Rag-Doll

I reckon if you're falling hard too frequently you're not riding the board correctly. It may be that you're not using your centre of gravity to steer and therefore your down hill edge is not getting far enough clear of the snow. Watch learner snowboarders and their boards skim along the snow almost flat. They try to ride the edge but because they aren't getting their weight into the turn their down hill edge barely clears the snow - as a result they're constantly catching it and being whipped down hill. These are the falls that really do the damage. Having the board slide out from beneath you

Oh dear, I 've just sent an email to NOASC asking them about a tour up Yotei in a couple of weeks. I've had good experiences with these guys in the past, but this does make me wonder.

As one survivor describes it... THEY warn you it comes fast. But the word "fast" doesn't come anywhere near describing it. It comes at you like a runaway train. One minute you are preparing. The next you are fighting for your home. Then you are fighting for your life. But it is not minutes that come between. It's more like seconds. The firestorm moves faster than you can think, let alone react. For 25 years, we had lived on our hilltop in St Andrews, in the hills northeast of Melbourne. You prepare like they tell you every summer. You clear. You slash. You pri

The initial response in this day and age of information overload and mobility is to really question how anybody could get caught in the fire, with an understandable, but perhaps unkind view that the people involved were at least partly responsible for putting themselves in harm's way. This article from the Australian provides a bit more insight into why people were caught in the fire... WHEN bushfires turn lethal, the terror begins long before the burning embers and flames arrive, and the sky glows orange in the heat. At their most hellish, these firestorms are like a giant run

Aust has always had periods of intense heat, records that are being broken are in some cases many years and decades old. That said, some climate guy I read recently was saying that record breaking episodes of extreme heat and cold have always happened, but recently they happen more frequently for heat than cold on something like a 3 to 1 ratio. and there are the fires....just incredible what has happened down around kinglake and maryville. Imagine, you've done the right thing, you've got the fire plan in place, you've clered the bush away from your house, filled your gutter with water et

[quote=Ryoma The tap beer is called "nama" and is more expensive due to the hops/barley content. A lot of the canned beer has corn, potato etc (the ingredients are written on the side). Ryoma is referring to happoshu which is a low malt (low quality) beer intended to get uni students drunk and to get around certain taxes. It used to make the beer a lot cheaper than normal beer but I think the tax laws have change so its not that much cheaper now. Your standard apre binge beer in a can like kirin, asahi, sapporo etc are normal beers and will cost normal prices and, being canned beer

yeah, it is fair enough.

[quote=JA ie, the ticket costs, say, USD1450 and that includes a total mass of the traveller and their luggage of, say 150kg. That means that someone who is 90kg wringing wet would have an allowance of 60kg luggage and the 120kg monster would be allowed 30kg. I had to chuckle at this JA - not many 90kg guys would be considered light or small. Anybody under 6ft who weighs 90kg is going to be carrying a few extra kgs and will probably take up more than his fair share of space. And Monsters have rights too, you know! What about overweight vampires and werewolves? Shouldn't they have to p

It will be interesting to see how the property thing plays out. Will people hold or try to off load? The locals who have watched how the place has developed in the last 5 years must be thinking I told you so! Buying in at a premium only to have the market turn means an investor could be holding for quite a few years before the market comes back. The people who really must be kicking themselves are the locals who bought during the Japanese property bubble and held on for too long during this boom and now have missed the chance to cash in. I think everyone is surprised at just how quickly

Well if no one else is going to start this thread I might as well. so, the gang is back this year but with a new judge who is pretty easy on the eye, but seems like she would be a complete bitch. Maybe this has been obvious to everyone for ages, but it has only just occurred to me - the people who are obviously crushed by being laughed at or turned down by the judges are actually treated pretty poorly. They've probably turned up thinking they don't really have much of a chance, but are having a go any way. Because they're a little deluded and are sufficiently oddball enough to make

It isn't a great season though is it? And the J-crowds are a fickle bunch; too much snow or too little snow and they're off to akihabara.

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver Akibun, when it comes to politics, the UK is a weird place. The UK is made up of 3 major countries (Scotland, England, Wales) and a province(Northern Ireland). The channel islands, like the Isle of Man are not actually part of the UK but are a Crown dependency, in that the British government is ultimately responsible for them. The strange thing about the UK is that outside of Politics, in the mind of its people, it isn't really 1 country. Each member country retains its own national identity that sets it apart from the others, with its own unique culture,

Weekdays were always really quiet. So quiet that it felt a little spooky. Given the economic news coming out of Japan these days, there will probably be stiff competition for liftie jobs and no one on the slopes in the coming seasons. It looks pretty grim.

rather than feeling disgust i reckon people ought to consider it from that guy's point of view. he has probably spent years trying to come to grips with what he wants to do v what society (esp Japaneses society) expects him to do. He would be well aware of the disgust some people have for his lifestyle and at some level he might even feel ashamed himself for feeling the need to dress a certain way. For all that the guy is a (big) bit off the beam, good on him for getting out there.

Originally Posted By: Go Native Best thing about bangin a tranny? When you reach around it feels like you've gone all the way through! (um can I say that on here?) don't know, but glad you did. a laugh out loud post

niiiiiice! On a good day Nozawa is as good as any place in Japan I reckon. The flats are flat but early runs on the front slopes at full tilt can give you genki for the whole day. I wish I could have spent more time exploring it. There looks to be a nice off piste run from the top (looker's right) down through the trees to the board park area. I've never done it though, but it looks doable. Muika, How close (as the crow flies) is Naeba to Nozawa? I have this idea that they're miles from each other?

Originally Posted By: gareth_oau I'm honestly quite amazed that Bush was the best that the republicans could come up with? It really does demonstrate that money talks less about money and more about the numbers and motivation of the gun totting bible bashing right wing loons in Jesusland I reckon. The really scary thing is that they voted for Bush twice! Once is, ok, one never really knows but twice! I guess if you're the kind of person who still believes in creation in the face of over whelming evidence then it is going to take a while to realise that the guy you've voted in is a knuck

There have been some really interesting articles being written about Obama and Bush, the potential of one and the legacy of the other and a lot about the way the left treat and regard their heroes compared to the treatment of those on the right. Seems lefties are able to forgive and forget, but history is somewhat less kind to those on the right. I reckon even with the overly hyped expectations and the potential for disappointment that that invariably brings, Obama could do a Denis Leary and still be loved: ....You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadilac El Dorado Co

I hope you're keeping notes for a full-on TR with photos and diagrams and the whole bit for us poor slobs doing the niseko shuffle.

they're not usually large enough to eat you, just take enough out of your leg to ensure you die of blood loss and shock... I think they do that deliberately - nasty, mean little bastards.

Originally Posted By: stemik Originally Posted By: Mantas One of the attacks this week was in a lake near a boat ramp! In a Lake?? Yep, in a lake. brakish shallow murky water that is linked to the sea is prime bull shark territory. That's why canals, and river mouths and such are probably more dangerous than the surf. From wiki- The bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, also known as the bull whaler, Zambezi shark or unofficially known as Zambi in Africa and Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a shark common worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. The bul

doesn't exactly look over run, does it?

Has global warming been blamed for this yet? Surely it is only a matter of time.

I wonder if she thought..... I gonna need a bigger board! Great trophy to show the grandkids though. The media loves a good shark story and that fin does look more dolphin than shark. A shark swimming that close to the surface would show its tail fin as well, wouldn't it? But yeah, pretty much anything more than knee deep and you're a half a chance. Bull sharks and bronze whalers can be dangerous even when fairly small (less than 2m) and people have died from their attacks simply due to massive blood loss. I've seen or heard or read somewhere that humans don't make good feeding fo

It is good, second only to doing a wee after desperately having to hold on for so long that it feels like your back teeth are floating. The relief, when it comes, is devine.