RFID

As a conspiracy theorist, I do not like rfid but this is cool. The Danish government is going to install them in bicycles, so they set off flashing lights at dangerous intersections.

More Buckeye Trail

Lion King is on the Buckeye Trail in this episode.

Beer Fairy

Long live the beer fairies.

During the mind-crushing stress of finals week, a mythical creature haunts Oberlin. Preferring to keep his or her identity a mystery, this spirit wanders through Mudd Library when students are at their wits’ end, distributing cold cans of alcoholic relief to those most in need. This week, the Review had a special interview with the enigmatic Beer Fairy to find out the secrets associated with this Oberlin tradition.

Trail Names

Trail names are part of the Appalachian Trail community. They came about some time in the seventies, as a way to distinguish hikers. Too many Tom, Dick and Harry's. There are some trail names that are a little too frequent. Lord of the Rings characters, foot names,wolfs, foxes and bears.

There are many ways to get a trail name. The simplest way is use a nick name from home,or just make one up. This does not always work. The community may pick a name for you anyway. In '01 there was a hiker that wanted to be "the Universal Adventurer" but his name was Tom and he fell a lot so Tumbling Tom was born.

Most people end up with the right trail name. Early in a thru-hike every body will be trying to name each other. Be care full what you say or do. Also, in 01, When a group of us were siting around in the Smokies, this guy said,"every thing smells like ass, even my face." I think four or five people immediately said Ass Face.Thus Ass Face was born. He actually embraced the name. Although, in towns he would say Face or Facio. So as to not offend the delicate sensibilities of the towns folk. You do not have to accept a name someone gives you. I doubt Ass Face would have had to carry the moniker 2000 miles if he did not want it.

I think the best trail names are the short ones like Chef, Water, Bucket, or Pumpkin.

Cold Weather Camping

In 2005, I started hiking the AT in January. It was cold. Frozen snot on your nose cold. A high of 22 degrees Fahrenheit made me rethink winter hiking. But if you are going here are a couple of good articles on cold weather camping. Pilot-Intelligencer and Tribune-Review.

Bush Vs Obama

Juan Cole has a good article about Bush and Obama. It all boils down to this.

Obama did the right thing in coming clean. Bush did the wrong thing in obscuring the truth. Obama demonstrated leadership. Bush showed himself a political and moral coward, and a hypocrite.

Its good. Read the whole thing.

Bush League

GW Bush has a christmas video about the national parks. Best Hike calls the president out:

From everything I’ve heard and seen over the past 7-years, George Bush has been the worst President ever in terms of protecting the environment. National Parks, in particular, have been near lowest priority for his administration.

Just about every second day I get more bad news from the National Parks Traveler blog.

Now the White House has the nerve at the 11th hour to post a pro-Parks holiday YouTube video. At first I assumed it was an anti-Bush comedy clip. But it’s for real.

Like the Simpsons, George Bush has been reduced to self-parody.

Mock,Paper,Scissors points us to this outtake. View the outtake.

Actual Blimp

100_0615, originally uploaded by madwurm.

Ron Paul Revolution

BostonRevolution, originally uploaded by bob 42.

Libby at Newshoggers reminded me of the blimp, another great reason to go libertarian. I think this is a photoshop version though.

Feeling Safer Yet?

Do you remember the government howling about the terrorists going to blow up the Sears Tower? Well one was aquited and six ended in mistrials.

Conservatives Against Christ

The Canary Has Died

It is getting ominous.

The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coal mine for climate warming," said Zwally, who as a teenager hauled coal. "Now as a sign of climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of the coal mines."

Update: The point of no return.

Greenland

Greenland may be green again. It amazes me that the amount of ice that melted this year raised sea level by 2/100th of an inch. The oceans are huge. Just think if all the ice melted.

Greenland is about one-fourth the size of the United States and about 80 percent of it is covered by the ice sheet. One-twentieth of the world's ice is in Greenland; if it all melted it would be equivalent to a 21-foot (6.4 meter) global sea level rise, the scientists said.

It seems that magma may be heating Greenland from below as well. Perhaps we have the makings for the perfect storm.

The newly discovered hotspot, an area where Earth’s crust is thinner, allowing hot magma from Earth's mantle to come closer to the surface, is just below the ice sheet and could have caused it to form, von Frese and his team suggest.

Ascent

Ascent, originally uploaded by konaboy.

The search for the hiker lost on Mauna Kea has been called off. He was last seen going hiking alone. The search has been hampered by blizzard like conditions.

Torture

Dan Froomkin:

But it all boils down to the fact that, so far, no one from Bush on down has come up with a single documented example of American lives saved thanks to torture.

Northern Lights

Northen Lights (Aurora Borialis), originally uploaded by Arnaldur Birgisson.

Scientists have found out the energy source for the northern lights.

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists think they have discovered the energy source of the spectacular color displays seen in the northern lights. New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth's upper atmosphere to the sun.

The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights visible in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, said principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of the

Groovy

I find this oddly compelling.

Profesional

91%DRUNKARD

Charlotte Dating

Health Care

It seems the republican politicians like their government health care. Some think Cheney would be dead without it. Hat Tip to my fellow illeist the Wege.
Avedon makes a great comment about the republican contenders and cancer.

Grits

CRW_6339 milton grits cockrell, originally uploaded by bennettphoto.

I ran into Grits on the Appalachian Trail in '06 and '07. He is a wonderful storyteller. He could probably give Twain a run for his money if he tried. " High praise, high praise indeed" he would say if I told him that.

He is a stealthy hiker, treading lightly through the woods. I can hear his voice as, I remember his stories. Alas, they are his stories to tell.