Sunday, December 9, 2018

High-five gang at Pinnacles National Park

It was a beautiful winter day at Pinnacles National Park. We did our first outdoor lead on the Regular Route on Chockstone Dome. Not a hard climb, but perfect for a first lead.

Left of the Regular Route: the Chockstone: Pinnacles National Park

The Regular Route: Pinnacles National Park

Overboard: Pinnacles National Park

 The aftermath. I need to re-sort this gear.
Santa Cruz, California

Monday, October 22, 2018

President Ozymandias: Belief vs. Evidence

Sad but true: President Ozymandias (from Scientific American).


Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”