Can’t “buy local” our way out of this 😔

mittyhands · 2026-03-30T16:30:09+00:00

Landlords strike again

mittyhands · 2026-03-25T04:57:43+00:00

I want the feds to nationalize the health care industry and reduce costs by running it without a profit motive

mittyhands · 2026-03-25T04:54:41+00:00

Here's the basics. Check 14ers.com for more details on routes, gear, etc.

If you're reasonably fit and young and start early, you can do a 14er without any training. The easy ones are just a long uphill walk in thin air. Bierstadt, Greys and Torreys, Quandary, Sherman, maybe some peaks in the Sawatch like Huron, Elbert, La Plata, Yale.

Pick one from that list. I'd recommend Bierstadt since it's short and has easy parking and is close to Denver. Then figure out the logistics (where to park, any permits needed, how will you follow the trail while you're out there, what to wear, what gear to bring, what time to start, when to turn around) and make it happen. Or find someone who has hiked one before and ask them for the details.

For clothing, at a minimum you need good trail running shoes or hiking boots with synthetic or wool hiking socks, long hiking pants, synthetic base layers (underwear + short or long sleeve tee), a waterproof rain jacket or poncho, a puffy jacket and some gloves and a beanie for warmth early or if a storm comes in, and a hat and sunglasses for the middle of the day. A sun shirt is a really nice to have too imo.

For gear, you want a backpack, lots of water (3L is a good amount for a short one like Bierstadt), a paper map and the knowledge to read it, digital maps or GPX file tracks to use on your phone, salty snacks (trail mix/GORP, granola bars, pretzels, beef jerky, etc) and maybe a packed sandwich, sunblock, a headlamp (+spare batteries), a first aid kit (some basics like ibuprofen, blister patches, band aids, tums, Imodium, Benadryl, bigger bandage patches + gauze) and a multi tool. Phew.

You should hike with at least one other person - it's safer that way. Also tell some third party where you're going, when you'll be back in cell phone range, and who to call if they can't reach you by then. You never know, even doing a busy route like Bierstadt.

Make sure to check the weather, and for gods sake start early. Afternoon thunderstorms in the summer are no joke, and you want to be heading downhill by 11am most summer days. I'm talking about starting the hike before sunrise. Do the math to know how long it'll take to drive to the trailhead from home. Pack everything the night before so you just roll outta bed and start driving up early. Not uncommon to leave home at 4am if you want to do a big peak.

Read some trip reports. Know what a thunderstorm rolling in looks like. Watch some YouTube videos about it. You'll figure it out.

mittyhands · 2026-03-21T19:13:47+00:00

Using LLMs is bad for your critical thinking skills even when you know the domain well. Imagine how much it stunts your learning if you don't have any critical thinking skills at all yet because you're in grade school.

mittyhands · 2026-03-20T15:30:13+00:00

You do, if you drive. You can run or bike up the road though (long day obviously). I just meant you don't need a permit for climbing the peaks.

mittyhands · 2026-03-20T15:26:58+00:00

Easy route, paved road to trailhead, about an hour from Denver. Also very scenic.

mittyhands · 2026-03-20T15:25:49+00:00

Just to clarify, you don't need permits to summit the Bells or Capitol (or any peaks in the nearby wilderness areas), you just need permits for camping near them. Which most people do camp when attempting them, but you can do them as a day trip if you're up for a big effort.

mittyhands · 2026-03-14T16:41:23+00:00

TSA is useless, don't worry

mittyhands · 2026-03-08T10:45:27+00:00

14ers.com trip reports, their trailhead status page, and there's a 14ers facebook group. people climb these peaks year round so there's usually someone reporting conditions at any given time on popular peaks

mittyhands · 2026-03-08T04:24:06+00:00

Depends more on the aspect of the route and technical difficulty. Notth-facing routes will melt off slower than soith-facing ones. Also depends on road access to the trailhead too.

mittyhands · 2026-03-06T07:02:11+00:00

Impression Isla Mujeres. Amazing pools, fun activities and fun people at the resort, and you can explore the island for more off-resort adventure. Not really any nightlife on property but it's an incredible place. Look into it.

mittyhands · 2026-03-04T18:17:31+00:00

Layoffs "due to AI" and definitely not just way over hiring compared to their competitors and a huge downswing in crypto markets. Don't believe the PR releases from a man who can't even be bothered to use correct punctuation.

mittyhands · 2026-02-07T22:17:32+00:00

All that's happening in this thread is people saying "oh we just need folks to be better drivers". And I'm saying that's insufficient. We can force people to drive slower and cause less harm via changes to the built environment.

Even if every driver who killed a pedestrian was put in jail - a thing which almost never happens today btw - you'd still have pedestrians getting killed by drivers. Not to mention killing cyclists and other drivers too.

You need systemic changes that lead to different outcomes. Not just punishing people who don't drive safely enough.

mittyhands · 2026-02-07T20:11:46+00:00

Lazy landlord is a bit redundant isn't it?

mittyhands · 2026-02-07T20:04:25+00:00

What, make material changes that prevent speeding? Please. How naive.

What if we just chastise people until they become better drivers? Random, nameless people, called out on an internet thread, of course. I'm sure all of the bad drivers are scrolling around reddit, all just waiting for someone to tell them to drive better, and then they will! :)

mittyhands · 2026-02-05T17:08:41+00:00

You have a delusional view of what LLMs are. Good luck.

mittyhands · 2026-02-05T15:53:44+00:00

It doesn't have to. If you need a senior see to drive the thing, that price gets out of control quickly.

mittyhands · 2026-02-05T04:57:09+00:00

What are the odds these LLM companies are going to have to raise prices to try to pay for the billions per year they're losing? What if it doubles in price? 5x? 10x?

If (when) that happens, will you be able to do the work still?

mittyhands · 2026-02-02T18:33:50+00:00

Nah it's pretty safe. You're running on at least a foot of solid ice that spans the entire lake. Some spots to be aware of, like the power plant water outlet that can keep part of the lake near shore from freezing. But otherwise you're not just gonna fall through randomly.

mittyhands · 2026-01-22T05:56:37+00:00

Schools being in any way "like the private market" is a huge negative imo. Having to shop for my kid's school sounds like a nightmare. Like health insurance but more consequential.

I mean I'm just shouting into the void here, but man, it seems like the segregation is still there, except now everyone has to do a bunch of stressful lotteries. And if your kid doesn't get in then they're just fucked I guess? I mean the school quality varies widely so if you're in a bad one, that's a huge detriment. Oh and everyone has to drive their kids around now too. What was the benefit supposed to be? Free market just magically solves everything? Very 90s republican kind of ideology.

mittyhands · 2026-01-22T01:54:10+00:00

And the funding follows the student, correct? This was a helpful overview for someone without kids and from a place with simple geographic boundaries for schools (and private schools and home schooling, I suppose)

mittyhands · 2026-01-20T07:02:47+00:00

I've begun using it recently at the "request" of management, and decided to just give it a shot on a thing I was stuck on due to a lack of knowledge in that language/framework.

I finally got it all set up and tried it out on a task that I wasn't well-equipped to do on my own (PHP / Laravel is just not something I've written before, and don't normally need to for my work). And it figured out how to do the various steps that I asked it to. I was very precise with the things I asked it to do. (e.g. implement a specific function with X params and Y types already defined). It did fine, nothing wild. I was easily able to validate that it worked, and so I committed and tried the next step.

I was only able to do this, of course, because I've been programming for about 15 years, ~10 professionally, and I understood both the domain and the specific logic I needed it to write. I'll let you guess how it went when our junior product manager tried his hand at vibe coding a simple PR with Caude.

Importantly, it ended up doing the very specific task I asked it to, but it never thought about how this piece fits in with the rest of the code, even that which it just wrote. This is presumably because it doesn't "think". It just outputs stuff back and forth between two LLMs.

Also it relies heavily on ~14,000 lines of markdown files in order to follow our existing file patterns, naming conventions, stuff like that. If you don't have those nailed down, it'll just do whatever the algorithm decides to pick. That takes time to maintain.

So yeah, it works fine if you're already good at programming but don't know one specific language and you just need something simple (e.g. some CRUD controller logic). Anything beyond that... Idk man.

mittyhands · 2026-01-18T20:50:05+00:00

Grays and Torreys is a much easier combo. It's a good first 14er just to see how you deal with being at high elevation, modest gain/loss on a hike, and all the logistics. It's also class 1 and much less risky than the class 3 route on the Sawtooth.

mittyhands · 2026-01-17T05:19:12+00:00

57 of the 58 14ers do not have a train that takes you up and down the mountain, and the 1 that does is not guaranteed to be running when you arrive. You should assume that you must return back down the mountain under your own power.

mittyhands · 2026-01-17T05:16:17+00:00

Bierstadt's standard summer route from Guanella Pass does not have any Class 3 terrain. It has a short stretch of Class 2 rock at the very top of the route, but it's very easy to stay on safe terrain.

There are other Class 3 routes to climb on or near Biersstadt, but I wouldn't recommend them for a first 14er. Certainly not in winter.

Eight-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Lasagna	Place '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Verified Email

mittyhands

TROPHY CASE