Live data from Hacker News

Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

kathmandupost.com

91–100 of 144 posts

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're using too much! Its commonly used to improve meat texture, especially in Chinese cuisine. It's called "velveting".

you're thinking of corn starch

Both are used, for different reasons, but it's a pretty loose term. Can also use enzymes or other alkaline things. With or without a marinade. Pass through oil or water, or just stir fry with a little extra oil.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 12-15K feet just isn’t that high in the scheme of things. Many peaks in the western US are in that range or more. The highest peak in the contiguous United States is Mt. Whitney at ~14.5k feet

I went from sea level to 11k feet in the same day many times before. I would say the altitude effect is there but not as much as you might expect. A little quicker to be out of breath a little longer to recover it. Not sure what it is like at higher elevations or greater daily altitude delta.

I went from ~500 ft above sea level (Palm Springs) up to 8,500 feet above sea level (San Jacinto Peak) in less than an hour via the aeria tram a couple months ago and it was very noticeable, my walking speed fell by a third and I was breathing a lot harder than I usually do.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#94
post #39

> The second method is more troubling. At altitudes above 3,000 metres, mild symptoms of altitude sickness are common. Blood oxygen saturation can drop, hands and feet tingle, headaches develop. In most cases, rest, hydration or a gradual descent is all that is needed. ...investigators found that Diamox (Acetazolamide) tablets, used to prevent altitude sickness, were administered alongside excessive water intake to i…

The very next sentence from that quote sounds a lot worse and harder to explain away though: > In at least one case cited in the investigation, baking powder was mixed into food to make tourists physically unwell.

An amount of soda sufficient to make you ill would be very VERY detectable in food. Speaking as someone who makes their own honeycomb toffee and soda bread, it's really easy to mess up the ratios and end up with an excess that tastes nasty, and that excess is pretty small.

A small amount won't make a different, it'll just stimulate a bit more H+ production from your stomach's proton pumps.

Edit: The article I read claims the scam involved baking powder, which makes even less sense given that it's even more noticeable, bitter and metallic.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#95
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very next sentence from that quote sounds a lot worse and harder to explain away though: > In at least one case cited in the investigation, baking powder was mixed into food to make tourists physically unwell.

In Nepal, my parents always warned me before eating at some rest stops because they said the food was doctored with baking soda to make you feel fuller, guess it was true after all and not just an urban legend heh.

[flagged]

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#96
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Nepal, my parents always warned me before eating at some rest stops because they said the food was doctored with baking soda to make you feel fuller, guess it was true after all and not just an urban legend heh.

I've sometimes used baking soda to accelerate softening of beans, and I imagine the effect is more appreciable at higher altitudes perhaps? Some of the usage of baking soda could be innocent enough.

Alkalinity softens the husk of legumes. Look up nixtamalization. It’s what the Aztecs invented.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've sometimes used baking soda to accelerate softening of beans, and I imagine the effect is more appreciable at higher altitudes perhaps? Some of the usage of baking soda could be innocent enough.

Did we discover a new diet hack?

A few thousand years ago:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#98
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Namche (damn autocorrect) Bazaar which everyone in the Everest region passes through is a bit over 11K feet. 12-15K feet just isn’t that high in the scheme of things. Many peaks in the western US are in that range or more. Yes, minor headaches are pretty normal when acclimatizing. But anything more, you need to go down.

> 12-15K feet just isn’t that high in the scheme of things. Many peaks in the western US are in that range or more. The highest peak in the contiguous United States is Mt. Whitney at ~14.5k feet

There are 50+ peaks in Colorado higher than 14,000 ft and 1000+ higher than 12000 ft

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#99
post #54

As someone who has done quite a few 14ers in Colorado, many of which I wasn't in the greatest shape for, most people do not get AMS especially below 12k, and therefore the numbers in this article definitely do look like somebody somewhere is faking it or being defrauded. Much of the time you just need to hydrate better if you're going up in elevation above 10k and you'll be fine.

Pro-tip: if you propose to your wife at 13000 feet, don’t actually have her put the ring on. Her fingers may swell causing her to panic about circulation and you’ll have to run down the mountain and to this day she will not think it is as funny as you

It makes a good story to share with new friends in the future though. I've got one of those too, heh. I proposed to my now-wife on the bow of a sailboat at sunset on a local lake, overlooking the water. Should have been an amazing moment, except I didn't know until that trip that my now-wife gets seasick/motion sickness. Luckily it did not ruin things, but we've never been on a boat together since except for a ferry crossing between Tallinn and Helsinki once.

Re: Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 12-15K feet just isn’t that high in the scheme of things. Many peaks in the western US are in that range or more. The highest peak in the contiguous United States is Mt. Whitney at ~14.5k feet

I went from sea level to 11k feet in the same day many times before. I would say the altitude effect is there but not as much as you might expect. A little quicker to be out of breath a little longer to recover it. Not sure what it is like at higher elevations or greater daily altitude delta.

I guess fitness makes a difference from what these other comments are saying. My ex-wife and I lived in Long Beach (which is obviously sea level) when we were in ROTC and pretty regularly took day trips out to San Gogornio and walked to the summit in about five hours, which is ~11,500ft. Not once did that have any noticeable effect, but we were both pretty serious runners back in the day trying to become Army officers. On the other hand, she tried to summit Aconcagua during a spring break and couldn't make it due to altitude sickness. I've never been higher than Mt. Whitney, personally.

Even if you don't feel it, the altitude still makes a difference, though. I recall doing two-a-day hell weeks at Big Bear at the end of summer cross-country training in high school and there was a 5k up there at the end of that week. We all got worse times than typical at sea level, and somewhat amusingly, I recall a high school senior from Rim of the World High School (who lived up there) getting 2nd place overall the first year I ever competed in that race, beating way more seasoned competitors just because he was used to the altitude.

It works in reverse, too. There was an officer in my Armor Basic Officer Course from Colorado who gave himself rhabdo during the two-mile test the first week we in-processed, apparently because he was so used to altitude that he hadn't quite acclimated to Fort Knox atmosphere.

Post reply on HN