well...he's at work.i think he'll argue, and i'll agree, that very often shooting someone within a landscape is hugely comparable to shooting a landscape. it's all about context, and therefore composition, and that's how you control how the subject looks. you did imply flash was more important than ambient, by stating you'd use it on 9/10 occasions. i tried to find one of JB's pics online to illustrate the point, but couldn't find one. If you've got the current Stanage guide on the bookshelf, regard the front endpaper.
9 times out of ten, i'd take the added control that flash lighting offers over "ambient only" any day of the week.
I thought this was going to be all about the increasing prevalence of adobe's flash applications on the web (soon to be replaced by AIR)
Just read an interesting article at lunchtime about a british pro MTB photographer who rarely uses artificial light unless it's for very commercial jobs or product shots etc. he rides with a M8 and a handful of primes. I find his shots are much more real than the artificially lit stuff usually found in the mtb press.
And the general look of the guide is a bit 'shit'
For manual use you can get older generation Nikon flashes like the SB24 for 60 bananas or thereabouts with a guarantee from a dealer if you're canny. Assuming you don't trash it will still be worth 60 notes when you're done with it (if not more since their value rose when the strobist blog got popular). Of course this info is no use to you now.