mkporwit

Experiments show that a figure 8 fails at around ~70% of rope strength, which is about what I remembered. I was surprised that the bowline reduced the strenght more...

RPN usually stands for Reverse Polish Notation. It's a way to do mathematical calculations that maps well onto how most computers operate.

doesn't like old nuts

only likes nut-friendly routes

will lead the riots

Irritable Bowels

Also, every time I've asked to get on a route that's been in use by the Mounties it has been made available to me, with the choice of using their ropes/anchors or setting up my own. Ask and ye shall receive...

Hey Mikester, Vantage is big enough to absorb the 32 mounties that will be there. If you're over there I'm sure there will be plenty for you to climb. Especially since I'm pretty sure the self-rescue class will be off on some god-forsaken, hasn't-seen-an-ascent-since-Bill-Robbins, chossy POS routes. So if anything they'll be doing the community a favor by cleaning some of the loose shit off. Unless you're desperate to do laps on "Updrafts to Heaven" or spend a few hours sieging "Where the Sidewalk Ends"... then you may have to wait a bit.

I like my son more this year too... of course, I didn't have a son last year, so I guess that's a vacuously true statement...

is wondering WTF this thread is still going on

defies definition

FW, here's the details: God's will is that we drill for more oil and build more pipelines -- ~ 4:20 Our leaders are doing God's will by sending our boys to Iraq -- ~ 6:00 L4LjsfWbZLA

I'm sure that one of the first things that they teach you in politician school is to try and avoid giving yes/no answers because they sound a little too absolute and come back to bite you. There are certainly questions that could be posed to Obama where he would also hem and haw and spin the issue. Having said that, the parts of the interview that I've seen show her as rather clueless, so I don't think it was just d3t_pin's hopeful imagination.

What prole is referring to is a segment in Palin's speech to her old church in Wasilla, I think, which has been posted here before. It got brought up again in her first interview with Charlie Gibson -- you should be able to find that posted somewhere. They play that crucial fragment as part of that interview. She tries to spin it as referring to something Abraham Lincoln said way back when, but frankly does not come across as very convincing when she explains it like that. It seems pretty clear to me from her statement to her church that she views this as a just and holy war in accordance with God's plan.

is bidin' his time

does not fear complex questions

When Jenna Bush turned 18 a few years ago I overheard the wisecrack that Jenna Bush's federally protected wetlands would now be open for public drilling...

Somewhat apropos given the discussion...

My preference these days is for slung rockcentrics in the larger sizes and for wired BD hexes in the smaller ones. This makes it easier to place the small ones by holding the stiff wire, slotting them in. The large hex sizes allow you to get your hand into the feature, so you're unlikely to be slotting them in by the wire. The slung rocks are lighter and allow you to conserve slings if need be. They're also curved as opposed to having straight walls like the BD hexes, but I haven't seen that matter one way or the other yet.

Never been to that one, but I'd be game, as that's nearby. I live in Bellevue. Weekend of the 26th-27th of September would be my earliest option, however.

Which drytool crag? The one off exit 15 heading south?

Yep, I'm outta here as well... gotta go drink with the

Nah, it will be at Vantage. But there's still some places to plug gear there...

I'm way too low on the totem pole to have any real opinion about this. There was a lot of resistance at Microsoft to this transaction -- probably as much as at Yahoo, if distributed inversely. At MS the management wanted it and the troops opposed it, whereas at Yahoo the management did not want it to happen whereas I think the troops were kinda ambivalent. There would have been a bloodletting at MSN if Microsoft tried to merge the two... Besides, at the rate the stock is dropping, in three months Balmer will come back and offer Yahoo $25/share and it will seem like a great deal... at least I'd get a pro club membership and discounts at the company store out of that... I need a drink...

No, it isn't. I'll spend a couple of weekends this month on rock, even if most of it will be teaching small party self-rescue. I'll at least get to plug some gear at the Climber's Rendezvous the 19th and 20th... and maybe at Tieton either the 26th or 27th.