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tivoli_mike

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  1. The WAC is certainly a smaller club, so I think you're more likely to see the same faces over and over again and get to know your instructors better but the Mountaineers is a larger club that has a more formal schedule of events and climbs and offers more programs beyond just climbing and skiing.

    If you take the mounties class with Everett or Tacoma, you'll get a better instructor to student ratio and get to know everyone better than in the Seattle mega-class. Then you can sign on to climbs with any branch.

     

    I second that, I had a fun time making up the Glacier field trip to Rainier with the Olympia branch. Fine bunch of folks. I wish had done the course with them vs. the "boy scout" camp.

  2. foreign policy blog

     

    Dru = bad for environment?

     

    It was only a matter of time before someone took the avatar world to task for their environmental impact. (In case you think an avatar is a new model of Hyundai, here's a brief primer. Avatars are computer-generated, physical representations of people in virtual online games or social worlds. Think Second Life, Sims, World of Warcraft, etc.)

     

    The virtual world of Second Life, which hit one million residents back in October, is one of the most popular online games of its kind. To even call it a game is perhaps inaccurate. It's a full-fledged virtual world, complete with crime, sex, commodities, and real-world advertising. (Don't miss BusinessWeek's journey into Second Life or its great "Old Fogey's Guide to the Online Universe.") It goes way beyond the traditional online games of old: These days, politicians like former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner hold town meetings and musicians use music streaming to stage "live" concerts in Second Life in order to be heard.

     

    So, it's fascinating to see blogger Nick Carr (also a former exec editor at Harvard Business Review) calculate whether avatars consume more energy than their human counterparts. He found that the thousands of avatars "living" in Second Life at any given moment, given the servers and computers needed to run the virtual world, use about the same amount of electricity as a comparable number of real-life Brazilians. So, here's my question: Has anyone done any research on whether avatars are much more wasteful than their human counterparts? Say, in terms of energy: Do avatars not bother to turn off the lights?

  3. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    December 12, 2006

    Release #07-049

     

    Firm's Recall Hotline: (800) 366-2666

    CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772

    CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

     

    Liberty Mountain Recalls Climbing Harnesses Due to Fall Hazard

     

    WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in

    cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary

    recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using

    recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

     

    Name of Product: Edelweiss Challenge Climbing Harnesses

     

    Units: About 5,900

     

    Distributor: Liberty Mountain, of Salt Lake City, Utah

     

    Hazard: The buckles on the harness' leg loops could fail, posing a fall

    hazard for climbers.

     

    Incidents/Injuries: Liberty Mountain has received five reports of the

    leg buckle failing. No injuries have been reported.

     

    Description: The sit harnesses are worn around climber's waist and legs

    and attach to climbing ropes to protect climbers from falling. The

    harnesses have three buckles including one on the waist belt and one on

    each leg loop. "Edelweiss" is printed on the waist belt. Only harnesses

    using the para buckle system are included in this recall. Para buckle

    harnesses have a single bar installed in the center of each of the three

    buckles.

     

    Sold at: Climbing equipment retailers, Liberty Mountain's catalog, and

    by various Web retailers from January 2005 through September 2006 for

    about $47.

     

    Manufactured in: France

     

    Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled harnesses

    and contact Liberty Mountain for instructions on returning the harnesses

    including a return authorization number. Liberty Mountain will provide a

    free inspection and free repair. Send your harness for repair to:

    Liberty Mountain, 4375 West 1980 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84104.

     

    Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Liberty Mountain at

    (800) 366-2666 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MT Monday through Friday, by fax at

    (801) 954-0766, by e-mail at info@libertymountain.com, or visit the

    firm's Web site at www.libertymountain.com

     

    To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the

    recalled product, please go to:

    http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07049.html

     

    ********************************************************

     

    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting

    the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more

    than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.

    Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents

    cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed

    to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire,

    electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The

    CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys,

    cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals -

    contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of

    deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30

    years.

     

    To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's

    hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or

    visit CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. To join a CPSC email

    subscription list, please go to www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.asp. Consumers can

    obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's Web site at

    www.cpsc.gov.

     

     

     

     

     

  4. It would be my impression that what we saw was anger not racism. I think we saw a guy verbally punching at the members of the audience with the hardest verbal fist he knew. If you go nuts and punch some guy who deserves it, that doesn't make you a violent person. We all have our braking point, and he obviously hit his. To my knowledge there is no pattern of this behavior, it was just that he snapped.

     

    Well, when you "snap" your first immediate reaction is not one going to be based on cold calculation is what you really feel.

     

    I am not a racist, but I also know the right names to inflict the worst pain on minorities. If I knew of words that would be that powerful when used against white people, I might someday use those in anger.

     

    Unless there is a pattern of the behavior, I think one needs to give him the benefit of the doubt. Just my thought.

     

    He lost it on a stage being heckled ( common for stand-up in a small club) and went right for the n-word. That wasn't cold calculation it was plain , deep-seated racist reaction that surfaced when he felt confronted, cornered and angry. As for a pattern we really don't know much because after Seinfeld, his career has been pretty lackluster. pitty.gif

     

    I love how all the arm-chair psychiatrists here just "know" that the guy is a racist. rolleyes.gif

     

    so what is a racist then?

  5. It would be my impression that what we saw was anger not racism. I think we saw a guy verbally punching at the members of the audience with the hardest verbal fist he knew. If you go nuts and punch some guy who deserves it, that doesn't make you a violent person. We all have our braking point, and he obviously hit his. To my knowledge there is no pattern of this behavior, it was just that he snapped.

     

    Well, when you "snap" your first immediate reaction is not one going to be based on cold calculation is what you really feel.

     

    I am not a racist, but I also know the right names to inflict the worst pain on minorities. If I knew of words that would be that powerful when used against white people, I might someday use those in anger.

     

    Unless there is a pattern of the behavior, I think one needs to give him the benefit of the doubt. Just my thought.

     

    He lost it on a stage being heckled ( common for stand-up in a small club) and went right for the n-word. That wasn't cold calculation it was plain , deep-seated racist reaction that surfaced when he felt confronted, cornered and angry. As for a pattern we really don't know much because after Seinfeld, his career has been pretty lackluster. pitty.gif

  6. image012.jpg

    Pan-United Shipyard Completed Conversion of World's Largest Livestock Carrier

     

    Pan-United Shipyard (PUS) has successfully converted the world's largest livestock carrier, Rodolfo Mata, from a container vessel. The very large livestock carrier has a capacity to carry either 25,000 cattle or 135,000 sheep or a combination of both. It eclipses the previous world's largest livestock vessel, Danny F 11, which has a capacity to hold 16,000 cattle or 85,000 sheep. Danny F 11 was also converted by PUS in 1994.

     

    Rodolfo Mata is a state-of-the-art vessel with unique fodder, water ventilation and generation systems several times over and above the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) standards that are the highest in the world. The vessel has a 5,000-tonne fodder storage capacity as well as 8,000 tonne fresh water storage capacity. The main supply of water is delivered by three reverse osmosis plants that have a capacity to deliver 1,800 tonnes of fresh water daily. At full-livestock capacity, these systems allow a feed and water availability of eight days over-and-above the longest voyage (24 days) requirements to accommodate any unforeseen delays. AMSA standards call for only 3 days' reserve. The ventilation system is the only one of its kind in the industry and can deliver fresh air into individual pens on all enclosed decks. Five generators provide the main power supply to the ship and its systems with another five secondary generators supplying 4.5 megawatts of power. Rodolfo Mata is a milestone achievement in the long haul transportation of livestock.

     

    Fitted with 14 decks and 2,000 pens, Rodolfo Mata is 21,000 tonnes when empty and 51,000 tonnes when fully loaded. It can accommodate 100 crew and travel up to a speed of 25 knots. Commissioned and owned by the Fares Group, Rodolfo Mata set sail on its maiden trip in January 2002 to Fremantle, Perth of Australia, to load 117,000 heads of sheep bound for the Haji festival in Saudi Arabia. hellno3d.gif

  7. CP, Gotta disagree that the most essential aspect of science is that its findings are *verifiable*. On the contrary, what makes science stand out is that its findings are falsifiable. Find one fossilized bone that's been buried for millennia in a stratum where it does not belong according to Evolution, and you have proven Evolution is false. No such procedure can be applied to Creationism; thus it is not falsifiable and therefore is not science.

     

    Garret Hardin told a good story along this line. If I remember correctly, it goes like this: An astrologer told Augustine (circa 400 AD) that astrology is a science; with astrology an astrologist can determine accurately and precisely a person's future. So Augustine set out to prove the astrologer wrong. Augustine conducted an experiment by observing the birth of two boys, one born to royalty and the other born to peasants, but both born at the same time. According to the "science" of astrology, both boys would grow to live the same future as determined by the time of their birth beneath the stars. As it turned out, the boy born to a royal family lived to be a wealthy businessman and the boy born to peasants lived a life of poverty. When Augustine presented the findings of his somewhat time-consuming experiment, the astrologer immediately dismissed the experimental outcome as inconclusive because the boys surely were not born at exactly the same time. Augustine then pointed out that meant that astrology could never be proven false because two persons are never born at precisely, exactly the same time.

     

    Augustine had demonstrated that astrology was immune to falsification, but this was of no more concern to the astrologer than it is to the modern day creationist. The astrologer remained unimpressed by the singularly defining characteristic of scientific fact and theory: All that is scientific is necessarily falsifiable.

     

    619201-Augustine.jpg

     

    Ironic it may be that Augustine, long since considered a saint by Catholics, might be morally challenged today by the modern findings of science -- especially Evolution. At the same time, it might have been by the persuasion of minds like his that the Church survived its own periods of reformation.

     

    To come full circle within the scope of this thread, the reformation of Christianity may have been its saving grace as its humanity rose from the dark ages and thenceforth. In contrast, Islam was apparently spared a reformation of its own and, as a consequence, too often now blunders forward with the medieval intolerance that Rushdie implores the world to now recognize.

     

    Methinks I need to reread "City of God"

  8. 050929_arcticice_hlrg.hlarge.jpgWASHINGTON -The satellite image on the left shows the minimum concentration of Arctic summer sea ice in 1979, while the image on the right shows the 2005 minimum, which was reached on Sept. 21.

     

    Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra and rising concerns about the Greenland ice sheet.

     

    “There have been regional warming periods before. Now we’re seeing Arctic-wide changes,” James Overland, an oceanographer at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said Thursday.

     

    For the past five years, it was at least 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above average over the Arctic over the entire year, he said.

    msnbc article

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