In a First, Medicare Coverage Is Authorized for Alzheimer's

The Bush administration, in a major change, has authorized
Medicare coverage for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease,
which afflicts nearly four million Americans.
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Since I am a cynical person, I will now predict that a new, expensive treatment for Alzheimer's will be discovered and the gubmint will have to pay for it. If you were the pharmaceutical company, you'd be seeing an opportunity for easy money. It's much harder to remove something once it's in place. i.e. 'you don't hate old people, do you?'

Isn't Bush involved in pharmaceuticals some how? Maybe this is insurance for after we kick his ass out of office in 2004.

Rock Spring Cabin to Swift Run Gap ~ 20.6 miles, climb 3700, desc 4300 ft. (one way)

Whee, that was a long way. I started at 8:30am and finished at 4:30pm, which is much earlier than I expected. I figured I'd be getting out the headlamp, but I couldn't have asked for any better day or trail. As always, the treadway in SNP is excellent. I think it's the best footing anywhere on the AT that is not on an old jeep road or current country lane. The climbs were split up over the climb to Big Meadows, Hazeltop Mtn, Bush Mtn, Bearfence Mtn, Lewis Mtn and Saddleback Mtn. It all adds up to the aforementioned 3700 ft (southbound).

Some of the best views, IMHO, occurred immediately in the section from Rock Spring to Fisher's Gap. I also saw many deer on this section of the trail, and one (small) red squirrel. Gray squirrels are everywhere, but I've never seen a red one before. I still have not seen a bear in SNP. Bearfence Mountain is quite scenic (and would be spectacular when the laurels are in bloom), but I didn't find the views exceptional. Bearfence Hut was about par for the SNP. Since I had already gone through 2 liters of water by that point (half way through the hike), I decided to take some water out of the spring, filtering be damned. It was running, but if the rain doesn't pick up here, I wouldn't expect it to be by June.

I crossed a number of small seasonal flows here and there, but overall, there was a lot less water than you would expect in March. I did not bother to take the either of the Falls trails, since I suspect they weren't very interesting this year. I did take the blue blaze over the top of Bearfence (.2 over that or on the AT, why not see the damn summit for the same distance!?), and I'm glad I did. The rocks up there are pretty fun.

My shuttle driver (Bobby Jenkins) was terrific, and based on my experience with him and with the hike, I suspect I will do the South Section of Shenandoah National Park the same way I completed the Central Section -- in (two) long day hikes.

Based on my level of soreness today, I'd say that I could do 15 miles and easily get up and hike the next day -- all the tiredness and soreness seems to have occurred in the last 5 miles. I'm basing this on the fact that I had a soft bed and a hot bath last night, something I couldn't have in the backcountry. That said, I easily stayed up until midnight last night, and only my hamstrings are still sore today. Miraculously, my feet don't hurt a bit, and as usual, my Merrell shoes left my feet blister and hot spot free. In short, I think I am prepared for my four-day hike coming up in a couple of weeks.

March 23, 2002 ~ Big Schloss, 5 miles rt, 1500' climb

I had originally been planning to take the truck to a fairly inaccessible trail head, but we wound up driving a different vehicle out to the country, so I need something paved. I decided to look for a trailhead that I had previously found looking for *another* trailhead in the GWNF. The trailhead I wanted was for the Bucktail Trail (just barely over the WV line, near Perry). I did not find it, because, as usual, my map was misleading. Maps intended for hiking tend to not be ideal for driving, but maps for driving are not helpful in finding Forest Service roads...

After I realized I'd missed the trailhead, I decided that I would simply park at Wolf Gap and hike up Mill Mountain. Today, I decided, I would finally hike all the way up to Big Schloss (Schloss means castle in German, BTW). Every other time I've been at the bottom of that spur, there's been some reason why I couldn't go up or wasn't interested in going up. It's a very rocky trail, and I wouldn't do it with a backpack, for those of you who haven't been. The views are remarkable, however, and it makes for an excellent day hike. The link above describes much of what the area is like, and has a nice picture from Big Schloss itself.

Once I got up there, it was incredibly cold and windy -- it had been quite pleasant at the trailhead for the Mill Mountain Trail. I found a warm rock on the eastern face out of the wind and enjoyed a snack. I realized that I knew exactly what I was looking at and could figure out exactly where I'd hiked on the mountin overyonder -- Little Sluice. The summit itself has a bridge across a large fissure and then there are many rocks to clamber about on, all of which drop off many, many feet down. This is not for those who hate or fear heights!

I found it to be very like Dragon's Tooth, when all was said and done, but it's a much closer drive. In the future, I will explore the County Line/Tuscarora Trail that continues north where Mill Mtn becomes Great North Mtn.

The Catholic Store brings us more fun with statues of Jesus playing various sports with children.

Jesus is open! Throw it to him!

News anchors have become “on-air” personalities, non-news, (such as what to buy your significant other for the holiday season), gets equal billing with stories on foreign policy, and the whole mess is packaged in tiny, out-of-context parcels that are hurled at the consuming public like a game of dodge-ball played by a frenetic team of speed freaks.

Ms. Schiffler got that right.

I can barely stand to watch any TV news anymore. I like some of the Sunday shows (now that I think about it, just the McGlaughlin Group, really), but the all-news networks, the network news and the local affiliates are all just incredibly boring. They actually manage to make what's going on around us boring. You're never going to see anything different from network to network, and depth is sorely missed across the news spectrum.

Said by me, Tuesday morning, on a mailing list:
I often wonder if the War on Some Drugs won't result in us having South American terrorists blowing shit up here in the next decade or so. We are not just poisoning coca fields down there. We are destroying people's lives and livlihoods in South America with collateral damage.

Today I learned that:
LIMA, Peru, Thursday, March 21 — At least 8 people were killed and 40 injured late Wednesday night when a car bomb exploded near the American Embassy here just three days before President Bush is due to arrive for talks.

They are already bombing our embassies. Can action here be far behind? Sadly, I think I underestimated the time-frame.

Where the CIA runs dirty little wars, we create people who want revenge.

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Ancel Keys is largely responsible for starting the anti-saturated fat agenda in the United States. From 1953 to 1957 Keys made a series of statements regarding the atherogenicity of fats. These pronouncements were:

"All fats raise serum cholesterol; Nearly half of total fat comes from vegetable fats and oils; No difference between animal and vegetable fats in effect on CHD (1953); Type of fat makes no difference; Need to reduce margarine and shortening (1956); All fats are comparable; Saturated fats raise and polyunsaturated fats lower serum cholesterol; Hydrogenated vegetable fats are the problem; Animal fats are the problem (1957-1959)."

As can be seen, his findings were inconsistent.

So, I've been reading a lot of nutrition information lately, and I came across this.

It's always good to see scientists being funny.

Per a NYTimes uncredited editorial:

The sad truth is that Detroit's automakers, big labor and their rural Congressional allies are adamantly opposed to any and all new limits on the country's gas-guzzling freedoms. So a majority of senators would have you believe that technology has not advanced enough in the last 15 years to justify a change in the standards.

Yeah, right. It couldn't be because the CAFE standards are arbitrary, now could it? Let's face it: the problem is, like the drug war, the demand. Americans clearly love SUVs. They will continue to love SUVs as long as gas is (falsely) so incredibly cheap. If these passed, you would see *old* SUVs preserved as long as possible. How does *that* help with air quality and fuel efficiency?

As long as gas is so cheap, the public has no encouragement to buy alternatively fueled cars. If we don't want to be dependent on foriegn oil, we need cars that don't run on gas at all. This, of course, would kill the oil industry, and thus will never happen.

That's right: I predict that within my lifetime, we will still be driving cars with gas combustion engines. As long as the oil companies own the government anyway, and that won't change without something just short of a revolution.

A recent USGS survey shows that our waterways are full of hormones, antibiotics and many other drugs excreted by both humans and animals. As these substances (the hormones in this case) are present in high enough quantities to change the sex of baby fish (according to this article and a hydrologist on Marketplace yesterday), this merits further study as no mitigation is attempted between these sources and community water supplies. It's not bacteria, so Chlorine won't kill it. Charcoal filters do work, but almost no water supplies use them.

Ready for the best part? According to the NYTimes (requires free registration), Additional federal studies are under way to see if any contamination reaches taps or ground water used for drinking, but the program under which they are conducted, the toxic substances hydrology program of the geological survey, is slated to be eliminated under budget cuts proposed by the Bush administration, government officials said.

I guess we'll never know or fix this because it's been deemed not important by the current administration, like virtually all environmental impact studies that may affect agribusiness, oil or anything else corporate.

The true costs of "better living through chemistry" are simply not factored in to anything. Even libertarians like myself think that corporations should pay for damage to public land or assets because it reduces the usability for others.

A number of states are investing their tobacco settlement money in tobacco stocks.

Of course, we all know that state governments are as hooked on tobacco as their constituents. What *would* they do without the bounty of taxes they receive on tobacco sales?

I would love to see Phillip Morris (or whatever they are called now) say "gee, the government of New York state hates tobacco. Let's stop selling it there." Mayhem would result, no doubt.

So, I watched the documentary last night, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was neither war-mongering or any more touchy-feely than necessary. I was also gratified, even happy, to see FDNY presented as mere mortals instead of the saints portrayed by the media.

Anyhoo....

My guess is that within days, some nutjob out there will be claiming the documentary was a fake or that the footage was faked, etc. Since I find such nutjobs entertaining, I look for them. I found one to top them all today: U.S. Concentration Camps for Civilians. This guy is absolutely serious. I could find NO links off his site to other people making similar claims -- usually, even the conspiracy theorists can come up with those.

March 9, 2002 Tuscarora Trail/Massanutten West Trail
6.75 miles, 1500' rise

I started out at a gate on USFS 66, and went up to the top of Three Top Mountain on an orange blazed trail to get to a particular section of the Tuscarora Trail. On my map, issued in 1998, this section is labeled "for experienced hikers only", which is intriguing. Furthermore, the guide states that this is not a good section for backpacking, and if you can do it without a pack, you'll be happier.

I don't know what this is supposed to mean. I was expecting a knife edge or a boulder field or something, but no. It was a bit rocky, but no where near the rockiest hiking I've seen in more or less the same mountain range. I'm curious to find out if they relocated bits of it that used to go straight over boulder piles (there were many, but the trail didn't go over them).

I got lucky on the weather today. It was just warm enough, even when it misted towards the end of my hike. I'm really glad I started early -- I'm usually very bad at that. Hiking this in the winter was an excellent choice. With the trees leafed out, there would be no views. As it was there were miles of views to the western valley and down into Strasburg.

I saw people on the return bit of my circuit, quite a few of them actually. I saw no one on the ascent or on the Tuscarora Trail. All in all, a quite excellent hike.

Per Shelly Branch, writing for the Wall Street Journal:
Bob Brown, a former Washington, D.C.-area waiter who is now a restaurant consultant in northern Virginia, has a technique he calls "By the Way." After rattling off various cocktail and entree options, he says, " 'By the way, we also have San Pellegrino or Panna.' I find it's best to mention it last, and not to offer it as an open-ended question."

Mr. Brown's script doesn't end there. "You must watch carefully. Every time a glass is half empty you should refill to two-thirds or three-quarters -- more than you would wine. The goal is of course to sell more water." To that end, he snuggles up to the person he has identified as "the lead" buyer at the table. "I say 'Would you like to have a couple more bottles chilled down?' Most of the time they say yes. It feeds their ego." [article requires subscription]

I can virutally guarantee this guy consulted at Angelo & Maxie's in the RTC*. They are very slick in that place -- they sold me water seamlessly, but mostly because I wasn't expecting it. They need to be slick. It's an incredibly expensive place, and when I was there on a Thursday, it was only half full. That may not sound unusual, but last year, the only time restaurants that weren't awful didn't have a wait would be on Monday or Tuesday nights. And sometimes they had a wait then too.

*This was the place that was allegedly to be blown up in Arlington Road. It is not a mall, but does exist in concept.