fear_and_greed

"Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is." -WSC "I'm the decider and I'll decide what's best." -GWB "Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others." -WSC "Bring 'em on." -GWB

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. -WSC When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive. -GWB

What an unbelievably tastless and crass comment. Grow up and confine your inane ramblings to spray.

Climb: Mt. Robson failure, Mt. Athabasca success-SIlverhorn Date of Climb: 8/8/2006 Trip Report: Photos from both trips on my blog http://hydrogenplusstupidity.blogspot.com/ click on pix to enlarge them Gear Notes: machete, more ice screws Approach Notes: Route to Ralph Forster hut is a absolute bushwhack.

Climb: Rexs Pillar-Stonecrop face Date of Climb: 7/24/2006 Trip Report: Did a quick scramble and suncup heaven snow climb up Rexs Pillar. Didn't need a sleeping bag or stove but could have used bug repellent as they were ferocious. I was surprised by how steep the final portion of the face was. Check out my blog for pix. http://hydrogenplusstupidity.blogspot.com/ click on pix to enlarge them. Gear Notes: mossie spray

Up here in the early 80's my parents said they got 18 something % from the bank on the savings, so I imagine mortgage rates were about 20 %then! The preceding boom turned into a terrible bust and people simply walked away from their houses. I don't think the the future consequences meant a whole lot at that point.

Every day when I'm trading I tune into Winamp/Shoutcast and listen to chillout music from 6:30 am to 1 pm. Great stations from all over the world, Groove Salad, RadioAmbient,1.FM. At the end of the day I pour myself out of the chair I'm so relaxed.

There is a crash coming the likes of which our generation has never experienced. Mix rising interest rates, record high oil prices, add in another terrorist attack on the homeland. Commerce slows, jobs disappear. The economy hiccups and people are going to be walking away from their mortgages.

For those of you still lugging around railway tie weight boards and clunky boots and getting tired of it, here is my lightweight rando setup. My goal was to put together a package that was responsive in the PNW conditions and light to carry on my pack. Since the time spent touring and climbing far exceeds the time spent going downhill I let these conditions dictate the equipment. This year I got in about 30 ski days from December to June. Scrapa F1 boots weigh about 2700 grams or about 1/2 kilo lighter than a pair of Matrixs or more than 1 kilo lighter than Denali TTs. I found the tele bellows made a huge difference in comfort. Touring and climbing are effortless as the boot now follows the natural bend of my foot. With only 2 buckles, adjustment is an easy task. Usually I just played with the power strap or flicked up the rear latch to get more flex. Walking and climbing is also very easy and you dont have a frankenstein like gait. The thermo liners are warm and the fit is snug.The boots are Dynafit only compatible which makes sense. Why ruin a light set up with a set of anything else. The Dynafit Comfort binding weighs 384 grams without brakes, about 1/3 - 1/2 the weight of other popular ones. Entry is somewhat finicky until you get used to them. You need to line up the holes in the boots and this can be a pain in deep snow or on angled slopes. Once you get the hang of it it's less a of problem. Certainly the conventional bindings are much easier to get in. I removed the brakes and put on some leashes because snow buildup and boot movement would sometimes spin and lock down the heels. That was very annoying. The leashes are lighter than brakes anyway and solves this problem. Switching from touring to heel locked is easy, just spin the heels and step in. Switching back requires a little boot twist and turn of the heel riser, you don't need to exit the binding. The 2 position heel risers provided enough lift that most inclines were easy to climb. Since the Scarpa F1 boot has some flex in it I found when I had the risers in the top position my buddies had their Silvrettas or Fritchis in only the middle position though. A nice feature is that a simple flip up lever will lock the front release in to about a 12 DIN setting when you absolutely don't want to lose a ski. Skis are Volkl Nobert Joos 163cm sidecut is 102-70-90, 2.05 kg a pair. Maybe a kilo lighter than a pair of K2 Shuksans. I am very impressed with how these boards performed in the conditions I used them in. In my opinion they are a great all around ski. This year I skiied everything from deep fresh fluffy powder to crusty chunky crud to ice to slush and I went where I wanted when I wanted. I didn't have a much flotation as a big, fat ski did, but I sure wasn't being left behind by anyone. Flex and edge hold is fantastic. Steep, narrow couloirs,tree dodging, black diamond bump runs or long turn cruising, these are the real deal. I highly recommend this setup if you are contemplating skiing similiar conditions.

Rental vehicles always surprise me by how fast they can go in 1st gear and reverse, how many g's they can pull around corners, how little time it takes to completely fade the brakes and best of all, their off road capabilities.

We considered it but the possibility of getting a leg injury and then the distance from help made us think better of it and everyone was pretty bagged by the time we got back down.

Climb: Mt. Columbia - Rockies-East face Date of Climb: 6/24/2006 Trip Report: With my regular partners BackcountryPunk and Jason climbing the NE buttress of Slesse last weekend (WTG guys, cant wait to see some pix)I hooked up with Greg from Van and Josh from Calgary to try Mt. Columbia. The weather was perfect and we summited Albertas highest peak. Check out my blog for pix and details http://hydrogenplusstupidity.blogspot.com/ You can click on the pix to enlarge them. Gear Notes: Skis, crevasse rescue gear, lots of GU. Approach Notes: Serac fall danger is overblown on Snowdome.

I used and abused a pair of BD flicklocks for several years with no problems until the shafts started to pit. I upgraded to the new carbon fiber flicks last fall and love the light weight and new grip/strap design.

Hhhmmmm. The new boogeyman is a Sheikh Abu Hafs al-Kurani. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. I thought the Bushites would come up with a catchier name. Remember "if the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit" line. Dumb it down to reach the audience. Brilliant that was. Anyway, lets see Sheikh Abus CV, explosives expert... led hard operations.. well he's got some crazy eyes thats for sure. My guess is that we'll see a ratcheting up of evil deeds attributed to Shiek Abu, maybe some bombings to start, kidnappings and general terror ops next. I wonder if he has the contacts to obtain those phantom WMD? Now that's the sort of thing that could leapfrog him into the big league with OBL. The US war machine would benefit from those sorts of rumours. Yessiree, we got ourselves a new boogeyman!

that the Haditha massacre blew over so fast when #2 Zarqawi got a couple of 500 pounders dropped on him. Do the Bushites keep juicy tidbits on tap for such an occasion? I don't believe in coincidences, they're just too neat and tidy.

"There were so many recipients wanting sperm and there was so little sperm, never enough sperm," says former staff member Julianna McKillop. Open wide Jules, Daddys home...

Here's what I did, http://hydrogenplusstupidity.blogspot.com/

Now that the #2 most wanted man is dead, who will the white house spin doctors create to replace him? After all without a bogeyman or monster under the bed, won't funding and support for the occupation dry up? I know what you're thinking, Osama is still in that cave out there or hanging out around the pool down in Crawford, Tx. but I hardly hear him mentioned anymore. So to help the script writers in DC in their search for the next "Al-Qaida Idol", I've compiled a few snippets from the daily rags: He would have to be fleet footed - "The White House on Thursday also linked al-Zarqawi to the execution of 20 bus passengers near Baquba last weekend, and the separate discovery of nine heads in boxes along a road near the city." A double agent - "many speculated that he was either an American creation or, at the very least, a convenient foil whose reputation and role the U.S. military encouraged and exaggerated in Iraq. (It was disclosed earlier this year that the military had launched a psychological campaign to magnify his role.)" A religious man - "godfather of sectarian violence in Iraq" An entertainer - "Zarqawi was a showman and a renegade, playing to radical Islam" And a west point graduate - "He certainly has been a mastermind for terrorism and the insurgency" This will be a tall order but as long as the Bushites are in control I expect a new and more sinister evil doer to emerge into the TV addled consciousness of America.

Since we're helping out the evil empire in Afganistan we are branded as targets ourselves. We made the correct decision not to join in the Iraq occupation/oilgrab but the Canadian thing to do would have been to hold a nationwide referendum on the Ahgan matter. Either that or the Jihadis think that our virgins are better up here.

What were they thinking? http://porktornado.diaryland.com/albumcover.html

Organized religion is only a congame played on the weak minded by a small group of power hungry zealots.

"Forget about Iraq, Iran, foreign debt, global warming and Katrina(oops already did)we gotta stop those fudge packers. Rummy, Chertoff, raise the alert to Pink- Attack from sword swallowers likely. From the DHS site... All Americans, including those homophobics in the bible belt, should continue to be vigilant, take notice of men dressed in black leather or latex, and report suspicions items, bulk condom purchases to local authorities immediately.

If you're going up around Whistler, this gives you a more detailed alpine forecast http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/weather/forecast/alpine/index.htm

Here are some pix of the Hurley from a few weeks ago on my blog. http://hydrogenplusstupidity.blogspot.com/