MattLinden

Anybody know if Observation Rock is worth playing on at this time? Is Baker a better bet this weekend?

Hmmm. I think I'm worrying too much about rumors. I can't find restrictions about stoves, even as carry-on luggage, anywhere on the web.

I don't know if I'll get a straight answer about this from the airline, and I've heard various rumors. Has anyone traveled with a canister stove (no canisters of course) in their checked airline luggage? Does anyone know the rule? It has been used.

LOL. That's what I have been considering, and I'm sure I'll do once or twice.

OK, here's a totally non-climbing and non-political topic for the Spray. I'm ready to buy myself a Christmas present of a printer for my digital photos. I probably won't actually buy until January, after my holiday backpacking trip to Hawaii. Anybody have some good tips? I'm looking for general info like must have features, things to avoid, etc. Specific model recommendations are useful too; with explanations why you like them. Thanks.

Whoa. Slow down. I spent nine days mountain biking and sightseeing in Iceland this summer. My guide said that he believed just the opposite of what KK said - the guide said that depression was very common in Iceland. Given that it rains or snows most days there, I can understand. I certainly experienced lots of rain, even in one of their drier summer months. I didn't see a tree until my sixth day there. Mostly it is an open, grassy, and mossy place. Some ice and glacier climbing, but I didn't catch wind of much of a rock climbing culture.

"Chicks," is this true? It's important! I'd wouldn't mind something with better gas mileage than my 4-Runner when I replace it in a couple years. I do think I'd miss the clearance a couple times a year, but the Outback probably handles snow better.

This "World's Smallest Political Quiz" makes the rounds often. It's interesting. http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html

I'm loving this. Not because I'm a big GW fan, but because the moonbat left is just too hysterical and will be so fun to watch here. The daily kos comments are fun, but the ones here could be just as good.

I don't think the crowd here will like it one bit, but here's the current sticker on my car: "Except for ending slavery, Nazism, fascism, and communism, War Has Never Solved Anything." A lot of folks see the last line before they realize what is says in full and get all flustered.

Again, we must be fair and not hyper partisan. The war in Kosovo was fought without UN approval, precisely because the U.S. couldn't get it. I believe at that time it was Russia and China who were leading the opposition. It was multi-lateral only in name. The U.S. had to provide virtually all of the weaponry and effort. (That war was famous for exposing the uselessnes of European defense forces.) There needs to be some other reason to justify being for "Kosovo" and against "Iraq" than getting the approval and help of other countries. That one was during a Democrat’s term as president, and one was during the term of a Republican most all posters here hate isn’t a good reason. In any case, I certainly don’t live my life deciding what is right based on what the majority of others tell me, and I certainly don’t think a president and our leaders should determine what is right based on a vote of other countries' leaders. Even more specific, the morally bankrupt U.N. is a very poor arbiter of what is right. Look how well they are doing in Darfur with the obsessively multi-lateral consensus approach.

But we need to be truthful enough to be pisssed about this too. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1167592004 "SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night. Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war. . . ." and this "Although they found no evidence that Saddam had made any WMD since 1992, they found documents which showed the "guiding theme" of his regime was to be able to start making them again with as short a lead time as possible." And note that JFKerry said this "[W]e don't know for certain whether the reports of defectors are completely true and our satellites cannot determine with complete accuracy whether new buildings and construction are designed to build weapons of mass destruction. So the question becomes: who gets the benefit of the doubt? A dictator who has used such weapons and declared the United States as an enemy or a democratic country that has already experienced terrorist catastrophe?"

If you want to spend big bucks, you can get a great guide from AAI. I called them two days before I had to go to the hell hole of Vegas for a buddy's wedding, and they hooked me up with one of their guides for a one day private session. But you don't sound like you need a guide. I don't think they have a "just show around" plan or rate.