Friday, July 30, 2010
Column!
Yay! Headed to Manteca to meet up with Ethan for two days at Column of the Giants. I'm hitting up yet another new crag this year (I'm on a roll!). So glad he's not bailing so I don't have to throw a massive Joe-style wobbler in my living room in lieu of going rock climbing. Yesssss.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Photos from the weekend
Al posted photos from last Sunday. I couldn't take any after we left the overlook because my memory card was full and I couldn't figure out how to reformat it.
Check it out.
Check it out.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Oil spill in China
Photos from an oil spill in China (via The Big Picture).
These pictures are astounding. However I think they are even more shocking to me now because I went through the HAZWOPER training for the gulf spill 2 weeks ago. In most of these photos the workers are covered in oil, some head to toe. Over three days of my training I learned about the levels of exposure that we may be subjected to in the gulf. You would never ever see American workers at an American site without total protection. Oil would never touch an American worker's skin, and decontamination would be very strict between the spill site and non-spill areas. There is so much regulation and protocol for dealing with toxic substances in the US to protect workers. I think this is a good thing. Oil is toxic; there's no two ways about it.
I fear for the Chinese who are participating in this cleanup effort.
These pictures are astounding. However I think they are even more shocking to me now because I went through the HAZWOPER training for the gulf spill 2 weeks ago. In most of these photos the workers are covered in oil, some head to toe. Over three days of my training I learned about the levels of exposure that we may be subjected to in the gulf. You would never ever see American workers at an American site without total protection. Oil would never touch an American worker's skin, and decontamination would be very strict between the spill site and non-spill areas. There is so much regulation and protocol for dealing with toxic substances in the US to protect workers. I think this is a good thing. Oil is toxic; there's no two ways about it.
I fear for the Chinese who are participating in this cleanup effort.
Back to Silver King?
If anyone cares about the type of work I do, check this article out from High Country News by Hillary Rosner. Different fish, but the idea is the same. Especially with the Walker Lake tui chub. Walker Lake is a terminal lake in Nevada. Water mining has reduced inflow to the lake, causing increased salinity. The tui chubs live a long time, so adults that were born in times of lower salinity are still alive. However the increasing salinity is bad for spawning and young (recruitment). Same idea with other desert fishes - they live a long time so they are still around, but no babies are born, so bodies of water are sort of like retirement communities. Lots of sex, but no babies. Eww, I know.
Anyway, I don't really expect anyone to click on the link, so if you do, kudos!
Here's a particularly gnarly passage:
"In the 1950s and early 1960s, government officials also routinely poisoned waterways, killing native species in order to stock sport fish like rainbow trout. Using money given to the states from taxes on recreational fishing products, government officials poisoned 2,500 miles of streams and 225,000 acres of lakes in 34 states, according to Anders Halversson, whose new book, An Entirely Synthetic Fish, chronicles America's love affair with rainbow trout.
In 1962, the Wyoming and Utah wildlife agencies orchestrated the ne plus ultra of fish genocide, a massive effort to poison native fish using a chemical called rotenone. The idea was to create a clean slate on the Green River -- a main Colorado tributary originating in Wyoming's Wind River Range -- above the soon-to-be-completed Flaming Gorge Dam, eradicating all life in the water and then filling it with millions of rainbow trout. Using a series of "drip stations" strung along 450 miles of river, as well as airboats and helicopters, officials killed off 450 tons of fish in three days. "As the rotenone front progressed downstream," writes Halversson, "it drove large schools of desperate fish in front of it, a sight that deeply impressed itself on those who saw them ‘thrashing about and struggling for air on the surface of the river.' "
More on the fish front: I'm going to go back to Silver King Creek August 9th (the day after I get back from South Carolina...yay) to do some sampling of the "pure" populations of Paiute cutthroat trout. My collaborator is looking for funding (possible post-doc?) to get a better grip on the genetic diversity of these populations.
In other news, I have a new gay boyfriend at the Lucky Jeans store in the Arden Fair mall. I went in to buy a new battery for my macbook (btw, the Apple store is complete fucking mayhem), and decided it was time for a new pair of jeans. Eric and I got along very well, and he insisted that I did not have muffin tops ("I've SEEN muffin tops, you do NOT have muffin tops"). So mission accomplished for new jeans and a new battery. Getting a new battery has been an egregious task I've put off since realizing my battery was dead in Spain. That was in October.
For the weekend, maybe Column of the Giants with Ethan? Who knows. People like to bail at the last minute. I'll end up doing something, even if I have to go somewhere alone. I'll try to bribe him with cookie-brownies.
Anyway, I don't really expect anyone to click on the link, so if you do, kudos!
Here's a particularly gnarly passage:
"In the 1950s and early 1960s, government officials also routinely poisoned waterways, killing native species in order to stock sport fish like rainbow trout. Using money given to the states from taxes on recreational fishing products, government officials poisoned 2,500 miles of streams and 225,000 acres of lakes in 34 states, according to Anders Halversson, whose new book, An Entirely Synthetic Fish, chronicles America's love affair with rainbow trout.
In 1962, the Wyoming and Utah wildlife agencies orchestrated the ne plus ultra of fish genocide, a massive effort to poison native fish using a chemical called rotenone. The idea was to create a clean slate on the Green River -- a main Colorado tributary originating in Wyoming's Wind River Range -- above the soon-to-be-completed Flaming Gorge Dam, eradicating all life in the water and then filling it with millions of rainbow trout. Using a series of "drip stations" strung along 450 miles of river, as well as airboats and helicopters, officials killed off 450 tons of fish in three days. "As the rotenone front progressed downstream," writes Halversson, "it drove large schools of desperate fish in front of it, a sight that deeply impressed itself on those who saw them ‘thrashing about and struggling for air on the surface of the river.' "
More on the fish front: I'm going to go back to Silver King Creek August 9th (the day after I get back from South Carolina...yay) to do some sampling of the "pure" populations of Paiute cutthroat trout. My collaborator is looking for funding (possible post-doc?) to get a better grip on the genetic diversity of these populations.
In other news, I have a new gay boyfriend at the Lucky Jeans store in the Arden Fair mall. I went in to buy a new battery for my macbook (btw, the Apple store is complete fucking mayhem), and decided it was time for a new pair of jeans. Eric and I got along very well, and he insisted that I did not have muffin tops ("I've SEEN muffin tops, you do NOT have muffin tops"). So mission accomplished for new jeans and a new battery. Getting a new battery has been an egregious task I've put off since realizing my battery was dead in Spain. That was in October.
For the weekend, maybe Column of the Giants with Ethan? Who knows. People like to bail at the last minute. I'll end up doing something, even if I have to go somewhere alone. I'll try to bribe him with cookie-brownies.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Photos from the weekend
Here are a couple of shots from Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The clouds made for awesome rainbows and a sunrise.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
new music/ north peak win/ mt conness fail
I really like this woman's voice:
Just got back from Lee Vining Canyon. Shannon, John, Townsend, Al and I were going to do North Peak and then North Ridge of Conness. I bailed after North Peak because I wasn't feel that well. It was just as well because pretty soon after I started walking down a heinous thunderstorm came over the peak. I kept looking back to see if Conness was getting hosed...it looked like it was.
I think I felt shitty because I didn't really eat anything and the group moved more quickly than I wanted to (no time to eat/drink, etc.). By the time I got down I'd only eaten a handful of trail mix and a couple of gummy bears, and I felt like shit. Normally I'm a big breakfast person, but this morning I just didn't get organized or motivated or something. I don't know. I staggered back to my car and drove down to the Mobil (down by noon - yay!), where I just sat in the driver's seat not knowing what to do with myself because I was kind of nauseous and not that hungry even though I knew I needed to eat. I made the mistake of ordering carnitas tacos which were largely composed of lumps of fat interspersed with lumps of meat. I never order carnitas - are they normally fatty like that? So gross.
On the drive home all I could think about eating was orange juice and avocados. Is that weird?
Good weekend all in all. Got to do 5 or so pitches at the dike wall with Sarah D. in Mammoth, so that was fun. And holy shit the mosquitos are awful this year. We were on top of North peak at 12400 feet getting bitten. WTF?
Just got back from Lee Vining Canyon. Shannon, John, Townsend, Al and I were going to do North Peak and then North Ridge of Conness. I bailed after North Peak because I wasn't feel that well. It was just as well because pretty soon after I started walking down a heinous thunderstorm came over the peak. I kept looking back to see if Conness was getting hosed...it looked like it was.
I think I felt shitty because I didn't really eat anything and the group moved more quickly than I wanted to (no time to eat/drink, etc.). By the time I got down I'd only eaten a handful of trail mix and a couple of gummy bears, and I felt like shit. Normally I'm a big breakfast person, but this morning I just didn't get organized or motivated or something. I don't know. I staggered back to my car and drove down to the Mobil (down by noon - yay!), where I just sat in the driver's seat not knowing what to do with myself because I was kind of nauseous and not that hungry even though I knew I needed to eat. I made the mistake of ordering carnitas tacos which were largely composed of lumps of fat interspersed with lumps of meat. I never order carnitas - are they normally fatty like that? So gross.
On the drive home all I could think about eating was orange juice and avocados. Is that weird?
Good weekend all in all. Got to do 5 or so pitches at the dike wall with Sarah D. in Mammoth, so that was fun. And holy shit the mosquitos are awful this year. We were on top of North peak at 12400 feet getting bitten. WTF?
Friday, July 23, 2010
mountains! flowers! Chocoflan!
Finally, a plan to go into the high sierra. It's been too long my friend.
The tentative plan (all plans are tentative until they are in the past...behind every cynic is a disappointed idealist) is to climb in mammoth on saturday with lauren, john and sarah, and then go tag north peak and do the north ridge of conness on sunday. It's a tidy little weekend with routes and bigger stuff. I'm excited to do it with Lauren so we can see what our paces are like, how our legs feel etc. for the possible Kenya climb.
So excited about the high sierra these days. I want to do middle palisade as well. Of course I'll lose a lot of fitness if I get called to the gulf, but whatever.
I'll finish the post with some photos of the endangered Vine Hill clarkia and the Vine Hill preserve. Take a good look at the flower because this is it - all that's left is what's growing on this 1.3 acre preserve.
The tentative plan (all plans are tentative until they are in the past...behind every cynic is a disappointed idealist) is to climb in mammoth on saturday with lauren, john and sarah, and then go tag north peak and do the north ridge of conness on sunday. It's a tidy little weekend with routes and bigger stuff. I'm excited to do it with Lauren so we can see what our paces are like, how our legs feel etc. for the possible Kenya climb.
So excited about the high sierra these days. I want to do middle palisade as well. Of course I'll lose a lot of fitness if I get called to the gulf, but whatever.
I'll finish the post with some photos of the endangered Vine Hill clarkia and the Vine Hill preserve. Take a good look at the flower because this is it - all that's left is what's growing on this 1.3 acre preserve.
closeup of a flower that's going ape shit.
view of the Vine Hill ceanothus and some biologists
biologists in their natural habitat
more clarkia - this is the more standard form compared to the photo at the top
Oh yeah - and I made CHOCOFLAN!!! so damn tasty.
Oh yeah - and I made CHOCOFLAN!!! so damn tasty.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)