OT Things to ponder

[RangerJoe]

Yes, but then again they might not have a nice Fall . . .

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

I don't think that there would be too much cutting in line.

There could use an express lane - 10 minutes or less at the summit. [:D]

At least 10 people have died in the past week because of the traffic jam at the summit, either falling, freezing or being up there too long for their oxygen supply.
I get why Edmund Hillary climbed the peak (after Tanzig Norgay blazed a trail for him!), but I find it incredible that all these people get financial support and go risking their lives (and the lives of their guides) just so they can brag that they did the climb.

Did mankind benefit in any way from this effort? Did we learn anything new? No? Then it is a vanity project that should not be supported. Mountains that high can be admired from below 10K feet.

[RangerJoe]

It might be better just to climb into a jet and look at it from above.

While doing:

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Did mankind benefit in any way from this effort? Did we learn anything new? No? Then it is a vanity project that should not be supported. Mountains that high can be admired from below 10K feet.

Well, people in general routinely spend an incredible amount of resources for stuff mankind does not benefit from. If you and your partners band together to do things, then as long as those things are not harmful to the others and as long as you pay then nobody should have a say in how you should spend your time and money. Free enterprise includes doing stupid things - those are at start indistinguishable from things that are seemingly stupid but can be useful

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
I find it incredible that all these people get financial support and go risking their lives (and the lives of their guides) just so they can brag that they did the climb.

Whatsat? [&:]

[RangerJoe]

Worse is when people who ignore the rules and put any rescuers at risk.

[durnedwolf]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Shades of Stand on Zanzibar! This, apparently is Mt Everest on a slow day.

That's just the line to the bathroom...

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: durnedwolf


That's just the line to the bathroom...

I'm sure Julius Caesar is in that picture saying "This would make a good place for a latrine."

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: durnedwolf

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Shades of Stand on Zanzibar! This, apparently is Mt Everest on a slow day.

That's just the line to the bathroom...

Someone should rig a zip line from the summit to Base Camp.

[Will_L]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

ORIGINAL: Will_L

Sir Gorn…

Saw two small adult birds last week, sadly both dead on the sidewalk with no visible injury - one in Soho (Manhattan) where I work and the other a couple of houses away from mine in Laurelton (Southeast Queens)... closest match I could find was the Yellow-throated warbler but not at all sure on that. (https://identify.whatbird.com/obj/338/o ... rbler.aspx)
Immediately brought to mind West Nile virus which went through the pigeon and sparrow population here like a scythe back in the '90s, they were dropping like flies all over the city. Thought it was odd to see two of the same type, on the same day, dead in what looked like the same way.

Here's the best site I know of for bird ids: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yel ... ed_Warbler

West Nile has the greatest impact on corvids (crows, ravens and blue jays). If there's a window directly above the place you found them, that could be the cause. All sorts of birds, if they see a reflection of the sky in a window, or can see through the building through two different windows, may fly right into the window and break their necks. Finding dead birds in urban settings is usually caused by that or electrocution. Also, in Soho there's probably not a lot of opossums to clean up the carrion. Rats might take them though.

The one in Soho could have crashed into a window, it was very close to the building next door. The one on my block fell out of my neighbors pine tree (probably) onto the sidewalk about 20' from the house, helluva bounce if it went off the window.
Back when West Nile first hit here I had a couple of sparrows and a pigeon crash down near me from the overhead wires while I was waiting for buses and I still make sure I'm not standing under them while I wait, avoids getting crapped on too. Appreciate the feedback, thank you [:)]

[geofflambert]

My definitive copy of Everest

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Did mankind benefit in any way from this effort? Did we learn anything new? No? Then it is a vanity project that should not be supported. Mountains that high can be admired from below 10K feet.

Well, people in general routinely spend an incredible amount of resources for stuff mankind does not benefit from. If you and your partners band together to do things, then as long as those things are not harmful to the others and as long as you pay then nobody should have a say in how you should spend your time and money. Free enterprise includes doing stupid things - those are at start indistinguishable from things that are seemingly stupid but can be useful

Spending their own money -fine. Getting support from online donations, maybe (but there are so many others needing real help), but when countries start using tax dollars to "finance an expedition" so they can take some pictures - it's a vanity project with the politicians taking part.

[geofflambert]

Of course, you can come up with you're own versions, such as

[geofflambert]

That is not a photograph. Hieronymus Bosch painted it in 1491.

[Zorch]

From this photo, it seems like Everest has more rock and less snow than when it was first climbed in 1953. Is this true, or is my memory faulty? Does anyone have a comparable 1953 photo? I saw the 1953 expedition documentary ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045646/ ) many years ago.
Below, Tenzing on the summit.

[fcooke]

Birds and glass - this is a tough one. I used to work in Manhattan and the building maintenance folks for all the glass skyscrapers would be out 'cleaning up' the victims before the rush of workers coming into work each day. I have to imagine some sort of tinting of the glass would help but mankind wants buildings to look nice and shiny. Yes - I am getting grumpier in my older age.

I live in a converted barn - a fair bit of standard Anderson window/door glass - birds hit it a lot but because there is so much tree cover they thankfully don't get up enough speed to kill themselves.

Everest - even if people are paying on their own the country taxpayers get the bill for the S&R or recovery ops. Not sure how to reconcile that since people do stupid stuff all the time that taxpayers get the bill for - ie - you really thought it was a good idea to travel to NK or Iran? So you could get detained? And countries spend millions trying to secure your release. Maybe some people are too dumb to live. Natural selection and all that.

All that said as a student I spent a night in a casino in Cairo - drinking of course and at 4am a bunch of us thought it we would be a great idea to climb a pyramid. In the day you could bribe one of the guards and clamber up (those blocks are much bigger than you might think). So a couple of hours later watching the sunrise from the top of a pyramid). Of course the one roll of film that got lost in the mail....

So, in the end, perhaps I also fall into that natural selection bucket [X(]

[geofflambert]

When I was born there were 3 billion people here. Now there's nearly 8. This planet cannot sustain that. Natural selection will be kicking in very soon.

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

When I was born there were 3 billion people here. Now there's nearly 8. This planet cannot sustain that. Natural selection will be kicking in very soon.

Not till we take all the warning labels on virtually everything made in the western world. All I am saying is give Darwin a chance! [:D]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

When I was born there were 3 billion people here. Now there's nearly 8. This planet cannot sustain that. Natural selection will be kicking in very soon.

No the selection will be very un-natural. When food and water shortages start the have-nots will attack the haves and slaughter will commence on both sides and the smart/worthy/innocent will not be spared. It would be natural if we fought with fists, but the weapons we have will make the situation so bad that all trade may stop. Back to primitive existence after all we have built is destroyed.

That sounds bleak, but unless bold action is taken to ensure everyone gets a piece of the pie and population declines from deliberate birth controls, we will revert to survival of the most vicious.

[Lecivius]

That stuff has already begun.