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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jun 30, 2009 - 06:01pm PT
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Returning to the original post and Jim's complaint. I agree with Jim completely. When ST was young there were lots of non-climbing posts but there were relatively few threads. Days would go by before a thread would slip off the first page. It was easy enough to just read the threads that were interesting. Until a few years ago, when I was travelling and spending lots of time in hotel rooms, I could keep up easily. Now, with so many posters and with less time to browse, it is harder. I don't think the ratio of climbing to non-climbing threads has changed, but it requires a bit of work to stay on top of the speed with which they slip off the front page. I am thankful for the bumps.
All that said, all the suggestions to 'fix' the problem with rules or tags of one sort or another have either been shot down by folks who know a whole lot more about what works on an open forum than I do or haven't been implemented by Chris for whatever reason.
I would still like some sort of tagging system that counts the number of reads a thread gets so at least it is possible to see if good climbing threads are read even if no one comments. I just found out that PhotoBucket keeps track of the number of times any thing that is loaded from my account is looked at. It makes me feel better about the stuff that I have spent time digging up, scanning and posting.
I have some good climbing friends, who everyone would love to have post up, who won't post because they cannot see past the fog of non-climbing threads. That is too bad for the rest of us, becuase they are walking, breathing history of the 50s and 60s. (A large proportion of the 70s Valley climbers post. Maybe its a generational thing.) Personally I don't expect that the Internet will conform to my tastes; I figure I have to adapt and make it my own. But not everyone wants to do that.
So, I have come to accept that the way it works currently, as a more or less self regulating cyber camp fire, is workable. There is a natural limit to the number of really cool climbing stories or events and there is a real benefit to making everyone feel welcome with what ever they have to offer.
Jim's post and this thread to highlight it is part of the self regulation. So are fattrad's efforts to keep his "Clash of Civilization" comments in one place.
And, there have been some climbing related stories posted on this thread that might not have come to light otherwise (John Stannard and I worked together in 1971 and didn't know it until today.)
I liked The Wiz lots better than The Wizard of Oz.
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dogtown
climber
Cheyenne,Wyoming
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Jun 30, 2009 - 08:38pm PT
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Sir.Donini is The Real Deal. For sure.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 30, 2009 - 08:49pm PT
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Thanks for the clarification, jstan. Being a builder and a climber, it is the short falls that seem to do the worst damage and keep my attention focused. I tend to relax once the ground is out of play...
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jstan
climber
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Jun 30, 2009 - 09:06pm PT
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A story told me by a solo artist who shall remain nameless regarding a difficult moment encountered some 300' up. He said he began looking down to see where he should try to land.
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S McClure
Trad climber
California
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Jun 30, 2009 - 09:11pm PT
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"Who builds these pedestals and why must I worship before YALL'S ALTERS...?"
"Worship's" not it. Try "inspiration' - anyone should be stoked if able to climb well and hard for the rest of their days.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jstan
Was that Henry on Gorilla's Delight?
That sounds an awful lot like one I read about that. . .
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Swellymon, always enjoy your comments...good to hear from you as always...but never enough. Appreciate the stories you have from bitd.
Sir Roger, lovin' the hair ...do. :D Danny boy had similar but you are/were over the top. Smiles and crinkles, Lynne.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Hi Lynne,
We all look so young in those old pictures. Hair was mostly about not getting a hair cut as opposed to any style or statement. Of course, without meaning to, we were very much in the mainstream of the counterculture. No one considered themselves a hippy—a derisive term for ne’er-do-wells who lived in communes and had political views about the ‘man.’ We were rock climbers.
Since I still have a full head, allbeit nearly white, I've started to sort of flaunt it. Now if I could only climb like I did then!
Lyrics to “Hair” which opened on Broadway in 1968, a few years before that picture was taken.
She asks me why
I'm just a hairy guy
I'm hairy noon and night
Hair that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low
Don't ask me why
Don't know
It's not for lack of break
Like the Grateful Dead
Darling
Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
Let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for bees
A nest for birds
There ain't no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my...
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!
Oh say can you see
My eyes if you can
Then my hair's too short
Down to here
Down to there
Down to where
It stops by itself
They'll be ga ga at the go go
When they see me in my toga
My toga made of blond
Brilliantined
Biblical hair
My hair like Jesus wore it
Hallelujah I adore it
Hallelujah Mary loved her son
Why don't my mother love me?
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I saw Hair in London in 1970 as a kid. Boy, did my imagination run wild that night!
As I recall, Oh! Calcutta! was the only other theater production that featured full frontal nudity at that point in time. Diane Keaton wouldn't bare all however! I can't recall just how she managed that feat with the peer pressure in play. LOTS of hair extensions and crafty merkin, I suspect! LOL
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Obnoxiously Nurturing Yosemite Xenophobia
Would we call that an Onyxy Moron?
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steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
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Jim-I assume you will read this- Mark calls me a "grumpy old man" all the time. Someday I'll get down to Indian Creek and you can sandbag me. Hope to see you soon. Best Steve
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Perhaps a Hair Thread is in order....Hair today and gone tomorrow. :D
Drifting back to topic....maybe that's what makes a "grumpy old man". :D
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goatboy smellz
climber
लघिमा, co
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Well, we need to put Piton Ron on a pedestal otherwise he wouldn't be able see what's going on...
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Ron, are you going to take that kind of impertinence sitting down? Or standing up? Anyway, whatever it is you're doing?
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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goatboy, dude, thanks for the lol,lol....things been getting to zerious on the Taco. lynnie
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Like a lot of you, I was shocked when someone took a poke at towering icon Jim Donini. I mean face it, we all know he's a hardman, I mean a hard man. He likes his eggs hard boiled and his women hard hearted. Donini doesn't wear underwear, he wears hardware. This man is hard to believe.
All of this got me to thinking. If there's one thing I've learned on the Taco, its that heroes and idols put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. Now, its a common human trait that everyone needs a little adulation and affection now and then, but what's Jim Donini to do? A Supertaco "appreciation thread" seems just a little too effete for such an iron jawed steely eyed bastion of climbing integrity, don't you think? How's a man to garner a little praise and love to hold close and keep him warm during a cold bivy on a lonely night when the distant stars make mock of human achievement and whisper of the inevitable approach of personal extinction?
What better way indeed than to get your old friend to start a thread impugning your character? Really, is this collection of posts any different that some warm and fuzzy "appreciation thread"? A few barbs, ample accolades, and lots of tales and heart warming vignettes by old friends from back in the day when morning wood was as dependable as the sunrise. All the while, through this reverse-psychology approach, Donini maintains a plausible deniability, a distancing from his emotional need that keeps the taciturn rugged aura intact. Bravo man, well played!
To think I almost fell for this now obvious ruse. Watch out Donini, I'm hip to your tricks.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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It's not a "pedestal".
I prefer to think of it as a sniper's nest.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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THIS JUST IN:
Modesty has been uncovered by researchers to be the ability to call attention to whatever it is you are being humble about.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Unless you are Jonathan Swift, that is!?!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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"Modesty has been discovered by researchers to be the ability to call attention to whatever it is you are being humble about."
...without anyone much noticing that you're doing it.
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