Dr. Dirtbag

https://mountains.social/@drdirtbag

Alpinism done fast, light, and cheap.

Website: https://drdirtbag.com/

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Last Notes

2026-07-05 06:12:40 GMT

#silentsunday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/116/865/888/854/382/892/original/fecd3eda89cf0ad5.jpeg

2026-06-16 11:47:04 GMT

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116755211243701419
I'm with Cory Doctorow here. LLM coding is to modern programming what Perl scripting was to C programming in the 1990s: it allowed a lot of amateur programmers to scratch their own itches. The scripts were often "buggy" and "insecure," but that did not matter, because they worked well enough to solve real problems, and could only cause limited damage.
The trouble came when people conflated "works for me" with "works for everyone," and got to learn about defensive programming and network security the slow and painful way.
#note13d3…j6p6

2026-06-03 11:51:26 GMT

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That's a shame. Kazakh Big Bobs were more of a pure meat experience, though I can't say what they were made of.
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/116/686/025/535/560/605/original/2479a0e94e7e6ff3.jpeg

2026-06-02 03:33:10 GMT

Teton time. #MountainMonday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/116/678/404/987/079/842/original/399069fc1d76d768.jpeg

2026-05-13 12:42:18 GMT

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Having always associated tamarind with Mexico, I was surprised to learn that it is not native, but was part of the Columbian exchange. Imagining Mexico without tamarind is like imagining Italy without tomatoes, or most of Asia without chili peppers. Food before about 1600 is an alien world to me.

2026-05-13 03:11:12 GMT

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And I remember when they didn't even have salt and vinegar.
I always enjoy the junk-food sections of "ethnic" stores. My latest surprise was chile tamarind in a Mexican market that was just whole tamarind pods coated in (quite spicy) red chile powder. I had no idea what a tamarind looked like, having only experienced them in juice and fruit leather forms, and was lucky I didn't break a tooth on the seeds.

2026-05-13 01:30:15 GMT

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Meat-flavored potato chips are amazing; I discovered them in Kyrgyzstan and was instantly hooked. Why can't we have them in America? :-(

2026-03-17 01:43:50 GMT

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Over here on the other end of the see-saw, we're getting mid-May temperatures sublimating a mid-April snowpack in mid-March. Wild times... https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/reportGenerator/view/customChartReport/daily/RCK:CA:MSNT|id=%22%22|name/CurrentWY,CurrentWYEnd/WTEQ::value,WTEQ::median_1991,PREC::value,PREC::median_1991?fitToScreen=false

2026-03-11 01:35:23 GMT

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Kitkat *plum wine*?!

2025-12-08 03:07:41 GMT

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Green beans, cheesy grits, and fried giblets, but in non-redneck style -- looks tasty!
(Also, isn't it wonderful that "sweetmeats" are bread and "sweetbreads" are meat?)

2025-12-04 01:37:08 GMT

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Rad! Analog controls, likely to outlive you, ... what's not to love?

2025-11-10 20:19:55 GMT

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Very cool! I've been to a handful of dunes, but hadn't heard of these.

2025-11-09 00:23:47 GMT

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I don't travel much, but when I do, I've found that staying awake until normal bedtime in the destination (not hard on a plane) gets me through jet-lag quickly. There's no better sleep aid than being awake for 36 hours...

2025-08-14 20:09:38 GMT

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The turquoise is usually glacial silt, so I'd guess Thornton Lakes are not glacier-fed (or any silt settles in the upper lake). I'm not sure on the blue vs. green.
It's cool to learn about the plants on that trail. When I did trapper, I was just focused on the view of the southern Pickets across the way.

2025-08-11 19:35:32 GMT

For #MountainMonday, Dragon Peak reflected in Golden Trout Lake, in the #SierraNevada near Onion Valley.
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/115/011/805/292/441/215/original/cfa13c79008057ef.jpeg

2025-08-01 02:36:02 GMT

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And I thought I was lucky in a lab full of Koreans! I hope your students appreciate what they have.

2025-07-19 00:08:38 GMT

Mount Baldwin, south of Mammoth Lakes in the #SierraNevada, in an area with some of the range’s most colorful, interesting, and rotten rock. (There’s a #FridayFold in there if you look carefully.)
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/114/876/974/442/592/049/original/910f93d1588daf48.jpeg

2025-07-14 21:32:26 GMT

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Thanks for the detailed release notes, though I trust you folks to be making actual improvements. I hate seeing variants “bug fixes and performance improvements.”

2025-07-14 19:03:01 GMT

I've been in the mountains for #MountainMonday the past couple of weeks, but here's a labeled panorama of the Palisades in the #Sierranevada from the southwest.
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/114/853/132/138/555/198/original/97537694fe8ac68b.jpg

2025-06-26 01:57:32 GMT

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Yeah, it goes both ways, like any other adaptation to a "training stimulus." Basically, your body gets better at shedding heat in a variety of ways, e.g. increasing blood volume to bring more heat to the skin where it can be shed via sweating, which also increases. We all naturally do it seasonally, but heat waves and cold snaps catch our bodies off guard. I'd guess prolonged cold exposure increases your base metabolic rate, but I'd have to look it up.

2025-06-26 00:27:37 GMT

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It being so dry helps a lot, as does heat adaptation. I ran when I was in school in Houston, and 90+ with that humidity was brutal, much like I imagine it is in the NE.

2025-05-14 02:08:20 GMT

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Well that's one way to achieve AGI: deskill the humans until they're at parity with LLMs.

2025-05-05 17:04:00 GMT

Sunrise at the Glacier Lodge trailhead, Sierra Nevada, May 2023. #MountainMonday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/114/456/304/328/499/324/original/6a0f6da9be4a3469.jpeg

2025-04-26 04:00:34 GMT

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👏It's a joy to finally figure out some Bach. I hope she falls head-first into Glenn Gould's recordings.

2025-03-16 02:54:07 GMT

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Drunken Master II was my intro to Jackie Chan, and it was absolutely mind-blowing (the outtakes!). It played at the "artsy" theater that was the only place to see foreign films at the time (mid-90s). I saw Operation Condor around that time as well, and that opening scene with the giant hamster ball... wow. To me that era was peak Chan, when he still had the physicality and fearlessness, but had also learned to act. I need to re-watch some of that.

2025-03-08 23:56:36 GMT

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That looks like Greek halloumi. Is it also squeaky?

2025-02-03 13:10:39 GMT

Tres Cruces Central (6631m) and Sur (6748m) from Tres Cruces Norte (6030m), in the Puna de Atacama, around this time in 2020. #MountainMonday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/940/110/070/427/737/original/bc3cd3c894f28072.jpg

2024-12-30 15:13:59 GMT

For #MountainMonday, some scenes from the high Andes around this time of year, near Cerro los Olivares. Penitentes are snow/ice features formed by differential sublimation. They start with small variations in the surface, which are reinforced as the peaks better radiate heat, and the valleys focus sunlight. They are made larger by thin, dry air and intense sun, so the high Andes close to the equator are one of the best places to see them.
I saw some taller than a person later in this trip. These were no more than knee-high, but still challenging to cross. On the right, note the typical poor choices for travel: unstable scree, short penitentes, and bare glacial ice.
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/742/397/522/659/876/original/ce50bceacb1f387d.jpg
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/742/397/524/118/127/original/25b27a13e729970d.jpg

2024-12-29 15:18:55 GMT

#SilentSunday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/736/777/796/604/336/original/95db43b1c43a7200.jpeg
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2024-12-28 14:00:23 GMT

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Well, I'm glad I didn't try that for very long. I gave in and switched to wireless earbuds, and don't hate them as much as I thought I would. Sure, they're yet another thing to charge, but I went through enough cheap wired earbuds catching the cord on things that the overall cost is about the same. Plus I can keep my phone in a more protected/secure pocket while listening to stuff.
And yes, I've also lost a charging case, but surprisingly not an earbud.

2024-12-26 21:10:42 GMT

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Sounds delicious and, unlike most of what you make, within my skills and equipment. (I enjoy the other stuff too, but only as a spectator.)

2024-12-08 16:43:15 GMT

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Southern AZ is a great place to be this time of year. Chiricahua, Cochise, the Superstitions, the Kofa Mountains... lots of interesting rock for hiking, scrambling, and climbing.

2024-12-02 14:56:02 GMT

Baboquivari in southern Arizona, December 2014. First ascent by Professor RH Forbes and Lorenzo Montoya, 1898, by a route now rated 5.4. #MountainMonday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/583/796/236/986/645/original/f1350606d75a4355.jpg

2024-11-26 03:51:25 GMT

Trampas Valley, northern New Mexico. #MountainMonday
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/547/218/723/866/272/original/2ce545936161be04.jpeg

2024-11-08 13:33:40 GMT

Mount Birdwood, in the Kananaskis region of the Canadian Rockies, land of the #FridayFold .
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/447/587/591/923/057/original/c1d1533da81b40b9.jpg

2024-11-02 14:35:32 GMT

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Very cool! I've seen mustelids, but very rarely, and never in NM. The closest I've come is an American marten in the San Juans. Once he was safely out of reach in a tree, he curiously and fearlessly checked me out for awhile (pardon the bad light).
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/413/854/210/039/788/original/666ba410853acac7.jpg
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/413/854/261/565/339/original/f41bf66e0e9884da.jpg

2024-10-28 12:24:06 GMT

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It's a shame the Winds are so far from everything with such a short season, though I suppose that and the long approaches keeps them from being overrun like Colorado or the Sierra. Here's another (tall) pic from the Cirque, of Wolfs Head in early July:
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/113/385/028/672/526/140/original/cd0d8f6b726772fe.jpg

2024-08-06 02:50:58 GMT

Into the border zone
From my forest camp before the imaginary town of Bosogo, I continued a short ways east, then made the long but mostly gentle climb south to Kyndy Pass. The road remained in good shape, with a decent amount of traffic. I could hear the cars coming far away, and rode as far to the right as I could to let them take their peculiar Kyrgyz lines. The road was a bit too steep for me to ride near the top,
https://drdirtbag.com/2024/08/06/into-the-border-zone/
#Asia #Biking
https://files-cdn.mountains.social/media_attachments/files/112/912/803/840/889/867/original/3990e0f411c1207e.jpeg