Another Rose

Nisqually Rock Avalanches - Frequency and Size

For those of you still watching these large rockslides from the Nisqually Cleaver, here's a little more information for you. I called Kate Allstadt of the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the University of Washington and asked her for some seismic data that may show a better picture of the frequency of rock avalanche events.


She was able to graph some data that shows the distribution of the major rock avalanche events over the period from June 24th to July 7th. You can see in the graph that there is a trend decreasing in frequency and size. So it appears that the danger could be abating - but only gradually.


I must say that this correlates with direct observation, as there have not been any major rock flows down the mountain in the last week or more. The lowest extent of the largest debris path is to an elevation of about 8200 feet. Here is a graph Kate produced that shows the data from the seismic sensors installed on Mt. Rainier. The horizontal axis represents the date. The vertical axis represents the number of events per hour. The top row identifies single and large events.

Milk Jug Toy

No - it is not a dog fight. They play that way all the time. This is Tuffee and Ziva our dogs, and their favorite toy is an empty plastic milk jug.

Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs

Since most of the roads in Yellowstone National Park are closed in the winter, you are pretty limited when it comes to what part of the park can be explored. The only road within Yellowstone that is open year-round is the road from Gardiner, Montana to Cooke City, Montana. Gardiner is known as the "North Entrance" to Yellowstone National Park.



Above: I saw this old SUV just outside the entrance to the park. I couldn't resist the shot, with the " No parking here to end of street" sign. Also notice the license plate... it says "FAST SUV". I don't know about you, but to me this SUV looks like it is anything but fast!

I arrived in Gardiner in the early afternoon, with enough time to make the drive from Gardiner to Cooke City. I was hoping to see some wildlife (mostly Elk), but all I saw were a few Bison that were way off in the distance in a field. Oh well, it was still an interesting and beautiful drive. The scenery in Yellowstone certainly is worth the drive. The Lamar Valley in particular is especially pretty.



Since most of the roads in Yellowstone are closed and open only to over-the-snow travel, some companies do operate shuttle vehicles that run on tracks instead of tires. Using tracks gives the vehicles greater flotation so they can drive on top of the snow.



Above: This picture of the moon off the top of a mountain peak was taken just outside of Cooke City.



I spent the night in Gardiner, and after my drive to Cooke City and back I got a bite to eat then went back out to try shooting some of the Mammoth Hot Springs in the moonlight. It certainly was pretty cool to see the bubbling and steaming hot springs at night. The steam takes on a whole different mood at night than it does during the day. I also found a nice viewpoint which gave me a wonderful view of the valley and the "town" of Mammoth (which is basically a town where all the park service employees live). It was a very chilly night (I think the low that night was around 15 degrees), so I kinda froze my rear off but it was worth it!



The next morning I woke well before sunrise so I could go back to the park and photograph the hot springs in the morning light. Right after I passed the park entrance I finally got my Elk wish... there were half a dozen Elk right in the middle of the road! As I inched my car closer and closer to them all of them walked off the road except for one. The one that stayed stood his ground right in the middle of the road, and as I got alongside him I rolled down my window and took this picture of him. He just stared at me as I inched past him. I think if I leaned out the window, he was close enough that I could have pet him! What a great start to the day :-)



After my encounter with the Elk I drove the few miles up to Mammoth Hot Springs, gathered my gear and went off down the boardwalk to shoot the hot springs again, this time in the morning light. Once the sunlight hit the steam from the hot springs, it just glowed. Since it was still only about 15 to 20 degrees outside, and the warm air escaping from the hot springs was now being hit directly by warm sunlight, there was a lot more steam than there was last night.





Below: I used my "little" camera to take this self-portrait of me with my "big" camera. Look at all that steam in the background! Even though most of Yellowstone is 'closed' this time of year, there is still plenty to see and do!

Thistledown

Before


After

One of the purple thistles. I have to admit I didn't examine it closely, but I'm leaning towards Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense).

New Old Moser: a 400 Mile Assessment

Having now ridden Moser 2.0 for about 400 miles, I think it is time for a report. For those who do not feel like reading about the bike's entire history, this is a lugged steel racing frame circa 1978 fitted with niceCampagnolocomponents circa 1999. The Columbus"tretubi" frame is 52x53cm, with an 11cm stem, handlebars 1cm below saddle level (I would like to set them lower, but the stem won't go down any further), 700Cx23mm tires, and 175mm cranks. Gearing is 52/39t in the front and 12-26t (9-speed)in the rear.The complete bike weighs 22lb without the waterbottle. I have been riding it since the end of November, and the individual rides have ranged from 30 to 60 miles. Mostly these have been group and club types of rides, and mostly with riders stronger and faster than me.



I know that people are interested in whether building up an older steel racing frame is feasible for "serious" roadcycling, and based on my experience with the Moser I do not see why not. As far as weight, 22lb is not bad at all for a complete bike - I have picked up new bikes with aluminum frames and carbon forks and they felt heavier. If I want to shave even more weight off, it could be done with some strategic component upgrades, but honestly I did not feel that the weight was an issue for someone at my level of ability.





As far as speed, I was able to ride with strong cycliststhe likes of which I did not think I'd be good enough to ride with,at what they call a social pace (15-18mph on average, depending on the ride), while also feeling some reserve. At no point did I feel "if only I had a faster bike!" while riding the Moser.



When climbing, the bike itself feels "eager" to ascend, and the only limitations I felt were my own and also the high gearing. I would need to get lower gearing in the long run, no question. But the bike itself was fine climbing. When I ran out of gears, I would simply "heave" us uphill. Sadly my legs no longer fit into my jeans as a result of this practice, but we can't have it all.



The ride quality on bad roads has no harshness to it despite the 23mm tires, I am very happy with this aspect. The frame's tubing feels wonderful and just right; perfect amount of flex and all that.



At slow speeds (and I mean very slow - like less than 10mph, when stalling in traffic) the Moser is a little twitchy (compared to my fond memories of the Seven at least, which remained stable even at a crawl), but I do not mind and can still easily control the bike.



The one and only inherent aspect of the handling that is a problem - and the more I ride, the more I realise it is a problem - is descending. I do not entirely understand what is going on and why. But basically at high speeds, the bike is extremely resistant to turning and this was rather scary to discover. At first I thought that I just needed to get used to being on a racy bike again, and that I was holding myself back because I was nervous. But nope, something odd is definitely happening with the high speed turns - not just 90° turns, but even following the curvature of a winding road on a descent. I cannot make the same turns that I know I had no trouble making on the Seven over the summer. So while the bike is capable of great speed, this handling issueultimately makes me slower, since I hold myself back on descents when I do not feel in full control of the bike. I've been trying to understand what is causing this, and what I can do to counteract it, but my instincts are failing me. Naturally I try to take wider turns, but it isn't always possible, and I am just never at a point where I can let myself go on descents.





Exacerbating the descent problem is that I am not entirely happy with the braking power. I did not have a brakeset that would fit this bike, so I bought some CampagnoloVeloce calipers. While I realise that Veloce is not top of the line, I still expected it to be fully functional. I guess with my weak hands, not so much. We have adjusted the brakes this way and that, but coming to a complete stop (like at a stoplight or traffic light at the bottom of a hill) after a high speed descent is problematic.





There are other issues that have surfaced in the course of riding the bike. For instance, there are only braze-ons for one bottle cage, and during longer rides I needed more water. I could get a second bolt-on bottle cage, but it seems a shame to do that to this frame. As mentioned before, there is also quite a bit of rust on the frame that is not visible in pictures (like along the underside of the top tube). It might make sense to get the frame stripped, the rust cleaned up, a second set bottle cage bosses brazed on, and then the frame repainted.





In addition, the rear wheel does not want to stay put in the chromed horizontal dropouts unless the skewer is tightened with a death grip. When initially the skewer was closed with reasonable force, it became misaligned and jammed against the chainstays the first time I rode the bike. It is now tightened as tighteningly as can be and this has not happened since. But it means that I cannot remove the wheels on my own despite them being quick-release; I am not strong enough to budge the skewers.





On top of the too-high gearing, the pedal strike from the 175mm cranks, and the too-tall stem, all in all that adds up to a lot of stuff I would have to replace on the bike (the crankset, the cassette, the brakes, and the stem at least)even without the re-paint and second bottle cage question. I would be willing to make this investment for sure if I was 100% comfortable with the bicycle's handling, but this problem with descents now has me concerned.



And that is where I am right now with my assessment of the bike. More than anything, this experiment has convinced me that I do very much need a fast road bike. Despite the issues mentioned here, I just wanted to ride-ride-ride it all the time, even in the winter. No time to ride? I found the time. Too cold? I got over it. Too early in the morning? Nonsense, the Moser beckons. Tamer, more sensible bikes are wonderful, but for whatever reason they do not have the same effect on me as this bicycle does and as the Seven did over the summer. I want a bicycle that is fast enough for club and paceline rides, comfortable over bad roads, and handles well for a ballance-challenged person like me. Is the Moser it? I love it and I hoped so, but I honestly don't know at this stage. Holding back on descents is a problem; I need to feel in full control of the bike if I am going to improve, not to mention for reasons of safety.

Jackson Visitor Center - Final Weekend to Visit!

Yup, the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center (JVC), whose design has been loved, hated, and debated since its opening in 1966, will welcome its last visitor on Sunday, September 28. It is closing to prepare for the demolition and move to the new JVC, which will open at 10:00 a.m. on October 10th. Between September 29th and October 9th, the Paradise Ranger Station (in the upper lot) will serve as the main NPS contact point at Paradise.

Here's some background on the now infamous "space saucer" of Paradise. The NPS commissioned its construction as part of a 10-year effort called MISSION 66. MISSION 66 set out to improve infrastructure and visitor services for NPS in time for its 50th anniversary in, guess what, 1966. The Paradise visitor center was originally known as the "Paradise Day Use Facility" until 1987, when it was re-named in honor of Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. "Scoop" had originally secured congressional funding for the project and personally selected the architects.

The future of the oldJVC is significantly less promising. With the initiative to build a new visitor center came the $880,000 contract to demolish the JVC and rehabilitate the lower parking lot. Sometime late next year, you should be able to park your vehicle near the current information desk or bookstore. If the weather holds, this fall the contractor intends to start salvage operations of reusable materials and also carry out removal of fuel tank and hazardous materials. Final demolition will begin in the late spring of and will be completed by the end of the summer.

NOTE: If you're visiting the park this weekend, September 27 and 28, there are no entrance fees. The NPS is waiving fees on Saturday in celebration of National Public Lands Day and on Sunday in honor of newly naturalized United States citizens. The JVC at Paradise will be open from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. through Sunday the 28th. Come on by, because it's your last chance to lounge in those creamy orange couches and chairs.

Tomato Worm

These dirty devils are trying their darnest to eat up my tomatoes this year. Got about 10 off of six plants in 2 days. Then a few each day this week. The tomato worm is the first stage of those super large moths that fly around at dusk making you think they are hummingbirds. (they are about the same size). The worms start out real small but by the time most are noticeable they are usually about 3 or 4 inches long. They are green the same color as the tomato plant leaves and stem. They can eat an amazing amount of leaves in just one night. Some of these worms have a 'horn' on top of its head that is about a half inch long and looks like a needle. I don't know if they can sting with it or not and I don't intend to find out. I use two sticks to pull them off the plant then smash them with a rock.

Is this Fair Use?

This morning I received an email from someone who was asking me for more information about a person they had found on my site at Ancestry.com but the first thing that popped into my feeble brain was that I don't have a website on Ancestry and I knew that what they were referring to was not on my freepages at RootsWeb!

So I went to Ancestry and did a search for "Phend" which brought up the following screen and didn't see anything out of the ordinary (click on any of the images to make them easier to read):



So I elected to view all 229 results:



The "Internet Biographical Collection" jumped out at me. Notice the padlock? I clicked on that link, but this is a "for pay" subscription database, and since I wasn't logged in I couldn't see the detail any more than the listing of pages, all of which, except for the last one, are from my website and they are definitely NOT part of Ancestry.com!!!



After logging in and clicking on "View Record" on one of the listings, what you see is shown below. No indication of where this came from, only a small link to "View Cached Web Page", Okay, so it says it is a cached page. . .



Click on "View Cached Web Page" (click on these images to make them bigger) you'll see a small link at the top of the page to "View Live web page" and it will then take you to the page, maybe.



For this particular page the link works because my site is still live. But when I was investigating all this I had gone to some obituary links. The site where the obituary was retrieved from is even more "hidden" for lack of a better word - many newspapers only keep obituaries online for a short time so the page is no longer live. I wonder if Ancestry.com is paying those sites to "store" their obituaries and make them available to Ancestry subscribers?

Is this legal or moral? How is it right for Ancestry.com to take my website pages, which I've made freely available, and CHARGE people to use them? And if they can legally or morally do this, how can they in turn say that it is illegal for their users (me and you) to use their images (census records, draft cards, etc.) on our websites or in our books or other publications?

The more I think about this, the angrier I am getting. At first I thought, okay, they say it is a cached web page, but it's not overly obvious. But they are charging people for access to my stuff!!! I really don't think it would bother me so much if this wasn't hidden behind a padlock. The more people that can find my data and possibly connect to me or someone else, the better - but they shouldn't have to pay to see it! Now, Ancestry is probably going to say they are simply providing a service for all of us poor webmasters and making it so that more people will see our stuff - but does that make it right? They are profiting from my work, and not just my work but the work of anyone with a genealogy related website. Will my blog pages show up next?

This is different than Google or Yahoo or any other search engine storing cached pages or providing links to websites. This is a company using other peoples work for their own gain - Ancestry is charging for these 'searches'. That is just not right, and not just because this is my work showing up - if you have genealogy pages out there anywhere they will probably show up as part of this new Ancestry database.

*** Update 4:00 PM Tuesday ***
I spent a while this morning and afternoon putting this post together, and while I was doing so, it appears that "all hel* was breaking loose" on this issue, see these posts with some very good commentary on the subject:

• Kimberly Powell with Has Ancestry.com Gone to Far?
• Janice Brown with Ancestry.com Hijacks Cow Hampshire
• Randy Seaver with Ancestry.com is Caching some web site data
• Amy Crooks with Ancestry.com Nothing but Theifs

*** Update 4:44 PM Tuesday ***

Ancestry.com has now made the "Internet Biographical Collection" a "free" resource. You have to register to view these free records, which is not the same as signing up for a free trial, but why should you even have to register to view the "Internet Biographical Collection"? Registration is not required to view the Ancestry World Tree entries. To my way of thinking, this step by Ancestry does not entirely resolve the issue.

*** Update 11:30 PM Tuesday ***

Dick Eastman's post yesterday on The Generations Network Receives Patent for Correlating Genealogy Records has a lot of comments dealing with the Internet Biographical Collection, which really had nothing to do with his original topic, so you could say the comments thread got hijacked. As can be expected there is a wide range of opinions on the matter. Some make sense, others don't. Some valid, some not. And Dick is really good at playing the devil's advocate!

What The Cheaters Have Done To Us?

photo courtesy of unknown author on the web






The followingis a comment Mark Twight made first on the paid portion ofhis Gym Jones web site, http://www.gymjones.com/and then published again else where prior to CT having Mark's permission to post it here.Mr. Twight's voice has been missedway too long fromthe climbing community. Please do not copy or duplicate any part of this essay. It is copyrighted material and property ofMr. Twight. It is published hereonly with his permission.



What The Cheaters Have Done To Us

By Mark Twight



The other day I happened across some remarks on the web congratulating someone for having climbed Mount Everest. Of course, and as is the norm, the protagonist made his way up there having hired guides, who fixed the ropes he ascended, who supplied oxygen, who mitigated the risk, who engaged local help to carry his gear and set up the camps where he slept.



One can argue that climbing is an individual sport and "he" did not climb the mountain. One might argue with equal vigor that him standing on the summit was the result of teamwork and that mountaineering is a team sport.



I could agree with the notion that it's a team sport on some levels, and that fixed ropes can have a place in some forms of climbing however the use of oxygen has no place, is cheating and overrules all other claim to achievement. Supplemental O2 is doping - without question. It is not a medical necessity, which is proven by many, many ascents of 8000m peaks without supplemental O2.



Why isn't supplemental oxygen viewed as doping? Some argue that it is a safety issue, that they do not want to take the risk of altitude illness, or frostbite. They want to, "experience climbing Everest," but can't or won't confront the challenge naturally so they modify that experience by boosting their own performance. If O2 allows one to accomplish a task that he or she otherwise could not do or was not willing to do then O2 is a performance-enhancing drug and should be treated as such.



Sadly, when someone who has climbed Everest with the aid of supplemental O2 and a "servant" to carry the extra bottles and prepare the route tells a rapt audience of non-climbers that he climbed Everest that is all he says. He fixates on the outcome and not the means used to achieve it. And if the audience isn't well-informed enough to ask about the means the speaker lets the omission slide, allowing them to think better of him. A decade and more ago I cared deeply about the way we climbed more than whether we were successful. We tried to address naturally existing challenges with a minimum of technological advantages and tried over and over to answer the question, "How light is too light?" If we had learned the answer through actual experience I wouldn't be writing this. We came real close though.



Now I see supplemental oxygen as part of a much larger problem. As human beings, familiar with the history of the species and its potential, we dearly want to believe in extraordinary human performance. Many genuine, rare and truthful accomplishments paved the way for our belief in what might be done. Back in the day when something amazing was reported our first response was awe, inspiration, and maybe the brakes we placed on ourselves slackened a bit.



Times have changed. Cheating is commonplace and doping is rampant, even at the lowest levels of sport. When I look across a variety of disciplines it is apparent that no one is special and no one is immune: when a group of human beings get together some percentage of them are going to cheat or be susceptible to the idea of it. Sadly, it appears this is true for any sport and at some point our habit as an athlete or spectator becomes one of distrust. These days most great accomplishments call up a voice inside urging skeptical review.



People lie on resumés and cheat on tests to get jobs - not caring that they won't be able to DO the job if they get it. Amateur athletes lie about their accomplishments to invite positive social feedback - without caring that a lie is being praised, instead accepting the praise out of context. Pro athletes cheat to win, or to stay competitive against other cheaters, and do so for both money and prestige. Eventually they convince themselves the dope didn't help, that they deserved the medal, the reward, the status. That doping is so common has changed how we respond to the announcement of a spectacular performance or achievement.



Sadly, our skeptical reaction further imprisons us within the limitations we set for ourselves or accept from others who set limits for us. If we greet every great performance with suspicion what becomes of its potential to inspire? What means will we use to unlock our own potential? Who will plant the guideposts along the trail? What new level of performance by one or two individuals will free the hundreds struggling just beneath them?



This is what the cheaters have done to us. It is why we must expose and oppose them whenever it is possible.

Nene Way 8 - Barnwell to Wansford

With Marta. Weather fine, not sunny but warm. 14.44 miles, including short detour to Fotheringhay Church and shop in Nassington.





We started from Barnwell Country Park, crossed the old road opposite Oundle Mill and followed the Nene Way, which is pretty well marked, along past the marina, and locks, through some wide meadows, and over a footbridge into Ashton. The first part of the walk overlaps with this walk from Thursday, Aug 18,







Through the village and after a while we turned left at the 'Entrance Lodge' to follow the road which turned into a track, past a Rifle Range, past Tansor Lodge on an old Roman road and into Warmington. Coffee break (from a flask), part way along here.

When we reached Warmington village we turned right, then left coming out at the church, which is a big one.











































and on to Eaglethorpe with its 17th century limestone dovecote







After this we made our way under the A605, through a decorated underpass







and over the fields to Fotheringhay. We climbed up the castle mound

Two boats below Fotheringhay Castle mound

The pub does a good lunch, then we wandered around the church - there's an impressive historical exhibition in there, and it's much lighter than many churches.










The prospect of another six miles was a little concerning, but we've done over 12 recently. We left Fotheringhay on the Apethorpe road. The turning to the right is just before the speed limit sign, but easily missed. A track leads to Walcot Lodge, where we turned right again. About two thirds of a mile later, we were almost tempted to keep following the wider track which veers to the left, instead of going straight ahead. There is a Nene Way sign, but it's not immediately obvious. There's a short turn to the left, then right a little later, but once all this has been negotiated, the route leads down towards Nassington. We needed something to drink, so detoured to the local shop.

Back to the route proper, and onward to Yarwell Mill, with its boats and caravan site. These millstones are on the road leading out of the Mill.







We should have taken a path across a field at this point. Instead we continued to the road, and turned right towards Yarwell. Not much difference in the distance. From here it's about a mile across fields - lots of horses grazing,



and Wansford Bridge soon comes into view.










































Phew, Wansford Bridge - that's the Northants Nene Way done and dusted.