murraysovereign

Yeah, same here. Kinda ruins my day, actually, but there's no denying I agree with him. A well-articulated argument that entirely coincides with my own thoughts on this issue. From Trask. Who'd a thunk it? Maybe be the rain has him feeling out-of-sorts today, or something. Gotta be an explanation for it... Can someone stop by and check on him?

Paranoid, too? Gawd, what a basket case.

Passive, lazy, and defeatist... you're pathetic

I'm sorry, but if you can't even muster the initiative to burn down your own house, then you don't deserve to eat. Houses don't burn down just because you "wished" it, you know. If you really want your house to burn down, at some point you're going to have to get up off your butt and start lighting some matches. With that passive, lazy attitude of yours, you'll never amount to anything. I mean, really!

" Looks like most of the Kettle Valley Railway Trestles are going to go in the next day or so, 6 gone already... " Last reports say they've lost 6 of the timber-framed trestles, and two of the steel-framed spans have had their deckings burned off. They've managed to keep the remaining bridges intact for now through continuous aerial bombardment, but if the winds get too stiff today and tomorrow it may be game over for the rest of them as well. This is a huge blow to Kelowna, psychologically. The homes that were lost last month can all be rebuilt, but those trestles were such a significant piece of the area's early history (Myra Canyon was declared a National Historic Site just 6 months ago), and so much volunteer time and love and sweat had gone into restoring them over the last 20 years, it just makes me heartsick to think of them burning. Estimated replacement cost if they all go is $35 million. Apparently the provincial and federal governments have already indicated they want to see them rebuilt if at all possible. Anyone know where I can send my cheque?

Yeah, you're right, Bill. I went for a hike a couple of years ago with someone who had never done any kind of outdoor anything. We found ourselves traversing a large, fairly steep slope of late-season snow, and I had to show him how to kick platforms in the snow for his feet, and then how to plunge step coming down the steeper bits. It was a pretty non-descript hike for me, but seeing the expression on his face, watching the lights turning on inside as a whole new world opened up for him...that was pretty cool. to those with the patience and energy it takes to teach the true beginners.

Look closely at her hand position. She's not instructing: she's spotting!

Better yet, stop into either of the Squamish climbing shops, and sign up for a turn at patrolling. Forty-five minutes to an hour walking through the Grand Wall Base area, or about a half-hour for Murrin Park, just making absolutely certain everyone is complying with the STRICT no-smoking rule. The only reason BC Parks hasn't already shut down the remaining climbing areas is because the climbing community has been doing such an effective job of self-policing. BC Parks had hoped for five patrols per day - we've had people doing "the walk" hourly from 10 AM through 7 PM, and we'd like to maintain that frequency. So sure, spend money if you really feel the need to, but more importantly, come in and put your name on the list.

I don't have a firm position on the Franken vs O'Reilly debate, but FOX may have had other reasons for suing than simply out of spite or to exact revenge on behalf of O'Reilly. I'm no legal expert, but if copyright law in the US is anything like it is here in Canada, then FOX may have felt they had no choice but to proceed, even if they knew the suit was frivolous. A copyright has no value unless you defend it against misuse. If FOX let this book title go unchallenged, and maybe one or two other instances that were deemed frivolous, they could find themselves some day trying to prevent a serious violation of their copyright, and being unable to do so by virtue of having let it slide in the past. The workings of copyright law put an onus on copyright holders to be vigilant, and anything that indicates a lack of vigilance acts to weaken your protection. So that may have been as much a motivation for the lawsuit as vindictiveness on the part of FOX. As I said, that's a layman's 30-second take on Canadian law, but I think US law is virtually identical in this area. Now, let the resume.

C) Neither - they're "Fundamentalists"

None of this was paid for out of any Bolt Fund - Kris does all his own work, and he does it well. He's the same guy who reclaimed "Calculus Crack" and "Peasant's Route", and put up "The Ultimate Everything." And yeah, he deserves a beer or two for his efforts

Yeah, but with so little gravity, you can probably dyno to the summit, then do huge leaps from peak to peak...bag the whole chain in, like, 20 minutes.

I'm pretty sure the EPA doesn't include "Asteroids" in any of their definitions of pollutants, just like atmospheric CO2. And since the EPA doesn't consider asteroids to be pollutants, there's nothing to worry about. Right?

No, of course not. Which is exactly my point - even though something doesn't fit the standard definition of "pollutant", too much of it can be a bad thing. Water is generally pretty benign stuff, but a wall of water 100' high rolling down the valley toward your home would certainly be seen as a serious threat to your safety. Not a pollutant, but not good either. So if you could do something to minimize the chance of having a 100' wall of water wiping out your home, you wouldn't do it, on the grounds that water is not a pollutant?

I think the case can be made that at a certain concentration, something becomes "unwanted". I don't mind having water come out of the kitchen faucet, in fact some water is an absolute necessity, but when it starts floating the furniture up so it bumps into the ceiling, I'd start thinking of that water as "unwanted". So "unwanted" in this context could be interpreted as "excessive amounts". Same goes for "fire", or "family reunion" or "atmospheric CO2". You can have too much of a good thing.

Well, no...I doubt that, somehow Besides, I mis-read the forecast - they're saying 100% for this Saturday, then 70% for Sunday and Monday. So it looks like we'll be celebrating some else's birthday, not yours. Sorry. But cheer up, the forecast could be wrong. I hear that's happened in the past from time to time.

Believe me - if it rains, we'll ALL be celebrating your birthday!

Up to a point, it costs just as much to build a fire line on one side of the houses as it does on the other side. So they may have had to work a little quicker to build it on the windward side, and may have had to put a few more resources into it, but the savings from building it 500 yards further downwind probably wouldn't have been huge. Regardless, it's good to hear a few happy endings coming out of this fire season. to fire crews everywhere - you people

But you still can. The Chief is open, Murrin is open, Malamute (Upper) is open, Papoose and Shannon Falls climbs are all open, as are the Grand Wall Boulders. Granted the alpine is pretty limited right now, and if you're a big Smoke Bluffs fan you're out of luck, but there's still a fair bit of rock available. But that said, I gotta agree - this sucks. On the bright side, the Weather Network is now forecasting 100% chance of rain for the 12th, and 70% for the 13th and 14th. Of course, any forecast more than about three days forward isn't worth much, but at least there's a glimmer of hope.

Sorry to wreck your plans, but Harvey's Pup is behind a Forestry Closure line right now due to extreme fire hazard. Closure is in place until at least September 14, possibly longer if we don't get significant rainfall. If you find a partner, make sure they'd be able to post bail. Penalties for violating the closure run to $10,000 fine and 6 months at Club Fed, so maybe go bowling or something instead.

I have here at my shop one Grivel Dragonne Liberty Leash. It's awfully lonely here all by itself, and I'm sure we can find a good home for it somewhere out there in cc.com-land rather than throwing it in the trash. Whoever makes the largest donation to the Squamish Valhalla Pure Bolt Fund gets it. Any bids?

"Snow Creek" Trailhead? I've never heard of it... what part of Squamish is that in?

Glacier and Mt Revelstoke are both now closed. Haven't heard about Yoho, but I'd be amazed if they're not shutting down, Kootenay also seeing as they've had one serious fire already.

Sorry, Jay, but I don't see how this refutes my observation that Einstein was able to reconcile his scientific pursuits with his religious faith. Where I have stated that Einstein percieved his studies as attempting to discern the logical workings of the mind of God, you quote Einstein describing the effort to arrive at "but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world". When asked how he was so sure that the universe was ordered in a logical way, and could be understood through the rigourous application of scientific logic, he replied that the universe had to be ordered thusly, because "God doesn't play at dice." In other words - God, being supremely logical, would not have thrown the universe together randomly. You are correct in stating that he had little time for most manifestations of structured, organised religion, and he disagreed with the conception of God as being directly involved in the day-to-day happenings of the world. He would have scoffed at any suggestion that the current forest fires in BC had anything to do with purposeful Divine Intervention, or that God in any way contributed to some college athlete scoring the winning touchdown in the big game. The notion of praying to God for assistance in any form would have struck him as vain and egocentric, but that is not to say that he dismissed religious beliefs out of hand, and certainly he did not hold that religious faith and principles of logic were irreconcilable, which was the argument of Sphinx's that I was addressing. I find it curious that Sphinx is so impressed by Einstein's eloquence, since what he is so eloquently stating - among other things - is that religious faith is not only compatible with scientific study, but possibly even essential to it: "What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics!"