Hi Jason.

First for johndavid: You and I agree on a lot of matters (including jason here, hmmm, actually most on this entire site) and fear mongering for fun and profit may be one of those matters. Mostly it seems our disagreements are a matter of degree. [pun, pun, dbl pun; i win] BTW, I first said hiking, etc, "isn't rocket science." Next time johndavid I demand attribution.

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They do this because to try and be more correct would probably be more harmful.

Some do it for fun and profit. Many on the Net do it out of fear. Fear for themselves and/or fear for others. OTOH, I look to what a person is trying to accomplish. And go on from there. In general, I agree that being overprepared is wasteful. But it beats being underprepared.

WTS, one of my fave climbers once told me: "If you don't have it, you don't need it." Works for me. ;-)

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Fisherman will often tell you that kayakers and sailboaters should never be out there, ever. That it's just too dangerous. They wouldn't be out there except to earn a living.

With all due respect to those who have lost loved ones (as i have very recently, not an outdoors related death), "...no one here gets out alive!" Life w/o risk is just not worth living .... to me. It does cause anxiety for my loved ones .... but they understand that I do try to be careful.

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I certainly don't have all the answers.

Hmmm, another quote: "Pick me, pick me teacher."

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I'll say this... People should be careful when diverging from conventional wisdom, but also be
very cautious about following conventional wisdom without really understanding it.

Man do I agree w/u on this one! Question authority.

I'll close w/a final quote. Just because i'm in the mood to quote others. It's easier than saying something original. ;-)

"Perfection is the Lord's purview."

Peace,

Richard.