JosephH

Talk to me about roped solo climbing...

Pink lives just next door in Castle Rock - pm him and drag him out...

Actually, Reagan set it all in motion after the Challenger accident along with a string of US launch failures. That and it made the Russians nervous which he also liked. Waivers entered the picture after Tiananmen and were issued by Bush and Clinton while no shortage of money traded hands all the way around. And the Loral episode was one of several with Boeing and Hughes getting dirty with aid and dollars as well. This really isn't a dem / rep specific issue per se. Overall this was more a tale of big corporations chasing a new telcom business, quarterly reports, and insurance costs than of deliberate espionage. Bush Sr. signed three waivers for nine lauches presented to him really setting the precedent and building the launch business in China up to the level of a gold rush. In fact, when the sale of three communications satellites to China was announced in 1989 after Bush Sr. took office it turns out uncle Prescott Bush made $250,000 on the deal as a 'consultant'. For sure, the Chinasat 8 waiver came under dubious circumstances and was ill-advised at best - but one has to also understand the context that there was also a lot of pressure after having already lost three very expensive US satellites on Long March 3B's. The pressure to do whatever was necessary not lose a fourth was enormous and the interests involved crossed the repub / dem as it was threatening the pace of the whole telcom business once everyone was vested in Chinese launches. Ditto on the insurance policies. Loral did what W's chronies have raised to a high art - they threw money at the problem. It was a classic case of corporate America not able to see beyond quarterly reports and doing anything to avoid a bad quarter. When you mix capitalism and greed with military matters it's never pretty and you know how it's going to play out in advance - just look at Iraq. And if we're going to try anyone for treason then Clinton would be at the end of a long line behind Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, and Rove. The damage this adminstration has deliberately inflicted on our nation's security for the sake of fantasy and cash far, far eclipses the totality of Clinton's meager indiscretions. If I were to try him for anything - it would be for lack of self-discipline and setting the stage for W to 'win' the Whitehouse. The members of this administration are traitors almost to a man - with the only excuse they can offer is they were chasing a fairy tale. P.S. And Schwartz gave more like $630k - a fraction of the costs associated with losing a complex comsat on launch - a bargain for him.

No one in any agency or program could give a rat's ass about the hydrazine or the fuel tank - that part is the politics. Hydrazine has been coming down in satellites for decades with nary a word of warning. This has nothing whatsoever to do with hydrazine and everything about PR for 'star wars' programs and an ill-advised word to the wise to the Chinese and Russians. Oh, and the real joke is the Chinese shot down their satellite with technology they got from US defense contractors eager to use the Chinese missiles to launch their tcommercial satellites. That started in '86 when Reagan thought using Chinese missiles for our satellites would be a good idea. Then every president from then on granted waivers for the launches despite the fact it was common knowledge sensitive data was being exchanged in the competitive horse trading. Go team...

They don't call 'em 'hammer' drills for nothing.

Socal climbers always seemed to manage to get things done despite being in LA. And guys like Kenny Duncan managed to climb hard while in med school. Congrats.

Now that is a mircale of a domain name acquisition - hang on to that - it could end up being worth more than the company some day.

Google "rods from god" and "smart spears"...

It's all good, but don't kid yourselves - people were on that stuff in the 80's and 90's - so you probably want to dial your 'early interest' calendar back a bit. 'Early interest' this time around would be more accurate. As for FA's and anchors, a lot of hard boys from Bend were up there in spates over time and I'm guessing short of getting them over there to walk the base line-by-line it might be a hard call to say just when the FA of a lot of them really was. I'd also say there are a lot of parallels between Ozone and TC relative to the overall hush/spew noise ratio - the difference being proximity. It's a bit strange to do both of them simultaneously and then turn around and wonder how the cat got out of the bag. but hen squabbling over such matters and the fallout from guides and articles is hardly anything new either.

Actually, these programs are fairly transparent by military standards. There are really no hidden agendas or technologies at the moment in the entire 'star wars' portfolio because the problems are very hard, they require and depend on a great deal of public sector research, and the shoots are all very public affairs. There is essentially none of the secrecy that there is in the otherwise highly successful military satellite sector. The vast majority of the secrecy in the 'star wars' portfolio is around the fact the technology does not really work and none of it will ever be able to shield our nation from a real nuclear missile attack. The reasons for this shoot are almost entirely political. The Aegis BMD and SM-3 being used have been up and running for awhile with at least a reasonable single target kill rate in highly scripted test shots where the testers controlled both the kill and target vehicles. The only interesting aspect of this shoot - and likely why they want to do it - is that it is by its very nature essentially unscripted - they have no control over the target 'vehicle'. [ Note: on looking at the SM-3 specs, it is a specialized version of the SM series with a kinetic warhead (with no explosives) so there is no danger of a conventional warhead coming back down, just a very dense chunk of metal designed to destroy things on impact. ]

Ah, very nice. Canon was a favorite trip when I lived in NH for two years in the mid 80's.

If they miss, then we have a missile with a warhead coming down on us which to my mind seems a bit more dangerous than the hydrazine fueld they're using as an excuse for the shoot.

Bill, I think in this case it's fairly obvious it's an ad hoc publicity grab for the program. If it were anything deeper it would either have been announced in formal program releases months in advance, or, we'd never know anything about it at all unless something went bad and a piece of it hit somewhere too obvious to be kept quiet. It could also be they were pushing for the shoot all along but were told 'no' until someone on the political (campaign) side of things decided it might be a good idea in the mix.

It's an opportunistic response to China. Opportunistic in that China's actions give them tit-for-tat cover to play with their toys. They're talking about shooting it in orbit which likely means the geography necessary to shoot it on reentry is unsuitable or unavailable to them despite any remaining manuvering capabilities. That and it's far easier than hitting one on reentry. A pretty desparate play to sell the technology when you look past the surface of it given it obviously wasn't planned.

It would seem if there were ever a place where people could avail themselves of the chance to learn to map their abilities to lines by sight alone this would be the place. I've always been mildly amused and a bit confused as to the use of guide books in climbing. By and large they typcially contribute to a considerable 'dumbing down' of climbers without ever capturing what is interesting about the climbs. I can figure out how hard and what gear, what I really always want to know is the 'story' of the first ascent, the people, and the name - tell me the story of seeing and putting the line up. That sort of thing is probably less a requirement in a land of side-by-side splitters, but still - a name, rating, and beta devoid of that context is dry by any measure. Climbers would be so much better off simply learning how to figure this stuff for themselves by eyeballing lines when they come upon them. Guidebooks tend to be the sort of crutch that keeps on disabling rather than enabling. With rare exceptions, when I do look at one it's usually only to figure out where a crag is or after a climb out of curiosity to see what was said about it.

I would have guessed McCain / Lieberman if he were operating under the same dellusion of 'uniting' the parties as Obama.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Neither Russia nor China are 'friendly' countries and a single Tupolev can loose a swarm of hell from a distance. They have air-launched supersonic cruise missles, and hypersonic ones on the near horizon. In even small groups, these missiles can easily breach a carrier group's defenses. Defending against them essentially means keeping them at arms length beyond their range - clearly a problem with overflights, even at a distance. And yes, Tupolevs, given their range and capacity, are what you'd attack far-flung carrier groups with. They are not the only weapons systems available, but one that does present unique capabilities. That's why we and they keep these planes around.

If you have to ask... They aren't a 'friendly country' and overflights under 30k of a carrier group by any military aircraft is an unwise proposition at best. Again, by the very nature of their tiered defenses, breaching them is a risky and unwise provocation. Don't let the Tupolev's looks fool you, they are fast, capable, and act as a weapons platform as well as our B-52s.

Fairweather, That's absolutely the reason for the Russian provocation, but the fact remains that carrier groups are the heart of our ability to project power and as such should not be subject to probing of any kind, for any reason. There are many other ways for the Russians to express their displeasure with our policies - this one is inherently dangerous. The US is making a mistake not making it publicly clear such provocations against carrier groups will not be tolerated for any reason.

It's not a matter of starting a world war - there are very real dangers and threats presented in each and every probe. And neither the Chinese nor the Russians will blink at the loss of a sub or bomber in the midsts of such provocations. There would be a lot of diplomatic hand-wringing, and then the provocations would stop. A clear and public warning from our Navy, the DoD, and the Whitehouse would be in order at this point as well; that way there would be no misunderstanding of the consequences.

Our carrier groups are being systematically probed by the Chinese, Iranians, and now Russians. You can bet they're sharing intel on all these transactions. Now, I'm a peace-loving guy, but this is getting out of hand - the next time a Chinese sub surfaces inside a carrier group, a Tupolev overflies one under 30k ft, or a speed boat breaches an outer picket I believe we should firmly demonstrate exactly how unacceptable and dangerous we find such provocations. The longer we allow these kinds of probes the weaker we appear.

Speaking for "some people", when the AF's stated position is strictly in support of proportional representation, and the vast majority of locals are sport climbers, then by definition and intent the result is a 'tyranny of democracy' in the management local trad areas. This AF stance was vocally stated on more than one occasion, by more than one AF rep, and to my knowledge has not waivered. That may work fine for Smith, Broughton, Ozone, and any of a host of other areas in the region, but it explicitly does not and will not work for Beacon. Pushing through such a generic policy at Beacon would be the equivalent of starting a bolt war without ever drilling a bolt oneself. I've personally never doubted you, been a 'naysayer', and certainly never said or implied you shouldn't be in the role. Quite the contrary, I think you've done a great job in Oregon representing the interests of Oregon climbers. Believe me, I do understand Beacon is a difficult situation all the way around both in terms of it being in Washington and due to the keen mistrust and disinterest Beacon-locals have all things organized. Sorry we've not seen eye-to-eye on those matters, but as you say, sometimes you can't be all things to all people and you just have to do your best - even under difficult circumstances. I think we've each been trying hard in that regard, we've both been volunteering our time and resources, and the stumbling block to my mind is entirely one of a clear policy divide and in no way personal.

All the old locals from Smith were doing TC in the 80's, it's not like it's a new area or anything - interest has just been renewed by Gavin and Mark D.

Four months behind you dude... Translation: buy even more climbing shit than I already have. You already have enough gear to outfit two simultaneous grade VII wall expeditions - start doing PT on that knee and prepare to lauch...! Sky's the limit...

I'm screwed forever regardless as, if I have stand before god, my foot is going to be aiming a wakeup call at the celestial groin. Is that a sin?