tvashtarkatena

We need to put Bush on Mars before we can fund the Extraterrestrial Planet Finder, which could determine whether or not there might be plant life on this rock. Normally, I'm not much for manned space flight, but in this case....

It's apparently been a while since Layton's posted a video link

At 2x earth gravity, I can see myself as a SCUBA instructor....

Too bad they can't pin down a day length on this mofo. What if the day is longer than the year? THAT would fuck with Outlook, for sure.

Birthday hangover every 2 weeks. Ouch. And the gift buying! What a shithole.

That's my point DC; guns are regulated and, nearly all of the time, those regulations do work to protect public safety. When the system fails, however, it's always good to take a good hard look at why and discuss possible solutions. There won't always be a fix to every gun death, just as there isn't for every auto related death, but to respond to an incident such as what just happened at Virginia Tech with "there's nothing we can do about it, shit just happens", or "more guns, less crime!" as some have done here, seems simplistic and irresponsible to me, particularly when there were regulations in place that could have prevented this shooter from obtaining firearms. I'd say preventing those people who cannot responsibly own and handle a firearm from obtaining one is the number one way to reduce gun related violence and accidents. Upon looking around, that would seem to include most of our population.

That what will never change? Who you talkin too? You bet, and that arguement has been used quite sucessfully as well to show that the media can and should be restrained especially in their active depiction of violence, which is ruinous to society and has been proven to cause more violence. Nobody is saying that the media should be banned or regulated, rather that it should have the most eggresious abuses which they repeatedly display checked a little. To obsensiously tighten up and improve our society just a bit: only the most eggrious books should be banned. Maybe responsible people like yourself can register to check them out with a special permit after a background check. Not all books or all media. Remember that the biggest amount of people murdered via a domestic terroism act were not killed by guns anyway. By ideas picked up from the internet. That's what we learned from Tim McVey. He learned how to make a bomb. After all, don't you agree that only a criminal would object to having to register with the police or ask to keep them out of his house, and only unpatriotic Jews would refuse to register and wear the pretty yellow stars..... Right, what's the big deal? We can and should fix society so that we are all safe. Bill's equating of our 1st and 2nd amendment rights here seems a bit far fetched to me. He suggests that to regulate gun ownership would open up the possibility of also regulating free speech and a free press. This line of argument is fundamentally flawed on several counts. 1) Speech and the press ARE regulated. False alarms (yelling 'fire' in a theatre), threats, obscenity, false statement, violating national security; these and more are heavily regulated in the name of public safety and well being. I could stop here, because Bill's slippery slope argument is already DOA, but... 2) Equating the direct and proven threat that homocidal gun owners present to society to the indirect and unproven threat of 'media induced violence' (which has never been proven by any study) is a bit of a stretch. Our society already regulates and sometimes bans access to potentially lethal machines to a segment of the adult population: it's called a revoked driver's license. I can think of no compelling reason why a similar standard should not be applied to gun ownership in the interests of public safety. From this post, it sounds like there are no rules attached to gun ownership whatsoever. This is simply untrue. It probably only sounds that way to a 'dumb cunt'.

estimate of 1.5 X Earth's diameter, if I recall correctly. You're looking at more than doubling your Earth weight. Definitely a place where taun tauns would command a premium. Plus, a 13 day long year. Ice climbing one weekend, beach volleyball (helium filled) the next.

Rove is all about smaller government. Firing his fat ass can only help his cause.

That what will never change? Who you talkin too? You bet, and that arguement has been used quite sucessfully as well to show that the media can and should be restrained especially in their active depiction of violence, which is ruinous to society and has been proven to cause more violence. Nobody is saying that the media should be banned or regulated, rather that it should have the most eggresious abuses which they repeatedly display checked a little. To obsensiously tighten up and improve our society just a bit: only the most eggrious books should be banned. Maybe responsible people like yourself can register to check them out with a special permit after a background check. Not all books or all media. Remember that the biggest amount of people murdered via a domestic terroism act were not killed by guns anyway. By ideas picked up from the internet. That's what we learned from Tim McVey. He learned how to make a bomb. After all, don't you agree that only a criminal would object to having to register with the police or ask to keep them out of his house, and only unpatriotic Jews would refuse to register and wear the pretty yellow stars..... Right, what's the big deal? We can and should fix society so that we are all safe. Bill's equating of our 1st and 2nd amendment rights here seems a bit far fetched to me. He suggests that to regulate gun ownership would open up the possibility of also regulating free speech and a free press. This line of argument is fundamentally flawed on several counts. 1) Speech and the press ARE regulated. False alarms (yelling 'fire' in a theatre), threats, obscenity, false statement, violating national security; these and more are heavily regulated in the name of public safety and well being. I could stop here, because Bill's slippery slope argument is already DOA, but... 2) Equating the direct and proven threat that homocidal gun owners present to society to the indirect and unproven threat of 'media induced violence' (which has never been proven by any study) is a bit of a stretch. Our society already regulates and sometimes bans access to potentially lethal machines to a segment of the adult population: it's called a revoked driver's license. I can think of no compelling reason why a similar standard should not be applied to gun ownership in the interests of public safety.

By 'the Right' you mean the NRA and the legislators it backs. This organization, more than any other, is responsible for propogandizing the issue. The regulations they've fought tooth and nail include: Banning of teflon tipped (cop killer) bullets. Banning of assault rifles that can be easily converted to fully automatic weapons. Waiting periods and backround checks for gun purchases. The list goes on and on. None of these regulations even remotely approach a gun ban, yet that's the first manufactured argument NRA members and like minded folks reach for when discussing any reasonable limit to free access to any firearm, any time, for any one. "Freedom isn't free". "Without guns, there would have been no America". "Only criminals will have guns." "Go ahead, wait for the cops." All of these cliches flow from the NRA's national office, and none of them have anything to do with preventing the wrong people from gaining access to weapons that have no other purpose than to kill large numbers of people quickly. My personal favorite is the 'arm everyone for a more polite society' idea. Let's make sure all crazies are armed (in addition to regular folks who already cannot handle driving a car safely, old men who can't see, drunks, etc...) I feel better already. Throw me a bone here; can we just omit those with an IQ lower than 50? That would include the proponents of this idea, of course.

I always carry a few RPs: tiny brass nuts for aid climbing. They won't take much of a fall, but when it all goes wrong and all you've got is an RP and an impossibly tiny crack to either aid on or protect a few tough moves, you'll be SOOO glad you carried the extra fraction of an oz. They stick in cracks very well, so they're also useful as a second nut to keep a regular (beefier) nut from walking out of a placement. Or you might just run it out 20 feet on an RP because that's all you've got, like a certain partner did just recently. Spicy!

Speaking from a landlord's perspective, it is clearly his fault...if, in fact, there is a landlord. Landlords have a responsibility towards their community (both legally and morally) to a) choose good tenants, b) keep their properties up, c) remove bad tenants and d) not allow their properties to become safe havens for criminal activity. This landlord, if there is one, has done none of the above.

What about when you're geared up for an ice climb and you encounter nothing but bare rock. Is that mixed, rock, or just fucked climbing?

It was socked in our our descent, too. My guess would be that the rock is plastered with manky thin ice and sugar snow, based on other places high on the mountain, but that's just a guess.

I ruv to rountain rhyme!

"From my cold, dead...what was I saying again?"

Sort of...the Hidden Couloir is, well, hidden in the second photo, but that photo clearly shows the 2nd Couloir. The obvious notch in the second photo corresponds to the notch at the top of the red line in the first photo. The red line is the Dragontail Madness route, kinda sort of.

Best I can do for now: Taken 4/2 Closeup, taken a week later

The frog system is less strenuous and faster for free hanging ascents. The frog falters on ascents where your feet touch the rock, however. Learn both systems and use each according to the terrain. If there is much of a slope on the face at all, take your feet completely out of the foot loops for the speediest ascent. The Ravenna ravine foot bridge just N of the UW is a good place to practice 60+ ft free hanging ascents.

My particle beam weapon got a crow this morning. In mid flight.

REI Mistral softshell pants (or Acme, the heavier model) are a great value for spring/fall/winter. Sub a windshirt and windpants for your outer shells during good weather to save weight. A lite down sweater comes in very handy.

Third that. Definitely the preferred solution for what you want to do. Think about picking up a pair of six point aluminums for traversing easier snow/ice as a second pair at some point. At 7 oz/pr, you can't beat 'em for climbs that involve only a little slippy terrain.

I just installed a solar powered, IR + motion guided roof mounted particle beam weapon on my pre-existing 40 foot radio surveillance tower. Fully automated target acquisition, tracking, and interdiction...and Green. Runs on a Vista platform: 100% reliable without additional command and control hardware. I haven't seen a squirrel or stray cat since it came on line. Bring on the taun tauns.

STFU, you cripple. We'll save the Icecliff Gl. for ya.