AMERICAblog: Begich leads increases in Alaska over Stevens
unrepentant_expat
· 1 year ago
Note from Stevens' campaign...
The extremities were the first to feel its absence. His wet feet froze the faster, and his exposed fingers numbed the faster, though they had not yet begun to freeze. Nose and cheeks were already freezing, while the skin of all his body chilled as it lost its blood.
But he was safe. Toes and nose and cheeks would be only touched by the frost, for the fire was beginning to burn with strength. He was feeding it with twigs the size of his finger. In another minute he would be able to feed it with branches the size of his wrist, and then he could remove his wet footgear, and, while it dried, he could keep his naked feet warm by the fire, rubbing them at first, of course, with snow. The fire was a success. He was safe. He remembered the advice of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek, and smiled. The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought. All a man had to do was to keep his head, and he was all right. Any man who was a man could travel alone. But it was surprising, the rapidity with which his cheeks and nose were freezing. And he had not thought his fingers could go lifeless in so short a time. Lifeless they were, for he could scarcely make them move together to grip a twig, and they seemed remote from his body and from him. When he touched a twig, he had to look and see whether or not he had hold of it. The wires were pretty well down between him and his finger ends.
All of which counted for little. There was the fire, snapping and crackling and promising life with every dancing flame. He started to untie his moccasins. They were coated with ice; the thick German socks were like sheaths of iron halfway to the knees; and the moccasin strings were like rods of steel all twisted and knotted as by some conflagration. For a moment he tugged with his numb fingers, then, realizing the folly of it, he drew his sheath knife.
But before he could cut the strings, it happened. It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open. But it had been easier to pull the twigs from the brush and drop them directly on the fire. Now the tree under which he had done this carried a weight of snow on its boughs. No wind had blown for weeks, and each bough was fully freighted. Each time he had pulled on a twig he had communicated a slight agitation to the tree – an imperceptible agitation, so far as he was concerned, but an agitation sufficient to bring about the disaster. High up in the tree one bough capsized its load of snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them. This process continued, spreading out and involving the whole tree. It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out! Where it had burned was a mantle of fresh and disordered snow.
Forty2
· 1 year ago
Brrr...
Steve_in_CNJ
· 1 year ago
freezing was not so bad as people thought. there were lots worse ways to die. :-/
Forty2
· 1 year ago
Oh sure, I would imagine you just kind of go out. Just the imagery here gave me the goosebomps.
unrepentant_expat
· 1 year ago
from 'To Build a Fire' by Jack London
unrepentant_expat
· 1 year ago
Tried it once; it hurt!
Polly_Tics
· 1 year ago
John, didn't you work FOR Stevens way back when? I was wondering if you have any sad or "funny" feelings that he has gone down such a bad road?
I know, Polly, I mean John's Non-Disclosure Agreement has certainly expired by now...
Begich is in, it's all over but the freezing
Meanwhile, Franken/Coleman is getting uglier and uglier. The race is at 200 votes, and so EVERYTHING is going to be fought for.
Now their arguing over how and why absentee ballots were rejected. It is an important point, but the main election official has already (apparently) flipflopped on the issue, first saying it was county matter, now saying his appointed Elections Canvassing Board can weigh in on it. Conflicting in from the Elections Director.
Some info here, note, MN Star-Trib is not a Franken friendly media source, so take that into account.
Looks like this is going to as close and ugly as WA State's gubernatorial election 4 years ago.
dacnova
· 1 year ago
I really just want this to be OVER. It's like the 17th Century, vote not being final for days and weeks. I would love a digital system if there was a way to keep the GOP from trying to rig it.
All Comments
The extremities were the first to feel its absence. His wet feet froze the faster, and his exposed fingers numbed the faster, though they had not yet begun to freeze. Nose and cheeks were already freezing, while the skin of all his body chilled as it lost its blood.
But he was safe. Toes and nose and cheeks would be only touched by the frost, for the fire was beginning to burn with strength. He was feeding it with twigs the size of his finger. In another minute he would be able to feed it with branches the size of his wrist, and then he could remove his wet footgear, and, while it dried, he could keep his naked feet warm by the fire, rubbing them at first, of course, with snow. The fire was a success. He was safe. He remembered the advice of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek, and smiled. The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought. All a man had to do was to keep his head, and he was all right. Any man who was a man could travel alone. But it was surprising, the rapidity with which his cheeks and nose were freezing. And he had not thought his fingers could go lifeless in so short a time. Lifeless they were, for he could scarcely make them move together to grip a twig, and they seemed remote from his body and from him. When he touched a twig, he had to look and see whether or not he had hold of it. The wires were pretty well down between him and his finger ends.
All of which counted for little. There was the fire, snapping and crackling and promising life with every dancing flame. He started to untie his moccasins. They were coated with ice; the thick German socks were like sheaths of iron halfway to the knees; and the moccasin strings were like rods of steel all twisted and knotted as by some conflagration. For a moment he tugged with his numb fingers, then, realizing the folly of it, he drew his sheath knife.
But before he could cut the strings, it happened. It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open. But it had been easier to pull the twigs from the brush and drop them directly on the fire. Now the tree under which he had done this carried a weight of snow on its boughs. No wind had blown for weeks, and each bough was fully freighted. Each time he had pulled on a twig he had communicated a slight agitation to the tree – an imperceptible agitation, so far as he was concerned, but an agitation sufficient to bring about the disaster. High up in the tree one bough capsized its load of snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them. This process continued, spreading out and involving the whole tree. It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out! Where it had burned was a mantle of fresh and disordered snow.
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Ir3ENWcPUTT...
Begich is in, it's all over but the freezing
Meanwhile, Franken/Coleman is getting uglier and uglier. The race is at 200 votes, and so EVERYTHING is going to be fought for.
Now their arguing over how and why absentee ballots were rejected. It is an important point, but the main election official has already (apparently) flipflopped on the issue, first saying it was county matter, now saying his appointed Elections Canvassing Board can weigh in on it. Conflicting in from the Elections Director.
Some info here, note, MN Star-Trib is not a Franken friendly media source, so take that into account.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/34485189.html
Looks like this is going to as close and ugly as WA State's gubernatorial election 4 years ago.