hafilax

We're lucky to have MEC in Canada. I swear it's the cheapest place to get climbing gear in the world for retail price. Kind of like REI with a conscience. The help you get from MEC can be pretty random. Sometimes they know what they're talking about, sometimes not. I got $100 back from MEC this year kind of like the REI dividend. I still try to support the little(er) guys like Valhalla Pure but sometimes the pocket book dictates. I read everything I can find before I make a purchase and generally know what I'm looking for ahead of time though.

I'll probably head to Whistler tomorrow.

Here's SRV's stage rig from '84: http://guitargeek.com/rigview/308/ It's his fault Tube Screamers are so damn expensive. You can build one for about $60 Who has your favourite lead/distortion tone? Favourite stompbox or dirty amp? I'm currently running a modified Rat into a Bassman modded Traynor and I've built a couple of others (Distotion+, Big Muff). A Tube Screamer is in the works. I'm thinking about modding my amp into a Bassman clean channel and JCM800 dirty if I find the time. I've got the parts.

I can't believe I forgot skiing and snowboarding.

climb ski snowboard windsurf surf skateboard mt bike hike sail snowshoe fly fish guitar guitar amp repair build guitar effects physics juggle/devil sticks/ diablo yoyo petanque I'm trying to learn to unicycle and speak French.

The guy said he didn't want to employ a team of spotters with pads so he pre-placed gear and a couple of bolts instead.

A scientific study of common friction knots. The focus of the study was primarily for backing up rappels. They seem to recommend the autoblock (AKA French Prusik) and the Bachmann friction hitches.

The study I mentioned above found the Klemheist to be the worst of the friction knots. YMMV

Who makes the best guitar face? Looks like a Buckley's commercial.

It also depends on the friction knot used. One experiment indicated that the autoblock worked best for most applications.

It looks like a cool line. Sometimes that all it's really about. He sent it in the style he chose. He hit the ground a couple of times. Not much more to say really. Do you read every article in the newspaper? Sometimes there's not much going on. I have an RSS feed from climbing.com and usually enjoy reading the little tidbits that pop up. TR's from around the world.

Neil Young: Cinnamon Girl- The ultimate anti-solo. Brings a smile to my face every time I hear it.

What is the benefit of reuniting them? What is the best/worst case scenario? Which is more likely?

I think you're lucky the father never showed. They both have to be willing participants in the reunion. It's going to be stressful and springing it on both parties like that would have had a completely unpredictable outcome. My oldest sister was put up for adoption before I was born. I didn't meet her or even know of her until I was in my late 20's. The adoption service has a reuniting service and they refuse to give out any information until both parties have applied to find the other. I have an older brother out there somewhere... Given the father's mental condition I would say this should best be done under some professional supervision.

You'll still be taking your chances these days. When my band went to Switzerland they weighed all of my stuff including my carry on and charged me on the total weight. It's all at the discrepancy of the person behind the counter.

I think the grooves are there to encourage the cam to hook up on features in the rock in order to initiate pressing against the sides (increasing friction) in parallel sided cracks. You tend to see them more with the harder alloy aluminum. I think the idea is that if friction is pretty low to begin with that the cam will just pop out before it can start squeezing out which is what holds it in place. The smaller cams usually have a relatively soft alloy and no grooves since the margin of error with those pieces is small and adding grooves would be detrimental. The soft alloy deforms more easily around the features sort of making it's own grooves. They also are more likely to flat-spot. For wet or icy cracks I guess the theory would be to increase the pressure exerted by the cam lobe by reducing the cam contact area which would fracture the ice or displace the water. Metolius made fat cams for a while with the opposite goal for use in rock that may fracture under high pressure like sandstone. If your cams are really that worn I'd be worried about the logarithmic spiral profile as mentioned by fern. Friction is actually much more complex than the theory presented in most elementary physics courses and boarders on being wrong in most cases. Deformation and 'hooking up' are actually very important to determining the friction force.

Lara Berg was investigated for Sedition in 2005 for writing a letter to the editor. http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=14092 Sedition is obviously in direct conflict with freedom of speech since you should be allowed to criticize the government. I guess the line is drawn when you encourage others to forcibly overthrowing the government. Couldn't the subversive removal of a favoured candidate be viewed as trying to overthrow the government? I'm just musing. I know it's all talk.

I would hope that it would be arguable based on the end effect. People have admitted to following his advice in Texas. It's impossible to prove but he should be harshly criticized for the notion. IIRC we had a somewhat similar scandal in our last civic election. An unknown that just happened to have the same name as one of the favoured candidates showed up on the ballot for mayor.

The ^^^^ indicate a reference to the post above.

I think encouraging the republican membership to circumvent the democratic electoral process to be "subversion of the constitution" and the "incitement of discontent to lawful authority".

Seems like it wouldn't be treason but sedition or seditious libel. Treason is solely to do with war against the US. I think there could be a case for sedition.

I can't believe Steven Segal beat Godzilla

I'm worse. I'm a wannabe consumer.

ATM has forever been transformed to ass-to-mouth for me. Debit machine anyone?