Amber Heard for Equality
Amber Heard for Equality
Esoterica
An Old Chestnut: The Original Trailer for ‘Star Wars’
Here’s an old chestnut: the original Star Wars trailer exhibited six months before the film’s release. It’s a collection of seemingly random clips—probably because much of the unfinished movie has yet to be filmed—when the movie studio wasn’t sure what the film was about or if the film would bomb or hit. The trailer also lacks the firms musical score. Note the voiceover’s unintentionally tentative tone!
Climbing, Kayaking, and Biking a Swiss Border Circumnavigation
When I was growing up, I was a big fan of the mountaineer John Harlin II, who tragically was killed when a falling rock severed the rope he was hanging from during the first directissima ascent of the Eiger‘s legendary North Face, a climbing route that’s subsequently became known as the Harlin Route. So, I was pleased to see his son John Harlin III, who was age nine when his father died but nowadays also is a mountaineer and the editor-in-chief of the American Alpine Club‘s American Alpine Journal, and who is now my age, is endeavoring to circumnavigate Switzerland by traveling entirely along that country’s borders. If that doesn’t sound hard, understand that: Switzerland’s southern border contains the summits of some of the Alps most notorious and highest peaks—including the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, the second highest mountain in the Alps. Harlin will have to climb those peaks. The northeast quarter of Switzerland’s border includes the Rhine, which that far upstream includes the Rheinfall, Europe’s version of Niagara Falls. Harlin will have to kayak down that river. The rest of Switzerland’s borders include several hundred kilometers of meandering hills and escarpments that Harlin will have to mountain bike. All of that is a formidable endeavor for any athlete or outdoorsman. Indeed, Harlin fell while climbing the alpine Franco-Swiss border on the tenth day of his journey, broke a rib and five bones in his feet, and had to suspend his endeavor. He’s now resumed his journey, but this time is starting at the headwaters of the Rhine and by tomorrow should reach Basel, completing the Rhine river portion of his journey. Swissinfo.ch, the website of Swiss Radio International, is sponsoring the journey, and you can read Harlin’s daily trip blog there.
Cebu Pacific Airlines Flight Attendants Dance The Safety Instructions
Prior to World War II, airline flight attendants were required to be registered nurses. How the qualifications for that jobs has changed! Here is a recent (yesterday) video a passenger shot aboard a Cebu Pacific Airlines flight on which flight attendants danced their recitation of the airline’s Airbus safety instructions. No surprisingly, six months ago Cebu Pacific, a discount airline based in Manila, was banned from flying to European Union countries. EU officials decided that the airline’s safety and aircraft maintenance practices weren’t safe enough. The EU also banned most other airlines based in the Philippines.
‘Romantic’ Willimantic, My Hometown
’Romantic’ Willimantic, my hometown, from the viewpoint of students at Eastern Connecticut State University in the Prospect Hill neighborhood where I grew up. Not quite the ‘Heroin Town’ CBS’s 60 Minutes portray it as 7 years ago. Willimantic is also the market town for the University of Connecticut (UCONN), 7 miles north in rural Storrs.
Syracuse Again Rated As Having Worst Weather
If you love gray, then rejoice because Syracuse has again been ranked by the Farmers’ Almanac as having the worst weather in the United State!
One of US
I’m bemused that the controversy about plans to open an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan is occuring in the same year that Miss USA is a Muslim, Rimi Fakih.
Wonderful Baseball Catch!
Masato Akamatsu, outfielder for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, runs up the wall and denies Yokohoma’s Shuichi Murata a home run during a game on August 3, 2010.
Ray Gun Warfare Is Here
Video of U.S. Navy laser gun test shooting down an aircraft.
‘IsoTruss’ Bikes Beyond Carbon Fiber
I’ve been amazed by the past 20 years of progress in racing bicycle technology due to advance materials. The first reasonably affordable titanium-frame racing bicycles starting appearing in 1990 and shortly after 2000 the first reasonably affordable carbon-fiber-framed appeared. We now have the first new advancement: carbon fiber bicycle frames that aren’t entirely solid. Above is a photo of the $10,000 (US) Delta 7 road bike. The junctions in its frame are made of regular carbon fiber but the main tubes of the frame consist of an open latticework of carbon fiber/Kevlar strings woven into a network of isosceles triangles. That latticework is up to 12 times stronger than steel but weighs ten times less.
Learn Broadcast Journalism in Two Minutes
In only two minutes, Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker teaches you contemporary broadcast journalism .
The Decade's Most Egregious Retouching Scandals
A few years ago, I posted an item here about American marketers retouching actresses’ photos to make their bosoms more buxom. Newsweek magazine recently published a photo story about the decade’s most egregious retouching scandals. I particularly like ‘the many shades of Beyoncé’.