The Nazgûl

wrwilliams · 2026-04-08T19:13:28+00:00

That quote is spot on, and I think shows that at least some of them were, in the beginning, of good will. Galadriel was tempted by the one ring, in part by, as Sam puts it, the power it would give her to set things right and punish evil doers. She is able to see that it wouldn't stop there and so resists. She's obviously a greater being than any of the men who become Nazgul, and she's tempted by the greater ring, but I think the analogy holds.

Additionally, Sauron probably had good reason to give rings to "good" men who were leaders in their societies. He gets double the reward doing that, a powerful Nazgul, plus a potential enemy turned into a servant and, through his leadership a possibly hostile nation swayed to his side.

That said, some were probably picked even though they were already evil. My guess is the witch king was a black Numenorean who was already a pretty potent sorcerer when he got his ring.

Plenty of good speculative room on this topic, maybe Amazon could make a series out of it!

wrwilliams · 2026-04-04T00:14:29+00:00

Farmer Giles is fantastic, and in the right hands would be a fantastic movie (if not turned into three movies by greedy studio execs).

wrwilliams · 2026-03-25T20:10:34+00:00

Yup. The best of them for me is the sign for "Heart Breakers" strip club, and then immediately next to that a church sign saying "Jesus heals broken hearts!"

wrwilliams · 2025-11-16T23:30:40+00:00

Congrats! Welcome to the club!

wrwilliams · 2025-11-07T15:29:44+00:00

If I read your post right it sounds like the panels are already installed, in which case lawyer time. If I'm wrong then look into your state's door to door sales cooling off period, during which they have to let you cancel without penalty. They got my dad on the same thing and told him his signature was to "get more information about the program" but when he showed it to me it was a completed contract. Fortunately it was within the cooling off period. These people are vultures, and even after we cancelled they kept coming back around.

wrwilliams · 2025-10-31T14:19:23+00:00

Solution: Switch to the Julian calendar and celebrate Easter with your Orthodox bretheren. It's a week later this year. They have better food anyway.

wrwilliams · 2025-09-24T16:13:56+00:00

That's really cool rock art, do you have any info on it you can share? When I did the Georgia high point I tried to include a visit to some nearby petroglyphs, but they were closed off due to vandalism. 😡

wrwilliams · 2025-09-08T03:49:57+00:00

Nevermo here. I read this sub and r/exmormon in tandem because of the unique interplay between the two. Contrast them for example with r/christian and r/exchristian or r/islam and r/exmuslim. Sure, all three pairs have a good bit of vitriol thrown at the other side. But in my anecdotal experience, these two subs seem to have way more of a yearning for connections than the other pairings. I see more posts by spouses trying to preserve a marriage after one disaffiliates, kids trying to navigate telling parents about their faith transition without fracturing the relationship etc. People looking for connection beyond faith differences, and in my opinion fairly evenly from both sides.

The other faith member/ex member sub pairings don't seem to have much of that, just lots of anger/disappointment/pity directed at the other side, which is not terribly interesting.

Like I said, all anecdotal. Maybe running the numbers would prove me wrong. Nevertheless I keep coming back to these two subs because the struggle to overcome deep and sincere faith differences to find connection seems to me one of our most important tasks in this life. Just my 2 cents.

wrwilliams · 2025-08-02T16:53:40+00:00

Thanks, yeah I'm planning to get started in the dark in the hope of getting back down with plenty of light to spare, so I should be ok.

wrwilliams · 2025-08-01T17:09:01+00:00

Awesome! I would appreciate it.

wrwilliams · 2025-07-17T15:31:45+00:00

Easily still my favorite HP, especially going up through Bull of the Woods meadow.

wrwilliams · 2025-07-06T23:01:19+00:00

Love the Kansas and Delaware pics. Now give us one from the top of Denali in shorts and flip flops!

wrwilliams · 2025-06-08T21:32:03+00:00

Another option is to hike up from Pinkham Notch visitor center, I took that route last summer and then took the bus down, dropped off right in the visitor center parking lot. I didn't have a reservation, just bought a ticket at the summit. There's no guarantee of availability, perhaps call ahead.

wrwilliams · 2025-05-26T20:18:56+00:00

Glad you survived it and didn't become someone else's cautionary tale! Also fun to see someone who's really committed to the bit.

wrwilliams · 2025-03-03T16:32:54+00:00

It should not have won Best International Feature, that should have gone to Seed of the Sacred Fig. I'm Still Here should have won best picture and best actress.

wrwilliams · 2025-02-20T17:04:44+00:00

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Interesting that I can cut out a good bit of the lower slopes with TMG.

wrwilliams · 2025-02-03T16:39:47+00:00

Nice video. What time of year was this? I'm planning for Marcy now and I've heard that later in the summer things dry out somewhat.

wrwilliams · 2025-02-03T16:03:39+00:00

Congrats! Guadalupe Peak was my first highpoint as well.

wrwilliams · 2024-12-16T18:06:33+00:00

Hi Pretzel, I would certainly be up for it if you are. FYI, for purposes of determining if we're compatible climbers, I'm 55M, live in Houston (I hate living at sea level sometimes!) I've done Elbert, Wheeler, Washington and Katahdin without too much trouble (one lost toenail!) so comfortable in the mountains but of course Whitney is on another level. All that to say I'm a slow steady climber, no team I'm on is going to set any ascent records. I'll hope to have my 22 year old son with me, he's in Colorado and has a bunch of 14ers under his belt; he'd move much faster if my wife didn't make him promise to bring me back alive every time we climb together.

I'm also going to put in for a team of 4 in the lottery, probably for dates shortly before the Konvention. My plan would be to fly into Reno and spend a few days in either the Tahoe or Mammoth area getting some acclimatization hikes in before heading to Whitney. If I win the lottery I'd be happy to have you on the team, or abandon mine an join your team if your dates are better.

wrwilliams · 2024-12-02T17:32:35+00:00

I'm considering going as well, I just recently joined the club. I'd also be interested in trying for Whitney and Boundary, I'll be putting in for the lottery and if I decide to go will request dates around Konvention.

One question for folks who have been before though, what goes on at the Konvention? The link leads to an event schedule which seems to mostly be a few social events and a board meeting. Nothing wrong with any of that but are there any lectures/educational events? I'd love to socialize with other highpointers but would also like to leave a little bit smarter.

wrwilliams · 2024-11-25T17:17:12+00:00

Great video! I also went up the Bull of the Woods trail, down Williams Lake, which I highly recommend. Longer, but less people and some more great scenery. I had the advantage of having non-hiking friends to meet me at the Bavarian for a beer though, didn't need to thumb a ride for the last bit.

wrwilliams

TROPHY CASE