0_Wizard
I love to go rock climbing across natural rock formations. So much fun! Do you climb?
Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls.
chosen_Rock_climbing_0
Rock climbing
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Rock climbing
Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Due to the length and extended endurance required and because accidents are more likely to happen on the descent than the ascent, rock climbers do not usually climb back down the route. It is very rare for a climber to downclimb, especially on the larger multiple pitches (class III- IV and /or multi-day grades IV-VI climbs). Professional rock climbing competitions have the objectives of either completing the route in the quickest possible time or attaining the farthest point on an increasingly difficult route.
Warren Harding (climber)
Warren Harding (June 18, 1924 – February 27, 2002) was one of the most accomplished and influential American rock climbers of the 1950s to 1970s. He was the leader of the first team to climb El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, in 1958. The route they climbed, known as The Nose, ascends up the central buttress of what is one of the largest granite monoliths in the world. Harding climbed many other first ascents in Yosemite, some 28 in all, as well as making the first true big-wall ascents in the Sierra Nevada range of California. He was nicknamed "Batso", a reference to his remarkable penchant for spending days living on vertical cliffs and his exuberant and iconoclastic character.
Rock climbing in Australia
Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. Although Australia is categorized as a flat and arid desert, there is a large outdoor community that enjoys climbing the few crags and features that are present. It is not without controversy and opposition, and some climbing sites overlap with the sacred land of the Aboriginal Australians. Australian has a wide climbing culture including a large female population into the sport. The climbing culture in Australia originated the way it is today southeast of Queensland in the Blue Mountains.
Lynn Hill
Carolynn Marie "Lynn" Hill (born January 3, 1961) is a U.S. rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive sport climbers in the world during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she is famous for making the first free ascent of the difficult sheer rock face of "The Nose" on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, and for repeating it the next year in less than 24 hours. She has been described as both one of the best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers of all time. One of the first successful women in the sport, Hill shaped rock climbing for women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity and arguing for sex equality.
Grade (climbing)
In rock climbing, mountaineering, and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing (such as sport climbing, bouldering or ice climbing) each have their own grading systems, and many nationalities developed their own, distinctive grading systems. There are a number of factors that contribute to the difficulty of a climb, including the technical difficulty of the moves, the strength, stamina and level of commitment required, and the difficulty of protecting the climber.
Bouldering
Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls, known as boulders, without the use of ropes or harnesses. While it can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help secure footholds, chalk to keep their hands dry and provide a firmer grip, and bouldering mats to prevent injuries from falls. Unlike free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, bouldering problems (the path that a climber takes to complete the climb) are usually less than 6 meters (20 ft.) tall. Traverses, which are a form of boulder problem, require the climber to climb horizontally from one position to another.
Smith Rock State Park
Smith Rock State Park is an American state park located in central Oregon's High Desert near the communities of Redmond and Terrebonne. Its sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt are ideal for rock climbing of all difficulty levels. Smith Rock is generally considered the birthplace of modern American sport climbing, and is host to cutting-edge climbing routes. It is popular for sport climbing, traditional climbing, multi-pitch climbing, and bouldering. The geology of Smith Rocks is volcanic. It is made up of layers of recent basalt flows overlaying older Clarno ash and tuff formations. Approximately 30 million years ago, a large caldera was formed when overlying rock collapsed into an underground lava chamber.
1_Apprentice
Not necessarily rock climbing, but I do like to go hiking on trails with that type of terrain.  Where is your favorite place to rock-climb?
0_Wizard
I like to go at Smith Rock State Park! There's sheer cliffs and basalt. Its a perfect spot for climbing! 
Its sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt are ideal for rock climbing of all difficulty levels.
partner_Smith_Rock_State_Park_1
Smith Rock State Park
partner_4_Smith_Rock_State_Park
Smith Rock State Park
Smith Rock State Park is an American state park located in central Oregon's High Desert near the communities of Redmond and Terrebonne. Its sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt are ideal for rock climbing of all difficulty levels. Smith Rock is generally considered the birthplace of modern American sport climbing, and is host to cutting-edge climbing routes. It is popular for sport climbing, traditional climbing, multi-pitch climbing, and bouldering. The geology of Smith Rocks is volcanic. It is made up of layers of recent basalt flows overlaying older Clarno ash and tuff formations. Approximately 30 million years ago, a large caldera was formed when overlying rock collapsed into an underground lava chamber.
Starved Rock State Park
Starved Rock State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its . Located just southeast of the village of Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of the Illinois River, the park hosts over two million visitors annually, the most for any Illinois state park. Before European contact, the area was home to Native Americans, particularly the Kaskaskia who lived in the Grand Village of the Illinois across the river. Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette were the first Europeans recorded as exploring the region, and by 1683, the French had established Fort St. Louis on a large sandstone butte overlooking the river, they called "Le Rocher" (the Rock).
Crooked River (Oregon)
The Crooked River is a tributary, long, of the Deschutes River in the U.S. state of Oregon. The river begins at the confluence of the South Fork Crooked River and Beaver Creek. Of the two tributaries, the South Fork Crooked River is the larger and is sometimes considered part of the Crooked River proper. A variant name of the South Fork Crooked River is simply "Crooked River". The Deschutes River flows north into the Columbia River. The South Fork Crooked River originates in an area called Misery Flat, along the Deschutes County, Lake County and Harney County boundaries, north of Glass Buttes. The South Fork's tributaries drain Hampton Buttes to the west and Mackey Butte to the east.
Ragged Mountain (Connecticut)
Ragged Mountain, est. , is a traprock mountain ridge located west of New Britain, Connecticut in the town of Southington and Berlin, Connecticut. It is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border. The mountain, a popular hiking and rock climbing attraction located between metropolitan Hartford and Meriden, is known for expansive vistas, vertical cliff faces, mountain ridge reservoirs, unique microclimate ecosystems, and rare plant communities. Ragged Mountain is traversed by the Metacomet Trail.
Metacomet Ridge
The Metacomet Ridge, Metacomet Ridge Mountains, or Metacomet Range of southern New England, United States, is a narrow and steep fault-block mountain ridge known for its extensive cliff faces, scenic vistas, microclimate ecosystems, and communities of plants considered rare or endangered. An important recreation resource located within of a population corridor of over 1.5 million people, the ridge is home to four long-distance hiking trails and over a dozen parks and recreation areas including several state and nationally recognized historic sites. Because of its natural, historic, and recreational value, the ridge has been the focus of ongoing conservation efforts involving municipal, state, and national agencies and nearly two dozen non-profit organizations.
Castle Rock State Park (California)
Castle Rock State Park is a state park of California, USA, located along the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains and almost entirely in Santa Cruz County, with parts extending into Santa Clara County and San Mateo County. It embraces coast redwood, Douglas fir, and madrone forest, most of which has been left in its wild, natural state. Steep canyons are sprinkled with unusual rock formations that are a popular rock climbing area. The forest here is lush and mossy, crisscrossed by of hiking trails. These trails are part of an even more extensive trail system that links the Santa Clara and San Lorenzo valleys with Castle Rock State Park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and the Pacific Coast.
Red Rock State Park
Red Rock State Park is a state park of Arizona, USA, featuring a red sandstone canyon outside the city of Sedona. The main mission of this day-use park is the preservation of the riparian habitat along Oak Creek. Red Rock State Park serves as an environmental education facility for the public and for school or private groups, and provides limited passive recreational opportunities. Red Rock State Park includes a stretch of Oak Creek, which upstream flows through the famous Oak Creek Canyon in Coconino National Forest. The rich riparian zone along the creek supports a diverse array of species. Trees in this habitat include Fremont cottonwood, Arizona sycamore, velvet ash, and Arizona alder.
1_Apprentice
Sounds nice!  How long does it take you to climb one of the cliffs?
0_Wizard
It depends what route I take. If the goal is to get to the summit maybe 10 - 15 minutes. If I am doing a pre-defined route it could be longer! They're more technical.
The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling.
chosen_Rock_climbing_0
Rock climbing
chosen_topic_0_Rock_climbing
Mount Everest
Mount Everest, known in Nepali as Sagarmāthā and in Tibetan as Chomolungma, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The international border between China (Tibet Autonomous Region) and Nepal runs across its summit point. The current official height of , recognised by China and Nepal, was established by a 1955 Indian survey and subsequently confirmed by a Chinese survey in 1975. In 2005, China remeasured the rock height of the mountain, with a result of 8844.43 m. There followed an argument between China and Nepal as to whether the official height should be the rock height (8,844 m., China) or the snow height (8,848 m., Nepal).
2011–12 Derby County F.C. season
The 2011–12 season was Derby County's 106th season in the Football League and their 113th overall in league football. It was their fourth consecutive season in the second tier following the previous campaign and their 44th overall. Derby started the season well, winning their first 4 league games in August, which was also club's best league start since the 1905–06 season. However, the club were knocked out of the first round of League Cup against League Two opposition for the third season in a row against Shrewsbury Town. Derby maintained their top 2 position in September, with the main highlight being a 2–1 win at local rivals Nottingham Forest, despite the fact that goalkeeper Frank Fielding gave away a penalty and was sent off after 67 seconds, Jeff Hendrick's winner in the game was his first goal in senior football.
Phonograph record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English, or record) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac; starting in the 1950s polyvinyl chloride became common. In recent decades, records have sometimes been called vinyl records, or simply vinyl, although this would exclude most records made until after World War II. The phonograph disc record was the primary medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century.
2012–13 Sheffield Wednesday F.C. season
During the 2012–13 season, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club competed in the 2012–13 Football League Championship, the FA Cup and the League Cup. Sheffield Wednesday have stayed in the Football League Championship after recently being promoted from the Football League One the previous year. They were managed by Dave Jones, while the club's chairman was Milan Mandaric. Their league season kicked off on 18 August 2012, while the League Cup began a week earlier as they entered at Round 1 of the competition. In the FA Cup, The Owls began in January as they entered at Round 3. Pre-season for Sheffield Wednesday is due to kick-off at the beginning of July 2012.
History of Tipperary GAA
The Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Tipperary and the Tipperary inter-county teams. County Tipperary holds an honoured place in the history of the GAA as the organisation was founded in Hayes' Hotel, Thurles, on 1 November 1884. There follows details of the events of its history and the achievements of its inter county teams. Tipperary is known as 'The Premier County'. The county team has had many first and unique achievements in the world of GAA. 1887- The inaugural All-Ireland senior hurling final was played on Easter Sunday 1888 in Birr, County Offaly.
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail followed the same corridor of networked river valley trails as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, namely the valleys of the Platte, North Platte and Sweetwater rivers to Wyoming. In the present states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah, the California and Oregon trails split into several different trails or cutoffs. By 1847, two former fur trading frontier forts marked trailheads for major alternative routes through Utah and Wyoming to Northern California.
OC Transpo Route 95
OC Transpo Route 95 is the Ottawa transit network's busiest route, running on the Transitway across the city. The termination points are located in Barrhaven at Barrhaven Centre Station, and in Orléans at Place d'Orléans Station. Weekday trips may be extended to Trim Station, a few minutes east of Place d'Orléans. In addition, some trips also start or end at Baseline Station in the west end. During rush hour, a few trips start or end at Tunney's Pasture Station. Originally, the route served only the city core, but since the 1990s, the route has been expanded significantly to serve suburban areas, starting with Orléans in the early 1990s and Barrhaven in 2000.
1_Apprentice
Have you thought about climbing El Capitan in Yosemite?
0_Wizard
Hmm... it sounds a little ambitious! Its about 900m from the base to the summit. I don't think I'm that good yet :P
The granite monolith extends about 3,000 feet (900 m) from base to summit along its tallest face, and is a popular location for rock climbers and BASE jumpers.
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El Capitan
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Speech recognition
Speech recognition is the inter-disciplinary sub-field of computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enables the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers. It is also known as "automatic speech recognition" (ASR), "computer speech recognition", or just "speech to text" (STT). It incorporates knowledge and research in the linguistics, computer science, and electrical engineering fields. Some speech recognition systems require "training" (also called "enrollment") where an individual speaker reads text or isolated vocabulary into the system.
Da Nang Air Base
Da Nang Air Base () (1930s–1975) (also known as Da Nang Airfield, Tourane Airfield or Tourane Air Base) was a French Air Force and later Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) facility. It is located in the city of Da Nang in southern Vietnam. During the Vietnam War (1959–1975), it was a major base with United States Army, United States Air Force (USAF), and United States Marine Corps (USMC) units stationed there. Air Vietnam also used the facility from 1951 to 1975 for civilian domestic and international flights within Southeast Asia. On 22 September 1940, the Vichy Government signed an agreement with Japan allowing the Japanese to station troops in Tonkin and use three airfields there.
Hatch Mott MacDonald
Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM) is a consulting engineering firm serving public and private clients in North America. HMM’s capabilities include planning, project development, studies and analysis, design, procurement, and construction engineering and inspection. HMM also provides project, program and construction management as well as facility maintenance and operations. Hatch Mott MacDonald was founded in 1996 by its parent companies, Hatch Ltd and Mott MacDonald. HMM was intended to take advantage of engineering opportunities in North America. HMM originally provided the bulk of its services in transportation, including the design of tunnels, rail systems, bridges, highways, and airport infrastructure.
VMM-365
Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 (VMM-365) is a United States Marine Corps tiltrotor squadron consisting of MV-22B Osprey transport aircraft. The squadron, known as the "Blue Knights", is based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 26 (MAG-26) and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (2nd MAW). Provide assault support of combat troops, supplies, and equipment during amphibious operations and subsequent operations ashore. Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 365 was established on July 1, 1963 at Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana, California.
VMM-265
Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265 (VMM-265) is a United States Marine Corps transport squadron consisting of MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The squadron, known as the "Dragons", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 36 (MAG-36) and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW). Support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Commander by providing assault support transport of combat troops, supplies and equipment, day or night under all weather conditions during expeditionary, joint or combined operations. HMM-265 was commissioned on October 1, 1962 at Marine Corps Air Facility Jacksonville, North Carolina.
VMM-165
Marine Medium Tilt Rotor Squadron 165 (VMM-165) is a United States Marine Corps Tilt-rotor squadron consisting of MV-22B Osprey transport aircraft. The squadron, known as the "White Knights", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California and fall under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16) and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW). Provide assault support transport of combat troops, supplies and equipment during expeditionary, joint or combined operations. Be prepared for short-notice, worldwide employment in support of Marine Air-Ground Task Force operations. Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165 was activated on July 1, 1965 at Marine Corps Air Station Santa Ana, California as part of Marine Aircraft Group 36, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
Hidden Markov model
Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is a statistical Markov model in which the system being modeled is assumed to be a Markov process with unobserved (i.e. "hidden") states. The hidden Markov model can be represented as the simplest dynamic Bayesian network. The mathematics behind the HMM were developed by L. E. Baum and coworkers. In simpler Markov models (like a Markov chain), the state is directly visible to the observer, and therefore the state transition probabilities are the only parameters, while in the hidden Markov model, the state is not directly visible, but the output, dependent on the state, is visible.