Ice is cold. So is snow. So, if you need to take a dump on a glacier in a National Park, you are required to bag it, lest it be found 20,000 years later and used as evidence of pre-existent life forms on Earth. Or prevent contamination of the primary drinking water source (snowmelt) of climbers on the mountain. This policy goes for the wonderful & oft over visited Mendenhall Glacier here in Juneau, as well as one of my more personally significant future plans: Rainier. I’ve been reading up on the mountain to do some background research into typical weather trends during late winter (we’re thinking March, which is prime winter mountaineering throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere), potential routes, how bad the currently washed out road-system is (which is going to add about 10mi to the journey), and whether or not people use pulk sleds (example). Among all these neat little tidbits I realized that we were really going to have to pack out what we pack in, except for water, which will consist mostly of melted snow from the mountain anyways. This is of some concern, as recently, many of my trips have involved some serious cooking action via attempts at intense mountain gourmet. Due to a consistently experimental nature, this can occasionally have significant gastro-intestinal consequences. More to the point, we’re going to have to be particularly careful about what foods we pack, and how much to bring. No prob, right? Well, I also have a pesky habit of over-packing for food. Time for some serious threat mitigation.

Within the bounds of Mt. Rainier NP, unless there is a toilette (a silly French word) available, you have to poo in a bag and carry it out. These bags are appropriately named WAG bags. This is unfortunately not due to the fact that -at least in my experience- no one ever wants to put them inside their pack, so they are most often seen wagging along in the wind outside someone’s pack. Usually when you pack a bunch of gourmet in, among the things you have to look forward to other than consumption, is leaving the weight behind. While the policy is not new, it is an inconvenience when you are dealing with such a potentially dangerous situation, which for better or worse, is where ethics tend to go out the window for the average climber. Lets just hope that’s the only inappropriate thing to attain an airborne status. In fact, I’l bank on it.

Gross.

-P to the F

matt’s great american siesta trip is drawing to a close… only one more week left before I head to somwhere in eastern africa (still working on that part).

I’ve really enjoyed catching up with all of you in Vermont and Boston, and now NYC. I’m looking forward to being back this way in the late summer.

One way I’ve passed the time is by taking in sights that I haven’t had a chance to see. A highlight of my Boston visit was an afternoon spent at the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum, which is about as wacky and mind-blowing as a wealth socialite’s art collection can be. Recommended the next time you want to see a fine set of disparate art presented in a way that “fires the imagination”.

I hope to make it to the Rubin while I’m in the big apple, and maybe something called the Daily Show. One could get used to not having a job…

Discovering that the correct term for a grouping of a crabs is, yes… wait for it… a cast of crabs.

This essentialia comes to us by way of a recent post on DailyKos re the effect of global warming on the terrestrial and marine environment of Greenland. The author mentioned that things like squid, sharks, and of course crabs are now seen in ever-increasing numbers off the coast of Greenland. Since that coast itself is growing, courtesy of peninsulas becoming islands, you can picture quite a frolicsome affair there.

Curiously, after a burst of lamentation and rending of hair re the warming planet, almost all of the comments to the post are about the correct term for a group of crabs (with a diversion into crab biology after somebody made an offhand mention of “crab family life”). The cream of the suggestion crop: an itch, a crock, a crib, and a very competitive entry: “a republican of crabs”.
Other excellent group names:

• a murder of crows
• a jar of nuthatches
• a romp of otters
• a richness of martens
• a tower of giraffes
• an unkindness of ravens

Find more at Dictionary.com, Wikipedia of course (here and here), and our friends at USGS.

It was noted recently while home (the VT one, not the AK one), that talk of secession in Vermont has been spreading. This is no wildfire, stop the presses news. Vermont has one of the longest-lived and locally strongest separatist movements in the country. Currently under the banner of ‘Second Vermont Republic’ (SVR), the push for independence has been going on since the founding of this nation, as evidenced by several movements organized around the secession of New England under the Hartford Convention. A note of small pride, this movement was founded nearly three quarters of a century before the notion of southern secession ever took hold. Additionally, perhaps the most powerful and viable separatist community on the continent resides within the bounds of our francophone neighbor the north, the Quebecois.

Flag of the First Republic of VT

Recently there was an interesting interview on VPR’s Switchboard with Rob Williams, a Champlain College teacher & publisher of VT Commons. Williams had a number of interesting things to say. Addressing the ‘why bother?’ question, Williams provides several examples of how the U.S. has simply become too large, and argues that the current ‘empire’ is unsustainable. Citing the, well, numerous problems with the current government including illegal detentions, electoral fraud, lack of attention to environmental issues, and the Patriot Act as evidence of what he calls ‘imperial hubris’. Perhaps the most convincing part of the interview involves Williams noting that the government, originally designed to be controlled by the people, has now turned the tables. Additionally the financial equation regarding state and federal support, Vermont is apparently losing tax money in the current scheme of things. Also notable is the fact that secession is a guaranteed right under the U.S. Constitution.

Yes, this all does seem rather far fetched, but with such group forums as oh-so-worldly facebook’s Advocates for the Immediate Secession of New York City and Alaska can come too…, the official site of 2nd Vermont Republic, and the always humorous Texassecession.com site (who opt for a break with the union under the argument that the US has ‘sealed its doom due to its continued rebellion against god(caps???)), these ideas are seem to be spreading at a rapid clip. In 1999 there was even a Texan movement founded called Texas Constitution 2000, which is gathering signatories by country (they have one so far). I’m sorry, but anyone that needs quotations around the words “assault weapons” and “arsenal” has -in their grasp- the power to frighten me just a little bit. Through all the trolling I did, Texas seems to have the greatest number of secession movements. Now all they need is someone to take the whole thing seriously…

On the all-and-all though, there are numerous movements throughout the country. Organized, they might have a decent chance of accomplishing something, however, most of these groups hold (purposefully) divisive views, often seemingly their main reason for a seperatation of nations.

Despite all of this hubub, I am heartened by a quote from Speaker of the House Pelosi’s first speech upon, “We have made history, now let us make progress.” The question is progress for whom? The select oligarchy? Out of control corporate interests? The common good? I’m with the last one, and hold plainly sympathetic views towards this end. Perhaps the secession conversation, as Williams calls it, is one worth having. At the very least, he’s got a great radio voice.

-P to the F

Texas of yore…

ps, if Texas ever does secede, you really don’t want to break the law there. Some proposed punishments for illegal actions or border crossings: a minimum of five lashes, $3,000 fine & deportation. If the fine is not paid immediately, involuntary servitude will be required. While prison sentences in the current nation carry slave-like labor as a penalty, but I doubt the label of servitude has ever been applied. However, all taxes will be voluntarily given, and there will be no regulation or tracking permitted regarding travel. Land of the free indeed.

I humbly apologize for my lack of restraint regarding Texas, the Free Republic of Texas, and the Soveigrn Nation of New Texas; this is a weak and vain attempt to make up for a creeping lack of post-spiration (ew). Please thank yourself for letting me waste your time with this unorganized feckless drivel.

There are currently 25 states in the Union with active secession movements.

Sophomoric it may be, but one Texan secessionist website may found at http://www.anus.com/etc/texas/. Coincidence? Probably.

A comprehensive list of secession movements in the nation and globally. Of note is the recent action in Scotland to separate from the UK. Lists are maintained by the Middlebury Institute.

A valuable lesson I learned while on the road: I am not from America.

See, if you are traveling and you say you are from America, Brazilians might get upset and put some jujitsu on you, and you don’t want that. Because they are from America too! *South* America. They have fierce jujitsu.

The moral of the story is that South American pride wounds easily, and also that I am from the USA. Which is in North America. Please practice this if you are from the same country as I.

And not only am I from the USA, I am in the USA. This is only a little weird. Why only a little? Probably because I have spent most of the last two weeks in Vermont, and have noticed that the area hasn’t changed hardly a smidgen. I mean, the milk truck now says “Dairy Marketing Service”, and Champlain Lanes have expanded to include a funhouse and some extra lanes (good idea), but the entire state is basically the same as it was four years ago. My second grade teacher even recognized me a few days ago.

OK. That part was a little weird.

We enjoyed a nice little madape reunion for a few days in late December. Presents were exchanged and food was consumed. Boggle was played, repeatedly.

I am around for a while longer, while I put together the pieces of my non-plan for the next few months. These pieces include: visiting an wide assortment of qualified health professionals I haven’t seen in a few years, adding pages to my passport, and researching cheap flights via courier services.

新年快乐！ Happy new year to you all.

ps: here are my pictures from November and December