keba

Jared Diamond would argue for Tsondaboy's case. We eat herbivores mainly because they are domesticatible, i.e. easy to herd, feed, breed and butcher. There are a lot of exceptions, of course, but it boils down to chicken, beef, pork and sheep in the west, with local variations. There is a chapter in "Guns, Germs and Steel" dealing with this very question.

Never been there, thanks for the tip. The raw numbers fooled me, a little local knowledge goes a long way.

What you need are two drivers mature enough to compete with one another, without jeopardising the team.

Seems to have been their history, if not an explicit policy.

Ron Dennis must have seen something special in Hamilton, to tell the current world champion not to expect any favours. I'm surprised Alonso took him up on it... and now he's been invited to leave. Must make him feel unloved.

I got Garmin-compatibe Japan maps for Mapsource on my PC. Used those in conjunction with the in-car GPS, and we managed to get where we wanted, most of the time...

Glad I booked time in Thredbo, not NZ. Mt Ruapehu looks the goods, though...

He was told he would be on equal terms with Hamilton? I didn't know that. One less excuse for being a whining prat.

Hamilton disobeyed a team order. He needs to remember he's a rookie, and do what he's told by the people who are paying him (a lot) of money. It doesn't excuse Alonso for being a whining prat, but he should expect preferential treatment. I would, in his position.

Hunter S. Thompson is my favorite author. The avatar is "Mr Duke" from the Doonesbury comic strip satire, based on HST. I wanted to use "Dr Gonzo", a caricature of HST Ralph Steadman drew for the novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", but couldn't find one the right size...

In Oz, doctors are protected from litigation by "Good Samaritan" legislation, so that you can't be held responsible for problems that arise if you are acting in good faith to assist someone as a bystander. Unless you are criminally negligent, of course. Otherwise, who would answer the call "Is there a doctor in the house?"

There you have it... a newby mistake by a driver who is starting to believe the hype?

We found that a bit of a problem, ASB. Find someone who reads Japanese and speaks English to program it for you, if you can. Otherwise, just get some (paper) maps of where you want to go, and use the maps on the GPS to know where you are, and get where you want to be. We did OK with this method, getting around Hakuba and surrounds (and even into Nagano City, Nozawa Onsen, and Shiga Kogen) earier this year. In a Subaru Legacy wagon, too.

Tells a sad tale...

Back on track... Mt Potts is only open to Heli access, and temple basin is "on hold", depending on conditions. Mt Hutt has a 60-70cm base, presumably lots of snow-making happening. Do we have anyone on the ground in NZ for reports? Here's where I went. http://www.snow.co.nz/index.asp

And another outburst by Hamilton against Dennis, like the one after qualifying at the weekend, and he won't last long either...

Prost and Senna were always down at the bar after the race sharing a few drinks and a laugh... Seriously, Alonso has some insecurity issues - being the non-British driver in a British team is eating away at him, despite being the two-times defending champ. You'd think he'd be on top of the mental game by now.

Anyone got the gossip on that? McLaren's press statement makes it sound like an innocent tactical error on their part. I also suspect that Alonso has been reading the Schumey book of tricks... I thought Ron Dennis would have learned from his experience with Montoya, too. You can't have two number 1 drivers, and expect them to hold hands and sing together.

Same thing in Honolulu. What used to be a no-hassle transfer from the arrivals back up to the departure gate with a passport/ticket check, suddenly became a bus trip to immigration, security scan, re-check-in, another bus transfer back to the gate, only so the plane could refuel for the forward leg to Vancouver. All at 1 a.m.! Never doing that again.

Since 9/11, it's such a pain. Oz is nearly as bad these days, and Britain too, from what I hear. Japan and Canada aren't too bad yet.

From Oz, Lan Chile fly via Auckland to Santiago (that was the flight we had booked). No worse than the Honolulu stopover on the way to LAX, as far as I can see. No need to go via US, unless your fussy about the airlines you travel with.

I've been wanting to for a long time, and we almost had the trip booked in 2005, but logistics became a problem (and we ended up in NZ instead), and now with a 1 year old and another on the way, we will have to wait a few years more before we try again. Japan is a piece of cake to get to, by comparison. I don't see it as being any more expensive that travelling to Canada or the US to ski, stemik. One long-haul flight, a bus, hotel room, lift tickets, etc. Might even be cheaper in Chile than Colorado, say.

11-a-side? That should be easy to co-ordinate.

Just checked the snow report from Portillo (in Chile). 205cm base, 35cm fresh in last 24h. Don't write off South America just yet.

I suppose he was waiting to see if Contador won, there wouldn't be much publicity for him if he outed the third- or forth-placegetter... who knows the motivation of these people?