My thoughts on Obama and Socialism

Obama's Neo-soviet poster lampooned...

my little satire on Socialism:

Our Father who is in the democrat party,

Protect us from the great Ecopalypse of the prophet Gore (he who hath a private jet and many mansions).

And stop the rising of the seas with your charm and presence,

Cleanse us of our sins of Wealth and Success

of Clean streets and Mc Donalds

of low infant mortality

and opportunity to improve ourselves and rise from the gutter

Pray, let us all be equal in mediocrity and low pay

in underachievement and simmering resentment of those who remain still richer,

continued in my political blog.

One explanation re US Financial crisis

From what I can understand, it's very much to do with subprime mortgages being a weak point for big banks, which has led to a snowballing of consequences.
It turns out banks were pressured into large amounts of sub-prime mortgages by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), sponsored by Bill Clinton and pushed by groups such as ACORN (where Obama worked as a community activist) amongst others. This strong-armed banks into commiting a lot of funds into sub-prime loans, putting them at risk in case of mass defaults.

See article

I read elsewhere that despite poor credit history checks etc for sub-prime loans, most of these are in fact being paid off. Hence the US govmt is going to make the problem worse by acting as if they aren't viable loans.

Expeditions with Kids, Dolphins at Noosa

Just been on 2 weeks off, which I needed after several weeks of camps, with several expedition-style ones (15 hour days). It gets a bit wearing on expeditions sometimes, being with clueless and noisy kids (as regards camping etc) after a while. Oh to be with experienced scouts or similar...
Aussie kids are disturbingly urbanized for the most part, although there are always a few (girls and boys) who stand out as having some experience of camping and walking, or at least some initiative.
I remember in particular a 12 year old girl on my lake Tinarro 5 day exped (near Cairns), who had a real poise, fitness and was always helping out. It turned out she was a school athlete, and had been to NZ several times, doing 3-5 day treks with her parents. She was streets ahead of the others in self-confidence, maturity. Streets ahead of a lot of 15 year olds, actually.

On one expedition I did near Mt Barney area again (which I nicknamed Tour de Moogerah 08, as we were riding bikes half the time, around Lake Moogerah), the 14 yr old kids had to carry packs, in which many brought super-heavy big no-no stuff like nutella jars, custard pots, 80 wet ones (yes 80) and other items which had me jumping up and down, asking them to eat or offload stuff before we did our mega-uphill hike up to 1000 m altitude, on pain of several of them collapsing with exhaustion.

They did offload a lot of stuff, with me fishing interesting things out of the garbage bag - such as custard pots, nut and sultana packets etc, which I eat or kept for later.
Another coming the opposite way to us got lost and had to spend a night out on a ridge, without water... It turned out most of us had been given very sparse route instructions, and even incorrect ones on occasion...

The day before last we arrived early at our campsite at 350 m altitude and rapidly set up the tents as it was raining. After a bit of a break and a hot chocolate, I set about reconnoitering the route for the next day, as i did not want to get lost on the last day. I spent 3 hours running up and downhill on 4WD tracks, finally finding a very steep faint track up a ridge and almost getting up to the 1000m mark we were to get up to the next day. I only just found the track, and ran back in the rain and dark with my headtorch.
The next day the kids performed well, and the weaker ones held out well with no complaining. They cheered as we saw the parking where the bus was to pick us up.

Temporarily Lost in the bush:

On the latest 5 day expedition, on a huge property with ridges at 500m altitude near Mt Barney, we spent 8 hours walking on tracks and on steep untracked terrain. I went down an incorrect ridge and as I worked out where we likely to be from the steep terrain around me and the map, I decided we needed to traverse across to another, visible ridge. it was 4pm (it gets dark at 530) and the kids were dead tired. I did mention we might have to spend the night in the bush (with little water and no tents, but sleeping bags). However we did our traverse on rocky and steep terrain, arrived the correct ridge and finally arrived at the tents, water, food drop just as dark was falling.

Other groups had similar problems. It moments like that when you wish you had a small GPS, so as to get an exact fix on your current location. I was lucky to have a fit and understanding teacher - Gil the Canadian, who was also on that camp, was less fortunate.

The day after the end of this exped, Gil and I hiked 7 hours return up to the summit of Mt Barney (1300m). it was very pretty, with many wildflowers, mist. But also very steep, and we should have given ourselves a day off. I ended up with a sore throat for several days.

Dolphins at Noosa:

I had a real Noosa moment recently. Walked along the beautiful coastal track, past Pandanus, wildflowers, paperbark, Goanas, incredible beaches and national park. Got around the point, and was hit by a strong wind. Walked down a semi-cliffy area to watch the big swells coming in. Just as I stopped to look, I saw a pod of dolphins riding a swell. Once in a while one of them jumped out as the swell pushed them past me. In a few minutes they had disappeared. Wow ! I felt they had put on the show just for me.

I often go to the Nat Park (7 minutes by bike) to Run , or swim 1 km or more at sea. I come back invigorated by the exercise and beauty.

Glasshouse Climbing photos

1: Gil at a belay ledge

2: Myself at belay

3: Gil abseiling down

4: Myself at a "hanging" belay - where there is no or little ledge, and one must hang off the anchor points.

A short while ago, Gil and I redid the 5 pitch route. This time, we swapped pitches - I did the passages that he had done last time. And we abseiled the way we came up, avoiding the nasty problem of last time.

We were both more profficient and relaxed than the first time. Also I brought a small pack with water, snacks and a mobile phone.

Europe the Sinking Titanic V. Putin the Poisoner

After every Russian shove Europe backs down. Worse than that, it let itself to be bought off. The worst example is our friend former Chancellor Herr Gerhardt Schroeder, who got himself a top job with Russia's Gazprom energy company right after he passed a sell-out energy treaty through the German parliament. That'll teach Putin how to deal with Europe. ( I thought it was Bush who was after money - silly me).

more in my political blog

Renowned French climber Video

Patrick Edlinger made films which popularised sports climbing in the 80s. This video shows him lead climbing in the Verdon Gorge. And then climbing..... ropeless...

His control is amazing. I don't climb anywhere near this level... but I have some idea of the satisfaction of a good lead climb.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvsgHWKJOUA&feature=related

also his classic film - "Opera Vertical":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQs3XMYDucs&feature=related

Camps And a Climbing Adventure

photos:

-2: Mt Barney (not my photo)

-1: ditto
1: A co-worker setting up abseils at Kangaroo Point

2: Brisbane by night from K point.

3: Glasshouse mountains from a viewpoint

4. French climber on Tibrogargan

5. Another viewpoint

6. The main climbing mountain - Tibrogargan

7. Gypsy Jules in his hobbit hole

Camps, Mt Barney discovery, a Climbing epic and thoughts on Man’s need for Adventure.

Been to quite a variety of camps in the last month or so…

In July – Near Mt Barney , which is a great scenic area on the Qld/NSW border, Just inland from the gold coast. Mt barney at 1300m is tall for Australia, and sticks out majestically. I went to a 3 day camp, had a 4 day break, the another 3 days at the same place. There Are stacks of outdoor centers in the area – most of them around the lakes , surrounded by mountains, and some challenging bushwalks.

I took the opportunity to discover Mt Barney National park .. which was a bushwalking mecca in the 60s and 70s. Went up a steep and strenuous ridge walk, involving some climbing up slabs on the way up. Got up to the saddle at 1000m. Great gorges full of jungle trees and whooping birds. The mountain was lit up with it’s red rocks glowing at 7am when I started the walk. Also discovered the town of Boonah - real country town with long-bearded farmers walking around, an old pub and so on. Lots of horse breeders in the area.
Also hard crack-climbing (Yosemite style but 20m high) in nearby Mt French.
At one nat park rest area, I ran 10km to a gorge and back, then enjoyed the afternoon sun.

Lived out of my van, in rest areas and a campsite … great to be a gypsy again ! that lifestyle really suits me. Discovering scenic areas, Watching the sun set as I eat dinner from my small gas cooker, reading books in the evening with my headtorch, in my sleeping bag. Then drifting off to sleep with my MP3 player. All I need is my laptop with a wireless broadband modem… then I can update my blog on the move, and use the net for email etc.

I was telling a friend about my parents, going to Europe etc, the fact that my mother and I both have vans and live in them occasionally… And I said we were “gypsies with degrees” well almost… we are educated working gypsies anyway..

A day of work at kangaroo point… a great climbing spot on the south bank of Brisbane city river (see photo above). Got 15 yr old girls abseiling. Then climbed a bit with some Mexican climbers I met. Spent the nite at mt Cootha (a viewpoint mountain right next to the city), and came back to boulder at K point the next day. I was impressed by the flotillas of road bikes, runners at 6am in Brisbane city…

Then drove up to the Glasshouse Mountains (1 hr north of Brisbane, 1hr south of Noosa)… A fabulous Tolkien-like set of volcanic plugs surrounded by forest, both natural and plantation.
And I discovered, to my delight, some great long bolted climbs on Mt Tibrogargan.
Came back with my climbing gear, and met a French couple (living in Brisbane) with whom I did some routes. Led 2 climbs – 45 m lengths – with some challenging moves. It felt really good to be doing some “real” climbing – ie in a great setting, with amazing views, on long routes.
A bit later, I got a call out of the blue from Gil, the french-canadian I shared a flat with in Malaysia. After climbing in Thailand, he was a deckhand on a yacht for 2 weeks in Thai, during which he learnt quite a bit about navigation and such. Then travelled in India and Nepal, and then Australia, where he travelled with his parents in a rental van.

He had just bought a neat campervan – toyota pop-top, with table, seats , cupboards, a good size fridge, etc.. (much more luxurious than my spartan carpet floor where I sit and eat, and sleep with my futon ). For 6000 $ and a years guarantee. A good buy.
Has a working visa and just got work in a poultry factory in the glasshouse area.

Jules and Gil have a small rock-climbing epic.

So we went climbing an afternoon, slept in our vans, and then did a serious climb the next day – 5 lengths up, and a tricky 100m abseil…
I led some hardish pitches on the way up, getting some of my proficiency back. I’ve hardly climbed seriously since I left France in 2005. Did a 5 day course on lead climbing back in 2000 in Orpierre (south of France) , which taught me to push myself, to commit once above the bolt. I once fell 10m.. but on bolted “sports” climbs, there is little risk apart from scratches.
At the end of the course I could lead 6c-grade climbs (french grade) I can now lead 5b/c, but that’s normal with the lack of practice. At any rate I still consider rock climbing as training for my true love – Mountaineering – which I also haven’t done since 2005.

We abseiled down a different way, using a fixed anchor that was in place. Going down my doubled 50m ropes, I realized the cliff was overhanging, and ended up about 3m horizontally from the next anchor point… 15 m above the end of the ropes suspended in mid air, a bit stressed. Fortunately, I had a prussik cord attached to the rope – which meant I could use both hands and the cord would squeeze the rope, so I didnt’s slide down it.
I considered my options – attaching a leg prussik and going back up the rope (tedious and tiring) , abseiling down a bit further and finding a single bolt on which I could anchor myself (not good practice), or somehow swinging into the cliff.

I decided to try the latter, and pulled up one of my ropes to use as a lasso. For the next rather stressing minutes, I tried to lasso a boulder at the the anchor ledge, so as to pull myself into the cliff. I had to wait for my body to spin around to face the cliff, and then lasso. After 4 or so goes, I finally caught the bolder, and pulled myself in gingerly, and with relief, grabbed the anchor and clipped myself onto it. I made sure I held onto the ropes, so that Gil would not be faced with the same problem when he abseiled down.
Our troubles were not over, however, Gil came down and clipped himself to the anchor. We then proceeded to pull on one of the ropes, so that the rope would slide thru the anchor above us and later fall down on top of us. Mountain Abseils are known to be fraught with problems– ropes get stuck, people drop the ropes and so on. To my horror, the rope would not come… We were only 40m above the ground, but with no warm clothes , no headtorch… it would have been unpleasant to wait there for a rescue. So near , but so far..
I remembered the v-like crack that I had noticed on the edge of the abseil, and we assumed the ropes were stuck in it, on top of each other, stopping a good sliding occurring. So Gil volunteered to prussik back up, to my relief. It looked long and tedious and involved hanging in mid air, which I find a bit stressful.
20 minutes or so later, he was up, tired, and moved the ropes out of the crack. He came back down carefully and we pulled the rope successfully, and breathed a sigh of relief. We had been going 5 hours or so without water, which didn’t help either.

We did the last abseil , and then walked the short distance back to the vans.

Rather tired but exhilarated, I then drove more than 3 hours north to get to a camp near Bundaberg, where I started work the next day, and for 3 days.

I was excited like I haven’t been for a while. It’s funny the way we benefit from adventure, from a bit of constructive suffering once in a while. There was the feeling of achievement, of having conquered my fear of falling on some pitches, and snarling with aggression, gone up to the next bolt. The beauty of the view across the plain, the physical pleasure of having used every cell in my body. I lay that night relaxing with my MP3 player, feeling every cell in my body vibrating with the day’s use.
Adventure like this awakens me – makes me more dynamic, more joyful. And I felt it made me a better person also – tougher and more noble. A bit like sword fighting I guess, except the Samurai of old risked their life while they focused on their art. A controlled dance with death is useful in getting the full savor from life.

I felt I needed more of this – more beating of the sword over the anvil by the blacksmith of adventure. I think everybody needs this; in our overcontrolled air-conditioned world between our cars and the shopping mall, where we watch others striving to survive on TV in natural disasters, wars and outdoor adventure; with all the really hard and dangerous tasks such as police work, fighting wars against our enemies, firefighting, rescue - outsourced to full-time third parties; so that we can continue to go to shopping malls and enjoy our opulence in safety, go to guitar lessons, sing, dance, have children and live in hope for the future.

This Saturday afternoon, I was back for more climbing with Gil… although not as demanding as that little epic of ours.
I would be in New Zealand right now, working as a cross-country skiing instructor, were it not for the fact that I was waiting for a major Australian job application to come through.