tvashtarkatena

Shooter's Bible. Along the lines of one of your titles, "Japan at War: an Oral History". Amazing. Along one of your other threads: "Taliban" and "Jihad: The rise of militant islam in central asia"

Nice point... It seems a wee bit ironic that the old skool folk always want to tell us all how much better their generation was and how useless the up and coming kids are, now Dawg is telling us the future generation is going to have this old skool ethic and look down on the sporto generation of climbers. Can't have it both ways Dawg. Either your generation is the last of the greatest dying breed, or not. Make up your mind already. I climb with 30 somethings and 50 somethings. Love 'em all. Yes, it's a different experience between the two generations (but mostly between individuals, of course), but it seems to me the tradition of intelligent irreverence and love of the mountains runs as strong as it ever did.

One more administrative hassle: most trailheads require a Northwest Forest Pass...annual or by the day...the latter available at NFS ranger stations and, occasionally (but not often), near the trailhead.

I second Dan's picks, too. Note that Dragontail and Little Annapurna requires a pesky, at times hard to get permit, though, and it's heavily patrolled.

Not leaving your house is no guarantee. I heard a talk by one of the country's top lightning researchers at the time, and he recounted a story of a women who was killed by her phone...the bolt struck the line just outside the house. Moral of the story: Hang up or die. Oh, he also stated that getting rid of your ice axe makes no difference whatsoever, although when it's all buzzing and flaming and shit that can be distracting.

Dave, First, check the weather forecast. The Chelan/Sawtooth and Pasayten Wilderness areas tend to have better weather in general, but particularly when we get wetter SW flows, meet your criteria, and have extensive trail systems that allow loops or a point to point. There won't be a lot of snow that time of year. In the Chelan/Sawtooth, my personal favorite is the Oval, Star Peak area. In the Pasayten, consider checking out the Osceola, Carru, and Lago area. Another area you might consider that is also on the dryer/less glaciated side is The Mt. Maude, Fernow, 7 Fingered Jack area, which can be extended to include Cloudy, Sitting Bull, etc if you like. There are more, of course, but that'll give you something to bite into for starters.

What struck me was that no one in the biz knew where they were on the cost per capita curve, and the McCallen providers where surprised and at a loss to explain why they were the highest in the country. The article never suggested or recommended 'imposing' anything, but it seems to be that requiring that this information be provided and disclosed to both to the consuming public and practitioners, would do much to bring the high end outliers in line. Consider it mandatory food labeling (which had done wonders for the ability of consumers to either choose wisely or not give a shit) for health care.

Participating in a 'high risk' activity can reduce other risks, so it's hard to parse things out unless you look at overall lifestyle risk. Alpine climbing requires a certain level of fitness, which reduces the risk of dying earlier than normal of many of the leading causes of death in America, such as congestive heart failure. It also rewards anticipatory behavior, particularly under stress, which may reduce risks in other areas. Finally, it's incredibly satisfying and there's nothing quite like it for reducing stress. Is the life expectancy of an alpine climber shorter or longer than those who do not alpine climb? It doesn't matter to me either way because living is about quality, not quantity. Not living fully during your prime seems like a poor tradeoff for a few mores years drooling into your cream of wheat.

Will the new health care plan allow us to finally kill Sarah Palin?

This was not a premise of this article. Gawande clearly stated so by comparing McCallen's per capita Medicare costs to El Paso's, an area with nearly identical demographics, culture, and health statistics.

Well, there's a wee bit o difference between stating that the government (or any other entity) probably couldn't have pulled off faking the most scrutinized plane crash in history (into one of the world's most famous and populated buildings), and believing that the government never, ever does anything right. How do you go about making an airliner, flying exclusively over land and full of passengers, simply disappear, anyway? Do you, uh, incinerate it in mid air, without any debris? It's the Apollo conspiracy redux: "Yeah, myan, like, those 70 story high Saturn V rockets were just a ruse, dood. I saw that film clip of the 'lunar' flag waving in the wind!" You'd think that, um, maybe a 30 story high rocket might have made for a cheaper fugazi, no? There are photos of plane debris...but you won't find them on any one of the hundreds of Truther websites that occupy Google pages 1 through, well, a google.

I've tucked into the Westside Rd turn off after dark and left by dawn ...once.

David Gottlieb or one of the other climbing rangers might also have some spots to recommend if you give them a call.

You gotta lotta faith in government competence, there, Bone.

What didja get your butt kicked on this time? Oh, I'm pretty sure my hit rate has been somewhat higher than yours in recent years. Dude, Pope would crush you on Rainier - off the couch, with blue Asolo rentals, and a watermelon tied to his ass! He might try, but I'm a top, not a bottom. Dammit, there we go again....

There are two main goals to health care reform: Insure the uninsured (which current proposals will help, and I'm all for it...the current situation is a moral crime), and bring costs into line (which current proposals will do little about).

If an Apollo team had left a six pack on the lunar surface, Ivan would be building a rocket right now.

Public v private is an important issue, sure. What hit home about the article is that it is not THE most important factor in skyrocketing costs, and that the enterpreneurial trend in medicine is practically non-existent in the national debate. Which makes it kind of a lot of bullshit, in my view.

What didja get your butt kicked on this time? Oh, I'm pretty sure my hit rate has been somewhat higher than yours in recent years.

Now that certain 'scientists' believe that the earth is actually cooling, it may come sooner than you think.

10,000 years from now.

Your gun? FW explained.

THAT was funny. That's three anti-carebears in one day. Nicely done, folks.

I'm working right now.

You're supposed to include a manifesto about how the liberals are destroying the good ole days with that goodbye. Get crackin'.