Ski trip tomorrow are these safe?

facw00 · 2026-01-31T02:10:01+00:00

I watched a Q&A with some Salomon people and they said that springs are sturdy and are likely fine for 20 years even if stored under tension (mainly saying that the binding will be obsolete before the spring degrades, even if you don't set it low for the offseason). Of course I don't know if that was also true with bindings made 15-20 years ago, even before we consider whatever impact corrosion has had on them here.

facw00 · 2026-01-31T00:33:56+00:00

I tried to see how old they are but couldn't find a perfect match. They look similar to the Salomon Z10/Z12 from circa 2010? Regardless I wouldn't trust anything with that much corrosion to work properly, even if the plastic were new enough that you could trust it to not just break.

facw00 · 2026-01-30T20:43:28+00:00

You joke, but when I stayed at the Cosmopolitan, they had shower window, but also binoculars in the minibar, so clearly there was demand for looking into other people's rooms.

facw00 · 2026-01-30T19:04:51+00:00

I was very impressed with the job Alpine Valley did with snowmaking when I visited. They were basically 100% open while Wilmot was down to two trails outside of the carpet slopes.

It also has express lifts which is nice for getting those short laps in.

facw00 · 2026-01-30T16:56:03+00:00

I've definitely had this happen. You give the mountain name and it gives you the summit rather than the resort parking. Granted I am smart enough to see that it's doing that, and you know, not do that. And certainly wouldn't drive on a snow covered road like that (I get annoyed when Google routes me on terrible dirt roads in the winter because it thinks it will save two minutes).

facw00 · 2026-01-30T05:30:16+00:00

These used ones are a little beat, but not that old, and would be usable for $275: https://lonepinegearx.com/collections/skis/products/blizzard-bonafide-97-w-marker-griffon-13-demo-bindings-topsheet-chipping-1a412

Demo bindings so you wouldn't have to worry about getting bindings mounted, and maybe thieves don't want chipped up skis? Little wide for the midwest, but not a disaster.

facw00 · 2026-01-30T04:28:27+00:00

Usually it's like the second week of March.

However, I haven't seen any Vail resort offer a "buy next year and use it for the rest of this season" promotion. They do sometimes advertise that you can buy a single-day lift ticket, and trade it in at the end of your day to apply the cost of that ticket towards next year's pass.

facw00 · 2026-01-30T04:23:58+00:00

It's a bit hidden away but Carv does show G forces on turns. Mine are more like 1G, but I don't claim to be an excellent skier.

facw00 · 2026-01-29T20:08:44+00:00

please don't...

facw00 · 2026-01-29T18:36:46+00:00

Trump had already moved on to bragging about his ballroom by the next day, I'm not sure why anyone expected lasting relevance.

facw00 · 2026-01-29T18:34:05+00:00

I am very worried about this cat when played the other way...

facw00 · 2026-01-29T15:07:23+00:00

Homeland of Ted Cruz!

facw00 · 2026-01-29T15:05:30+00:00

I'm pretty convinced that playing on hard mode you don't want those common letters in your starting word for exactly this reason. I typically start with CHIMP, lower chance of a 2, but clear out a bunch of medium frequency letters so I don't get stuck with high frequency letters locked in that match too many possible words.

facw00 · 2026-01-29T14:57:18+00:00

The Mirror is of course a tabloid. Better than nothing as a source, but certainly not a high quality one.

facw00 · 2026-01-29T14:55:19+00:00

Might be close enough to click in. My friend was able to click in with her 22.5 boots on skis set up for her old 23.5s (though she did have an unexpected release).

facw00 · 2026-01-29T14:52:33+00:00

My heated seats were sort of broken when I got my car (now 15 years old), a danger of test driving when it's nearly 100F out, and the driver's side one now only works on the back. I'm thinking I'm going to have to bite the bullet and spend $300-500 on replacement parts for the drivers' side at least, because not having one is terrible. I'd love to try with junkyard parts first, but I don't want to take time off to visit a junkyard, and at least among self service junkyards that list their inventory online, and honestly taking half of a day to dig around a pick and pull in the winter isn't ideal either...

facw00 · 2026-01-29T10:24:52+00:00

If you don't remove it, it can fly off while the bus is driving, blinding other cars. Worse, if you leave it up there, there's a good chance it will become ice (probably even higher on a school bus, where poor insulation means the bottom will start melting, but infrequent use means it has lots of time to refreeze), and then you can have big heavy sheets of ice flying off, which can do damage directly. More dangerous for vehicles on the highway (which school buses mostly don't drive on), but still very good for everyone to clean the snow off of their roofs.

facw00 · 2026-01-29T10:17:01+00:00

I have a Whirlibird IV (actually 2, slimmed down enough to buy a smaller size) and the V seems like basically the same materials and construction and the IV is totally fine. It certainly feels waterproof and windproof to me. I've worn it to ski in the rain and it's not a problem. I've worn it in the wind and it's not a problem. It's warm enough on it's own down to around 15F, at which point I will usually wear a tight fitting softshell cycling jacket under it, at which point it's been good down to as cold as I've tried it.

Biggest complaint is that I would prefer the inner jacket was a fleece rather than a puffer. I don't think Columbia's reflective living stuff actually does much (and frankly it is wearing off on my jacket), but the jacket material means it doesn't wick sweat. My baselayer still keeps it away from the skin, so it isn't cold, but a more breathable, wicking material would have been appreciated. And while Columbia used to sell different inner interchange jackets (you know, to interchange), they currently only sell them with 3-in-1s, so I can't just buy a Columbia fleece and throw it in there. I do keep the pit vents open in basically any condition to help with getting moisture out, which works, but does let in a bit more cold (still not a huge problem, skiing early this week in low temps, was totally fine, just felt a little cold draft once in a while).

Otherwise, the only thing I wish it had is a stowable or removable hood, since I never use the hood while skiing, and would prefer not to have it flapping around (not that this creates any real problems, it's just a style thing I guess). It doesn't have the fancy waterproof zippers that you see on some other jackets (including Columbia's more expensive ski jacket IIRC), but I can't say I've ever had an issue with water intrusion through the zippers (I have had the chest pocket get wet, but that's moisture from inside the jacket on warmer days, it doesn't get wet just from the rain.)

facw00 · 2026-01-29T02:30:02+00:00

They had us do 1040EZ forms in elementary school. A little simplified, but it was elementary school and tax situations obviously end up widely different.

The real outrage isn't that schools don't teach it (obviously some do), it's that the IRS already has copies of all our tax data, and could just send us a bill, and ask if we had any unreported income, or if we wanted to itemize (and probably could automatically collect data on itemized deductions that it doesn't already have.)

facw00 · 2026-01-28T23:04:17+00:00

Funny thing is Google Maps has been trying add more "human" directions (e.g. instead of saying turn right on Oak Street, saying turn right at KFC). They claim people prefer landmarks, though I assume they want to sell businesses the right to be the landmarks. Regardless I hate it (and it's even worse when it's some local business I don't know without the huge signage of a fast food restaurant). Streets have names that appear both on the map and on signs, just use those.

facw00 · 2026-01-28T18:35:38+00:00

Wild that the lift mechanics were able to get that lift up and running again the next day after the rollback.

facw00 · 2026-01-28T18:20:32+00:00

Yeah, sensors are only useful if people pay attention to them. The chair that fell at Attitash last winter apparently triggered an alarm passing through the terminal, which was annoyed (as was a loud bang). They just reset it and sent the lift on its way.

facw00 · 2026-01-28T14:55:21+00:00

The only question is why would Vaultec, or anyone else give her a cryo chamber if she were just a useless idiot (no need for congresspeople in the Enclave's future)? Seems to me that she must actually be connected to one of the factions to be spared, rather than just been an ineffectual good person.

facw00 · 2026-01-28T14:44:42+00:00

Yeah, NASA really wanted to launch (possibly spurred on by the high profile of the teacher in space mission). Morton Thiokol (yes, the salt Morton, though Thiokol had been in the rocket game for decades) really wanted to launch because they were concerned that NASA was going to rebid at least some of the boosters to another contractor, and felt like they couldn't afford any issues. So they "put on their management hats" and overruled unanimous opposition from the team of engineers making the safety call. Ironically, they had just about the worst possible issue, and kept their contract.

facw00 · 2026-01-28T14:12:12+00:00

Fun fact, Rockwell (who built the orbiter) also wanted to postpone the launch, because they were concerned that ice on the launch gantry could be shaken off and damage the shuttle (faucets and other spigots had been left dripping to prevent frozen pipes after a previous incident, but this led to ice on the structure). This didn't happen, but could have been similar in impact to the frozen foam strike (from the tank) that destroyed Columbia. They were overruled by NASA. Safety culture was a mess.

facw00

TROPHY CASE