SkookumTree
23hr ago
Amadan. I agree with you, more or less - any society that doesn't voluntarily perpetuate itself kind of doesn't really deserve to continue.
What the hell kind of society would we be, if we did this? I can see where a libertarian might want to remove subsidies on women in the workplace, etc. but going further and actually blocking them by law and force seems like using coercion/enslavement to keep a society going.
SkookumTree
4d ago
I respect the hell out of that philosophy: if you can't run a society off the free and willing sacrifice of its members, it doesn't really deserve to stick around.
SkookumTree
4d ago
Why are tech bindings a bad choice? The Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic is a Hock-like race in which participants often use tech bindings; IIRC Andrew Skurka discussed their use at length and ski mountaineers use them as well. I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on the topic of bindings.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
Southkraut thinks that the Alaskan wilderness is the more honorable path. It is certainly the cleaner one.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
Do you have a good lead on SolarCore aerogel foam? It's often used for apparel and things like that.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
I am attempting to build a pair of ski boots for the Hock.
My starting point? Some Fischer Travers CS ski boots. I've upsized three mondo sizes, ripped out the stock liner, and put a hefty 15mm Intuition liner inside. This was an improvement from the cheap Scarpa Nero liner I'd had during my January 2024 solo of Mt. Washington, NH; I got NFCI in my right big toe then in 0 degrees F and 40mph wind. Fairly modest conditions, at least compared to those I might encounter out on the Hock.
The goal now is to obtain some aerogel Slentite panels or SolarCore aerogel foam and put that on the base of my boot, between the liner and the plastic shell, in order to provide more insulation. I might be able to replace some of the foam in the toes with SolarCore aerogel, although at 32.6 mW/mK it is maybe half again as insulating as something like neoprene or (probably) the closed cell foam that makes up Intuition liners.
Then, I want to make an overboot, which I am calling the Great Unholy Boot or GUB, out of:
- Aerogel foam panels (if I can get them...y'all got any SolarCore aerogel layin' around?)
- Neoprene
- Cordura fabric
- Apex ClimaShield
- Coyote fur
This overboot, at least according to ChatGPT, may be able to keep me warm down to very cold temperatures, like 40 degrees below zero.
The first thing to do at this point is:
- Attempt to source SolarCore aerogel foam
- Build mockup of Slentite panel for professional boot fitting using EVA foam, rubber mats, or other items
- Have boots fitted with Slentite panel mockup in.
What is the best way to test these boots, living in the northeast US and therefore not having access to Alaskan or Interior Canadian-level cold? Buckets of dry ice?
Is my plan generally sound? Essentially, I'm using aerogel Slentite panels to provide more insulation than otherwise possible (half again to twice as insulating as a regular foam insole) plus aerogel foam around the boot to provide less bulky warmth.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
Midnight playground maintenance is at least in theory positive-sum; however, there are ways to fuck this up that are non-obvious. For example: you use regular hardware-store bolts in a coastal playground, they rust out after ten years and catastrophically fail. There are probably other things, that would be fine for Joe and his son Joe Jr. but not good for a neighborhood playground...
SkookumTree
1mo ago
The Interior of what? Russia?
SkookumTree
1mo ago
I'm honestly not sure about the laws around medical debt; I am reasonably sure that they do not do this, but consult a lawyer first. I am not a lawyer.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
It's worth being able to guess that this is about 1500, but probably not much more than that.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
MIT
Its rival Caltech is the US elite university run closest to a test based meritocracy.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
Yeah; what does this mean in practice and what is a passing grade?
Why not do it like this: no grade lower than a 50 for missed homework, but you need a 70 or better to pass? The B student who doesn't give a shit about homework and aces the exams still gets to pass; exams still own students who don't know the material.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
I mean - I was not quite eleven years old when I was figuring out how to protect my "bodily sovereignty" using mutually-assured destruction dynamics. However, Yudkowsky's Potter is just too brilliant for eleven - you need to make him at least 14 or 15 to be halfway believable as literary fiction. Unless he's getting plenty of coaching from someone older and wiser.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
Reservists have to leave their jobs to fight
SkookumTree
1mo ago
How are you going to enforce this? What are you going to do when your kids want to marry someone you don't approve of? Disown them? Shoot them?
Arranged marriage with veto power backed by disownment is an entirely different thing from killing your child because they won't marry who you want them to...
SkookumTree
1mo ago
I am curious about something:
Is there some kind of unique wisdom that can only be attained through romantic relationships?
SkookumTree
2mo ago
Ha, I guess it’s an Alaskan wilderness adventure for me. The hock provideth.
SkookumTree
2mo ago
No, but people ask if I have kids. It seems odd. Like asking if I’ve climbed Everest.
SkookumTree
2mo ago
What about just hooking up or dating or something other than marriage? Also hospitals suck.
SkookumTree
2mo ago
Thanks, I guess; when you laid it out like that and suggested I shoot myself instead, you essentially argued that the stigma was too isolating and the dysfunction too great. Basically you’re in hell. Seems hocking would be a better bet…
SkookumTree
2mo ago
Hell, Cesare Beccaria described something like this in 1768!
SkookumTree
2mo ago
I guess? Idk, I just had a lot of bitches as friends
SkookumTree
2mo ago
Thanks, I guess.
It’s different if your wife becomes fat during the marriage, but too much of that is not good and might break it. Maybe should break it.
SkookumTree
2mo ago
Thanks? It’s different if you have a wife and she becomes fat. But eating herself into a nursing home at 45 is probably grounds for divorce in my personal book. Yours may be different. Hopefully you can obtain ozempic. Good luck.
Basically that Faustian bargain doesn’t pay out, fair deal. The devil is naturally the devil.
On disgust: that is more malleable than most of us would like to admit. Ask any plumber, pest control guy, crime scene cleanup guy, or healthcare worker.
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