ClimbingPanther

Mike, I appreciate your inclusion of the Pink Panther, but you left out in my opinion the funniest movie ever (also starring Peter Sellers)... DR. STRANGELOVE, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Maybe for you. Actually, I find it refreshing that I am no longer considered stupid enough to spend too much money for a shirt with some letters on it. Nobody cares what you look like except you. And maybe

I don't know if I'd use that word, but definitely all of us don't act in accordance with our own beliefs and values 100% of the time. Hypocrite goes a little farther than our innate imperfection and implies a lifestyle of saying one thing and doing another

Quote from the male prostitute: "I cried many nights; I got sick tormenting myself about whether I should do this," he said. "I finally had to come to peace with myself. ... I had to do the moral thing." Seriously guys, don't string the pastor up just yet. We don't know the whole story. Maybe he is a hypocrite, but don't call him one until we know he is one.

You'd better!

Yes, ian, that is the supposed problem, but how does that happen if, like the guy said, the girth hitch was still tight? If so, then there's nothing but air to abrade it.

That's an awful clean cut! The psychology of it may not make sense, but it's possible to have been mostly cut, and the cut hidden in the knot, unless he untied and retied the knot every morning. I wonder if he can be sure nobody was up there with a knife during the night or even while he was on rappel? 30 feet back from the edge... you're not going to see anyone. He said the ends were soft, not fused, which makes friction-related abrasion & cutting highly unlikely, and it was not in contact with the rock. He also said the girth hitch was tight. Now how could the knot be tight if it was responsible for the break? How else do you get such a pretty cut without a knife and without any heat? Especially in light of other testing which has recently been discussed, I think there's something very suspicious about this failure and don't believe it has anything to do with the girth hitch. That said, it's your life not mine so believe what you want and be as safe and cautious as you want to be! Someone ought to be able to reproduce that with those exact components if it was really just the girth hitch which caused the failure. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Look at this picture and then read the tag closely.

There's no question, regardless of what Taser says, that this thing can kill, and police need to keep that in mind when they think "Do I REALLY need to taser this guy?" It's a great tool to have, but shouldn't be used lightly as a "safe" alternative to just using brawn to control uncooperative people. Senseless death pisses me off.

Google search: girth-hitch There's very little good info out there about girth hitching slings to slings, but it seems like it's not a death-wish activity. Some of the more reliable testing indicated a 25% drop in strength, which isn't anything to think twice about. There is one type of girth hitch connection that possibly should be avoided ("linked girth hitch") ["possibly" because one sample is statistically stupid] http://www.climerware.com/knot.shtml Mike: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.climbing/browse_thread/thread/3055c154ad4348bd?hl=en&rnum=1 This site shows results from testing sling-girth-hitched-to-wire combinations, but is a little hard to comprehend what's really going on. The wires themselves were tested over a tiny nut, then the wire-sling combo did not involve the tiny nut. So, the comparison is kinda stupid, but the absolute value of the breaking strength is still informational. Also, they do not indicate where the break occurred so we can't know if the sling stregth was reduced by 60-85% or if the wire was reduced by some unknown amount. The one concrete result that you should take with you is that doubling the sling through the wire is better than girth-hitching it. edit: oh yeah, I should mention that this was done with nylon 11/16

point repeated for emphasis

Maybe this had nothing to do with it, but come on, why would you even take a chance?

It's widely thought that Dyneema and Spectra are the same thing, and in a way, they are, but in another way, they aren't. What I mean is they're the same substance, but Dyneema fibers are spun thinner and they fray easier. Just a thought to keep in mind, especially when talking about wear from usage.

Is that "Senate's #1 spender" label accurate?

You're right about the fact that you don't need to replace the whole car, probably just the batteries, although I don't know what other hybrid-specific stuff will wear out sooner also. Regarding hummers, they must assume that the lifetime of newer vehicles will be longer that what is common today, I guess. I agree 300K seems a bit generous. Electrical energy, especially from nuclear reactors, is very clean, in a sense, and I believe much cheaper than gas for the work you can do. What would a system based on electric cars and nuclear power look like?

I was there July 4 2005, and there were reports of bear activity in the valley just to the west of the one with snowgrass flats and goat lake. However, (for example) in all the years of Mt. Rainier Natl. Park, there's been gazillions of sightings and not a single attack, so you're not likely to have a problem as long as you don't slather yourself in bacon grease and huckleberries. Hang up your food and enjoy a beautiful area of washington! Edit: with regard to the perceived lack of trees, there does tend to be some correlation to the thickness of the forest and the aspect of a slope near the treeline in that area, but I don't think you'll have any real trouble finding trees below the treeline.

Not exactly. First, they were not talking purely about input costs, it was about all input/maintenance/gas energy over the life of the vehicle stated as a dollar figure per mile of vehicle life. Second, hybrids do not turn a profit yet, so their price is artificially low compared to the massive-profit-maker hummers. Perhaps the prices aren't that far apart. On top of that, the gains in energy efficiency of manufacturing a smaller vehicle and of running the vehicle are lost in the fact that you have to produce three hybrids (est. 100K mile lifetime) to last as long as one hummer (est. 300K lifetime).

Yes. http://www.reason.org/commentaries/dalmia_20060719.shtml I think research covered in this article is interesting and keeps things in perspective, but the conclusion of the commentary's author is flawed. Whatever extra energy is consumed in researching and manufacturing hybrids today must be considered a sunk cost in terms of energy, which will be offset by future improvements and increased prevalence of hybrids. After all, they're comparing a 100-year-old established industry to a brand new tiny sub-section. Interesting food for thought though. The real [unanswered?] question though is can hybrid production and usage ever come to the point where in an all-things-considered point of view, they are more energy efficient than the normal cars of today?

Vaseline, in case the group behind me makes me mad.

Awwwww, I thought this was about concessions, like, you know, at a basketball game or something. I was really hoping they had built ANOTHER hut at Muir to sell and and and add to the list of typical climbing supplies that are no longer needed to do Rainier.

vw4ever, this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I wanted to learn more about. There's pros and cons for every option, and that is really what I want to bring out in the discussion so I can make an informed determination of what's best for me to do, not just to find the absolute best mpg ever in the world or the most environmentally perfect option in the world or whatever. Thanks!

CBS, this is clearly not a simple, mundane thread resurrection. Put yourself in Dru's place... what would YOU do if you ran across a thread you hadn't posted in?

Good suggestions, Peter. hehe, confusing info corrected. 7 mi. was one-way, 1 hour was roundtrip I did just buy a little rack two days ago for the back of my bike so I don't have to use a backpack anymore. That's one of the worst places for sweating.

14 miles roundtrip, my only option for an everyday purely me-powered method is biking. I do that once a week, but it takes me an hour roundtrip and I'm sweaty and gross when I get to work. There must be a better way. Anyway, I'm not looking for justification for it, I just want an easier way which doesn't impact the environment as much. Besides, even if I could, some people just can't go to work any of those ways, and I want this thread to be a resource for them, not a finger-wagging session.

So, how much did you pay for it, and what mileage does it get? Also, is insurance more? Liability, collision, comp., etc.? Thanks!

I want to start an informative thread about ways we can get around without using a gas-only full-size vehicle. Specifically for me, I would like to find a better way to make my 7-mile 13-minute (car) commute to work every day using either less (than a regular car) or no gasoline. Since I and most people will never go to work EVERY day under our own power (walk, run, bicycle, etc. = smell like the gym when you get to work), I want to start a discussion on alternative means of getting there that are better than the status quo. Let's talk over the pros and cons of each method [electric-assist bicycle, moped, hybrid, anything else whatsoever], especially the cost/benefit aspect. I would find it especially useful to know what some of you are I'm sure already doing. Keep this an information-heavy thread, and you will not only help me to make a difference, but others can use this thread as a resource for information on how they can make a difference too. Thanks!