SkookumTree
3d ago
I mean, sure, fair. However, there has to be a way to get the predators, $100 Guy just enriches muggers by walking around in rough neighborhoods with his $100s unless the muggers face consequences, whether that's getting shot while trying to rob the dude or going to prison for robbing our hero. If muggers get away with it often enough it's no good.
SkookumTree
3d ago
doctors
Not a fan of that. Doctors treat the sick. We'd do a garbage job of verifying immigration status.
Employers, landlords, DMV, all more doable and realistic.
No, I don't grant that this has the optics of an execution. If we're being uncharitable, it looks more like a gang beatdown than an execution.
Were he being executed, he would've been unarmed, he would've been in control or not a threat to cops...shooting him in the back would have been executing him, and so would restraining him and then shooting him afterwards.
This seems like it was just a tragedy; a gun DID go off and confused agents might've then shot him in the chaos. Fog of war.
EDITED: fair, it seems like a bad shoot, but I maintain these officers were trigger scared and not trigger happy.
SkookumTree
3d ago
"stepping outside" is a real thing
Agreed, but to anyone reading this...
Do it on grass or something given half a chance. There is a reason why "A gets in a bar fight with B, knocks B out, B falls to the concrete/asphalt, gets a brain injury and dies" is a classic manslaughter/second degree murder hypothetical.
For the same reason, if an informal and extralegal "lesson" is being taught - and I do not advocate unlawful conduct - don't hit 'em in the head, they need it to absorb the lesson.
SkookumTree
3d ago
In fact, assuming she did get victimised (and not just a bunch of disgusted looks for being obscene), she would actually be acting virtuously.
How so? Just being bait for evil predators doesn't seem virtuous, unless there is a side of "getting said evil predators what they deserve"...it's analogous to walking around in a rough neighborhood with visible $100s, if you get mugged that doesn't seem virtuous; if you're carrying and shoot the would-be muggers it might be.
SkookumTree
13d ago
You've persuaded me. Men may climb mountains, but not with hundreds of pounds strapped to their backs; there ARE GLP-1s but it would be a risky although perhaps not unwise move to bet the farm on them. Thank you. It seems that lifelong celibacy - or at least holding out for someone with a BMI of less than, say, 35 - is the cleanest and most honorable way to deal with things.
SkookumTree
23d ago
My core has always run fairly warm, but my extremities run cold; before Mt. Washington, I thought that "I run hot" extended to my entire body. Not so. This is why I'm after aerogel insulation for my boots. Don't suppose you've got any connections.
SkookumTree
24d ago
HOCK GEAR PREP
Got lighter Travers CS boots instead of GRs, three sizes too large. Will create mockup of Slentite insole (14mm thick) from foam; test fit this, then order Slentite once I've gotten these things down to size.
Please ping me: next week, I hope to have cut my insoles and ordered the Slentite.
SkookumTree
24d ago
Thus, the Hock: step one. In ages past, men used to have to kill LIONS, 1v1, one teenage boy vs. one 400lb apex predator.
The teenage boys usually won.
The strong survive; the weak perish...
SkookumTree
24d ago
I soloed Mt. Washington in NH in January of 2024; for much of the climb I only wore light wool gloves. My hands were cold, but nothing I hadn't experienced a hundred times before. Snow stuck to my gloves, meaning that conditions inside the gloves were cold and damp. Also, I had been using Italian military surplus liners for my boots (Scarpa Nero) and these too were fairly cold.
I wound up with permanent but mild NFCI, nonfreezing cold injury, on three fingertips and my right big toe. I learned that vasodilation in response to cold was a problem. If you know of any way to deal with this other than warmer clothing on the extremities, please let me know.
N.B: this was NOT frostbite. At no point was there any visible tissue damage.
@self_made_human have you noticed your extremities got cold when your friends' didn't? I've read that much of that depends on 1) ancestry/genetics; there is a higher incidence of NFCI and cold injury in people whose ancestors hailed from tropical climates and 2) acclimatization/behavior; a dude from Alabama might not grok how to keep your hands warm in the cold the same way a North Dakotan might.
SkookumTree
30d ago
I mean - in Eugene, Oregon, topless women are not terribly uncommon.
SkookumTree
1mo ago
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.
SkookumTree
1mo 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
1mo 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
1mo 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
2mo ago
Southkraut thinks that the Alaskan wilderness is the more honorable path. It is certainly the cleaner one.
SkookumTree
2mo ago
Do you have a good lead on SolarCore aerogel foam? It's often used for apparel and things like that.
SkookumTree
2mo 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
2mo 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
2mo ago
The Interior of what? Russia?
SkookumTree
2mo 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
2mo ago
It's worth being able to guess that this is about 1500, but probably not much more than that.
SkookumTree
2mo ago
MIT
Its rival Caltech is the US elite university run closest to a test based meritocracy.
SkookumTree
2mo 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.
Made an insole for my ski boots out of 1/4 mm closed cell foam. It was scraps given to me by a friendly bootfitter. That's going to be the testbed for my Hock-capable (hopefully!) ski boot insoles. They'll go between my 15mm intuition liner and the fischer travers cs boots that I have. After I get some custom insoles made for me (weird-shaped feet that work fine) I'll go see a bootfitter. Then the plan is to get Solarcore aerogel or something similar and really insulate my boots. Hopefully, I should then be well into double boot territory for how insulating these boots are.
If you know of any source for Solarcore or similar aerogel please let me know.
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