Speed Climbing El Cap & Celebrating the 50th Anniv. of the first Ascent

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This is insane! Back in 2001, Greg and I went to Yosemite with all intentions of doing the big-wall thing on 'The Nose' route of El Capitan in Yosemite. We were going first as film/support crew for our friends Bill and Tom in their quest for a 'Nose in a Day'.

The plan was for Greg and I to spend an afternoon fixing our ropes to Sickle Ledge, then return to the ground. The day after Bill and Tom finished up, we'd pack our things, hit our fixed ropes and do a more traditional 2.5 day ascent with Bill as a team of three.



It took Greg and I nearly 6 hours to get to Sickle Ledge. In short, we sucked! (the fitness level you need to be in to make even a multi-day ascent possible is really something) You see the Huber brothers get there in minutes in this video. Now I'm sure it is time compressed somewhat, but probably not much, given that the current record for this climb is like 2 hours and 40+ minutes!







After fixing our lines and sleeping on it overnight, we bailed, deciding we weren't
ready (fast enough) since it had taken us 6 hours to climb roughly one 'sixth' of the
route! (we really wanted to be in the 4 hour or less range)Instead, we spent the rest of
the trip enjoying some of the nice, long Yosemite classic free climbs instead.

Check out Han's site here for the latest on his recent record setting climb.

Happy Halloween!

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Some photos from our decorations this year! Check out the pumpkin pyrotechnics! I got the idea from extremepumpkins.com!

The sticker on the trash can says.. "Prevent Wildfires" :-) Check out the entire Halloween photostream here.


Happy Halloween! from tim schneider on Vimeo.

Tony Hawk interviews Michael Phelps on the set of
a recent commercial shoot for Guitar Hero World Tour

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See more DissentTV videos at Shred or Die

A blast from the past: Tony @ 14 on a Japanese TV Show.
They asked him to change the names of some of his tricks
to make them more 'Japan' friendly.. He went with it :-)

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See more Tony Hawk videos at Shred or Die

How many MPG (Miles per Gallon) does *YOUR*
Body Get??

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32 miles per gallon

Created by The Car Connection

Synchronized Debating!? Didnt We Just Hear that? Deja Vu :-)

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Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Stupid is as Stupid does..!

This is the other problem I have with the current choices we
have for the highest office in the land this year. As an
engineer/scientist, it particularly irks me that someone can
say things which are clearly stupid and uninformed. Where have
all the smart people gone? Unfortunately, they are too intelligent
to run for public office. Not that the Democrats have any rocket
scientists on their side either (neither has a monopoly on stupidity)

Take this informal test:
Click on this store link.
Now this one.

Which one looks like it was designed for a first grader!? I rest
my case, although the use of big 'buttons' and primary colors does
help me navigate the site I suppose!?

From Slate.com..

...with Joe the Plumber becoming the emblematic stupidity of the campaign, it didn't seem possible that things could go any lower or get any dumber. But they did last Friday, when, at a speech in Pittsburgh, Gov. Sarah Palin denounced wasteful expenditure on fruit-fly research, adding that it took place "in Paris, France" and winding up with a folksy "I kid you not."

Then as soon as Palin spoke, Democrats issued a long list of examples in which McCain had voted against fully funding IDEA and other special education programs. They also noted that scientific studies involving fruit flies are helping further researchers' understanding of autism, a disorder that both Palin and McCain speak of frequently while campaigning. Palin's nephew has autism, something she mentioned in today's speech

Likewise, Sen. John McCain has made repeated use of an anti-waste and anti-pork ad (several times repeated and elaborated in his increasingly witless speeches) in which the expenditure of $3 million to study the DNA of grizzly bears in Montana was derided as "unbelievable." As an excellent article in the Feb. 8, 2008, Scientific American pointed out, there is no way to enforce the Endangered Species Act without getting some sort of estimate of numbers.

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured.

No suprise though, this is also the guy that couldn't answer when asked if he thought that condoms were effective in stopping the spread of HIV. BTW that video *used* to be on YouTube, no doubt someone has filed a DMCA claim to get it taken down.

1 more week to go thank goodness!

Happy Halloween!

Some funny scenes that ended up on the cutting room
floor from the 1978 classic 'Halloween'

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Michael Myers Is Way Cooler in 'Halloween's' Deleted Scenes -- powered by Cracked.com