 70s/80s tried to quarry it. And don't for a second think that the danger has completely passed. The Chief is protected, but other nearby crags are still under threat of being blown up for fireplace facings and patio paving stones, not to mention Highway expansion.

Plant growth is an ongoing problem in Squamish. We're trying to stop it, but it's a formidable task I know the photo from the Guidebook you refer to, and I think it's partly explained by fire. On the backside trail between 2nd and 3rd peaks, there are a couple of large burnt stump remnants that would seem to be from a fire sometime early in the century (?). If a large fire managed to sweep the entire Chief, it would take quite a while for trees to get re-established due to the limited opportunities for natural re-seeding. That would explain why pictures taken in the 40s and 50s show a thinly vegetated Chief - those trees would have only just recently got themselves established, and would still be quite young. Today, 50 years later, we're looking at a fairly mature forest that's spread to all the ledge systems over the past century, so the difference is quite dramatic. Kevin notes in his guide that there are no burnt snags on the face of the Chief, and concludes from this that there was no fire. I suspect that any trees on the face of the Chief that were killed by fire 100 years ago are all long fallen and rotting at the base. Given the steepness of the terrain and the volume of rainfall - to say nothing of the local winds - I would be amazed if any burnt trees had been able to hang on for more than a few years after the fire. The stumps on the backside, however, are from huge, well-rooted trees on moderate slopes that are sheltered from the worst of the weather, so they've survived to give evidence of a major fire sweeping the area sometime in the early 1900s. Something similar could be responsible for the Malamute photo you cite. It was probably logged early on, being right beside the water and easily accessible. Or it, too, may have been burned off. Dru will no doubt have more information than I, but that's my theory.

They're already seeing it in Kelowna - just a few weeks after the fire that destroyed 250(?) homes, the same rains that caused flooding here in Squamish triggered localized flash-floods in Kelowna. People who escaped the flames with homes intact saw their houses fill with ash/mud/goop that flushed down off the now-barren hillsides behind their homes. If it ain't one thing, it's another...