Links to old (xanga) posts

Every now and then I want to find something I wrote ages ago, or—as has just been the case—someone asks me about one of the old xanga articles. So, here's a partly-annotated collection of links. It's not comprehensive; just a selection of some of the more interesting or contentious articles.

I took the photo yesterday, at the Manawatu Striders' half marathon event. Lance climbed with Terry and me in Arthur's Pass National Park in January this year; fortunately, he was content to plod along with us rather than set this sort of pace. I still consider that trip one of the best I've had in the mountains. However, the weather for the later stages of the race wasn't much better than when we walked down the Waimakariri on the last day, and I note that the official photos from last year's event show similar, wet conditions . Maybe this should be renamed the Drowned Rat Race?

Anyway, I digress. Here are the links:

Japan—notes, thoughts, impressions.
Remembering Abashiri & Sapporo—a short post from China, when I was missing Hokkaido (I still am).
China—notes, thoughts, impressions.
Mongolia—sketches, lists, impressions, thoughts.
Zavkhan trekking (Mongolia)—check it out if you're thinking of going to Mongolia. Or even if you're not.
Russia—notes, thoughts and impressions from the trans-Mongolian train from Ulaan Baatar to Moscow.
Leon Kinvig & whio—one of the huts in the headwaters of the Pohangina River. Whio/blue ducks are one of my favourite birds .
mid-Pohangina hut—more time alone in the Ruahine Range.
“Adventure”—why I don't like the way the word is often used.
Dolphin research and other stuff—a fortnight around French Pass and Admiralty Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.
Arthurs Pass climbing (Barker hut)—a week's mountaineering with Terry and Lance; ascents of Murchison and Wakeman and an exit down Greenlaw Creek.
Philosophy and ethics of photos
Is clarity always a virtue?
Extinctions
ANZAC Day 2005
(macro photos of flies and spider)
Possibility—thoughts from Farewell Spit.
Boredom
The Foreshore and Seabed Bill (now an Act)—a guide for the perplexed.
The soul at dawn—not doing what I'd intended to do.
Home, and tacit knowledge
Fame and tragedy—if the world is ignorant of your achievements, are you still in bliss?
Democracy—Aristotle thought it to be one of three evil forms of government.
Paying attention to art—can too much damage it?
Arguing for a better way of discussing—the hegemony of dialectic arguing and an appeal for more exploratory discussions.
ANZAC Day 2004—part of a multiple post.
Eudaemonia—nonsuperficial happiness.
Photos from the 2004 Baring Head Rock Hop—round two of the National bouldering series, near Wellington.
The cosmos and scientific arrogance—or is that ignorance?
Home and place
Mountaineering on the West Coast—an attempt on Mt Whitcombe, with Terry, Andrew and Jonathan.

Photo and words copyright 2005 Pete McGregor