powderfreak

I love that stuff, ha. Finishing up a hike after work and the sweat evaporates as it forms. So comfortable to recreate outside.

Yeah the insurance companies want no part of it... may not even be the company making a mask and hygiene policy, it’s coming from the underwriter. It’s the same everywhere, insurance companies are usually behind most policies and practices. One of my best buds who skis a lot more than he is supposed to while “working” works in insurance and his job is to drive around New England checking compliance at mostly food establishments. In the past his job was straight forward... go around, make sure kitchens are up to standards, fire suppression systems, OSHA type stuff. This winter though, the insurance company had him checking COVID practices and following the standards set by the insurance company. They didn’t want to be involved in any COVID litigation and we’re expecting their clients to meet certain expectations. That insurance side seems like it would dictate company practices more than whether they want to do it or not.

The barefoot hikers are what get me... damn hiking several thousand of vertical feet barefoot on rugged hiking trails. The pads of their feet must be smoked. Either that or they now look like my dogs pads.

At least you’ll die doing something you enjoy, right?

That's the beauty of businesses, we can all vote with our wallets.

You used to see videos of people on YouTube or social media who are "trying to stick it to the man" and not wear a mask while entering like a Bed Bath and Beyond... brave souls just looking for a confrontation with anyone. It was always weird to me because you are basically trying to get into an argument with some minimum wage employee who had literally nothing to do with the decision to make you put a mask on. Like I dare that high schooler working part time after school tell me to put my mask on.

You and him would get along just great. The stuff he says in mocking people who think differently than him regarding the 'Vid (weak, scared, sheep, Karens, crazy nutjobs, etc) is almost identical to what you write and he's definitely extremely passionate about sharing his opinion on COVID, ha. Definitely don’t get him going on the seatbelt law though, think there may be more passion there than COVID. I was thinking about sending him a link to this thread though the Mods may not appreciate that .

59F with a dew point of 10F.... 14% RH. It's dry. Looks like CON did 66/10 for only 11% RH.

Thinking the GGEM is over done... hopefully the webbed hand of stein can settle this down a bit.

Ha yeah the nice guy rarely finishes first. Even my wife wishes I was more opinionated or felt strongly about topics (can’t let her meet some on here). I just go along with life... I’m alive, can make ends meet and spend a lot of time outside on a giant pile of rocks. What more can you want out of life? .

I'm with you 100% on the face mask outdoors. I'd only do it on a busier trail or something and never out of fear but from trying to be courteous or what my friend calls as "you're being too nice." As he says, if everyone was just super nice to each other we'd quickly lose all rights to everything. He thinks we as a society needs to have more of an a$$hole mentality as that's what keeps personal rights around. Not going along with every little thing out of niceness and caring for your neighbor.

I talked about this with a friend just yesterday. He had the same visceral triggered reaction about seeing people with masks on outdoors. In discussing it, his anger wasn't about them being afraid of COVID, it was making him angry at just how easily and accepting they were of it. Like it literally doesn't seem to bother some people to wear a mask, they just don't care. Like putting pants on in the morning... someone told them they have to wear pants or shorts to go outside so they said ok. Then someone told them they need to have a shirt on, fine. Then someone said hey wear this mask, fine whatever. They will go about their day fine and not think twice about it. That was what was triggering him and I think a lot of folks feel that way. It's not about the mask, the fear or whatever.... its about just how easily accepting they are of it and it truly annoyed him that these people weren't more annoyed by wearing a mask. They were obviously having a great time playing with their kids and everyone was laughing having a great time... and it really pissed him off .

Sitting under one of the two wave clouds up in N.VT. Stable cloud just sitting over Mansfield and the Spine casting a shadow down here. Looks blue all around, ha.

Yeah that was discussed at length in the original COVID thread, lol. RIP.

It has felt windy. Lots of NW flow CAA breezes... it probably makes sense, with so many warm air masses Any below normal cold creates a strong thermal gradient.

That's a good take. Many folks look at it as either 1) Capitalism or 2) Socialism with absolutely nothing in between. Pretty much every economy running right now is a mix of both. And like you said, it may not be taking the best parts of each type of society/economy. The current set-up seems to put the squeeze on the newcomer, small businesses, and little guy. It rewards the behemoths and already established.

Yeah once people get something in their head, right or wrong, or ideological, it’s hard to change that. I will say I don’t think it’s only society nowadays. Even back to the earliest civilizations, if something was believed as truth, humans still wouldn’t change their minds even as scholars literally proved them to be wrong as time went on. We accept a lot of those truths now (like earth isn’t flat) but despite a shit ton of evidence it took civilization a very long time to wrap its head around stuff that was contrary to their beliefs back in the day. Humans are stubborn creatures. Pros and cons to that stubbornness.

You get a sugar cube, I get a sugar cube, we all get a sugar cube, ha.

Yes learning about other ideologies should certainly be avoided. Reading about something doesn’t mean you have to agree with it . I don’t agree with it but would be open to reading it and trying to punch holes in it.

High of 43F so far at the ASOS up here. That’s brutal for the valley at the end of April.

Up to 34F now at MVL... 30F at 1500ft. Still spitting flakes and breezy. All set with this, need more 60s.

32F with flurries flying. Looks like a dusting of white higher up.

COVID, it’s a passionate debate topic. The usual viewpoints don’t align sometimes.

It's hard to stay off the mountain, even if it's human powered elevation gain and not lift-powered. Happy to get back out on the mountain on as many days as possible with the dog again. After the hustle and bustle of winter operations, the quiet off-season on the hill is a special time. Talk about a low stress time of year, just wandering around with man's best friend.

Yeah I’d be curious on @WhitinsvilleWX’s takes on how much the second shot does towards immunity or lowering chances of a severe illness. If you get like say 80% on the first shot and the second shot adds that extra 15% to 95%... the first shot seems like the main goal to get to the population.